Was Jude Dayton Hughes Listed in SBC Abuse Investigation Report?
Jude Dayton Hughes, 50, pastor of Jonas Ridge Baptist Church and an Avery County High School custodian, sent a 17-year-old girl pornographic photos of himself. Hughes is a sex offender in North Carolina after being convicted in 2016 of taking indecent liberties with a 17-year-old student. He was sentenced to a year of probation.
Southern Baptist Abuse Database
According to the Washington Post, a 300-page report was released on Sunday, May 22, 2022. The file includes horrifying brand-new details concerning particular abuse occurrences and sheds light on how denominational officials actively resisted abuse prevention and reform for many years.
Southern Baptist Convention leaders have revealed an extensive and independent third-party investigation that discovered that abusers were typically disregarded, forgotten, or perhaps criticized by upper-level congregation officials from within this religious denomination of greater than 16 million people. Furthermore, it exposed these leaders frequently lied to their very own members to stop them from knowing the flagrant sexual wrongdoing.
Continue reading about the groundbreaking Southern Baptist Abuse Database
A History of Disregarded Misconduct
The report alleges that a major Convention official was credibly accused of sexual assault just 1 month after completing his two-year term as the convention’s president. In Addition, Johnny Hunt, a popular Georgia Southern Baptist preacher and senior vice president of the SBC’s objectives arm, was credibly implicated of assaulting a fellow congregant at a 2010 vacation in Panama City Beach, Florida. The North American Mission Board president declared he was unaware of the accusations prior to Hunt resigning on May thirteenth. The report likewise names three previous presidents of the convention, a previous vice president, and the former head of the SBC’s administrative arm as prominent SBC leaders who assisted in covering and even motivated suspected abusers.
One victim described being treated with animosity as she alleged she was sexually abused by a youth pastor. The accused pastor served in several Southern Baptist churches in a number of states. At a meeting with the SBC leaders in 2007, a member of the Executive Board “turned his back to her during her speech and another chortled.”
Accountability in the Southern Baptist Church
Russell Moore, the previous head of the SBC’s policy branch, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, mentioned ‘this is not all Southern Baptists, take a look at all the good we do.’ The sensational report shows a pattern of stonewalling, coverup, intimidation, and retaliation.” He desires this report will bring much-needed change and hold those accountable for their sexual assault.
The document states that a principal Southern Baptist leader was credibly accused of sexual abuse just 1 month after finishing his two-year term as the convention’s president. The report likewise names 3 previous presidents of the convention, a previous vice president, and the previous head of the SBC’s administrative branch as renoun SBC leaders who helped in covering and even motivated suspected sexual abusers.
He anticipates this report will bring much-needed change and hold those accountable for their actions.
For more information about resources available to sexual abuse survivors in North Carolina, visit this link: https://abuseguardian.com/sexual-assault-lawyer/north-carolina/sex-trafficking-lawyer-nc/
Abuse Guardian for North Carolina
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