Baptist News Global
Sections
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • Storytelling
    • Faith & Justice >
      • Charleston: Metanoia with Bill Stanfield
      • Charlotte: QC Family Tree with Greg and Helms Jarrell
      • Little Rock: Judge Wendell Griffen
      • North Carolina: Conetoe
    • Welcoming the Stranger >
      • Lost Boys of Sudan: St. John’s Baptist Charlotte
      • Awakening to Immigrant Justice: Myers Park Baptist Church
      • Hospitality on the corner: Gaston Christian Center
    • Signature Ministries >
      • Jake Hall: Gospel Gothic, Music and Radio
    • Singing Our Faith >
      • Hymns for a Lifetime: Ken Wilson and Knollwood Baptist Church
      • Norfolk Street Choir
    • Resilient Rural America >
      • Alabama: Perry County
      • Texas: Hidalgo County
      • Arkansas Delta
      • Southeast Kentucky
  • More
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donate
    • Associated Baptist Press Foundation
    • Planned Giving
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Advertising
    • Ministry Jobs and More
    • Transitions
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions and Permissions
Donate Subscribe
Search Search this site

Clergy sex abuse and ‘the silence of the many’

OpinionChrista Brown  |  January 21, 2013

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 countless stories of Baptist clergy sex abuse, we have seen the sad truth of King’s words made manifest. Even with childhood histories of horrific abuse – of having been molested, raped and sodomized by Baptist preachers – many have said that the worst of their experience came when they tried to tell about the abuse within the faith community.

That was when they faced “the silence of the many.”

That was when the relational fabric of community, and often even of family, was torn asunder.

That was when faith itself was deemed a fraud.

Church after church has stood, not in solidarity with those who have been abused by clergy, but rather, with the accused minister-molesters. Often, the churches have stood with the ministers even when they admit their soul-murdering deeds, and sometimes even when they have been criminally convicted.

Church leaders have quietly allowed accused preacher-predators – even those with multiple accusations — to hop to new churches – and to do so repeatedly.

Denominational leaders have sat back and claimed powerlessness. Simultaneously, they have stayed silent about Baptist pastors, including some high-profile pastors, who kept quiet about abuse allegations involving ministerial staff.

The unmistakable message of so much silence and do-nothingness is that, among Baptists, clergy sex abuse is typically treated as “no big deal.”

No one in Baptistland wants to hear the voices of those who were sexually abused by Baptist clergy. Indeed, in the Southern Baptist Convention, there does not even exist a basic structure to support the compassionate hearing of such wounded people. Instead, they are told that they must take their allegations to the church of the accused minister. This is like telling bloody sheep that, if they want help, they must go to the den of the wolf who savaged them. It is a system that does not work.

But no one in denominational offices will take responsibility for assuring that clergy abuse allegations will be responsibly heard, or even that any records will be kept.

As a practical matter, because the vast majority of molestation allegations cannot be criminally prosecuted, a Southern Baptist preacher can stand in a pulpit so long as he is not literally sitting in prison. There is no denominational entity that will stop him. Even when a minister has hopped through multiple churches in multiple states with multiple allegations, Southern Baptist denominational entities pretend that it is better to not know — to not even try to know.

Denominational leaders claim that their hands are tied by the congregationalist polity of Southern Baptist churches. In effect, they assert an “it’s our religion” rationalization for denominational do-nothingness.

However, some have realized that this is not truly a stance based on religion. Rather, it is based on the weighing of “responsibility and liability issues.” In effect, it’s a business decision. As David Roozen, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary, recently explained: “If the organizing body of a denomination claims no responsibility for supervising, or even ordaining clergy, it may be harder to hold it responsible when a pastor molests a child.”

Southern Baptist leaders have weighed these “responsibility and liability” issues and have come down on the side of seeking to protect denominational entities via a do-nothing response. Other major faith groups – including congregationalist faith groups – have come down on the side of seeking to protect church kids via the implementation of denominational review boards to assess abuse allegations. Such review boards can at least provide a first step toward denominationally hearing the voices of those abused by clergy.

But for Southern Baptists, this first step remains untaken. They stand on an island of inertia.

The result is that Baptist church kids are being ravaged, not only by the sexual abuse of many ministers, but also by the denomination’s complicit silence. The rationalization by which the denomination cloaks its do-nothingness is of little consequence, and this is true even when that rationalization is called “religion.”

The end of power remains the same — to protect the continuation of the status quo. If Southern Baptists want to responsibly engage their faith with respect to clergy sex abuse, they must start by considering the silent complicity of their own church and denominational power structures. They must respond to this systemic problem from a position of compassion and care rather than from a position of power.

What better way for Baptists to honor a Baptist preacher’s timeless voice for justice than by committing to actively hear the voices of those brutalized by their own clergy and ostracized by their own complicity?

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)

OPINION: Views expressed in Baptist News Global columns and commentaries are solely those of the authors.
Tags:Southern Baptist ConventionSexual AbuseBaptist PolityCommentaries
More by
Christa Brown
  • Get BNG headlines in your inbox

  • Featured

    • How to fix anemic U.S. rural health care? Learn from Africa and look to the churches, Birx says

      News

    • Let’s reclaim the real Baptist identity

      Opinion

    • Gay Christian man says he was kicked off BWA commissions

      News

    • Faith-based immigration advocates hopeful about new bill in Congress

      News


    Curated

    • Playing a religious character without making faith the punchline

      Playing a religious character without making faith the punchline

    • Jewish settlers erect religious school in evacuated West Bank outpost after Israel repeals ban

      Jewish settlers erect religious school in evacuated West Bank outpost after Israel repeals ban

    • How the practice of Nichiren Buddhism sustained Tina Turner for 50 years

      How the practice of Nichiren Buddhism sustained Tina Turner for 50 years

    • Connecticut lawmakers absolve accused colonial-era witches, apologize for “miscarriage of justice”

      Connecticut lawmakers absolve accused colonial-era witches, apologize for “miscarriage of justice”

    Read Next:

    Focus on the Family affiliate is the unifying force behind campaign to restrict transgender rights

    AnalysisSteve Rabey

    More Articles

    • All
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Curated
    • Faith-based immigration advocates hopeful about new bill in Congress

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Coalition urges White House not to overlook Black immigrants

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Working and waiting with people and plants

      OpinionBob Newell

    • Gay Christian man says he was kicked off BWA commissions

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Let’s reclaim the real Baptist identity

      OpinionJustin L. Addington

    • Southwestern trustees affirm their leadership and repudiate two trustees who raised alarms

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • How to fix anemic U.S. rural health care? Learn from Africa and look to the churches, Birx says

      NewsElizabeth Souder

    • To the mother who complained about Amanda Gorman’s poem

      OpinionRobert P. Sellers

    • Medical professionals address myths and misconceptions about transgender kids

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Focus on the Family affiliate is the unifying force behind campaign to restrict transgender rights

      AnalysisSteve Rabey

    • Opal Lee may be the ‘Grandmother of Juneteenth,’ but she’s not done working for justice yet

      NewsMallory Challis

    • Rising from the ashes: God’s empowering message for displaced women

      OpinionRosaly Guzman

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • How the Progressive National Baptist Convention plans to put faith into action

      OpinionDarryl Gray

    • Believe me: The struggle of Black pain

      OpinionZachary Barber

    • They’ll know we are Christians by our what?

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • U.S. Department of Education issues guidance on religious expression in schools

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • How to celebrate Pentecost without balloons, plastic doves or salsa

      OpinionJack Levison

    • Ten Commandments bill dies in Texas Legislature

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • The generational pain and hope of the Southern Baptist witch trials

      OpinionWill Raybon

    • Leader of Assemblies of God student group at Baylor arrested on child sexual abuse charges

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • BJC and Interfaith Alliance applaud first-ever national strategy to counter antisemitism

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Why demographic shifts haven’t yet swamped the Republican Party

      OpinionRobert P. Jones

    • Tina Turner kept the divine flame burning

      OpinionJustin Cox

    • Remembering Bob Seymour: Being wise as serpents and harmless as doves

      OpinionCurtis Freeman

    • Faith-based immigration advocates hopeful about new bill in Congress

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Coalition urges White House not to overlook Black immigrants

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Gay Christian man says he was kicked off BWA commissions

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Southwestern trustees affirm their leadership and repudiate two trustees who raised alarms

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • How to fix anemic U.S. rural health care? Learn from Africa and look to the churches, Birx says

      NewsElizabeth Souder

    • Medical professionals address myths and misconceptions about transgender kids

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Opal Lee may be the ‘Grandmother of Juneteenth,’ but she’s not done working for justice yet

      NewsMallory Challis

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • U.S. Department of Education issues guidance on religious expression in schools

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Ten Commandments bill dies in Texas Legislature

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Leader of Assemblies of God student group at Baylor arrested on child sexual abuse charges

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • BJC and Interfaith Alliance applaud first-ever national strategy to counter antisemitism

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • New documentary series shows how churches that close can keep ministry open

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Southwestern Seminary trustees called to special meeting next Tuesday

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Transitions for the week of 5-26-23

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • 8-year-old’s death in CBP custody highlights Biden’s ‘system of death,’ immigration advocates say

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Evangelical worldview ministries seek to promote ‘proper’ thoughts, beliefs and actions

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • Here’s another angle to corporate DEI work: Increased support for ‘faith friendly’ workplaces

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Amid Sudan war and elsewhere, water scarcity threatens lives

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Gap widens on American confidence in vaccines

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Seven graphs that show the state of American religious attendance today

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Tim Keller was a really nice guy, but that wasn’t enough for everyone

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • In Mozambique, informal economies are springing up around Pentecostal pilgrimages

      NewsDegracias Kalimo

    • Immigration advocates continue to rip Biden administration for betrayal of campaign promises 

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Working and waiting with people and plants

      OpinionBob Newell

    • Let’s reclaim the real Baptist identity

      OpinionJustin L. Addington

    • To the mother who complained about Amanda Gorman’s poem

      OpinionRobert P. Sellers

    • Rising from the ashes: God’s empowering message for displaced women

      OpinionRosaly Guzman

    • How the Progressive National Baptist Convention plans to put faith into action

      OpinionDarryl Gray

    • Believe me: The struggle of Black pain

      OpinionZachary Barber

    • They’ll know we are Christians by our what?

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • How to celebrate Pentecost without balloons, plastic doves or salsa

      OpinionJack Levison

    • The generational pain and hope of the Southern Baptist witch trials

      OpinionWill Raybon

    • Why demographic shifts haven’t yet swamped the Republican Party

      OpinionRobert P. Jones

    • Tina Turner kept the divine flame burning

      OpinionJustin Cox

    • Remembering Bob Seymour: Being wise as serpents and harmless as doves

      OpinionCurtis Freeman

    • Here’s why Ron DeSantis has gone to war with Disney

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • Yes, Tim Scott is a Black man, but he’s still promoting Christian nationalism

      OpinionRick Pidcock

    • Why ‘affirming’ churches need to speak up

      OpinionSusan M. Shaw, Senior Columnist

    • Five things Southern Baptists should do now to address clergy sex abuse

      OpinionChrista Brown and David Clohessy

    • Why we must be cautious about understanding what’s going on at Southwestern Seminary

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • On graduation and the priesthood of all believers

      OpinionVal Fisk

    • Here’s how to force SBC entities to be accountable to people in the pew about their finances

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • These are some of the best pastors I know

      OpinionJustin Cox

    • Worshiping guns, weaponizing God    

      OpinionScott Spreier

    • Of two minds: Iain McGilchrist and the tyranny of left hemisphere religion

      OpinionAlan Bean

    • Faith freedom for all calls for justice and reconciliation

      OpinionSabrina Dent

    • The lion, the witch-hunt and the boardroom: Reflections 30 years after the harrowing of Southern Seminary

      OpinionBrad Bull

    • Is our ever-changing worship music giving us spiritual amnesia?

      OpinionJason Koon

    • Playing a religious character without making faith the punchline

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Jewish settlers erect religious school in evacuated West Bank outpost after Israel repeals ban

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • How the practice of Nichiren Buddhism sustained Tina Turner for 50 years

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Connecticut lawmakers absolve accused colonial-era witches, apologize for “miscarriage of justice”

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • ‘Avatar’ Franchise Expands Ideas About Spirituality Beyond A Western, Christian Lens

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Catholic Church in California grapples with more than 3,000 lawsuits, alleging child sex abuse

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Canadian Christians Launch Collective for Climate Action

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • As ‘The Marvelous Mrs Maisel’ ends, will its Jewish legacy be more than a punchline?

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • US Slavic Churches Booming with Ukrainian War Refugees

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • What is ‘ethical AI’ and how can companies achieve it?

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Russia acknowledges Vatican peace initiative, says no steps yet for a mission to Moscow

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • What we need to understand is that fascism is intersectional and erotic — ’thy rod is thy gun,’ with a hip-thrust

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Our Beloved Ones Don’t Become Angels When They Die

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Turkey’s Christian Sites: Visiting The Seven Churches From The Book Of Revelation

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Firewalkers in Greece honor Saint Constantine in mystery-shrouded, centuries-old rituals

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • In fight against ‘tyranny,’ Michigan board declares itself ‘constitutional county’

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Montana acts to protect Native American priority in adopting Native children

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • A new documentary takes a deep dive into the ancient and modern practice of Sabbath

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Priest killed in Mexico; 9th slain in country in past 4 years

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Fewer Christians Know Families Who Foster or Adopt

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Wikipedia disciplines editors in Holocaust distortion dispute but sidesteps debate over Polish complicity

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Religious broadcasters seek to reverse California law aimed at quelling online hate speech

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Second Christian Conscientious Objector Given Jail Sentence In Ukraine

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • UK report finds Britons’ lack of faith knowledge deeply disturbing

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • When faith says to help migrants – and the law says don’t

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    Conversations that Matter.

    © 2023 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.

    Want to share a story? We hope you will! Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here.

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • RSS