WINSTON-SALEM (NC)
Baptist News Global
October 18, 2017
By Bob Allen
A new lawsuit alleges that one of South Carolina’s largest and most respected Southern Baptist churches failed to report to police evidence of child sex abuse by a volunteer youth worker as required by law.
The lawsuit filed Oct. 10 in Richland County, S.C., claims a now 17-year-old teen identified under a pseudonym began attending First Baptist Church of Columbia, S.C., with family members when he was in elementary school.
When he was 11 and starting middle school, the youth says he began attending a Sunday night discussion group led by an adult volunteer who groomed the child and over time “gradually escalated his inappropriate and illegal activity” to include lewd text messages and “intentional touching.”
When informed of the messages, the lawsuit claims, church leaders did not turn over findings of their own investigation to law enforcement in compliance with a state law requiring certain professions, including clergy, to report information they receive in their professional capacity that gives them reason to believe a child has or may have suffered abuse or neglect.
A statement on the church website says the congregation became aware of the allegations last fall. An investigation by a church committee found the volunteer had violated church policies, and disciplinary action was taken. The volunteer no longer attends First Baptist, the statement says, and is prohibited from further contact with students.
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