![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
We don't need no stinkin' precedent!
Jun. 16th, 2008 12:44 pmSouthern Baptists reject sex-abuse database
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Under pressure to fight child sex abuse, the Southern Baptist Convention's executive committee said Tuesday (June 10) that the denomination should not create its own database to help churches identity predators or establish an office to field abuse claims.
The report decried sexual abuse as reprehensible and a sin. But the Southern Baptist principle of local church autonomy means it's up to individual churches - and not the convention - to screen employees and take action against offenders, the committee said.
The clergy sexual abuse scandal that struck the U.S. Roman Catholic Church starting in 2002 has also touched the Southern Baptist Convention, although to a much lesser degree. The past two years have seen a few high-profile allegations against Baptist clergy, and a key victims' advocate in the Catholic crisis, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, began lobbying the Baptists.
In 2006, an executive committee panel began studying how to address the issue. Then, last year, Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson proposed that the convention develop a database to track clergy and staff who are ``credibly accused of, personally confessed to, or legally been convicted of sexual harassment or abuse.'' The database would then be available to all churches.
Um ... so you see parallels with the Catholic church's problems, but you learn nothing from all the money it's lost to lawsuits and settlements as a result of them sitting on their hands and not doing a damn thing to prevent transfer from one diocese to another? Better start putting more in those collection plates.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Under pressure to fight child sex abuse, the Southern Baptist Convention's executive committee said Tuesday (June 10) that the denomination should not create its own database to help churches identity predators or establish an office to field abuse claims.
The report decried sexual abuse as reprehensible and a sin. But the Southern Baptist principle of local church autonomy means it's up to individual churches - and not the convention - to screen employees and take action against offenders, the committee said.
The clergy sexual abuse scandal that struck the U.S. Roman Catholic Church starting in 2002 has also touched the Southern Baptist Convention, although to a much lesser degree. The past two years have seen a few high-profile allegations against Baptist clergy, and a key victims' advocate in the Catholic crisis, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, began lobbying the Baptists.
In 2006, an executive committee panel began studying how to address the issue. Then, last year, Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson proposed that the convention develop a database to track clergy and staff who are ``credibly accused of, personally confessed to, or legally been convicted of sexual harassment or abuse.'' The database would then be available to all churches.
Um ... so you see parallels with the Catholic church's problems, but you learn nothing from all the money it's lost to lawsuits and settlements as a result of them sitting on their hands and not doing a damn thing to prevent transfer from one diocese to another? Better start putting more in those collection plates.
