UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press
Should churches, denominations bear responsibility for unethical clergy? Some ethicists say yes.
By Vicki Brown
Ministers are responsible for their actions as individuals, sometimes by civil authorities and ultimately by God. But what responsibility, if any, should the local church and the denomination bear for unethical behavior of their pastors and other church ministers?
That question is difficult for religious bodies that follow a congregational form of governance and that stance has become the primary basis for refusal by many groups, including many Baptist denominations, to compile lists of ministers caught in unethical or immoral behavior, particularly sexual misconduct.
Establishing an organization-wide procedure is more difficult for denominations without a hierarchical structure, says ethicist Joe Trull. “As Baptists, we want to maintain our belief in local church autonomy and are hesitant to be viewed as telling churches what to do,” said the retired professor of Christian ethics at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and former editor of Christian Ethics Today magazine. “I think denominations could do more but they are so afraid of someone accusing them of exerting control.”
Healthy accountability structures within the local church are a way to minimize the possibility of clergy misconduct, says Daniel Darling, vice president for communications at the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. The pastor is placed under that accountability as a form of service to the congregation, Darling noted.
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