Southern Baptist leaders covered up clergy sexual abuse and stonewalled victims for decades, a bombshell report finds

An investigation by the Southern Baptist Convention found that leaders covered up or ignored sexual abuse allegations.

The report was ordered by the 13-million-member SBC and sent shock waves through the largest Protestant group in the US.

The investigation found that child molesters and abusers who were in the pulpit or church employees to the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention were met with resistance, stonewalling, and even hostility.

The report found that a few senior leaders on the Executive Committee and outside counsel decided how to handle reports of abuse. The report said they were focused on avoiding liability.

In service of this goal, survivors and others who reported abuse were ignored, disbelieved, or met with the constant refrain that the SBC could take no action due to its polity regarding church autonomy, even if it meant that convicted molesters continued in ministry with no consequences.

The report found that the leaders lied about the database. The church could not maintain a database due to how the SBC operated. The report states that the leaders kept their own list.

Russell Moore, a prominent evangelical and former president of the SBC's policy arm, wrote in Christianity Today on Sunday that the investigation reveals a reality far more evil and systemic than he thought.

Even though he had called for an investigation, the extent of the findings shook him.

The third-party firm that conducted the investigation, Guidepost Solutions, recommended that SBC create an online database of abusers, establish a unit focused on sexual abuse, compensate survivors, and limit non-disclosure agreements.

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