If you believe what Baptist leaders say, then you have to believe that they know the denomination has a problem with clergy sex abuse. Religion writers and scholars have also pointed it out. Yet, when it comes to actually doing something about the problem, Baptist leaders seem blind. They recite their mantra of “congregational autonomy” and wash their hands of the problem, and all the while, reported perpetrators still stand in Baptist pulpits.

What kind of leaders continue on a path of blindness

even while knowing that kids are at risk?

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• “We shouldn’t enjoy this Catholic mess too much. We’re waiting on the other shoe to drop, and when it does, don’t be surprised if there is more and more within our ranks.”

Bobby Welch, prior president of Southern Baptist Convention, 2002

(Note: Why would any religious leader think there might be anything at all to “enjoy” about the “Catholic mess”???)

 

• “I know that this has happened on multiple occasions....”

  Frank Page, current president of Southern Baptist Convention, 2006

• “Baptists’ disconnected system for securing ministers indirectly shields perpetrators.”
  The Baptist Standard 4/22/2002, citing Sonny Spurger, associate director of minister/church relations, Baptist General Convention of Texas
  
  
• Experts warn that Baptist structure "gives abusers free rein -- and makes Baptist churches unwitting accomplices to predator pastors who are recycled from one unsuspecting congregation to another."
  Greg Warner, Associated Baptist Press, 6/11/2007
  
  
• "The Baptist situation may be no better than the Catholic, only shielded more deeply from view."
  David Gushee, professor of Christian ethics, Mercer University, 3/29/2010

• “For many years, churches seemed to say to offenders, ‘We won't say anything if you won't say anything, and you go on down the road.’ Consequently, churches ‘ended up passing perpetrators to other churches.’”
  The Baptist Standard 4/22/2002, citing and quoting Sonny Spurger, associate director of minister/church relations, Baptist General Convention of Texas

• "For years, Baptist college and seminary professors taught ministers to maintain confidentiality at all costs...to maintain silence as much as possible."
  Jan Daehnert, director of minister/church relations, Baptist General Convention of Texas, 2002
  
  
• "Clergy sexual abuse is a significant problem among Baptist ministers..."
  The Baptist Standard, Nov. 10, 1999, citing the report of the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas
  

• “The BGCT keeps a confidential list of individuals who are reported by a church for sexual misconduct, including child molestation....”
  John Hall, The Baptist Standard, 3/3/2006
  
  
• "The problem we're having is that churches just weren't sending the names. In the normal scenario, they just try to keep it secret."
  Joe Trull, editor of Christian Ethics Today, 6/14/2007

• “America’s largest non-Catholic flock has been hit by waves of clergy sexual abuse affecting untold numbers of women, men, teenagers and children.”
  Terry Mattingly, nationally syndicated “On Religion” columnist, 2002.

• “The fact is, there is no Baptist clearing house for this information – anywhere. There is no one keeper of the files, nobody out there who has the power to intervene when something goes wrong....There is no there, out there.”
  Timothy Weber, former dean of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2002.

• “The problem of clergy sexual abuse is not just a Catholic issue – the problem extends to Protestant denominations as well. Studies have shown no differences in its frequency by denomination, region, theology, or institutional structure....Decentralized denominations such as the Southern Baptist Convention...have no national policies....Sexual misconduct is routinely covered up...Church officials largely have not been responsive.”
  Joe Trull, editor of Christian Ethics Today & former professor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and James E. Carter, former director of minister/church relations in the Louisiana Baptist Convention, Ministerial Ethics, 2004 at pages 162, 164.
  
  
• "I deal with this matter far too often...and the cover-ups that far too often accompany it."
  a vice-president of the SBC's International Mission Board, as quoted by Michael Spradlin, president of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary

• “Clergy sexual abuse is a significant problem among Baptist ministers.... Many churches react by trying to conceal the incident....”
  Christian Life Commission report to the Baptist General Convention of Texas in 1999

• “We need to root out the predators...and we need to establish controls to protect the people to whom our churches minister.”
  Marv Knox, editor, The Baptist Standard, 4/22/2002