HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle
June 8, 2019
By Christa Brown
The “Abuse of Faith” series documented at least 700 people who reported having being sexually abused by Southern Baptist clergy and church leaders. Nearly all of them were children at the time they were abused.
Since the Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News first published the series in February, more than 350 others have contacted the investigative reporters with additional stories of abuse and cover-ups among Southern Baptists.
These stories stand as a collective testament to a chilling reality. For decades, Southern Baptist pastors have been sexually abusing kids, and all the while, other Southern Baptist leaders have known and turned a blind eye. This has been the status quo in the Southern Baptist Convention.
But now, the dam is broken, and there is hope in that.
As the pent-up waters of long-silenced voices continue to rise, the Southern Baptist Convention must choose a higher ground.
The old way was always unholy – shaming and blaming victims while denying and minimizing the problem. Now the old way is also institutionally untenable.
With decades of entrenched patterns to confront, the SBC will not meet this challenge with any feeble half measures. Nor will it meet this challenge with resolutions, platitudes, image-polishing press statements, or pious preaching.
Rather, this massive institutional enabling of horror must be addressed on an equally massive institutional scale.
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