Progress on sexual abuse in the SBC? Not so fast

OPINION| DAVID CLOHESSY AND CHRISTA BROWN | JUNE 24, 2022 | Baptist News Global

As Russian tanks, troops and bombs poured into Ukraine, imagine if President Joe Biden had announced to the world: “This is shocking. We pledge to help Ukrainians save their lives and freedom for one year. Next year, though, we may change our minds.”

In the Boy Scouts of America, tens of thousands of adults have disclosed they were sexually violated as kids. Imagine if Scouting officials proudly proclaimed: “We’re deeply sorry. And we promise that if some of those still-wounded victims will only trust us again, we’ll act better for the next year. After that, who knows?”

As the dust settles from last week’s Southern Baptist Convention gathering in Anaheim, Calif., this is essentially what Southern Baptist leaders are telling people: “Yes, for decades, we kept secret the identities of many hundreds of dangerous child molesters. Our organization did virtually nothing to disclose these countless crimes. In fact, we often took steps to hide them. Nor have we held accountable the hundreds of ministers who committed or concealed these crimes. But trust us. For one-year, we’re saying we’ll turn things around. But next year, we may go back to business-as-usual.”

That’s not reassuring to us. It’s alarming. And it should be alarming to anyone who cares about kids, congregants and survivors.

What led the SBC to this place?

An explosive third-party investigatory report detailed how top Southern Baptist officials actively resisted calls for abuse prevention, responded to survivors with “stonewalling and even outright hostility,” and covered up the sexual abuse of victims, many of whom were children.

The report disclosed that senior SBC officials “were singularly focused on avoiding liability for the SBC” and took steps to hide information about sexual abuse, even if it meant that molesters continued in ministry. They “protected or even supported alleged abusers” while “stories of abuse were minimized, and survivors were ignored or even vilified.”

“Evidence in the report suggests leaders also lied.”

The parallels between the country’s largest Protestant denomination and the Catholic Church are inescapable. Like their Catholic cousins, Southern Baptists worked to conceal widespread clergy sex abuse, except as one author observed, there was “a certain chilly business-school efficiency in the SBC’s approach.”

Read the full piece at Baptist News Global: