As the Southern Baptist Convention prepares for its annual gathering next week in Indianapolis, few in the abuse survivor community hold any expectation that it will make meaningful progress toward protecting kids and congregants against clergy sex abuse. It’s now…
Abuse survivors press Missouri attorney general to do more
Three women abused as children at Christian reform schools in rural Southern Missouri publicly urged other victims and witnesses to come forward about their ordeals ahead of a major abuse trial scheduled for the fall. “We just want anyone who…
Twelve things the SBC should do now to address clergy sex abuse
The four of us have watched with dismay as Southern Baptist Convention officials repeatedly proclaim “progress” on sexual abuse reform while, at the same time, taking 10 steps backward. They bail with a thimble — and make a show of…
Will Southern Baptists give abuse survivors stones for bread?
As the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention approaches next week in New Orleans, one line from the Gospel of Matthew keeps rising in our minds: “Who is there among you, who, if his son asks for bread, will…
Five things Southern Baptists should do now to address clergy sex abuse
Seventeen years ago, the two of us wrote to Southern Baptist Convention officials, urging creation of a denominational database of pastors criminally convicted or credibly accused of sexual abuse. “Moral obligation demands it,” we said. That moral obligation still stands…
Lawyers must pursue Baptist predators and enablers
First, in 1985, came attorneys who began filing lawsuits on behalf of those who were sexually assaulted as children by Catholic clerics. Much later came prosecutors who slowly started to pursue criminal prosecutions. Then, even later, came grand juries and attorneys…
Progress on sexual abuse in the SBC? Not so fast
As Russian tanks, troops and bombs poured into Ukraine, imagine if President Joe Biden had announced to the world: “This is shocking. We pledge to help Ukrainians save their lives and freedom for one year. Next year, though, we may…
Abuse survivors cry foul over ERLC’s end-of-year fund-raising appeal
Leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests criticized a Southern Baptist Convention entity’s fund-raising appeal that touts the denomination’s response to the scourge of sexual abuse in the church as “misleading and insensitive” to victims.
Abuse victim advocates pledge to keep fighting for reform in the Southern Baptist Convention
While Southern Baptist Convention messengers inside the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex took first steps to punish churches that enable sexual abuse, survivors relegated to a sidewalk outside the meeting hall demanded a system to make it harder for clergy predators to move from church to church.