Baptist Ethicist Signs Abuse Petition
By Bob Allen
A Southern Baptist ethicist has endorsed an online petition urging greater transparency about sexual abuse occurring in evangelical churches. Ben Mitchell, Graves Professor ofMoral Philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., added his signature to “A Public Statement Concerning Sexual Abuse in the Church of Jesus Christ” posted July 17 by Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), an advocacy group led by Billy Graham grandson and Liberty University law professor Basyle “Boz” Tchividjian. “I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to go on the record as opposing sexual abuse in the church,” Mitchell said in an e-mail exchange Aug. 1. “Everyone should know it’s a problem. If they don’t, they need to scan the morning news. It’s simply abhorrent that anyone, children or adult, is abused sexually in a church or by church members.” Nearly 1,500 people had added their names to those of an original 72 signers as of Aug. 2. A goal of 2,000 signatures is sought for an initiative that has been reported by news outlets including ABPnews and Religion News Service. It was the lead story in the July 28 issue of World Magazine, a conservative Christian publication that carries news, cultural analysis, editorials and commentary based in Asheville, N.C. Many of the signatories added notes saying they were once victims of sexual abuse. Others are counselors who work with abuse victims. Some are former church members who left because of their church’s response to the issue. Few of the signers identify as Southern Baptists. The statement was originally issued in response to allegations of abuse and cover-up within Sovereign Grace Ministries, a well-known evangelical ministry, and subsequent public statements by evangelical leaders -- including Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler and prominent Southern Baptist pastor Mark Dever -- in support of the ministry’s founder, C.J. Mahaney. In June the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution encouraging denominational leaders to “utilize the highest sense of discernment in affiliation with groups and/or individuals” with questionable policies on sexual abuse. Mitchell, a longtime consultant to the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said he doesn’t know now many Southern Baptists have seen or been asked to sign the petition. “This statement contains a clear gospel-centered response,” Mitchell said. “I signed the statement because I endorse that approach and because I don’t often see statements that take that tack, especially on sexual abuse in the church.” Other names on the petition include Marie Fortune, founder of the Faith Trust Institute that works against sexual and domestic violence; Janet Mefferd, a Salem Radio Network host in Dallas who has devoted multiple broadcasts to the problem of sexual abuse in evangelical churches; and Dee Parsons and Debbie Kaufman, who discuss trends that affect faith in the public square in a widely read blog titled The Wartburg Watch.
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