Southern Baptists consider sexual abuser database
BY HEATHER HAHN
Saturday, June 7, 2008
When its annual meeting convenes next week in Indianapolis, the Southern Baptist Convention will discuss how it can better protect children from predatory ministers and staff.
The Rev. Emil Turner, executive director of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, said he hopes the discussion will “sensitize our denominational agencies and our churches to the dangers of sexual abuse and the importance of being able to deal with it.” Baptist messengers (delegates ) at last year’s meeting directed the denomination’s Executive Committee to study the feasibility of creating a database to help churches prevent incidents of sexual abuse. The committee is a body of 81 representatives who act on behalf of the denomination between sessions.
The list would include “Southern Baptist clergy and staff who have been credibly accused of, personally confessed to, or legally been convicted of sexual harassment or abuse.” The committee is scheduled to report on its findings Tuesday at the denomination’s meeting in Indianapolis.
Ultimately, Baptist messengers would decide what, if any, action to take.
It’s unclear how many children are sexually abused in Southern Baptist churches. The 16. 3 million-member denomination does not track the number of cases or release estimates. Nor are member churches required to report abuse to the national body. And because Baptist ministers are ordained by local congregations, the denomination has no process for defrocking Baptist ministers who victimize children.
The Arkansas Baptist State Convention offers guidance to the state’s more than 1, 400 Baptist churches on how to run background checks on clergy and volunteers. Turner also counsels churches to always have more than one adult present when working with children, and to alert law enforcement of any suspicious behavior.
But Turner said that for Baptists, the ultimate responsibility in keeping sex offenders out of church leadership belongs to individual congregations.
“I don’t think there should be a database because if we have a database then some denominational entity is going to become accountable for what happens in a local church,” he said. “Our hierarchy is one that has the local churches at the top rather than the denomination.” One of the core Southern Baptist principles, he said, is that the convention’s 44, 696 churches govern themselves.
Christa Brown, Baptist outreach director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said she has heard much the same sentiment from Baptist leaders across the country.
“The rumblings that I am getting don’t give me cause for optimism,” she said. “Nevertheless, I hope and pray I am wrong and will be the first to shout ‘Hallelujah’ if I am.” SNAP, which is often credited with helping bring the Catholic Church’s sexual-abuse cover-up to light six years ago, would like to see the Southern Baptist Convention have a panel to evaluate and report abuse allegations against clergy.
“You know, the only way we will ever learn about clergy child molesters is if victims feel safe in talking about it to someone,” she said. “And victims are never going to feel safe if the only place they can go is the church of the accused perpetrator.” She said a number of denominations already have such panels, including American Baptist Churches USA, which, like the Southern Baptist Convention, has autonomous congregations.
Still, Turner said he thinks a database would likely fail to achieve Brown’s goal.
“Every database is faulty,” he said. “There are people on it who shouldn’t be on it, and there aren’t people on it who ought to be. A database implies a liability.” This discussion on sex abuse happens at a time when one of the denomination’s largest megachurches — Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas — is still reeling from the arrest of one of its ministers on charges of soliciting a minor online.
Joe Barron had been one of about 40 ministers at the 26, 000-member church before he was arrested May 15 in an ongoing Internet sex sting. Two days later, he resigned from his church post working with middle-aged adults.
Turner said he thinks a database would not have included Barron’s name, who according to Prestonwood Baptist had no record of prior improprieties.
As the convention nears, the topic of sex abuse is drawing increased attention.
The summer’s edition of SBC Life, a publication of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, devotes eight pages to child abuse and neglect.
The magazine includes articles by, among others, a past victim of abuse, a former Child Protective Services worker and the denomination’s general counsel. The articles offer advice on how to conduct background checks, work with law enforcement and provide victims with love and support.
But the magazine makes no mention of the proposed database.
Bob Allen has been covering the Executive Committee’s deliberations on this topic as managing editor of EthicsDaily. com, a ministry of the Baptist Center for Ethics. The center aims to be a resource for Baptist churches but is not an agency of the Southern Baptist Convention.
“I think the SBC Life issue is a reflection of the realization by [church leaders ] that this is a problem that cannot be glossed over and more needs to be done in raising awareness,” he said by e-mail, “but they don’t want to say anything that reflects poorly on SBC churches or pastors.”