Report: Hundreds of Southern Baptist leaders and workers sexually abused at least 700 people since 1998

Houston Chronicle documents sexual abuse at Southern Baptist churches
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Houston Chroncle)

In June 2008, Debbie Vasquez and other sexual abuse survivors traveled to the Southern Baptist Convention's annual gathering and pleaded with the convention to track sexual predators who worked at the SBC's 47,000 affiliated churches, sanctioning those that harbored or hid predatory abusers. Vasquez — who says her Southern Baptist pastor sexually molested her starting at 14, and her church urged her to get an abortion when he impregnated her at 18 — pleaded with SBC leaders to enact abuse-prevention policies like the U.S. Catholic Church had done years earlier, according to a recording she shared with the Houston Chronicle.

SBC leaders declined to act, the Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News reported Sunday, so the newspapers compiled their own list. They found that since that 2008 meeting, more than 250 people who worked or volunteered in Southern Baptist churches nationwide — pastors, youth ministers, deacons, Sunday school teachers — have been charged with sex crimes. And since 1998, at least 380 SBC leaders or volunteers have been charged or credibly accused of abuse, leaving behind more than 700 victims. About 220 offenders were convicted of sex-related crimes or took plea deals. Some of these convicted and registered sex offenders still preach at Southern Baptist churches, including one who also heads a Houston nonprofit that works with schoolchildren, Touching the Future Today Inc.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.