by Sandi Evans Rogers
The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination, has received criticism for its less-than-healthy attention to and support for people who have been sexually abused. For decades, cases have been ignored, passed on, and covered up.
Paul Pressler, an architect of a conservative movement designed to rid SBC churches of “creeping liberalism,” and often lifted up as a hero, was a sexual predator of young men. “What makes Pressler’s case so enraging to many Southern Baptists, however, is that his abuse has been detailed for years,” reported Religion News Service in January.
“A lawsuit, filed by a former Pressler assistant named Gareld Duane Rollins Jr. claiming the older man abused him for decades, has been making its way through the courts since 2017,” RNS reported. “In 2017, Rollins sued Pressler, claiming that he had assaulted him in a hotel room. Pressler then agreed to pay the sum of $450,000, but when the payment stopped, once again, Rollins sued alleging the sexual abuse.”
According to The Texas Tribune, it was this lawsuit against Pressler that was the catalyst for a major investigation into sexual abuse in the SBC by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News, which led to many suppressed accusations coming to light.
While the SBC was originally unwilling to create a list of key officials, pastors, and volunteers convicted of sexual abuse crimes, the investigation uncovered more than 263 offenders over a 20-year period in 30 states and Washington, D.C.
In response to these articles, the SBC contracted with Guidepost Solutions to investigate the alleged misconduct. The 228-page report details sexual abuse that was even more widespread and found the SBC had stonewalled and denigrated survivors of clergy sex abuse over almost two decades, while seeking to protect their own reputations. Guidepost Solutions discovered an internal list of over 700 alleged perpetrators and found that the SBC leadership was more interested in shaming survivors and avoiding legal liability than in stopping the abuse.
At their annual gathering in 2022, the SBC voted overwhelmingly to create a way to track pastors and other church workers credibly accused of sex abuse and launched a new task force to oversee further reforms.
Many of the survivors felt that the vote on sex-abuse reforms fell short of what some SBC churches sought, such as a compensation fund for victims and a more robust and independent commission to monitor congregational responses to abuse. Critics, on the other hand, complained the report over-hyped the crisis and interfered with the independence of Baptist congregations.
“Many of the victims are not people who have been knocking at the SBC door because they want money from it or want to make their stories famous,” said Isaac Chotiner of The New Yorker. “They really don’t want the men who abused them to be in positions to continue to abuse children and other women. So, they’re doing it out of this obligation and responsibility to protect against further harm. And, even with that approach, they’re being accused of trying to take down the SBC.”
The SBC continues to struggle to support victims, discern tangible ways to address their concerns, and help them heal from their trauma.
Sandi Evans Rogers is interim pastor at Woodbridge (Va.) Church of the Brethren and a member of the steering committee of Womaen’s Caucus. She was first ordained in the Southern Baptist Convention.
Read Anna Lisa Gross’ article about Mennonite response to decades of abuse.