ANAHEIM, California — The new president of America’s largest Protestant denomination declared Thursday there would no longer be a “hunting ground” for sexual predators in Southern Baptist churches.
Because local churches are administratively autonomous, sexual predators have been able to move from one congregation to another, the Rev. Bart Barber told a news conference here Wednesday, “from scandal to scandal, manipulating our system to hide from accountability and pick off the sheep one-by-one.”
The new leader promised reforms.
A blistering report released May 22 by the District-based Guidepost Solutions detailed hundreds of instances of sexual abuse by Southern Baptist Church pastors, lay members, and those at institutions such as colleges, universities and seminaries.