Eight Missouri ministers accused of sex abuse in Southern Baptist Conference report • Missouri Independent

The Southern Baptist Conference on Thursday released a once-secret and prolonged checklist of accused intercourse abusers — a number of of whom are within the Midwest — within the denomination.

The 205-page checklist is a compilation of ministers and different church staff who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The record is described as a “fluid, working document” that was also incomplete however largely pulls details about abusers from published information reviews.

The publication of the listing comes after the release Sunday of a 300-page report by an unbiased investigator that described how leaders of the Southern Baptist denomination for decades have acquired reviews of sexual abuse committed by church staff, pastors and others. But these reports had been largely kept secret and, slightly than acting upon and investigating reports of sexual abuse, denomination leaders sought to intimidate and vilify victims and their advocates.

“The whole thing should be seen for what it is,” wrote former Southern Baptist Convention govt committee member and common counsel D. August Boto in an inside e mail that was published in the report. “It’s a satanic scheme to utterly distract us from evangelism.”

The crisis rocking the Southern Baptist denomination this week is comparable in some ways to what the Catholic church continues to face. Leaders in both faiths systematically hid details about sexual misconduct, appeared to point out more concern about their own authorized liability than the victims and at instances didn't expel accused abusers from positions of authority.

In 2007, Father Thomas Doyle, a Catholic priest credited as one of many first to warn of his personal denomination’s clergy sex abuse disaster, wrote a letter to SBC leadership conveying his concern that Southern Baptist leaders had been repeating the failures of the Catholic church in dealing with intercourse abuse.

Doyle was advised, “Southern Baptist leaders truly haven't any authority over native church buildings,” a response that Doyle thought to be dismissive, according to the investigative report. 

That very same year, at the SBC convention in San Antonio, Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson made a motion to create a database of Southern Baptist clergy who had been convicted or credibly accused of, or had confessed to sexual abuse. The proposal was meant to “help in stopping any future sexual abuse or harassment.”

The database proposal appeared to go nowhere, in keeping with the report, and witnesses at the conference recalled little about it besides to specific their opinion that it will “violate native church autonomy.”

Finally, a staffer for the SBC executive committee since 2007 had maintained a listing of accused ministers and church employees, however it was stored hidden from the public and even SBC govt committee trustees, based on the report.

Southern Baptist leaders mentioned publicizing the record of credibly accused abusers represented “an preliminary, but vital, step towards addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform within the Conference.”

“Every entry in this list reminds us of the devastation and destruction brought about by sexual abuse,” stated a joint assertion from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade, both SBC executive committee members. “Our prayer is that the survivors of these heinous acts discover hope and healing, and that church buildings will make the most of this checklist proactively to guard and care for the most weak amongst us.”

Attorneys for the SBC executive committee researched the listing of accused abusers, taking steps to confirm info it contained. It left unredacted entries about alleged abusers that may very well be confirmed, while redacting entries where someone was acquitted or didn't have a ultimate disposition, in addition to data that could establish victims.

Missouri men feature prominently on the checklist. They embody:

This story comes from the Midwest Newsroom, an investigative journalism collaboration together with IPR, KCUR 89.3, Nebraska Public Media Information, St. Louis Public Radio and NPR. For more in-depth news from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, we invite you to comply with us on Twitter.