Editing Southern Baptist Convention (section)

=== Sexual abuse scandal ===
{{Main|Sexual abuse cases in Southern Baptist churches}}

In 2018, investigations showed that the SBC suppressed reports of [[sexual abuse]] and protected over 700 accused ministers and church workers.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fuller |first=Thomas |date=2022-08-13 |title=Southern Baptist Convention Says It Faces Federal Investigation for Sexual Abuse |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/12/us/southern-baptist-convention-sexual-abuse.html |access-date=2022-09-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 2022, a report indicated church leaders had stonewalled and disparaged clergy sex abuse survivors for nearly two decades;<ref name="David Crary-2022">{{cite web |author1=Bharath, Deepa |author2=Holly Meyer |author3=David Crary |date=May 22, 2022 |title=Report: Top Southern Baptists stonewalled sex abuse victims |url=https://apnews.com/article/baptist-religion-sexual-abuse-by-clergy-southern-convention-bfdbe64389790630488f854c3dae3fd5 |access-date=May 22, 2022 |website=Associated Press}}</ref> reform efforts had been met with criticism or dismissal from other organization leaders;<ref name="Shellnutt-2022">{{Cite news |last=Shellnutt |first=Kate |date=2022-05-22 |title=Southern Baptists Refused to Act on Abuse, Despite Secret List of Pastors |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2022/may/southern-baptist-abuse-investigation-sbc-ec-legal-survivors.html |access-date=2022-05-26 |work=[[Christianity Today]]}}</ref> and known abusers had been allowed to keep their positions without informing their local churches.<ref name="Sexual Abuse Task Force Team-2022">{{cite web |author=Sexual Abuse Task Force Team |date=May 22, 2022 |title=Guidepost Solutions' Report of the Independent Investigation |url=https://www.sataskforce.net/updates/guidepost-solutions-report-of-the-independent-investigation |access-date=May 22, 2022 |website=SATaskforce.net}}</ref> On August 12, 2022, the denomination announced that it was facing a federal investigation into the scandal.<ref name="NYTimesFedsInv" />

On February 10, 2019, a joint investigation by the ''[[Houston Chronicle]]'' and the ''[[San Antonio Express-News|San Antonio Express]]'' found that there had been over 700 victims of sexual abuse by nearly 400 Southern Baptist church leaders,<ref name="Chron1">{{cite news |last1=Downen |first1=Robert |last2=Olsen |first2=Lise |last3=Tedesco |first3=John |date=February 10, 2019 |title=20 years, 700 victims: Southern Baptist sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reforms |url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/article/Southern-Baptist-sexual-abuse-spreads-as-leaders-13588038.php |access-date=February 11, 2019 |work=[[Houston Chronicle]]}}</ref><ref name="Chron3">{{Cite news |date=2019-06-03 |title=More Abuse of Faith: Southern Baptist churches harbored sex offenders |url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Abuse-of-Faith-Southern-Baptist-churches-13912529.php |access-date=2020-07-21 |website=Houston Chronicle |last1=Tedesco |first1=By John }}</ref> pastors, and volunteers over the previous 20 years.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Phillips |first1=Kristine |last2=Wang |first2=Amy B. |date=February 10, 2019 |title='Pure evil': Southern Baptist leaders condemn decades of sexual abuse revealed in investigation |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/02/10/pure-evil-southern-baptist-leaders-condemn-decades-sexual-abuse-revealed-investigation |access-date=March 31, 2019 |newspaper=[[Washington Post]]}}</ref><ref name="Chron1" /><ref name="Chron3" />

In 2018, the ''Houston Chronicle'' verified details of hundreds of accounts of abuse. It examined federal and state court databases, prison records, and official documents from more than 20 states and researched sex offender registries nationwide.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Downen |first1=Robert |last2=Olsen |first2=Lise |last3=Tedesco |first3=John |date=February 10, 2019 |title=20 years, 700 victims: SBC sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reforms |url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/article/Southern-Baptist-sexual-abuse-spreads-as-leaders-13588038.php |access-date=February 11, 2019 |work=[[Houston Chronicle]]}}</ref> The ''Chronicle'' compiled a list of records and information (current as of June 2019)<ref name="Chron3" /><ref name="Chron2">{{Cite web |last1=Olsen |first1=Lise |last2=Downen |first2=Robert |last3=Tedesco |first3=John |last4=Rubio |first4=Jordan |last5=Dempsey |first5=Matt |last6=Lee |first6=Joyce |last7=Gleason |first7=Rachael |title=Abuse of Faith: A Chronicle Investigation |url=https://projects.houstonchronicle.com/2019/southern-baptist-abuse |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190213050334/https://projects.houstonchronicle.com/2019/southern-baptist-abuse/ |archive-date=February 13, 2019 |access-date=March 31, 2019 |website=[[Houston Chronicle]] |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Chron4">{{Cite web |title=Abuse of Faith: Search our database |url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/investigations/abuse-of-faith/database/ |access-date=2020-07-21 |website=Houston Chronicle |language=en}}</ref> listing church pastors, leaders, employees, and volunteers who have pleaded guilty to or were convicted of sex crimes.<ref name="Chron4" /><ref name="Chron2" /><ref name="Chron3" />

On June 12, 2019, during their annual meeting, convention messengers, who assembled that year in [[Birmingham, Alabama]], approved a resolution condemning sex abuse and establishing a special committee to investigate sex abuse, which will make it easier for the convention to excommunicate churches.<ref name="nprsexabuse">{{Cite news |last1=Neuman |first1=Scott |date=June 12, 2019 |title=Southern Baptists Vote To Hold Churches More Accountable For Mishandling Abuse Claims |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/06/12/731919189/southern-baptists-vote-to-hold-churches-more-accountable-for-mishandling-abuse-c |access-date=2020-07-21 |newspaper=NPR |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Burgess |first=Holly Meyer and Katherine |title=Southern Baptists gathered in Alabama amid a reckoning over sexual abuse. How they addressed the crisis. |url=https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/religion/2019/06/12/southern-baptist-convention-resolutions-sbc-sexual-abuse/1429890001/ |access-date=2020-07-21 |website=The Tennessean |language=en-US}}</ref> The Reverend J. D. Greear, president of the convention and pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, called the move a "defining moment".<ref name="nprsexabuse" /> [[Ronnie Floyd]], president of the convention's executive committee, echoed Greear's remarks, calling the vote "a very, very significant moment in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention".<ref name="nprsexabuse" />

In June 2021, letters from former policy director [[Russell D. Moore]] to convention leadership were leaked. In the letters, Moore described how the convention had mishandled claims of sexual abuse.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pulliam Bailey |first1=Sarah |date=June 12, 2021 |title=Secret recordings, leaked letters: Explosive secrets rocking the Southern Baptist Convention |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/06/12/southern-baptist-convention-secret-infighting-meeting/ |access-date=June 12, 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

On May 22, 2022, Guidepost Solutions, an independent firm contracted by the organization's executive committee, released a report detailing that church leaders had stonewalled and disparaged clergy sex abuse survivors for nearly two decades.<ref name="David Crary-2022" /> It was then the most extensive investigation undertaken in the convention's history, with $4 million reportedly spent by the organization to fund the inquiry.<ref name="Shellnutt-2022" /> The report also found that known abusers were allowed to keep their positions without informing their church or congregation.<ref name="Sexual Abuse Task Force Team-2022" /> The report alleged that while the convention had elected a president, J. D. Greear, in 2018 who made addressing sexual abuse a central part of his agenda, nearly all efforts at reform had been met with criticism and dismissal by other organization leaders.<ref name="Shellnutt-2022" />

On June 14, 2022, the denomination voted "to create a way to track pastors and other church workers credibly accused of sex abuse and launch a new task force to oversee further reforms" after a consultant exposed that "Southern Baptist leaders mishandled abuse cases and stonewalled victims for years".<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 15, 2022 |title=Southern Baptist Convention votes to create list of pastors, workers accused of sex abuse |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/southern-baptists-vote-create-list-pastors-workers-accused-sex-abuse-rcna33626 |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref> The new task force will operate for one year, with the option to continue longer.

On August 12, 2022, the organization announced that it was facing a federal investigation into the sex abuse scandal.<ref name="NYTimesFedsInv">{{Cite web |last=Fuller |first=Thomas |date=August 12, 2022 |title=Southern Baptist Convention Says It Faces Federal Investigation for Sexual Abuse |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/12/us/southern-baptist-convention-sexual-abuse.html |access-date=August 12, 2022 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> As revelations of sexual abuse and lawsuits continued to emerge in 2023,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Southern Baptist Convention settles in abuse case against Paul Pressler, case dismissed |url=https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/religion/2023/12/29/southern-baptist-convention-sbc-settles-abuse-case-against-paul-pressler/71133589007/ |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=The Tennessean |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Graham |first=Ruth |date=2023-11-07 |title=Why Southern Baptists are Furious Over a Sex Abuse Case in Kentucky |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/us/baptists-abuse-kentucky.html |access-date=2024-03-04 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Downen |first=Robert |date=2023-12-29 |title=Southern Baptist Convention settles high-profile lawsuit that accused former leader of sexual abuse |url=https://www.texastribune.org/2023/12/29/southern-baptist-convention-sexual-abuse-lawsuit-settlement/ |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=The Texas Tribune |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gray |first=Jeremy |date=2023-10-26 |title=Church sex abuse survivors 'sickened and saddened' by Southern Baptist Kentucky court filing |url=https://www.al.com/news/2023/10/church-sex-abuse-survivors-sickened-and-saddened-by-southern-baptist-kentucky-court-filing.html |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=al |language=en}}</ref> the SBC's Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force announced continued development of the database of sexual offenders.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Southern Baptist Convention task force says development of sex abuse database continues |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2023/09/02/southern-baptist-convention-sex-abuse-database-update/70727865007/ |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=The Oklahoman |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Orleans |first=Kate Shellnutt in New |date=2023-06-14 |title=Southern Baptists Committed to Abuse Reform. What Happened? |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2023/june/southern-baptist-abuse-reform-response-task-force-database.html |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=News & Reporting |language=en}}</ref>