No Hand of Hope from Texas Baptists, Stop Baptist Predators, November 15, 2009

No Hand of Hope from Texas Baptists

Stop Baptist Predators
November 15, 2009

http://stopbaptistpredators.blogspot.com/2009/11/no-hand-of-hope-from-texas-baptists.html

The Baptist General Convention of Texas is convening its annual hoopla November 16-17 in Houston. The theme is "Texas Hope 2010" as they focus on how "to bring hope to the people of Texas" next year.

For the sake of truth-in-advertising, I feel as though they really ought to add some fine print: "Texas Hope 2010 (but not applicable for Baptist clergy abuse survivors)."

Dee Miller saw the hopelessness of the Baptist General Convention of Texas a long time ago.

They may talk the talk of caring, but they won't walk the walk.

That's why Dee Miller said the BGCT dishes out "false hope." And that's why Dee said she couldn't recommend that survivors report clergy abuse to the BGCT — or to any other Baptist agency — because what they actually do is to re-victimize the wounded.

I agree with Dee that what the Baptist General Convention of Texas does is to re-victimize the wounded. Clergy abuse survivors should be warned: the leaders of this organization will not help you, and they will more-than-likely hurt you.

But Baptist clergy abuse survivors are given few options in their struggle to protect others. Of course they should report the abuse to police, but the vast majority of cases cannot be criminally prosecuted, and all experts know that. (Baptist leaders also know that.)

So, for abuse survivors who are able to get supportive counseling and who are feeling strong, I still believe there may be value in reporting Baptist clergy perpetrators to denominational leaders, including leaders at the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Put that mantle of knowledge onto their shoulders.

Oh sure … they'll likely shrug off the knowledge of a reported clergy child molester as if it were nothing more than a raindrop on vinyl. But their shrug is their own failure . . . not yours.

Over the course of a dozen years, Dee has heard the stories of hundreds of clergy abuse survivors and she knows of what she speaks in talking about the "false hope" of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and its re-victimization of the wounded. Dee was one of the first to write about my own story and to use it as an illustration of that "false hope." Here's an excerpt from what Dee wrote:

"When C. Brown submitted a written report to the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) and First Baptist of Farmers Branch in July of 2004, she wasn't totally broken. Victims who bring forward allegations of sexual abuse never are! That's because a totally broken person can't find the strength to make a report. Her requests were for counseling costs, a written apology, and some symbolic gesture of support—something that would show that the church stood in solidarity with victims of clergy sexual abuse."

"She believed, like all of us who have ever made reports to any denomination, that people recognized by the denomination as authorities, would understand her requests. She believed they could and would immediately take action to protect others who could be harmed. . . . . Taking action looked to Brown like a logical and relatively simple task for people in authority, people who were far more powerful than a local church . . . . She wanted the BGCT to provide guidance to Farmers Branch, guidance that she expected would be designed to benefit survivors and protect others. . . . . "

"When Brown met with leaders of the BGCT four months later... she was not nearly as hopeful because of a threatening letter sent to her in August from … the attorney for both the First Baptist Church of Farmers Branch, Texas AND the BGCT. [He] suggested that the church might seek "recourse" against Brown if she pursued in trying to expose the abuse and shocking collusion. . . ."

"The inaction of the BGCT, as in every case I've known, is 'justified' because . . . the very structure protects ministers from accountability, both the abusers and colluders, and nobody seems to be interested in changing that!! Yet using attorneys who protect the church from taking actions to promote accountability, while re-victimizing the wounded, is in no way a Christian action. . . . "

"Any belief she had that denominational leaders would care about protecting others was a hope completely destroyed."

Dee was exactly right in her conclusion: my belief that Baptist leaders would care about protecting others was "a hope completely destroyed."

Destruction of hope is a natural consequence of how the BGCT deals with clergy sex abuse.

Why?

Because the hand that delivers threats and bullying to clergy abuse survivors becomes the hand that burns the bridge to belief in Christian care.

Because the hand that dishes out do-nothing double-faced duplicity to clergy abuse survivors is the hand that teaches the fraudulence of the faith.

Because the hand that shields the institution rather than protecting kids is the hand that shows the cowardice of Baptist belief.

For many clergy abuse survivors, that hand belongs to the Baptist General Convention of Texas.