People speak of hope as if it is this delicate, ephemeral thing made of whispers and spider’s webs. It’s not. Hope has dirt on her face, blood on her knuckles, the grit of the cobblestones in her hair, and just…
What Southern Baptists must do now to address clergy sex abuse
Editor’s note: After this article was published, the SBC Sexual Abuse Task Force pulled its June 1 set of recommendations from the website. Those recommendations eventually were replaced by an updated document June 8 that now exists in the same…
What the SBC should learn from the Ravi Zacharias tragedy
According to an investigative report released earlier this month, deceased celebrity evangelist Ravi Zacharias abused multiple women with “sexting, unwanted touching, spiritual abuse and rape.” The evidence is overwhelming. The details are stark and nauseating. Many have described the report…
SBC’s new reporting process again fails clergy sex abuse survivors. What’s needed is an independent review panel
The SBC Credentials Committee has recklessly ignored the long history of churches inflicting dreadful, additional harm on those who report abusive clergy. Its new reporting process is not even a safe process, much less an effective one.
Clergy sex abuse: the damage done when faith is weaponized
When Bible verses, prayer, hymns, faith, God-talk and church rituals are perverted into weapons for sexual assault and then hammered into shields for church cover-ups, they become neurologically networked with trauma, and this renders them polluted and often toxic for the survivors.
Sexual abuse in the SBC: what will it take to prompt meaningful action?
As Southern Baptists convene in Birmingham, we ask again: what will it take for denominational leaders to take meaningful action on clergy sexual abuse and the incalculable harm done to so many lives? Recent proposals are bare half-measures at best, with too many unknowns and too little transparency.
SBC’s sexual abuse study should include a probe of its own files on reported abuse
The Southern Baptist Convention purports to be studying the problem of clergy sexual abuse. But if the SBC is sincere about wanting to get a handle on this scandal and to understand its institutional failures, it should authorize an independent commission to delve into its files containing reports of abuse.
What’s wrong with the proposed sexual abuse amendment to the SBC constitution
By suggesting the need for prior judicial determinations, the workgroup set in place a remarkably high threshold for denominational action, effectively rendering even egregious cases outside the realm of inquiry.
Another alarm sounds on clergy sex abuse: Will Southern Baptist leaders just hit snooze again?
Sooner or later – and probably sooner – Southern Baptists will get their turn in the spotlight of still another media exposé on clergy sex abuse and cover-ups. When that happens, will anything change?