More talk from Mr. So-called Ethics

“I am disturbed that the cardinals don’t seem to be able to bring themselves to say, ‘One strike and you’re out,’ when it comes to the molestation of children by priests.”

That’s what Richard Land said in April 2002 after the Catholic abuse scandal broke. In essence, Land got on his high-horse and wagged his finger at Catholic leaders.

But what did Land do to protect kids in Southern Baptist churches? After all, he’s the Southern Baptist Convention’s top-dog on ethics.

So instead of wagging his finger at Catholics, why didn't Land look close to home and see the horror of clergy abuse and cover-ups in Baptist churches?

By July 2002, and after massive media pressure, Catholic leaders had amended their policy to make it a “one strike and you’re out” policy. “For even a single act of sexual abuse of a minor…the offending priest or deacon will be permanently removed from ministry,” reads the policy in article 5.

So here we are, 6 years after Richard Land’s 2002 finger-wagging remarks. Catholic leaders have had a “one strike and you’re out” policy for the past 5 1/2 years, but Southern Baptist leaders don’t yet have any policy at all.

In fact, Southern Baptist leaders can’t yet come up with anyone who will even do the umpiring job of calling the strikes. Unlike Catholics and other Protestant groups, Southern Baptists haven’t implemented any sort of review board for abuse reports.

Instead, Southern Baptist leaders seem to take the view that if no one calls the strikes, the strikes don’t happen. That’s a very dangerous game of pretend and one that leaves kids in harms’ way.

Yet, Land wagged his finger at Catholics and pontificated on “the importance of proper handling of abuse reports.”

If Land thinks “proper handling of abuse reports” is so important, why isn’t he working to create a system for “proper handling of abuse reports” about Baptist clergy? That’s what we in SNAP have been begging Southern Baptist leaders to do, and Land has remained remarkably quiet on the subject.

Shouldn’t “proper handling of abuse reports” be just as important when it involves Southern Baptist clergy as when it involves the clergy of other faith groups?

But judging by his 2002 remarks, Land seemed to think Southern Baptists already had the problem solved.

While wagging his finger at Catholics, Land bragged that Southern Baptists “had a couple of high-profile, child-sex-abuse scandals with ministerial staff in some churches in the late ‘80s, and that really caused us to focus on this.”

In other words, Land claimed that Southern Baptists didn’t have the same problem as Catholics because Southern Baptists really “focused on this” after just “a couple” cases.

This 2002 brag carries a hubris that would block the sun.

Worst of all, given the extensive reports of abuse and cover-ups in Southern Baptist churches, it’s clear it was also a hubris that sacrificed the safety of kids.

There had already been more than just “a couple” cases even in 2002, and by now, there have been many, many more. This is what makes Land’s 2002 braggadocio so terribly tragic.

If instead of wagging his finger at Catholics, Land had undertaken to implement protective measures for Baptists, countless kids could have been spared from horrific harm in the years since 2002. For example, the victims of Shawn Davies may have been spared, and the victims of Doug Myers, Larry Neathery, and Steven Haney… to name just a few.

Why can’t Southern Baptist leaders “bring themselves to say ‘one strike and you’re out’ when it comes to the molestation of children by Baptist clergy”? Why can’t Southern Baptist leaders bring themselves to say ‘one strike and you’re out’ for Baptist churches that turn a blind eye to clergy predators?

Why isn’t Richard Land himself asking these questions and wagging his finger at his own home-turf?

It is time for Southern Baptist leaders to stop hiding in their dug-out of autonomy while wagging their fingers at others. It is time for Southern Baptist leaders to step up to the plate and go to bat against Baptist clergy sex abuse.