Top Southern Baptists plan to release secret list of abusers
United StatesAP Top administrative leaders for the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in America, said Tuesday that they will release a secret list of hundreds of pastors and other church-affiliated personnel accused of sexual abuse. An attorney for the SBC’s Executive Committee announced the decision during a virtual meeting called in response to […]
In the US, Southern Baptists face push for public list of sex abusers
United StatesAP A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Convention’s mishandling of sex abuse allegations is raising the prospect that the denomination, for the first time, will create a publicly accessible database of pastors and other church personnel known to be abusers. The creation of an “Offender Information System” was one of the key recommendations […]
Updated: Top Southern Baptists stonewalled sex abuse victims – US report
Updated: 8:45am, 24th May, 2022United StatesAP The Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee – and thousands of its rank-and-file members – now have opportunities to address a scathing investigative report that says top SBC leaders stonewalled and denigrated survivors of clergy sex abuse over two decades while seeking to protect their own reputations. The report, issued […]
Southern Baptist Executive Committee agrees to a resolution with Jennifer Lyell
Nashville, Tennessee, US RNS Southern Baptist leaders announced on Tuesday that they had reached a resolution with a sexual abuse survivor whose story was mishandled when she came forward in 2019. Jennifer Lyell, a former publishing executive for Lifeway Christian Resources, told Baptist Press in 2019 that she had experienced abuse for years at the […]
What to expect at this week’s Southern Baptist Executive Committee meeting
Nashville, Tennessee, USRNS After four months of relative peace and quiet, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee will meet this week, their first in-person gathering since a series of contentious meetings led to the resignation of more than a dozen committee members. The Nashville-based Executive Committee, which oversees the business of the nation’s largest Protestant […]
In the US, Tennessee pastor, first African American, named to key SBC post
Nashville, Tennessee, USAP Tennessee pastor Willie McLaurin has been named interim president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, becoming the first African American to lead one of the denomination’s ministry entities in its more than 175-year history. McLaurin’s appointment as one of the top administrators for the largest Protestant church body in […]
Southern Baptist leader resigns amid abuse review division
Nashville, Tennessee, USAP A top Southern Baptist Convention administrator is resigning after weeks of internal division over how best to handle an investigation into the denomination’s response to sexual abuse reports. Ronnie Floyd, president and CEO of the SBC’s executive committee, announced his departure Thursday in a statement critical of recent decisions related to the […]
Southern Baptist Convention’s lawyers to cut ties after vote to waive privilege
RNS The longtime general counsel for the Southern Baptist Convention has decided to cut ties with the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. The decision came after members of the SBC’s Nashville-based executive committee decided to waive attorney-client privilege as part of a sexual-abuse investigation. That decision means that records of conversations on legal matters among executive […]
Southern Baptist panel to open legal records for abuse probe
AP A top committee of the Southern Baptist Convention agreed Tuesday to open up legally protected records to investigators who will look into how it handled, or mishandled, cases of sexual abuse within the nation’s largest Protestant denomination over the past two decades. The third vote on the matter in less than three weeks by […]
In the US, Southern Baptist seminary heads join chorus of critics as leaders balk on abuse probe
RNS Pressure is building on members of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention to allow a third-party firm full access to investigate how it has handled allegations of sexual abuse over the past 20 years. This week, all six Southern Baptist seminaries expressed their dismay at the executive committee’s unwillingness to act. Logos […]