Was Richard Frank Shaw Named in Southern Baptist List of Abusers?
Richard Frank Shaw, a former youth minister at Middlesboro, Kentucky’s Chester Avenue Baptist Church, pleaded guilty to third-degree unlawful transaction with a 17-year-old girl.
Southern Baptist Abuse Database
According to the Washington Post, a 300-page report was released on Sunday, May 22, 2022. The document consists of horrible new information concerning particular abuse circumstances and sheds light on how denominational officials actively fought abuse avoidance and change for several years.
Southern Baptist Convention leaders have revealed a comprehensive and independent third-party investigation that uncovered that abusers were frequently ignored, forgotten, or perhaps criticized by high-level church administrators from within this religious denomination of greater than 16 million individuals. In addition, it disclosed these leaders frequently deceived their own members to avoid them from understanding the flagrant sexual misconduct.
Continue reading about the bombshell Southern Baptist Abuse Database
A Story of Dismissed Abuse in Churches
For almost twenty years, victims who were sexually assaulted tried to get in touch with the administration of the “SBC” in relation to the ministers and congregation workers. Just about all of these reported events fell beyond the SOL, making it not clear the number of perpetrators were in fact charged. According to the report, an in-house record was kept. Nevertheless, abuse victims’ shouts for fair treatment went unconsidered as leaders from churches and organizations tried to shield themselves instead of those who have actually been preyed on by sexual assault.
The report asserts that a senior Southern Baptist Convention official was credibly accused of sexual assault merely 1 month after finishing his two-year period as the convention’s president. Additionally, Johnny Hunt, a widely known Georgia Southern Baptist preacher and senior vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s objectives arm, was credibly implicated of assaulting a lady during a 2010 vacation in Panama City Beach, FL. The North American Mission Board president claimed he was uninformed of the accusations prior to Hunt resigning on May thirteenth. The report likewise names three prior presidents of the convention, a former vice president, and the previous head of the SBC’s administrative arm as prominent SBC officials who aided in covering for and even encouraged suspected abusers.
One victim recounted being treated with hostility as she claimed she was sexually abused by a youth pastor. The implicated pastor served in several Southern Baptist churches in numerous states. At a meeting with the SBC leaders in 2007, a member of the Exec Council “turned his back to her during her speech and another chortled.”
Responsibility in the Southern Baptist Church
Russell Moore, the former head of the SBC’s policy arm, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, mentioned ‘this is not all Southern Baptists, take a look at all the good we do.’ The report demonstrates a trend of stonewalling, intimidation, coverup, and retaliation.” He anticipates this document will bring much-needed reform and hold those responsible for their actions.
For more information about resources available to survivors in Kentucky, visit our page: https://abuseguardian.com/sexual-assault-lawyer/kentucky/sex-trauma-therapist-ky/
Abuse Guardian for Kentucky
Comments for this article are closed.