"I would rather light a candle than curse the darkness ."
Eleanor Roosevelt
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As a kid, I dreamed of being a missionary and thought I would shine the light of truth in the darkest corners of Africa. As it turns out, the darkest corners were closer to home. I have found no blacker darkness than the blindness of Baptist leaders to the horror of clergy sex abuse.
According to their own scholars, Southern Baptists have "no national policies," abuse is "routinely covered up," and church officials "have not been responsive." (Trull & Carter, Ministerial Ethics, 2004) Since Southern Baptists are the largest Protestant denomination in the country, this means a lot of kids and congregations are at risk.
My own documented experience shows the reality of Baptist cover-ups and the perilous lack of policies. Eighteen Southern Baptist leaders in four different states and at national headquarters were all put on notice of my substantiated report about a minister who sexually assaulted me when I was a church girl in Texas. Yet, even after Baptist leaders put the man's name in their secret file of "known offenders," the man remained in ministry in Florida.
This sort of blindness leaves predators in positions of trust and puts kids at risk. How many more molesting ministers are in Baptist churches, and how many more kids will they hurt before denominational leaders take action?
How can clergy predators be stopped? By exposing the enablers and holding them accountable. Who are the enablers? Those who turn a blind eye or shelter the wolves rather than see the savagery and protect the sheep.
Thank you for visiting. This may be only a "little light," but it shines for the many other clergy abuse victims whose voices have been silenced. Silenced by shame. Silenced by the false instruction of religious leaders. Silenced by church shunning and bullying. Silenced by church contracts for secrecy. Silenced by suicide. The mission of StopBaptistPredators.org is to break the silence of Baptist clergy sex abuse.
Together, our voices will eventually be heard.