The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has been dealing with the issue of sexual abuse by clergy for several years. In 2022, the convention passed a resolution apologizing to abuse survivors and authorized reforms, including the creation of a database of credibly accused church workers. However, prominent survivors and advocates have largely given up trying to bring about change in the SBC after witnessing what they view as increasingly faltering efforts toward reform.

Downplaying the Issue

Prominent Southern Baptists, including the newly elected president, Florida pastor Willy Rice, are promoting the view that although sexual abuse has occurred in the SBC, it never rose to a “crisis” level. Rice has portrayed the 2022 report by consultant Guidepost Solutions as a “snipe hunt” and said some people with political motives “weaponized” the issue against the large, conservative denomination.

Texas megachurch pastor Jack Graham, a former SBC president, similarly denied there was ever a “systemic sexual abuse crisis” in the denomination. Graham recently posted on social media that the whole thing was a “reckless hoax” which has cost the SBC millions of dollars and immeasurable damage to its reputation.

Survivors’ Response

For survivors, such words are traumatizing but not surprising. Tiffany Thigpen, a survivor who attended the 2022 annual meeting to advocate for reform, has avoided recent meetings. Christa Brown, a survivor of sexual abuse by an SBC pastor and longtime advocate for reforms, said that if anyone was politicizing the abuse issue, it was people involved in SBC power struggles, not the victims.

Brown added that there is no place within the SBC where someone who was sexually abused by a pastor or church worker can safely report it and get a proper response. The convention’s 2022 annual meeting authorized a database of church workers credibly accused of sexual abuse, but the task force was later discontinued without creating the database, due in part to liability concerns.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.