Dallas Morning News: “Southern Baptists must make good on promise to address abuse”

Last week, the Dallas Morning News called out the continuing inaction of the Southern Baptist Convention on addressing clergy sex abuse. This is a scathing critique that comes straight from the heartland of the SBC — from the very city in which the SBC will gather thousands of delegates for its annual convention next June.

“Any good Baptist preacher will tell you that repentance means more than just feeling sorry for one’s shortcomings. It means doing something about them… But the Southern Baptist Convention seems to be having trouble practicing what it preaches.”

So began the Dallas Morning News editorial.

The News had taken note of the fact that, at the recent meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, the denomination’s top CEO, Jeff Iorg, admitted that its long-promised creation of a public database of abusive pastors was on hold.

“It’s not a focus for us at this point,” Iorg said.

Jeff Iorg addresses the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee. (Adam Covington / Associated Press)

The Dallas Morning News did a quick synopsis of the history on SBC inaction:

“Eighteen years after an ABC 20/20 investigation found evidence of ‘preacher predators’ in the denomination, six years after the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News detailed complaints against 300 church leaders by more than 700 victims, and almost three years after an audit ordered by the SBC’s own executive committee found that church leaders had ignored, belittled and intimidated survivors of sexual abuse, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination is still dragging its feet.”

“Dragging its feet” indeed. As it has been for decades.

This isn’t the first time that Southern Baptists have had an opportunity to reckon with clergy sex abuse and cover-ups… and they simply don’t.

Back in 2008, when the SBC Executive Committee rejected the creation of a clergy-predator database – without even conducting a legitimate study as delegates had directed it to do – there were numerous editorials and op-eds then, too.

The Dallas Morning News wrote:

“Baptists miss an opportunity.”

The Tennessean wrote:

“The very fact that Baptist churches are autonomous signals that they need the information the convention could provide.”

And the Winston-Salem Journal said:

“Holy hypocrisy.”

In 2007, the Tennessean conducted an online poll in which 96% of its readers said Southern Baptists should create a database of clergy sex abusers.

But SBC officials apparently had no interest in what most people wanted. Nor did they appear to give a flip about the protection of kids and the safety of congregants. They did nothing and simply waited for the media to move on.

And the media did… for a while. But then came the 2019 Abuse of Faith exposé and the 2022 Guidepost investigatory report, and many more editorials and op-eds followed (including my own in the Houston Chronicle).

“No atheist has done this much damage to the Christian faith,” wrote Peter Wehner in The Atlantic. In the New York Times, David Brooks described the “moral meltdown” of Southern Baptists, and in the Washington Post, Michael Gerson presented the SBC as “a portrait of brutal misogyny.”

The Southern Baptist Convention must “right the wrongs,” said one columnist. It “must follow through” with action, urged another.

So many columns were powerfully written, but in terms of prodding denominational action, none of them made any difference. Despite heaps of public posturing, to this day, the SBC has done near-nothing.

So here we are in 2025 with yet another Dallas Morning News editorial, and the News seems to understand the heart of Baptist faith better than Southern Baptist officials.

“Half measures won’t do,” it emphasizes. “SBC leaders should be pushing as hard as possible to stand with victims and prevent more mistreatment.” But “there has been no such effort.”

The News points out that, in 2022, SBC leaders “made a show of remorse.”

But of course, it was just “a show.”

“Real repentance would have meant actually following through,” concludes the editorial. “Baptists ought to know that.”

For more on the ruses and maneuvers of the Southern Baptist Convention, check out my book, Baptistland: A Memoir of Abuse, Betrayal, and Transformation.