It looks like the Southern Baptist Convention has not learned much from the Roman Catholic Church clergy abuse scandal/disaster. A victims' advocacy and support group on Monday asked Southern Baptist Convention leaders to seek input from outside experts and victims in developing a denomination-wide response to sexual abuse by clergy:In June SBC messengers referred a motion to the SBC Executive Committee requesting "a feasibility study concerning the development of a database of Southern Baptist clergy and staff who have been credibly accused of, personally confessed to, or legally been convicted of sexual harassment or abuse and that such a database be accessible to Southern Baptist churches."
"Baptist believers have spoken, and it is time for their leaders to listen," Christa Brown, Baptist outreach leader for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said in a sidewalk press conference outside SBC headquarters in Nashville, Tennesse.
Brown and Clohessy said there have been "far too many" reports over the last year of Baptist clergy sex abuse combined with church cover-ups, indicating that both victims and churches need help. SNAP has been urging the SBC to establish an objective review board to determine credible accusations and warn churches about predator preachers and respond compassionately to wounded victims.
Brown, a victim of sexual abuse by her Southern Baptist youth minister when she was a teenager in Texas, said afterward she was discouraged by the tone of the discussion. "It's very hurtful," she told EthicsDaily.com. "I wish people could know my motivation. I wish they could get the e-mails I get and the phone calls I get."
Since starting a Web site, Stop Baptist Predators, Brown said she has talked to "well over a hundred" survivors of clergy sex abuse, most who didn't know where else to turn. With her volunteer-produced and unfunded Web site getting such a response, she wondered how many more victims would come forward if the SBC put its influence and funding behind a similar project. Clohessy said it was "very sad" to hear "people that have tried to turn their personal pain into child protection so mischaracterized."
Since starting a Web site, Stop Baptist Predators, Brown said she has talked to "well over a hundred" survivors of clergy sex abuse, most who didn't know where else to turn. With her volunteer-produced and unfunded Web site getting such a response, she wondered how many more victims would come forward if the SBC put its influence and funding behind a similar project. Clohessy said it was "very sad" to hear "people that have tried to turn their personal pain into child protection so mischaracterized."
Based on the Catholic Church's conduct, it appears that the greater the resistance to standards and transparency, the greater the amount of abuse being hidden. Does the SBC have similar secrets that it is hiding? For more see: http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=9450
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