Over the weekend, the Houston Chronicle published part one of a damning history of abuse within pastors and leaders in the ranks of churches within the Southern Baptist Convention. The story is eye-opening, revolting, and appalling: The Chronicle found, in 20 years, 700 victims of abuse and unearthed 380 cases. Approximately half of the abusers had been convicted or took plea deals. Many of the abused suffered twice over, first being abused and then ignored due to a massive cover-up. In many cases, some of the pastors, youth pastors, and other church leaders were revealed, only to be shuffled to another church or organization which focuses on young people.
It’s despicable these many crimes had to be unveiled by a newspaper rather than within the institution itself, and that this much abuse was going on, and being covered up, while the Southern Baptist Convention busied itself with pointing out other issues that seemed of greater importance to them.
The reaction, on social media at least, among religious leaders has been swift and severe:
I was grieved to read the @HoustonChron article this morning on sexual abuse in Baptist churches. Here are my thoughts on where we should begin, if we are to act justly on this: https://t.co/n5uDFyPjtt
— Russell Moore (@drmoore) February 10, 2019
The worst part is that we have known for years. I have known most of this for years, and spoken out about it. No one wanted to listen. It did not matter enough to investigate and act.
Grief and repentance and silence to learn is the only proper response.https://t.co/1tV95Gj8wU
— Rachael Denhollander (@R_Denhollander) February 10, 2019
It’s monstrously common for victims to be abused again by one they thought safe to tell. 2nd wave abuse occurs when those told are either scandalized (backs off, “don’t tell me more”) or tantalized (moves in, “oh tell me more”). Both heap shame upon shame.https://t.co/Sc7werXHib
— Beth Moore (@BethMooreLPM) February 10, 2019
Rachael Denhollander was the fierce and brave ringleader who helped her peers bring down Larry Nassar in a Michigan court room just over a year ago. On this topic, her husband tweeted:
The problem is not primarily that there were 700 instances of abuse in SBC churches. Better training and protection policies can help address that. The bigger issue is that there is a pattern of leaders, who knew of the abuse, protecting the perpetrator and shaming the victims.
— Jacob Denhollander (@JJ_Denhollander) February 10, 2019
One hopes this could indeed be a turning point for the victims of these crimes, and that the leaders who need to enforce boundaries and guidelines within their church so that abusers are rooted out and kicked out will do so. But it’s absolutely revolting and devastating, that a “Spotlight”-like piece — the film that documented how the Boston Globe uncovered similar crimes in the Catholic Church was called “Spotlight” — of this magnitude was, or will be, the catalyst for change after actively covering it up.
Similarly, it’s worth pointing out that it was the Southern Baptist Convention who, in 2015, openly rejected the Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage. While it’s certainly common that churches or denominations with a Judeo-Christian foundation embrace the biblical definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, few organizations beyond the Southern Baptist Convention made their stance so vocally and with such boldness. While this isn’t necessarily wrong, it seems far more disingenuous and hypocritical now in light of these hundreds of victims who have suffered abuse at the hands of the very same organization who shunned what they no doubt saw as a greater evil elsewhere while ignoring the issue at hand.
Everyone is capable of hypocrisy at some level or another — as was seen with the Catholic Church and their abuses. But having grown up Baptist myself, I witnessed this as well.
While sexual immorality (like adultery) was condemned however salaciously and in almost a tantalizing way, pornography, child abuse, or other kinds of sexual immorality were ignored entirely. Even as a pastor may call for regular giving from his attendees, to support the local church, leaders may have been embezzling money for themselves. While humans are dichotomous creatures, at once generous and selfish, good-hearted and evil-spirited, and surely hypocrisy exists in every single industry and organization on earth, it seems far more damaging and discouraging when it’s done under the guise of Christian belief.
I can think of few things that would damage or completely eradicate a person’s faith more than to suffer sexual abuse, just when their sexuality is burgeoning, at the hands of a trusted man or woman of God. While the Houston article was horrifying to swallow, I hope from these abuses and deeply rooted cover-ups that real change and healing can begin.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.
