After I
posted my open letter to Ed Stetzer last week, a reader directed me
to another one of Ed’s articles about allegations of child sex
abuse connected to the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism. Ed’s words
are so true – but so hollow -- that I decided to add this postscript.
“Truth must be known. Victims
must be acknowledged. Protections must be in place.”
This is mighty fine talk, Ed.
But where are the deeds? And again, why is your talk directed at others rather
than at your own faith group, the Southern Baptist Convention?
So, Ed, I’m quoting some more
of your words right back to you, along with the questions they raise for many of
us who were sexually abused by Southern Baptist preachers.
“I think religious
institutions, churches, and those that lead them have yet to come to grips with
both the seriousness and frequency of this crime,” you say. I agree! But what about you,
Ed? Have you come to grips with the seriousness and frequency of this crime in
your own faith group – in the Southern Baptist Convention? I haven’t seen any
indication that you have.
With respect to the
investigation at the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, you wrote
that it was “another reminder of the pain of child abuse, the importance of
honest disclosure… and the need for outside help (the police if it is a current
crime or a credible investigation if it is a past allegation).”
“Honest disclosure.” Sounds
great, Ed. How about working to implement that in your own faith group? But how
can your denomination even hope to honestly disclose ministers with credible
child sex abuse allegations when your denomination doesn’t even bother with
systematic record-keeping on ministers?
I couldn’t agree more about
the need for “outside help.” This is why clergy abuse survivors have been
asking the Southern Baptist Convention to fund a panel of trained professionals
who could responsibly review clergy abuse allegations – i.e., the
more-than-90-percent that cannot be criminally prosecuted. For the truth to be
known, outsiders are essential for oversight. Churches cannot – cannot – responsibly address abuse
allegations against their own clergy, not only because they
typically lack the expertise, but because they always lack the objectivity.
Concerning the investigation
of abuse within the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, you state
that you “have confidence in the organization doing the investigation,
G.R.A.C.E.”
So, Ed, why don’t you call
for a G.R.A.C.E. investigation of what happened at Prestonwood? People in the
pews deserve to know how it came about that one of the most prominent churches
of the Southern Baptist Convention – a church headed by two-term SBC president
Jack Graham -- allowed one of their ministers to move on to another church even
after he was accused of molesting church-boys. People in the pews deserve to
know the extent to which their leaders covered up for the molesting-minister and
allowed more kids to be placed at risk.
In connection with the Penn
State scandal, you said you were “shocked” that leaders could receive a report of child sex
abuse and not report it to the police. But Ed, a “failure to report” allegation
is also being made about Prestonwood’s leaders. So call for an investigation!
Or are you too afraid that Prestonwood could not withstand the scrutiny that an
independent investigation would bring? Are you afraid that Prestonwood would
suffer damage similar to what Penn State experienced?
“Protections must be in
place,” you say. But, Ed, how do you imagine that people will be
protected when Southern Baptists don’t have any system for doing anything at
all about clergy-predators even when denominational leaders are specifically
told about them? Unlike other major faith groups, Southern Baptists don’t offer
even the possibility of a denominational office for hearing clergy abuse
allegations, much less for doing anything about them.
Most child molesters have
multiple victims, and so one of the best ways to protect against abuse in the
future is to institutionally hear the voices of those who are trying to tell
about abuse in the past. But Southern Baptists don’t bother. They keep telling
abuse survivors to go to the church of the perpetrator – which is sort of like
telling wounded sheep to go back to the den of the wolf who savaged them. It
doesn’t work.
With respect to the ABWE, you
claim that you are “watching this investigation” because “transparency is
essential.”
But, Ed, how closely are you “watching?”
Have you noticed that the ABWE fired the investigative team of G.R.A.C.E.? Even though the
investigation had been ongoing for two years, ABWE fired G.R.A.C.E. just before
G.R.A.C.E. was getting ready to release its final report. ABWE hired a new
investigative team with a privacy condition so that the results of any report
will be released only to ABWE.
So much for transparency, eh?
“Pray with me for those
children who have been victimized,” you say. But Ed, I gotta tell you, for
people like me who were abused by Baptist clergy, that “pray with me” line sounds
like a cop-out. It comes across as little more than a cheap slogan that Southern
Baptists use to avoid taking any meaningful action.
Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.
Ed, is that all you’ve got?
Posts
