Research once again shows that confidence in organized religion remains at all-time lows. But what the numbers don’t reveal is the toll that the erosion of reputation and relevance has had on churches and ministers throughout the decline. It’s often described as an astonishing and disturbing experience.
SBC’s new reporting process again fails clergy sex abuse survivors. What’s needed is an independent review panel
The SBC Credentials Committee has recklessly ignored the long history of churches inflicting dreadful, additional harm on those who report abusive clergy. Its new reporting process is not even a safe process, much less an effective one.
Al Mohler to be nominated for president of Southern Baptist Convention
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler tweeted Thursday afternoon that he is willing to be nominated next June as president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Was it rape? Comment about David and Bathsheba sparks debate of biblical proportions
Abuse survivor and victims’ advocate Rachael Denhollander said a lot at last week’s Caring Well Conference sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, but perhaps nothing grabbed attention like her advice to use care when interpreting Bible stories such as the Old Testament tale of David and Bathsheba.
Caring well? Speaker says Baptist Press reported abuse disclosure as a consensual affair
The official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention “trampled on” an abuse survivor who trusted her denomination to tell her story well, a speaker revealed during the closing session of last week’s “Caring Well” conference on the church’s response to sexual abuse.
Caring well? Expert berates Southern Baptists for ignoring sexual abuse
A former prosecutor and grandson of Billy Graham focused for the last 16 years on investigating allegations of clergy sexual abuse in evangelical churches shamed the Southern Baptist Convention for failing to act on abuse in its own ranks until prodded by the secular press.
Man accused of molesting children in church bathroom faces additional charges
A former church volunteer allegedly caught on security video last year molesting preschoolers in a bathroom at a South Carolina megachurch faces new charges in a grand jury indictment handed down Aug. 1.
Clergy sex abuse: the damage done when faith is weaponized
When Bible verses, prayer, hymns, faith, God-talk and church rituals are perverted into weapons for sexual assault and then hammered into shields for church cover-ups, they become neurologically networked with trauma, and this renders them polluted and often toxic for the survivors.
Former Southern Baptist official charged with sexual assault pleads guilty to lesser crime
A former Southern Baptist missionary and denominational worker on Tuesday pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault 11 years after the denomination’s International Mission Board substantiated allegations of sexual abuse against him but did not report it the police.