Southern Baptists reject sex-abuse database
June 10th, 2008 @ 4:45pm
By ERIC GORSKI
AP Religion Writer
This is incomprehensible that a denomination wracked with pastors, teachers,
choir leaders, youth pastors and members engaged in child abuse, homosexuality,
fornication, adultery, and abortion – Will not create a database that Pastors
and church boards can view when one has committed such grievous sin in one
congregation can just up and move and set up shop in another congregation.
When the
Roman Catholics had these same things occur within their ranks, many fundamentalists
cheered and jeered them. We wrote at the time hearing from the Lord that
Evangelicals, Fundamentalist, Pentecostal churches and denominations had many
of the same vile and wicked people enter into their ranks, except they have
been more successful until the last 2-3 years to cover up these events.
The pressure
to fight child abuse within Southern Baptist Ranks demonstrates how much has
been occurring, and has been hushed up.
We have come to a point that so much has been swept under the rug in
these churches no one can enter the building anymore. We see by the Spirit that
there shall indeed an explosion that will occur and that all that has been done
in darkness shall come rushing forth even as a pig being gutted and the stench
of all its innards and their contents come pouring forth.
And this
shall occur not among just the Southern Baptist convention but across the
spectrum of Evangelical, Fundamentalist, and even Pentecostal denominations
that have all become habitations of every foul bird even as it is written in The
Book of Revelation.
For even as
you long ago turn your back upon Me saith the Lord so
I have now turned my back against you, and am against you and all that you
confess, profess, teach and preach. For you have declared yourselves as being
the guardians and upholders of My Written Word, but indeed this has not at all
been the case. For ye have instead followed after your own devices and your own
will and desires and created false doctrines, and false traditions that indeed
subvert My words. You teach of yourselves lies and
have stood in the way and prevented a people from entering into a deeper more
personal relationship with Me lest they should at
anytime hear My voice – and your deeds be revealed. Thou art in the balance in this day and hour
and I declare thou art found wanting. All the goodness of thy father’s fathers
and the great antecedents is no more to hold back my hand in judgment against
your churches and denominations both here and in the nations. Behold I will
kindle the fire of my wrath against thee and all thy works that thou hast
boasted of shall be burned up in an instant testifying of the wood hay and
stubble of the earth and flesh it was constructed of. Repent and cleanse yourselves
for the day of your visitation draws neigh.
The report decried sexual abuse as reprehensible and a sin. But the Southern
Baptist principle of local church autonomy means it's up to individual churches
_ and not the convention _ to screen employees and take action against
offenders, the committee said.
Opening its two-day annual meeting, the nation's largest Protestant body
also elected a new president,
Hunt, 55, prevailed in a crowded field of six _ winning 53 percent of the
vote on the first ballot _ and will seek to reverse troubling trends, including
a decline in membership.
The clergy sexual abuse scandal that struck the U.S.
Roman Catholic Church starting in 2002 has also touched the Southern Baptist
Convention, although to a much lesser degree. The past two years have
seen a few high-profile allegations against Baptist clergy, and a key victims'
advocate in the Catholic crisis, the Survivors Network of those Abused by
Priests, began lobbying the Baptists.
In 2006, an executive committee panel began studying how to address the
issue. Then, last year,
The executive committee report, "Responding to the Evil of Sexual
Abuse," urges churches to conduct background checks using a U.S.
Department of Justice database of sexual offenders.
But it rejected establishing a new Southern Baptist database, arguing it
would be impossible to build a comprehensive list. Referring churches to a more
exhaustive federal database is better than a limited "Baptist only"
system that predators could slip through, it said.
The database idea also is undermined by the fact that the convention cannot
require churches to report instances of sexual abuse to local, state or
national conventions, the report said.
Local church autonomy rules out creating a centralized investigative body to
determine who has been credibly accused of sexual abuse or anything else, it
said, and the convention has no authority to bar known perpetrators from
ministry or start an office to field abuse claims.
The report made clear that sexual abuse is a serious threat, and urged local
congregations to vigorously check out employees and share information when
warranted with other churches.
"One sexual predator in our midst is one too many," said Morris
Chapman, president of the SBC executive committee. "Sexual predators must
be stopped. They must be on notice that Southern Baptists are not a harvest
field for their devious deeds."
The vastly different approaches taken by U.S. Catholic
bishops and Baptist leaders illustrates the differences in the two
traditions. As a hierarchy, the Catholic church
adopted a much more top-down approach, establishing standards for the reporting
and handling of sexual abuse claims and holding individual dioceses accountable
through audits.
Christa Brown, SNAP's Baptist outreach director,
rejected the argument about local church authority and questioned the
convention's commitment to taking the problem seriously.
"Having a review board that would assess the credibility of allegations
against clergy could be a great resource for local churches, especially small
churches," Brown said. "It doesn't step on the toes of local
churches. It helps local churches."
Burleson, who proposed the SBC database be considered, questioned whether
local church autonomy should matter in putting together a database of
offenders.
"A database is only information," he said. "What a church
does with that information is their decision."
Frank Page, the outgoing SBC president, called the report on abuse a
"home run." Anyone questioning the convention's commitment to
fighting child sexual abuse need only look to its Web site, which has a
prominent link to information about preventing the problem, he said.
Page, of
The ease of Hunt's election was surprising. With an unusually large field, a
runoff was expected. He is a Lumbee Indian, a North
Carolina-based tribe. SBC officials could not immediately confirm whether he is
the denomination's first Native American president.
At a news conference, Hunt said radical change and leadership was needed to
"turn the tide in our denomination." After five decades of declining
growth, the SBC reported an actual drop in membership _ a decrease of about
40,000 people from 2006 to 2007. Seven out of the last eight years, baptisms
have decreased, a more important statistic to many
Southern Baptists than membership.
Hunt said he would try to unite Baptist around common causes and use his
experience mentoring younger pastors to reach out to a younger generation.
"We come across almost only for what we're against when there's so many wonderful things we're for," Hunt said.