Church Abuse Needs a Better Response than Passing The Buck
Reflecting more on the SBC abuse scandal
A few days ago, I published a story concerning the ‘apocalyptic’ scandal currently raging across the Southern Baptist Convention.
Since then I have continued to read and reflect on this story, consuming numerous news stories, blogs and comment pieces, as well as monitoring the comments on my original Medium story. As the story continues to evolve, I want to offer some further reflections.
I won’t re-tread the original story. Hop over and read it if you missed it.
The report documents hundreds of cases of sexual abuse against children and adults. Sometimes, offenders could move from church to church, multiplying their victims. Those who tried to sound the alarm were silenced.
Key leaders in the SBC were more concerned with protecting their “brand reputation” than acting for the victims. Most worryingly to me, they repeatedly used polity — an unbending commitment to the autonomy of each local church — as a rationale…
