Florida Baptist Convention Liable for Sexual Abuser in Rare Verdict That Holds More Than His Congregation Accountable

By Peter Smith
The Courier-Journal
May 25, 2012

http://blogs.courier-journal.com/faith/2012/05/22/florida-baptist-convention-held-liable-for-sexually-abusive-minister-in-precedent-setting-lawsuit/

Douglas W. Myers

Fair warning, religious congregations: It isn’t enough to do a criminal background check on a prospective minister. A few phone calls are needed, too.

Florida jury has found the Florida Baptist Convention liable for sexual abuse committed by a pastor it had supported financially.

Normally Baptist conventions are able to keep arm’s length from such lawsuits because local congregations are autonomous.

But in this case, the jury found that the convention failed to do due diligence before it provided grants and training to Douglas W. Myers to work as a church planter.

If the convention had checked with churches where he had worked in other states, the jury concluded, it would have learned he had faced past accusations of abuse. Myers was later convicted of abusing a Florida teen.

In 2007, the Kentucky Baptist Convention — which, like the Florida group, is a state affiliate of the Southern Baptist Convention — adopted new policies on sexual abuse that included urging congregations to do training on sexual abuse and have criminal background checks conducted on prospective ministers.

But Kentucky and Southern Baptist bodies have resisted calls for their own registries with information on accusations against ministers. They cited concerns about having outdated or inaccurate information, creating a false sense of security for churches.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, “members of his Maryland and Alabama churches knew about questionable behavior, including inappropriate contact with young boys and a skinny-dipping trip with children, according to court testimony.”

“Let’s hope that, state by state, this Florida precedent advances forward so as to prod Southern Baptists into implementing denominational accountability and tracking systems for their clergy,” said Christa Brown of the group StopBaptistPredators.org, who has waged a long campaign calling for safe places for victims to bring accusations against abusive ministers.

Baptist churches are self-governing, so usually state conventions and local associations are not drawn into such liability verdicts. In contrast, because of their control of congregations and clergy, the regional or national hierarchies of the Roman Catholic Church, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Jehovah’s Witnesses are more commonly held liable for abuse when it occurs within their congregations.

“I don’t know of similar cases, but here the Convention seems more involved than in the typical case of a Baptist minister in an ongoing, established church” because of its direct role with Myers, said Howard Friedman, a church-state law specialist who runs the Religion Clause blog.

In the Myers case, the Florida jury also found a local Baptist association and a congregation liable. A damage award is to be determined in a later phase of the case.