New report says abuse survivors were ‘ignored, disbelieved’ by leaders of US’s largest Protestant denomination.
Leaders of the United States’ largest Protestant denomination – Southern Baptists – for decades ignored or covered up sexual abuse allegations against top clergy, according to a new report.
Survivors repeatedly shared allegations with the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), only to be met with “resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility”, according to the report released on Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an independent firm contracted by the SBC following an outcry over the allegations and the prospect of the executive committee investigating its own conduct.
The report said the executive committee, which largely controlled the denomination’s response to any allegations, “were singularly focused on avoiding liability”.
“In service of this goal, survivors and others who reported abuse were ignored, disbelieved, or met with the constant refrain that the SBC could take no action due to its polity regarding church autonomy – even if it meant that convicted molesters continued in ministry with no notice or warning to their current church or congregation”, it said.
Those abused varied in age and included children, according to the report. Interviewed survivors “spoke of trauma from the initial abuse, but also told us of the debilitating effects that come from the response of the churches and institutions like the SBC that did not believe them, ignored them, mistreated them, and failed to help them”, the report....
English (US) ·