Was Matt Jarrell Listed in SBC Abuse Investigation Report?
Matt Jarrell, the former pastor of Open Door Baptist Church in Mesquite, Texas, committed suicide in a West Virginia jail while being held on rape charges.
Southern Baptist Convention Report
According to the Washington Post, a 300-page report was released on Sunday, May 22, 2022. The file includes horrifying new information regarding certain abuse circumstances and clarify how denominational authorities actively disapproved abuse avoidance and reform for decades.
Southern Baptist Convention leaders have actually announced an extensive and independent 3rd party investigation that revealed that abusers were often ignored, forgotten, or perhaps denounced by high-level congregation representatives from within this religious denomination of greater than 16 million members. Moreover, it showed these leaders typically lied to their own members to stop them from understanding the rampant sexual misconduct.
Continue reading about the Southern Baptist Convention Report
A Record of Ignored Misconduct
Nearly all of these disclosed incidents fell outside of the statutes of limitations, making it uncertain how many predators were really charged. According to the report, an in-house list of predators was kept.
One victim described being treated with hostility as she claimed she was sexually assaulted by a youth pastor. The accused pastor served in several Southern Baptist churches in several states. At a meeting with the SBC leaders in 2007, a member of the Executive Council “turned his back to her during her speech and another chortled.”
Responsibility in the Baptist Church
Russell Moore, the former head of the SBC’s policy branch, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, stated ‘this is not all Southern Baptists, look at all the good we do.’ The report demonstrates a pattern of stonewalling, coverup, retaliation, and intimidation.” He desires this report will deliver much-needed change and hold those responsible for their horrific actions.
The document claims that a principal Southern Baptist leader was credibly implicated of sexual assault only 1 month after completing his two-year spell as the convention’s president. The report also names 3 prior presidents of the convention, a previous vice president, and the former head of the SBC’s administrative branch as renoun SBC leaders who assisted in protecting and also encouraged thought sexual abusers.
For more information about resources available to sexual abuse survivors in Texas, visit this link: https://abuseguardian.com/sexual-assault-lawyer/texas/sex-trauma-therapist-tx/
Abuse Guardian for Texas
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