If you or a loved one suffered abuse by a Southern Baptist clergy member, pastor, or church worker, the Southern Baptist Convention Abuse Lawyers at Goldenberg Lauricella are here to help you. Contact our team today so that we can help you get justice.
The Minnesota sexual abuse lawyers at Goldenberg Lauricella are horrified by the egregious harms perpetrated by members of the SBC, and we want to help survivors of this sexual abuse get justice. Not only are reports of the rampant abuse permeating throughout the church appalling, but that trauma is compounded by how the SBC made survivors feel like their stories and lived experiences did not matter. Rather than acting to stop the abuse, the SBC launched a coordinated campaign for decades to demean survivors and make them doubt themselves in an effort to shield the church from liability. The SBC had many opportunities over decades to stop the abuse and help survivors, but it chose instead to focus on protecting the abusers. Goldenberg Lauricella is focused on obtaining justice for survivors.
Thousands of people were put at risk of sexual abuse as a result of the cover-up perpetrated by the leaders of the church. The report makes clear that the SBC refused to act to stop that abuse. Instead, the SBC spent decades humiliating survivors who did come forward and communicating to survivors that their stories did not matter. At Goldenberg Lauricella, we want all survivors to know that their stories do indeed matter. Our injury attorneys in Minnesota are here to listen, and we are here to pursue justice on behalf of survivors for the egregious harms they suffered.
Report Exposes Decades Of Abuse In The Southern Baptist Convention And A Coordinated Cover-Up
In May 2022, the third-party Guidepost Solutions released an investigative report about abuse in Southern Baptist churches from 2000 through 2021. That report detailed how the denomination suppressed a myriad of sexual abuse allegations. The report noted that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)’s top leaders suppressed reports of sexual abuse, opposed reform proposals, and humiliated and discouraged survivors who came to them for help. The report also revealed the SBC Executive Committee’s internal list of 703 pastors, youth leaders, clergy members, and other church workers who were suspected of sexually abuse. The list was compiled over a decade and shared within SBC’s top leadership.
The report also explained that, for two decades, abuse survivors contacted the Southern Baptist leadership to report the abuse but that church leaders vilified and humiliated them rather than prevent further abuse. The report further commented on the treatment survivors received from church leadership in detailing: “While stories of abuse were minimized, and survivors were ignored or even vilified, revelations came to light in recent years that some senior SBC leaders had protected or even supported alleged abusers.”
SBC Releases a List of Abusers After Explosive Third-Party Report
In the wake of the bombshell report published by independent investigators, on May 26, 2022, SBC’s leadership released a previously hidden list of hundreds of clergy members, pastors, and church workers who were accused of sexual abuse. The 205-page database was maintained by SBC’s executive committee for more than a decade.
Despite repeated requests from survivors to disclose the list of abusers, SBC denied that a database existed while, at the same time, its Executive Committee added abuse after abuse to the national database for over a decade. The database contains more than 700 entries from cases from 2000 to 2019.
Each entry includes the offender’s name, the year the offense was reported, the state where the abuse took place, and a description of the abuse. Although the SBC kept a detailed secret list of the accusations, the SBC appeared to take no action to help survivors or remove offenders from the SBC. The SBC instead focused on covering up the allegations.
In a statement accompanying the list, the SBC said: “This list is being made public for the first time as an initial, but important, step towards addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform in the Convention. Each entry in this list reminds us of the devastation and destruction brought about by sexual abuse.”
What Is The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)?
The SBC is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States with an estimated 14 million members across more than 47,000 churches. Tragically, this means there are likely thousands of abuse survivors who have been told that their stories do not matter.
Goldenberg Lauricella Can Help You
If you or a loved one was sexually abused by a Southern Baptist clergy member, pastor, minister, or other church worker, know that your story matters. We see you. We hear you. We are here to help you. The Southern Baptist Convention Abuse Lawyers at Goldenberg Lauricella have helped clients receive justice for more than 38 years, and we want you to know that you matter to our team.