NASHVILLE (TN)
Tennessean [Nashville TN]
June 2, 2022
By Cameron Smith
I am a practicing Southern Baptist, and the dereliction of duty from SBC leadership over time has polluted the church’s ability to advance the gospel.
- USA TODAY Network Tennessee Columnist Cameron Smith is a Memphis-born, Brentwood-raised recovering political attorney raising three boys in Nolensville, Tennessee.
- Liability concerns tragically took the place of preserving the integrity of the SBC and its fellowship of churches.
- Dissolving the SBC as currently structured may be the only remedy.
- Individual churches making smart decisions are critically important, but the structural issues at the SBC remain.
According to a top lawyer for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), allegations of sexual abuse by church leaders represented a “satanic scheme to completely distract us from evangelism.”
The diversion from the gospel is real, but the SBC’s wholly inadequate response to sexual abuse within its ranks is the culprit. Dissolving the SBC as currently structured may be the only remedy.
Christians, including Southern Baptists, have an obligation to “make disciples of all nations.”
The SBC exists to support the gospel-driven mission of Southern Baptist churches in the communities where they are found and around the world.
The Great Commission doesn’t submit to overriding concerns about legal liability, but that’s exactly what the SBC did.
Here’s how the SBC system is flawed
Reading the recent 288-page report on the SBC Executive Committee’s response to sexual abuse allegations, my stomach turned. The detailed report provides a ghastly picture of credible accounts of sexual abuse ignored by those in power.
The SBC’s organizational structure and misguided legal counsel created a perfect storm failing to address an epidemic of sexual abuse.
The SBC is a cooperative association of churches. The SBC doesn’t ordain ministers or dictate how individual churches operate or worship.
Each Southern Baptist church, including the one I attend, has its own leaders, bylaws, budget, and policies. According to the Guidepost Solutions report, “Over 47,000 Baptist churches in the United States and its territories cooperate with the SBC.”
Between annual meetings, the SBC’s Executive Committee president and staff coordinate a number of different ministries within the cooperative fellowship.
Ultimately, the SBC’s Executive Committee can vote to “disfellowship” a church from the SBC, but the SBC doesn’t have coercive power to direct member churches to take specific actions.
Therein lies the SBC’s critical flaw. When pastors and staff at local churches engage in abusive conduct, victims are inclined to reach out to the SBC for help because they have few options other than law enforcement.
The SBC isn’t designed to discipline or manage member churches, so directly addressing allegations of abuse is difficult.
SBC’s leadership, including its former outside counsel at Guenther, Jordan & Price, recognized that handling sexual abuse allegations or maintaining a list of abusers might expose the SBC to legal liability.
“The SBC will create the potential for far greater liability for sex offenses in churches cooperating with the SBC if the SBC undertakes to ascertain that churches are acting in compliance with state law,” wrote attorney James Guenther, “If an offense occurs in a church we would get suits alleging that the SBC assumed the duty to protect people in that church and was negligent in discharging that duty.”
Counsel also warned SBC leadership that publicly discussing or posting information about allegations of abuse might also leave the SBC exposed to defamation by member churches or individuals should those allegations prove to be untrue.
As a result, the SBC deflected and minimized sexual abuse issues for years. Liability concerns tragically took the place of preserving the integrity of the SBC and its fellowship of churches.
Worse yet, the Guidepost Solutions report outlines systemic failures, outright lies, and intimidation from SBC personnel related to sexual abuse. Men and women who raised the issues were largely ignored. Those who pressed on were cast by many as a threat to the church itself.
SBC had been warned from within and outside
In 2019, The Houston Chronicle reported that approximately 380 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers faced allegations of sexual misconduct, leaving behind more than 700 victims. The bombshell report opened many eyes within the church to the growing crisis of character and leadership.
Russell Moore, former head of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), paid a tremendous personal and professional cost for calling out the SBC’s deep flaws to the trustees of the ERLC. “These are the tactics that have been used to create a culture where countless children have been torn to shreds,” he wrote, “where women have been raped and then ‘broken down.’”
Even Father Thomas Doyle, a priest and canon lawyer who first warned of the looming Catholic sex abuse crisis, wrote to SBC leadership begging the SBC and Executive Committee presidents to learn from the failures of the Catholic Church and implement reforms to safeguard children.
The dereliction of duty from SBC leadership over time has polluted the church’s ability to advance the gospel.
“Sexual trauma and faith are inextricably seared together in my brain,” said survivor Christa Brown. “It is not only physically, psychologically, and emotionally devastating, but it is spiritually annihilating. It is soul murder.”
Maintaining a “muddled middle ground” is disastrous
Destroyed souls are the direct result of weak organizational structure and attorneys who sought to avoid liability at any cost. The SBC’s fellowship of churches must reckon with such a monumental tragedy as they meet in Anaheim, California in the coming weeks.
My pastor, Wade Owens, at The Church at Nolensville directly addressed the issue of sexual abuse across the SBC. “No matter how painful it may be,” he said from the Sunday pulpit, “the Gospel demands that we walk through the truth.”
Thankfully, my church has policies and processes, including background checks for staff and volunteers, designed to combat abuse.
Individual churches making smart decisions are critically important, but the structural issues at the SBC remain. While the SBC doesn’t currently employ a general counsel or even a full staff due to resignations, it’s hard to imagine lawyers not warning the SBC about its risk exposure.
Either the SBC needs enough power to address the leadership abuses of member churches, or it must devolve into a shared services entity without any spiritual or legal voice. Maintaining a muddled middle ground is a recipe for disaster.
The SBC’s member churches clearly seem primed for a change, but a consensus on suggested recommendations has yet to emerge.
Satan has indeed succeeded in distracting Southern Baptists from the work of the gospel. With light now shining in the dark corners of the SBC, churches are experiencing the pain of walking through the truth.
That discomfort pales in comparison to the murdered souls trying to reconcile their faith with a church polity that abandoned them for far too long.
USA TODAY Network Tennessee Columnist Cameron Smith is a Memphis-born, Brentwood-raised recovering political attorney raising three boys in Nolensville, Tennessee, with his particularly patient wife, Justine. Direct outrage or agreement to smith.david.cameron@gmail.com or @DCameronSmith on Twitter. Agree or disagree? Send a letter to the editor to letters@tennessean.com.