Southern Baptist leaders quickly clear 7 churches, sparking outrage among victims

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Days after Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear demanded greater scrutiny of 10 churches for their handling of sexual abuse, an SBC committee called on convention leaders to refrain from publicly criticizing churches without giving them an opportunity to respond, and it announced that “no further inquiry” was needed for seven of the 10 churches on Greear’s list.

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The statement revealed discord among SBC leaders as they wrestle with a national controversy over hundreds of incidents of rape, molestation and other accusations of sexual misconduct within the largest coalition of Baptist churches in the U.S.

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An investigation earlier this month by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News found that more than 700 people — most of them children — had reported being victims of sexual abuse over the past two decades. The newspapers’ series, “Abuse of Faith,” found that 220 church pastors, employees and volunteers had been convicted of sex crimes or took plea deals.

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The statement of the SBC executive committee work group was a Saturday night massacre of hope for any near-term change on sexual abuse within the Southern Baptist Convention,” activist Christa Brown wrote Monday in an email to the Chronicle.

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