A former campus minister serving an Assemblies of God organization on the campus of Baylor University was arrested May 23 on charges of continuous sexual abuse of two children in his charge. Waco, Texas, TV station KWTX reported Christopher Hundl,…
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…
Missouri bill to increase statute of limitations for child sexual abuse victims dies in Senate
A bipartisan bill to extend the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse victims by 10 years has died in the Missouri Senate, despite being passed unanimously in the state’s House of Representatives. House Bill 367 was sponsored by Rep….
SBC presidential candidate describes his church as ‘the strictest of the strict complementarians’
A Georgia pastor making a second attempt to become president of the Southern Baptist Convention described his congregation as “the strictest of the strict complementarians” and said he wishes all SBC churches were as well. “I don’t think that every…
Donald Trump is not the kind of star he thinks he is
Donald Trump did not appear at his trial in New York City, where he was accused of raping and defaming author E. Jean Carroll. He did testify under oath, however, in a deposition with Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, at Mar-a-Lago…
Cedarville University reckons with abuse allegations — again
After a woman stabbed a man on campus early this year, claiming he threatened her life, Cedarville University has been grappling with concern on campus about broader issues of sexual harassment and violence. In February, a female student at Cedarville…
SBC Executive Committee rejects nominee for president
In an unprecedented historical moment, trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee have rejected — by a wide margin — the nominee to become president of the powerful SBC coordinating group. Jared Wellman, pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church…
A storm is brewing ahead of the purported nomination of an SBC Executive Committee president on Monday
This story was updated Sunday afternoon, April 30, to include information published by Baptist Press. The nominee to become president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has drawn public opposition over the weekend even before his nomination was publicly…
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…