The movie “Spotlight” has received six Oscar nominations, including best picture, and on February 28 when the Oscars are presented, clergy sex abuse survivors all across the country will be watching and cheering. The story focuses on the Boston Globe…
Blogger concerned about controversial pastor’s SBC ties
By Bob Allen An Alabama Baptist pastor says Southern Baptists should be concerned about a new magazine expose alleging child sex abuse and cover-up in a church formerly led by a pastor with close ties to the denomination’s leaders. Rick…
Book documents molestation in conservative Baptist churches
By Bob Allen As the Oscar-nominated movie Spotlight shares the story of the Boston Globe’s 2001 expose of child molestation and cover up in the Catholic Church, a new book by a Baptist author makes the case that clergy sexual…
Tale of evangelical sex scandal hits Washington newsstands
By Bob Allen The story behind a sex-abuse scandal at an evangelical megachurch near Washington, D.C., kept out of court by a statute of limitations, has hit newsstands in a long-form story in the Washingtonian, a monthly lifestyle magazine read…
Lawsuit accuses once-admired evangelical family expert of sexual abuse
By Bob Allen A disgraced evangelical family expert accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing or harassing 10 women was an early proponent of ideas now part and parcel of the Baptist Faith and Message. A second amended complaint filed…
State Supreme Court reverses convictions of peeping preacher
By Bob Allen The Mississippi Supreme Court has reversed 10 of the 13 counts of a traveling Southern Baptist evangelist convicted three years ago of video voyeurism. Sam Nuckolls, a former youth camp pastor for LifeWay Christian Resources, was sentenced…
‘Frankly, this ruling is appropriate ….’
A couple weeks ago, the Georgia Baptist Convention held “its first-ever sexual abuse summit ” at First Baptist Church in Atlanta. So far so good, right? After all, it wasn’t so long ago that Southern Baptist officials were denying there…
Pastor charged with trafficking in police sting operation
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist pastor in South Dakota is being held by federal marshals in a county jail after he allegedly fell for a police sting operation by negotiating a deal with an undercover officer posing as a…
Church denies negligence in abuse lawsuit
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist church in Georgia denied allegations of negligence in a lawsuit alleging child sexual abuse by a former church volunteer later named as youth pastor. A civil lawsuit filed in Toombs County Superior Court alleges…
Former youth minister sentenced to prison
By Bob Allen A former Texas Baptist youth minister has been sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for enticing a 13-year-old girl into a nine-month sexual relationship in 2014. Derek Hutter, 38, pleaded guilty in June to enticing a girl…
Lawsuit says church’s abuse cover-up caused suicide
By Bob Allen A Texas Baptist church is facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit filed by parents claiming sexual abuse by a youth minster in the 1990s led to their son’s death by suicide. A lawsuit filed in Dallas County District…
Judge revokes bond for accused youth pastor
By Bob Allen A Texas Baptist pastor told an Alabama judge Sept. 14 that he knew that a worship pastor he hired in April was facing criminal sex charges, but he didn’t know how many. Steve Knott, pastor of First…