I was going to speak on this because it is such a current and ongoing issue. A lot is still coming out about this and the people who have done these awful things are still being discovered.

SBC stands for the southern baptist convention. It is a group of southern baptist churches and is the largest baptist denomination in the world with just over 15 million members. It was formed in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia. Its founders were huge white supremacists that openly supported slavery and declared interracial marriage an abomination. In many of these churches today, interracial marriage is still heavily frowned upon. Any churches who openly accept the LGBT community are removed from the convention.

Overall, they are not great people. But the main issue I want to talk about is the HUNDREDS of sexual abuse claims that have been circling. It all started in 2018 but has been picking up traction in recent years as more and more victims are speaking up about their experiences in SBC churches.

In 2021 the church agreed to do an internal investigation on the various allegations that had been made regarding over 700 ministers behaving inappropriately with both minors and adult church members. The higher ups in the convention hid these allegations to prevent public outrage.

These accusations go back all the way to the 1960s and include Pastors, volunteers, staff, and leaders of the convention. The victims include both males and females of all ages. There are allegations of child prostitution, sexual assault of both children and adults, and grooming of minors.

Paul Pressler (former VP)
Mark Adherholt
Paige Patterson (former President)
Johnny Hunt (former pastor of Woodstock First Baptist and former SBC president)
Wade Burleson

This is just a few from the list. There are many in my own state, at churches I drive past every day. I am absolutely disgusted and disappointed with the southern baptist community.

The church convention has recently published a 205 page list of those suspected/convicted of abuse. 205. Let that sink in.

I have attached a link to the list below. If you are a member of a church that is part of the SBC, I beg you to look at this list. You could know someone on it. Many of the ones listed are on sex offender registries and have been convicted of sex crimes.

https://www.sbc.net/on-the-release-of-a-list-of-alleged-abusers/

Some parts of the list are unfortunately redacted. I only hope it is because investigations are being conducted.

It is horrifying that these crimes have been going on for so long by people who were supposed to be leaders of the church and called themselves good Christians.