12 February 2019 - Decades of Sexual Abuse Revealed in Investigation of Southern Baptist Convention
Southern Baptist Leaders Promise ‘Change’ After Report Uncovers Rampant Sexual Abuse
Dominique Mosbergen (The Huffington Post, 11/02/2019)
Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, the second-largest faith group in the U.S., have vowed real “change” in the aftermath of a damning investigative report by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News that uncovered decades of sexual abuse by hundreds of church leaders and volunteers.
According to the three-part investigation, the first installment of which was published on Sunday, about 380 Southern Baptist pastors, ministers, youth pastors, Sunday school teachers, deacons and church volunteers have faced allegations of sexual misconduct since 1998. More than 200 of them have been convicted or took plea deals, the newspapers reported, and nearly 100 are currently in prisons across the nation.
The victims of the accused number more than 700, the report said. They include teenagers and children, some as young as 3, who were “molested or raped inside pastors’ studies and Sunday school classrooms.”
‘Pure evil’: Southern Baptist leaders condemn decades of sexual abuse revealed in investigation
Kristine Phillips and Amy B Wang (The Washington Post, 10/02/2019)
“20 years, 700 victims”
So reads part of the headline of a sweeping investigation that has found years of sexual abuse perpetrated by hundreds of Southern Baptist church leaders against an even larger number of victims.
The Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News reported that nearly 400 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have faced sexual misconduct allegations in the past two decades. As many as 700 victims — some as young as 3 — were sexually abused, some raped and molested repeatedly, according to the report.
380 Southern Baptist leaders and volunteers accused of sexual misconduct
Daniel Burke (CNN, 11/02/2019)
Since 1998, about 380 Southern Baptist leaders and volunteers have faced allegations of sexual misconduct, according to a sweeping investigation by two Texas newspapers.
The Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News also found that in the past 20 years, more than 700 victims have been abused, with some urged to have abortions and forgive their abusers.
The newspapers said their investigation included "examining federal and state court databases, prison records and official documents from more than 20 states and by searching sex offender registries nationwide."
Southern Baptist Church Sexual Abuse Database Reveals Hundreds of Convicted Predators Among Leaders
Benjamin Fearnow (Newsweek, 10/02/2019)
Two Texas newspapers compiled a database of more than 200 sexual abuse offenders and 700 victims within the Southern Baptist Church despite decades of convention leaders refusing demands to create such a list themselves.
The Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News collected the mug shots and sexual abuse reports of hundreds of Southern Baptist church leaders from the past two decades. More than 220 leaders, including ministers, pastors and Sunday school teachers from the Southern Baptist Convention's 47,000 churches have been convicted of sex crimes, which included disturbing and heart-wrenching anecdotes of church affiliates raping young children.