NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) — A proposed online database that would list the names of abusive Southern Baptist pastors is now on hold, with no names likely to be added to the website by the denomination’s annual meeting this summer.
Instead, Southern Baptist leaders working to address abuse in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination say they will focus on helping churches access other databases of abusers and training churches to do better background checks. However, the so-called Ministry Check database, which was a centerpiece of reforms approved by Southern Baptist messengers — or local church representatives — is now on the back burner.
“At this point, it’s not a focus for us,” Jeff Iorg, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, told reporters at a news conference Tuesday (Feb. 18) during the committee’s annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.
The proposed database has been derailed by denominational apathy, legal worries and a desire to protect donations to the Southern Baptist Convention’s mission programs, RNS previously reported.
Sexual abuse survivors have been advocating for a database of abusers since at least 2007, when ABC News’ “20/20” published a report on abuse among Southern Baptist pastors. The Executive Committee rejected the idea in 2008, but it resurfaced in 2021 after a Guidepost Solutions investigation found Southern Baptists had long downplayed the issue of abuse in the denomination and mistreated abuse survivors who tried to raise the alarm about the issue.
That led to initiating refor …