Southern Baptist sexual abuse cases show strong similarities to Catholic cover-ups and incompetent leadership
Federal lawsuit accuses Southern Baptist Convention of covering up sex abuse
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A federal lawsuit filed in Nashville, Tennessee, accuses the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) of covering up and concealing sex abuse, and it mentions Memphis’ Bellevue Baptist Church and its senior pastor Dr. Steve Gaines.
Bellevue and Gaines are not specifically named as defendants in the lawsuit, which claims the Southern Baptist Convention leaders denied the rights of sexual abuse survivors by covering up abuse by church members and employees.
The lawsuit accuses the SBC leaders of being aware of abusers who seek employment as pastors and staff, allowing them to obtain positions of authority within the church leadership and holding influence over adults and children in the congregations. It claims convention leadership “has done little or nothing to train employees and agents to look for abusers, screen abusers or protect church members and volunteers from the sexual predators who infiltrate its ranks.”
The lawsuit cites a 2019 investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News which found more than 200 criminal cases and 700 victims over two decades involving Southern Baptist churches.
https://www.localmemphis.com/article/lif...936915bdce
Federal lawsuit accuses Southern Baptist Convention of covering up sex abuse
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A federal lawsuit filed in Nashville, Tennessee, accuses the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) of covering up and concealing sex abuse, and it mentions Memphis’ Bellevue Baptist Church and its senior pastor Dr. Steve Gaines.
Bellevue and Gaines are not specifically named as defendants in the lawsuit, which claims the Southern Baptist Convention leaders denied the rights of sexual abuse survivors by covering up abuse by church members and employees.
The lawsuit accuses the SBC leaders of being aware of abusers who seek employment as pastors and staff, allowing them to obtain positions of authority within the church leadership and holding influence over adults and children in the congregations. It claims convention leadership “has done little or nothing to train employees and agents to look for abusers, screen abusers or protect church members and volunteers from the sexual predators who infiltrate its ranks.”
The lawsuit cites a 2019 investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News which found more than 200 criminal cases and 700 victims over two decades involving Southern Baptist churches.
https://www.localmemphis.com/article/lif...936915bdce
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
