Review: Inside the Southern Baptist Sexual Assault Crisis

Author Christa Brown shares her story of abuse and exposes the hypocrisy inherent in the Southern Baptist Convention's cover-up.

When the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News published the 2019 exposé "Abuse of Faith," documenting how the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) spent more than 20 years covering up sexual abuse allegations against nearly 400 clergymen, Christa Brown described it as a "hallelujah moment." In her memoir, Baptistland, Brown recounts her own abuse by a pastor and her healing journey, providing solace for fellow victims.

Brown details the maddeningly minimal progress the country's largest Protestant denomination has made to protect members after those revelations. Ignoring calls for meaningful action, attendees of the SBC's 2024 annual meeting instead passed resolutions supporting Israel and opposing in vitro fertilization and voted to oust the First Baptist Church of Alexandria for allowing women pastors.

The biblically bereft boys club in Baptistland mirrors the dynamics of American politics. Through scandals and convictions, the powerful prioritize retaining their positions. SBC promises of "bold steps" resemble campaign promises—just as politicians expect voters to be placated after elections, SBC patriarchs expect victims to be satisfied with another toothless task force.

Brown—whose abuser has continued working in the SBC—exposes the hypocrisy of an organization that claims to "demonstrate God's compassion to the needy" while shielding predators from accountability.

Comments

[diver64]

Strange that progressives waste no time attacking religion for sexual abuse but remain silent on sexual abuse in schools which is a far, far larger problem.

[SQRLSY]

Butt twatabout Hillary??!?

Butt, whatabout that them thar whatabouts? Whatabout Hillary? Whatabout OJ Simpson?

How many brain cells does it take to run a socio-political simulation on the following:

Judge and Jury: “Murderer, we find you guilty of murder! 20 years in the hoosegow for YOU! Now OFF with ye!”

Murderer: “But OJ Simpson got off for murder, why not me? We’re all equal, and need to be treated likewise-equal!”

Judge and Jury: “Oh, yes, sure, we forgot about that! You’re free to go! Have a good life, and try not to murder too many MORE people, please! Goodbye!”

Now WHERE does this line of thinking and acting lead to? Think REALLY-REALLY HARD now, please! What ABOUT OJ Simpson, now? Can we make progress towards peace & justice in this fashion?

(Ass for me, I think we should have PUT THE SQUEEZE on OJ!)

[Mickey Rat]

And lionize and enable sexual predators like Foucault.

[John C. Randolph]

And Keynes.

-jcr

[Beezard]

Depending on which southern baptists they’re talking about, they may be progressives. I think they were looking down the barrel of a woke takeover some years back, if it hasn’t already happened.

[mad.casual]

Strange that progressives waste no time attacking religion for sexual abuse but remain silent on sexual abuse in schools which is a far, far larger problem.

Given Jackie Coakley, Crystal Magnum, E. Jean Carroll, Sabrina Erdely, Stormy Daniels, Asia Argento, Christine Blasey-Ford, Ghislaine Maxwell... and even more ‘upstanding’ or ‘honest mistake’ situations like Alice Sebold (to say nothing about people like Jussie Smollett or Sam Brin) one might wonder whether, given that the abuse is so rampant, documentable, and clear, how her accuser just remains(remained) at large despite, as you indicate, no far-reaching love for A/The Church.

It’s not like it’s 1960 and you have to hitchhike your way out of nowheresville to find someone willing to enforce the law. Even 1960 wasn’t broadly like that. And I'm not entirely clear about how the SBC or The Baptist heirarchy works, but going to the meeting of my local Village Hall with criminal accusations is pretty much guaranteed to get the accusations ignored and maybe any case I have tainted/poisoned.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

My curiosity too: is the "victim" unwilling to press rape or sexual assault charges until the SBC give her permission?

This is the flip side to thinking colleges have to be the arbiters of rape and sexual assault among students.

[SQRLSY]

Baptists need Dear Leader Trump to cum and SHOW them how to be a Biblically Righteous, Responsible Husband and Father, and the RIGHT way to get shit ON with Spermy Daniels! Sexually abuse porn stars the RIGHT and BIBLICAL way, dammit!

[SQRLSY]

"...SBC patriarchs expect victims to be satisfied with another toothless task force."

You mean like Dear Leader and Mr. Elongated Tusk?

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/05/politics/trump-economic-plans-musk-government-commission/index.html
Trump says Elon Musk has agreed to lead proposed government efficiency commission as ex-president unveils new economic plans

https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-shares-controversial-theory-democracy-1947873
Elon Musk Shares Theory That Only 'Alpha Males' Should Vote

MORE large harems for the Alpha Males!!! Queen Spermy Daniels is only the beginning!!! MORE large harems will FIX our economy AND the Government Almighty!!!

[JenK]

Is part of this article missing or something? I can’t tell if she was assaulted as a child or an adult, how the coverup took place, whether criminal charges were pressed…?

[Daddyhill]

The biggest problem with the SBC is that members of Southern Baptist churches are mostly white fundamentalist evangelicals, and the SBC itself is as bigoted and misogynistic as the South. The church's hierarchy and doctrine are as power-oriented and dogmatic as the Roman Church was in past decades. Harold Bloom calls the SBC the "Established Church of the Old South" and the "Catholic Church of the Confederacy". He also describes the powerhouse preacher W.A. Criswell as the pope of the Fundamentalist Vatican, the First Baptist Church in Dallas.

The SBC, more than other evangelical and fundamentalist denominations, has energetically resisted modernity at every step and has vigorously fought in all culture wars since Prohibition and the widespread acceptance of Darwin's evolution by natural selection. For many Baptists the Bible is an object of worship rather than a source of study and guidance, with inerrancy as the eleventh commandment. It's no coincidence that Trump flubbed his attempted wand-waving of the Bible; he's no Baptist, but it's true that most Southern Baptists would make the same mistake, never having read much of the Bible themselves.

The irony of the history of the SBC is that its dogmatic and behavioral rigidity have reached their current state despite the Southern Baptist tenet of soul competency, i.e. the right of all souls to direct access to God and to formation of valid, justified interpretations of the Scriptures on their own. Lockstep dogma and doctrine now supersede the individualism of the Baptist past. It's sad.