The US Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention, the main Protestant church in the country, the religious organization announced on Friday. She is accused in a recent independent report of having practiced obstruction and concealment in the face of victims of sexual assault. The Protestant Church intendscooperate fully and completelywith authorities, she said in a statement.
“Southern Baptist Convention leaders have shown unwavering determination to address the mistakes of the past and put measures in place to ensure they are never repeated in the future.“, continued the Church.
Nearly 400 volunteer pastors and educators involved
An independent investigative report, commissioned by the Southern Baptist Convention, concluded in May that alleged victims of sexual assaults and those who sought to speak out within the Church had clashed for almost two decades at “resistance, obstruction and even outright hostilityfrom members of the executive committee. This sex scandal, involving nearly 400 pastors, volunteers and educators who assaulted more than 700 victims, was brought to light in 2019 thanks to the investigations of two Texan daily newspapers, the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News.
In June, the religious institution had announced the implementation of tools to fight against sexual assault, in particular the publication of a database listing publicly the members of the SBC accused of sexual abuse as well as the creation of a crisis cell responsible for implementing reforms to combat these attacks. The Church had also made public a 205-page document listing since 2007 its members who have been accused of sexual violence.
The Southern Baptist Convention, with a network of thousands of churches, has over fifteen million members, mostly in the southern United States.