Most people wouldn’t accept excuses from a company whose product caused serious injuries to children. So why do people accept evasive explanations from a Baptist denomination for clergy sex abuse?
Clergy sex abuse: why the SBC’s ‘studying it’ response isn’t enough
For far too long, officials of the country’s largest Protestant denomination have done nearly nothing to effectively address clergy sex abuse. The time for action is long overdue, and the SBC’s version of “studying it” does not suffice.
Change is coming to Baptistland
By Christa Brown Last Saturday in Florida, a unanimous jury awarded $12.5 million to a man who, as a child, was sexually abused by a Southern Baptist minister. Significantly, this verdict was assessed, not only against the local church, but…
Why Paige Patterson’s anti-outsider stance is wrong
By Christa Brown Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary president Paige Patterson preaches that churches should resolve their conflicts internally and should not take them to “the world of unbelief.” This means, he explains, that when a person has been “offended ……
When will SBC address clergy sex abuse?
While other major faith groups have recognized the need for clergy accountability mechanisms, Southern Baptists persist in denominational do-nothingness.
Baptists should heed mother’s plea
By Christa Brown A mother, who says her son was repeatedly molested by a minister at one of the Southern Baptist Convention’s largest churches, claims the church needs to come clean about a cover-up of child sexual abuse. “I want…
Clergy sex abuse and ‘the silence of the many’
By Christa Brown “True evil lies not in the depraved act of the one, but in the silence of the many.” On this day, I am contemplating these words, attributed to a black Baptist preacher, Martin Luther King Jr. In…
When will SBC address clergy sex abuse?
By Christa Brown The Southern Baptist Convention is convening its annual ballyhoo in New Orleans this week, but it doesn’t look as though they will make any progress on protecting kids against clergy sex abuse. Since 2006, clergy abuse survivors,…
Words alone won’t stop Baptist predators
By Christa Brown Penn State has hired former FBI director and federal judge Louis Freeh to investigate gaps in how the university handled allegations of child sex crimes involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky. To assist him in the task,…