Meta tags:

Headings (most frequently used words):

2016, the, thursday, june, blog, clergy, to, and, on, sexual, sex, abuse, baptists, spotlight, stop, baptist, predators, wednesday, january, 25, 2017, saturday, november, 30, 16, tuesday, sunday, april, 17, march, search, this, welcome, subscribe, stopbaptistpredators, archive, popular, posts, jack, graham, of, prestonwood, frank, page, castigates, molestation, survivors, sometimes, you, gotta, laugh, murdering, minister, working, toward, understanding, it, quotable, live, traffic, feed, want, quote, or, borrow, something, hopeless, hopeful, reflections, past, thoughts, for, future, common, misconceptions, about, baylor, assault, scandal, sbc, church, seeks, out, child, victims, southern, elect, known, cover, upper, as, president, snap, prediction, next, style, exposé, will, focus, what, wrong, with, predation, resolution, why, ted, cruz, should, see,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (490), that (165), and (163), abuse (92), for (91), baptist (88), clergy (72), was (59), baylor (59), this (58), who (57), with (56), #church (50), have (49), about (47), #survivors (43), sex (43), sexual (42), are (41), but (41), not (39), had (39), from (37), churches (34), sbc (34), has (34), denominational (34), those (32), their (31), only (31), you (30), baptists (30), would (30), reports (29), report (28), more (27), snap (27), what (26), they (25), been (25), will (25), when (24), child (24), than (24), even (23), southern (23), cover (23), officials (22), may (21), other (21), which (21), out (20), years (20), against (20), were (20), its (20), minister (19), also (19), problem (19), people (19), should (19), all (18), convention (18), pastor (18), 2016 (18), gaines (17), patterson (16), past (16), assault (16), president (15), many (15), time (15), june (15), because (15), faith (15), allegations (14), such (14), over (14), resolution (14), place (14), children (14), them (14), christa (13), can (13), university (13), executive (13), group (13), one (13), rather (13), there (13), some (13), brown (12), kids (12), spotlight (12), news (12), ups (12), women (12), safe (12), within (12), accused (12), most (12), abused (11), far (11), any (11), january (11), office (11), leaders (11), scandal (11), decade (11), why (10), baptistland (10), victims (10), see (10), november (10), made (10), still (10), religious (10), public (10), fact (10), football (10), failures (10), how (9), often (9), clohessy (9), said (9), better (9), now (9), here (9), march (9), april (9), information (9), his (9), just (9), criminally (9), denomination (9), part (9), cases (9), accountability (9), institutional (9), provide (8), blog (8), our (8), autonomy (8), seen (8), care (8), molestation (8), prestonwood (8), press (8), december (8), february (8), october (8), seek (8), did (8), sexually (8), make (8), prosecuted (8), local (8), into (8), hope (8), trying (8), committee (8), violence (8), groups (8), her (7), texas (7), network (7), david (7), pastors (7), predators (7), attorney (7), august (7), needed (7), posted (7), think (7), done (7), claims (7), reported (7), him (7), wrote (7), protect (7), new (7), yet (7), being (7), media (7), receive (7), first (7), ago (7), next (7), largest (7), come (7), record (7), keeping (7), despite (7), protection (7), court (7), family (7), though (7), pepper (7), hamilton (7), federal (7), investigatory (7), under (6), words (6), paige (6), later (6), page (6), least (6), multiple (6), posts (6), 2008 (6), prior (6), september (6), 2017 (6), request (6), others (6), review (6), thanks (6), work (6), organization (6), response (6), long (6), action (6), provision (6), cannot (6), outside (6), while (6), reporting (6), could (6), change (6), someday (6), these (6), much (6), world (6), must (5), read (5), speak (5), baker (5), support (5), director (5), members (5), 2007 (5), your (5), catholic (5), ethics (5), story (5), july (5), 2012 (5), outsiders (5), comments (5), priests (5), cruz (5), take (5), wrong (5), ever (5), took (5), same (5), like (5), dallas (5), light (5), photo (5), post (5), things (5), mere (5), assessment (5), finally (5), conduct (5), then (5), where (5), including (5), staff (5), allowed (5), too (5), ways (5), simply (5), doesn (5), barber (5), reason (5), receiving (5), speaking (5), country (5), described (5), point (5), failure (5), telling (5), file (5), without (5), steve (5), kept (5), worse (5), own (5), year (5), recently (5), never (5), themselves (5), values (5), regents (5), law (5), three (5), misconception (5), scope (5), firm (5), systems (5), follow (5), cbf (5), bgct (5), religion (4), toward (4), matt (4), affiliated (4), general (4), little (4), called (4), ugly (4), molested (4), national (4), annual (4), meeting (4), nothing (4), jack (4), graham (4), associated (4), second (4), convicted (4), letter (4), rape (4), names (4), database (4), former (4), hopeless (4), secrecy (4), back (4), clear (4), imagine (4), doing (4), young (4), know (4), handling (4), talk (4), after (4), anything (4), another (4), himself (4), liberty (4), needs (4), logging (4), experts (4), credibly (4), misconduct (4), rebuke (4), seem (4), right (4), since (4), two (4), senior (4), does (4), actually (4), realistic (4), require (4), system (4), enough (4), probably (4), don (4), indeed (4), bring (4), style (4), exposé (4), protestant (4), harm (4), stated (4), perpetrator (4), ministers (4), making (4), percent (4), criminal (4), perpetrators (4), russell (4), released (4), bellevue (4), quiet (4), dealing (4), risk (4), williams (4), tactic (4), westside (4), civil (4), mean (4), legal (4), belief (4), findings (4), sorts (4), common (4), truth (4), program (4), ten (4), recent (4), few (4), always (4), policy (4), begun (4), site (3), stopbaptistpredators (3), want (3), girls (3), understanding (3), almost (3), case (3), southwestern (3), theological (3), seminary (3), evil (3), longer (3), email (3), frank (3), different (3), similar (3), scandals (3), view (3), twenty (3), alleged (3), top (3), student (3), survivor (3), 2011 (3), atom (3), book (3), panel (3), global (3), ted (3), presidential (3), candidate (3), demonstrated (3), harsh (3), gilyard (3), before (3), role (3), period (3), bad (3), criminals (3), didn (3), morning (3), florida (3), leave (3), consider (3), whether (3), requested (3), furthermore (3), leader (3), very (3), whose (3), helped (3), movie (3), won (3), thursday (3), widely (3), voices (3), cooperative (3), systematic (3), resource (3), conclusion (3), deal (3), leadership (3), appears (3), matter (3), langworthy (3), day (3), able (3), help (3), safety (3), essentially (3), itself (3), basis (3), prominent (3), start (3), reality (3), prevent (3), continuing (3), institutionally (3), hear (3), compassion (3), believe (3), days (3), apparent (3), create (3), nothingness (3), again (3), admitted (3), commission (3), additional (3), erlc (3), future (3), serve (3), moore (3), chose (3), cruelty (3), power (3), entity (3), creation (3), eventually (3), responsibly (3), credible (3), happen (3), surely (3), requests (3), claiming (3), less (3), molesters (3), justice (3), savaged (3), wounded (3), publicized (3), become (3), focus (3), hands (3), thought (3), knew (3), elected (3), known (3), lawsuit (3), minor (3), history (3), hold (3), went (3), suit (3), institution (3), seeking (3), failed (3), talked (3), hundreds (3), countless (3), committed (3), filed (3), kansas (3), million (3), rise (3), relations (3), broader (3), likely (3), particularly (3), board (3), laws (3), pages (3), lot (3), during (3), true (3), means (3), engagement (3), networked (3), structures (3), practice (3), predatory (3), lack (3), policies (3), rationalization (3), model (3), stories (3), journalists (3), attribution (2), either (2), please (2), thank (2), something (2), live (2), lives (2), keep (2), healing (2), working (2), postings (2), found (2), guilty (2), murdering (2), name (2), doers (2), road (2), catholics (2), stunningly (2), cruel (2), emails (2), greatly (2), every (2), alone (2), addition (2), sources (2), hurtful (2), wonder (2), big (2), opportunistic (2), persons (2), deceiver (2), believer (2), betweener (2), christian (2), daily (2), robert (2), parham (2), fbc (2), orlando (2), note (2), great (2), saga (2), mother (2), preacher (2), decide (2), speaker (2), 109 (2), 2013 (2), 2014 (2), 2015 (2), hopeful (2), reflections (2), archive (2), good (2), lesson (2), oversight (2), shows (2), overdue (2), dollars (2), dear (2), seeks (2), subscribe (2), saying (2), times (2), com (2), reading (2), column (2), advisory (2), release (2), real (2), perhaps (2), trail (2), lessons (2), guidance (2), someone (2), trusted (2), hostility (2), named (2), level (2), pointed (2), hateful (2), sort (2), try (2), expose (2), barbara (2), directly (2), according (2), charges (2), put (2), assaulted (2), pulpit (2), obviously (2), woman (2), reprehensible (2), say (2), based (2), phil (2), oscars (2), along (2), best (2), award (2), announced (2), ethicsdaily (2), related (2), using (2), talking (2), crimes (2), serious (2), conference (2), moral (2), publicly (2), immediately (2), thus (2), continue (2), effort (2), smith (2), shown (2), involving (2), john (2), move (2), brought (2), sin (2), entities (2), disfellowshipped (2), having (2), instance (2), motion (2), specific (2), megachurch (2), efforts (2), gives (2), makes (2), nevertheless (2), protecting (2), disapproval (2), acted (2), feel (2), discomfort (2), instances (2), willing (2), tell (2), staffed (2), experience (2), objectivity (2), professionalism (2), requesting (2), proposed (2), worst (2), ahead (2), learned (2), behind (2), predation (2), louis (2), predict (2), focused (2), nation (2), comes (2), step (2), creating (2), denominationally (2), set (2), terrible (2), example (2), climate (2), apology (2), happy (2), writing (2), asking (2), nine (2), rejected (2), existence (2), ministry (2), further (2), receipt (2), although (2), predecessor (2), choose (2), ask (2), systematically (2), realize (2), assessing (2), informing (2), providing (2), kind (2), single (2), agree (2), warned (2), accrued (2), informed (2), trained (2), congregations (2), protocols (2), prevention (2), use (2), sadly (2), possibility (2), well (2), adulthood (2), childhood (2), wind (2), prosecution (2), outcry (2), community (2), facilitate (2), den (2), wolf (2), turns (2), avoid (2), outreach (2), calling (2), update (2), advocates (2), molesting (2), highest (2), leaving (2), greater (2), congregants (2), suspected (2), virtually (2), crime (2), police (2), dangerous (2), months (2), memphis (2), upper (2), dismiss (2), currently (2), trial (2), judge (2), district (2), dynamics (2), hostile (2), prey (2), ministerial (2), course (2), wouldn (2), look (2), looks (2), pearl (2), harbor (2), styled (2), barrage (2), off (2), brad (2), filing (2), previously (2), alleges (2), sentence (2), forms (2), doubt (2), formed (2), institutions (2), patterns (2), anyone (2), else (2), bringing (2), today (2), callous (2), lawsuits (2), doe (2), lenexa (2), sued (2), usa (2), garland (2), shared (2), regent (2), calls (2), estimated (2), cost (2), 223 (2), expenses (2), hard (2), players (2), standard (2), spending (2), lawyers (2), considering (2), putting (2), culture (2), necessarily (2), solution (2), contrary (2), rest (2), aspect (2), heritage (2), massive (2), addressing (2), works (2), coverage (2), processes (2), decency (2), priorities (2), both (2), bloggers (2), commentators (2), discouraged (2), complicit (2), athletic (2), whole (2), title (2), incidents (2), four (2), wall (2), street (2), journal (2), crawford (2), small (2), refuted (2), expressly (2), get (2), served (2), beyond (2), quite (2), monthly (2), going (2), girl (2), zero (2), assaults (2), between (2), hired (2), anomaly (2), misconceptions (2), last (2), lines (2), heart (2), recalcitrant (2), risks (2), closed (2), major (2), down (2), side (2), liability (2), inaction (2), reasons (2), terms (2), inadequate (2), fellowship (2), website (2), alabama (2), hoped (2), abusive (2), statewide (2), gains (2), resides (2), understood (2), stop (2), original, material, licensed, noncommercial, noderivs, license, write, internet, link, creative, commons, quote, borrow, feedjit, stats, traffic, feed, thomas, jefferson, quotable, raise, heck, younger, sister, stand, proudly, auxiliary, regalia, age, vulnerable, hurts, wait, false, myths, aired, hours, videos, vanessa, bulls, interview, links, places, worked, valley, shadow, death, dirty, secrets, pretty, sometimes, gotta, laugh, respects, face, tougher, supporters, respond, personally, happened, contacting, contact, 877, 762, 7432, ceo, victim, demeaning, criticism, stood, castigates, sacraments, situation, shielded, deeply, gushee, professor, mercer, editor, hate, preaching, denounced, abc, tina, anderson, bill, zeller, suicide, hills, predator, resonates, implicates, popular, parts, underreported, pedophilia, crusader, confronts, complete, profile, appellate, phd, mom, wife, breast, cancer, struggling, french, jazz, lover, runner, coffee, 2006, 122, 2009, 113, 2010, identity, masks, resources, samaritan, holds, treatment, penn, state, twelve, billion, philip, gunn, intended, mainly, welcome, literary, supplement, barnesandnoble, amazon, buy, search, suspended, home, older, picking, urging, oust, ___________________, break, campaign, ponder, offers, headed, attitude, considered, import, connection, elevating, advisor, difficult, dished, stoop, low, remarks, blaine, avail, underage, teens, ones, forty, trustees, administrative, repeated, darrell, whom, mentored, shortly, teen, compassionate, helpful, distraught, shine, characterized, tireless, uncover, boston, archdiocese, england, saviano, portrayed, actor, neil, huff, attended, ceremony, stage, actors, filmmakers, picture, nashville, scene, week, republican, created, council, linking, discusses, limits, patheos, worth, argues, grace, handled, poorly, preface, _____________________, undertake, obtain, reliable, language, inappropriately, inadvertently, minimizes, minimized, exactly, hopes, credibility, issue, featured, mike, buster, bragged, dealt, firmly, forthrightly, dismissed, appearances, wfaa, statement, remorse, large, position, pled, mississippi, fail, priority, unleashing, several, member, amy, cites, timothy, call, elders, attempt, deacon, welcoming, gay, unaware, toothless, meaningful, actual, disfellowship, enormous, affirms, proper, authorities, investigating, consideration, vast, majority, mention, generically, expresses, remains, provides, mechanism, safely, compassionately, objectively, heard, insist, discourages, assures, hearing, bare, tip, iceberg, wants, express, training, nearly, resolve, letters, applaud, recognition, dire, however, significant, deals, drives, submit, concern, explaining, floated, anticipation, bart, farmersville, sunday, asks, __________________________, data, gathered, huge, protestants, persists, earnestly, implore, raped, extremely, foster, hoping, understand, labeled, noted, antithesis, once, witness, published, proposal, abusers, fully, capable, victimization, arrive, advisability, desire, advise, differently, end, dysfunctional, insisting, alternatively, morris, chapman, fiduciary, empowered, function, behalf, therefore, exercise, frankly, begin, log, need, professionally, violate, incremental, outsider, whenever, allegation, disagree, assessed, states, warrant, hopping, accusations, whatever, reasonable, essential, declined, precluded, smaller, presents, plausible, interfering, traumatic, damage, formally, estimate, frequently, contribute, suppressed, realities, strive, stifling, flat, persist, inflicts, cold, shoulder, hopelessness, besieges, avenue, encourage, funded, approach, dorris, directed, predicting, target, expos, prediction, tuesday, malignancy, oblivion, fault, blasting, election, __________________, electing, spoken, loud, seemed, plenty, mega, retaining, entire, thereby, counselor, felt, counseling, kid, pain, pedophile, might, titillated, deceased, relative, stomach, explained, chosen, prioritize, faced, consequences, retain, uncovered, paul, secret, congregation, persisted, wraps, blogger, six, tennessee, implicated, joni, hannigan, elect, denied, plaintiffs, remain, anonymous, proceedings, ruled, argument, _____________________________, couple, weeks, dysfunctionally, oblivious, molester, newly, denounce, inexcusable, victimized, breath, waiting, concerned, citizens, yourself, grossly, exaggerated, untenable, rant, draw, attention, held, used, negative, publicity, guy, pursuing, deplorable, tried, justify, shawnee, mission, desperate, pull, stops, defend, publicize, violated, adequate, precautions, felonies, factor, determining, length, prison, incidentally, serving, let, academy, upon, mostly, knows, identities, advocacy, forward, claim, defendant, instrumental, originally, spirited, minors, typically, jane, pseudonyms, order, preserve, anonymity, proceed, open, petition, inflicted, city, star, reveals, interim, referred, cited, bible, verses, referencing, god, wrath, commit, says, viewpoint, neal, buddy, jones, students, drinking, alcohol, perverted, tarts, willingly, york, fees, settlements, lost, revenue, projected, contributions, shame, events, rapes, included, costs, consulting, millions, gurus, squelch, stench, donor, naming, rights, field, installment, escrow, account, until, transparency, reform, crisis, expert, estimates, updates, ____________________, occurred, context, administrators, baylorite, somehow, special, masses, unspoken, pervasive, pernicious, miserably, challenges, tends, ability, allege, moreover, resistance, commonplace, life, thankful, truly, obligations, ultimately, prod, campus, treated, dignity, virtue, exercised, strong, affiliation, elects, learning, horrific, restoring, fast, optimism, belied, entrenched, depth, misplaced, envisaging, beating, drum, underlie, ensure, compliance, spirit, singing, praises, rising, prodding, complainants, became, inured, thumbed, noses, designed, betrayal, charged, abysmal, forthright, problems, contributed, accommodated, environment, favor, building, devoted, athletes, manner, certainly, throw, asked, obvious, question, editorial, ending, effectively, negated, involved, retaliated, job, affirmed, manifest, levels, formal, complaint, component, pointing, failings, stating, administration, full, coordinator, peggy, notion, got, traction, minimize, winning, games, above, everything, james, cary, gray, reinforced, hand, gross, mishandling, columnists, gotten, current, subsequent, prevented, article, readmitted, truett, incident, filings, suggest, noncompliant, powerful, evidence, 1991, act, freshman, undergraduate, murder, ridiculous, red, flag, she, similarly, assistant, hillary, laborde, mcclennan, county, located, weren, neena, chaudhry, center, occurring, predicament, requires, universities, statistics, department, education, requirement, limited, existed, academic, specified, stayed, designated, coinciding, push, becoming, powerhouse, mistaken, assumption, supported, pending, via, slow, drip, revelations, depositions, discovery, expect, completely, debunked, coming, radio, host, horror, surprise, disclosed, accounts, headline, proclaims, continues, give, saturday, readers, plan, notice, trails, safeguards, ordinary, responsible, efficient, assuring, reaches, pews, fitness, protected, rightly, carry, responsibilities, intrude, instead, empower, assess, decision, allow, autonomous, pool, passing, trash, modern, enable, allows, thrive, readily, learn, sharing, reside, cabinets, reluctant, reference, fear, man, confirm, dates, employment, shortsightedly, serves, corporate, perverse, ordering, unlike, coffers, responsibility, issues, primarily, management, strategy, weighed, posturing, polity, render, excuse, distorting, doctrine, hide, shield, taking, actions, preachers, effect, disingenuous, simple, cooperate, endeavors, ethicist, easily, roam, find, importance, instituted, warning, refuse, developing, refusal, critical, gap, encounter, background, check, akin, bloody, sheep, ineffective, usually, effective, wash, left, destruction, pleaded, late, obligation, insulate, hierarchical, spouted, purported, sad, offer, elements, giving, gone, adopted, opted, timid, awareness, workshops, samples, fine, chasm, congregationalist, already, american, implemented, bodies, holding, accountable, initial, task, force, body, established, cabinet, proactively, warn, amend, accept, dashed, seriously, flawed, abolishing, confidential, spun, positive, saw, backwards, rendered, promotion, worthy, subject, starters, decisions, badlands, bleaker, awful, word, head, flood, backward, steps, importantly, journeys, realized, victimizing, complicity, sure, preached, platitudes, cumulative, courage, tend, inherently, window, dressing, below, denying, adopting, predicted, increased, rulings, told, settled, seems, confidentiality, agreements, defense, impact, tenacity, creativity, america, movement, appropriate, handed, bet, jury, verdict, attorneys, exploring, avenues, attuned, savvy, grateful, forefront, chronicling, generation, stopped, maintaining, aware, systemic, turning, deaf, ear, sitting, ducks, org, 560, 000, pageviews, value, derives, surfeit, self, soul, trauma, extent, implement, exist, began, institute, protective, measures, optimist, thoughts, wednesday, shining,

Text of the page (random words):
at the time gaines knew for at least six months that a bellevue staff minister paul williams had molested a child and gaines simply kept quiet he did not report the crime to the police and he also kept williams conduct a secret from the congregation if a blogger had not made the news public there s no telling how long gaines would have persisted in keeping williams dangerous conduct under wraps nevertheless despite the fact that gaines had obviously chosen to prioritize the protection of his staff minister rather than the protection of kids and despite gaines secrecy the church chose to retain gaines as its senior pastor gaines faced virtually no consequences furthermore not only did gaines keep quiet about the fact that a staff minister had admitted to molesting a child thereby leaving other kids at greater risk but he also allowed williams to continue to serve as a counselor for congregants who had been sexually abused as children can you imagine how those people felt when they learned that the very minister who had been counseling them was someone who himself had molested a kid as one woman later explained her pain that a suspected pedophile might have been titillated by the story of her abuse at the hands of a since deceased relative the thought turns her stomach it seemed plenty bad enough at the time that gaines mega church bellevue had no apparent problem with retaining a senior pastor who kept quiet about a child molesting minister but leave it to baptists to go from bad to worse in dealing with clergy sex abuse it now appears that the entire southern baptist convention also has no problem with such cover up conduct in their highest leaders in electing steve gaines as sbc president the largest protestant denomination in the country has spoken loud and clear clergy child molestation cover ups are no big deal in baptistland __________________ see also snap s 6 15 2016 press release blasting southern baptists election of new president update advocates fault new sbc president s record on child sex abuse baptist news global 6 17 2016 related posts steve gaines on protecting kids 12 4 2007 the malignancy of baptist oblivion to clergy sex abuse 4 8 2011 posted by christa brown at 8 00 pm tuesday june 7 2016 snap prediction next spotlight style exposé will focus on baptists david clohessy executive director snap on june 3 the survivors network of those abused by priests released a letter to top officials of the southern baptist convention calling on them to create a safe place office to which clergy sex abuse survivors can file reports about their alleged perpetrators and predicting that without action baptists will become the next target of a spotlight style expos é the letter from snap s executive director david clohessy and outreach director barbara dorris was directed to sbc executive committee president frank page and sbc ethics religious liberty commission president russell moore here it is dear dr page and dr moore with the approach of the southern baptist convention s 2016 annual meeting we are writing with two requests first request we ask for the creation of a denominationally funded safe place office to which baptist clergy abuse survivors may file a report about their alleged perpetrators and that the safe place office be widely publicized reason for first request it is flat out cruel for baptist denominational officials to persist in telling clergy abuse survivors that they must go to the church of the accused pastor if they want to report him within the faith community this is like telling abuse survivors that they must go to the den of the wolf who savaged them it is a response that inflicts additional harm on greatly wounded people and that turns a cold shoulder to those who seek only to protect others to avoid the hopelessness that often besieges survivors who see no realistic avenue for even making a report and to encourage baptist clergy abuse survivors to speak out the sbc needs to provide a safe place where survivors may report their perpetrators to people who have the professionalism and experience to receive those reports with compassion and care because of the traumatic damage that is done to them most clergy abuse survivors are well into adulthood when they seek to formally report those who abused them in childhood often their claims can no longer be criminally prosecuted indeed most experts estimate that less than 10 percent of child molesters wind up in the criminal justice system church cover ups frequently contribute to the failure of prosecution because many survivors made some outcry in childhood only to have their outcry suppressed within the church while the perpetrator was allowed to move on yet despite these harsh realities many survivors still strive in adulthood to protect others by reporting their perpetrators within the faith community by providing a safe place the sbc could facilitate their reports rather than stifling them as you know in the past we requested that the sbc provide its affiliated churches with the resource of trained outsiders for assessing clergy abuse reports that cannot be criminally prosecuted and for informing congregations about credible allegations these were reasonable requests because realistic response protocols are essential to the prevention of clergy sex abuse and realistic response protocols require the use of outsiders sadly the executive committee declined those requests claiming that local church autonomy precluded them and that is why we are now making this smaller request for the creation of a safe place to receive reports the mere fact of denominational record keeping i e of receiving reports and logging allegations presents no plausible possibility of interfering with local church autonomy frankly our hope is that if the sbc executive committee would simply begin to receive reports and systematically log allegations there would eventually come a point when sbc officials would realize the need to provide churches with a professionally staffed office for responsibly assessing those reports and for informing churches about credible allegations and would also realize that providing churches with this kind of information doesn t violate their autonomy in other words we hope for incremental change our view is that an outsider s assessment should happen whenever a minister has even a single allegation but even if you disagree with us on that surely you would agree that there would be some point at which multiple allegations against a minister should be responsibly assessed and churches should be warned for example if a minister had accrued 3 abuse allegations in 3 churches in 3 different states would you think this was enough to warrant a denominational assessment as to whether churches should be informed what if the minister had accrued 10 allegations 20 surely there would be some point at which you would agree that denominational officials should help churches with the provision of information about church hopping ministers who have multiple credible accusations of child sex abuse whatever that point may be the place to start is with receiving reports and systematically logging the allegations the sbc executive committee has the power dr page your predecessor morris chapman described the role of the executive committee as the fiduciary of the convention and as the denominational entity empowered to function on behalf of the sbc therefore we ask that the executive committee exercise its power for the creation of a safe place office for receiving reports about clergy sex abuse in sbc churches alternatively the sbc ethics religious liberty commission has the power i n 2008 when the executive committee rejected the proposal for a denominational database of admitted and credibly accused clergy sex abusers it pointed to the existence of the sbc s ethics religious liberty commission and said that no additional office was needed because the erlc was fully capable of the provision of ministry called for by sexual abuse victimization the executive committee further stated that should the erlc arrive at a different conclusion in the future about the advisability of receiving reports of sexual abuse and desire to serve as the office of receipt it may so advise the convention dr moore although your erlc predecessor chose to do essentially nothing for the provision of ministry to clergy abuse survivors we are asking you to choose differently and to serve as the office of receipt for reports about clergy sexual abuse in sbc churches put an end to the dysfunctional denominational cruelty of insisting that survivors report to the church of the accused perpetrator second request dr page nine years ago on april 19 2007 you wrote a column published in the florida baptist witness in which you demonstrated the antithesis of compassion and care for clergy sex abuse survivors and once again we are asking for an apology reason for second request writing as the president of the largest protestant denomination in the country you labeled those who were speaking in the media about baptist clergy sex abuse as nothing more than opportunistic persons as was noted in ethicsdaily at the time the only group that was publicly speaking out about baptist clergy sex abuse was our organization snap whose members are for the most part people who were molested and raped by clergy when they were children your words were extremely hurtful set a terrible example and helped to foster within your faith group a climate of hostility toward clergy abuse survivors we are still hoping that someday you will understand the harm of what you wrote and will make a public apology which we would be happy to receive conclusion data gathered by the associated press demonstrated that clergy sex abuse is not only a catholic problem but also a huge problem for protestants if the sbc persists in denominational do nothingness we predict that the next spotlight style exposé will be focused on the nation s largest protestant denomination the southern baptist convention before that time comes we earnestly implore you to at least take the step of creating a safe place for denominationally receiving clergy abuse reports __________________________ reported by baptist news global victims group asks southern baptists to create safe place for reporting sexual abuse june 3 2016 posted by christa brown at 8 46 am sunday april 17 2016 what s wrong with the sexual predation resolution in anticipation of the southern baptist convention s june 14 16 annual meeting in st louis pastor bart barber of farmersville texas has floated a proposed resolution on sexual predation in the southern baptist convention in explaining his reason barber wrote what drives me to submit this resolution is my concern that the worst days of church sexual misconduct may be ahead of us rather than behind us i believe barber is probably right that the worst days of clergy sex scandals may be ahead for baptists because they don t yet seem to have learned the needed lessons from past scandals and i applaud barber for his apparent recognition that baptists do indeed have a dire problem however i don t think for one second that barber s resolution will actually bring about any significant change in how the southern baptist convention deals with clergy sex abuse here s why 1 what s being proposed is a resolution nothing more it s just talk a resolution doesn t actually do anything it was almost 10 years ago that snap wrote its first letters to top sbc officials requesting specific action and action is still what s needed it is not enough not nearly enough to simply resolve that things should be better 2 while the resolution generically expresses disapproval of churches that have acted in ways to prevent victims or others from reporting sexual abuse the fact of the matter remains that the sbc provides no denominational mechanism by which survivors may safely report clergy abuse and church cover ups with any realistic hope of being compassionately and objectively heard by continuing to insist that clergy abuse survivors must go to the church of the accused pastor the denomination itself institutionally discourages the reporting of clergy abuse and assures that most of the time denominational officials will not even have to feel the discomfort of hearing about clergy abuse and cover ups cases that make it into the media are the bare tip of the iceberg if the sbc wants to express disapproval of churches that have acted in ways to prevent people from reporting instances of sexual abuse then it must start by being willing to institutionally hear the voices of those who are trying to tell about such instances and that would require a system by which survivors could make a report to a safe place office staffed by people with the training experience objectivity and professionalism to at least receive them with compassion and care 3 while the resolution affirms the role of proper authorities in investigating sexual abuse allegations it gives no consideration to the reality that the vast majority of clergy sex abuse claims cannot be criminally prosecuted often because of church cover ups in the past and it makes no mention of how the sbc should deal with the many clergy abuse survivors who even when their claims cannot be criminally prosecuted would nevertheless seek to report their claims within the faith group in the hope of protecting others 4 while the resolution cites 1 timothy 5 with its call for public rebuke of sin on the part of elders the resolution itself does not even attempt to actually make any rebuke of any church pastor deacon or minister denominational entities have disfellowshipped churches for having women pastors and for being too welcoming of gay people but i am unaware of any instance in which the sbc has ever disfellowshipped a church on the basis of a clergy sex abuse cover up so rather than a toothless resolution it would be far more meaningful if this were an actual motion to rebuke or disfellowship a specific church based on a clergy sex abuse cover up the prominent dallas megachurch prestonwood would be a good place to start thanks to the enormous efforts of snap member amy smith it was finally brought to light as reported in several news sources that prestonwood church officials had not reported child molestation allegations involving a staff minister john langworthy but rather had allowed him to move on to another church essentially unleashing him into the denomination at large where he was able to continue in a position of leadership with children it was only years later after more than two years of effort on smith s part and with no help from prestonwood or the sbc that langworthy finally pled guilty on multiple molestation charges in mississippi not only did prestonwood officials including senior pastor jack graham fail to make kids safety a priority at the time and not only have they shown no public remorse since then but in a ...