DOJ Shuts Down Sexual Abuse Investigation of SBC

No big surprise, eh?

The U.S. Department of Justice has now shut down its investigation into sexual abuse within the Southern Baptist Convention.

So say attorneys for the SBC Executive Committee who assert that the DOJ notified them today of the investigation’s closure. (A cautionary note: The DOJ itself rarely comments, and it’s worth noting that we heard a similar story a year ago, with a top SBC official claiming the DOJ investigation had ended even as survivors were saying FBI agents had assured them the investigation was ongoing.)

On social media, many Southern Baptists cheered this latest news of the investigation’s shut-down as though it were proof that there’s no abuse crisis in the SBC – as though it were proof of their righteousness. (For examples, see my update below.)

This strikes me as either ill-informed or disingenuous or both.

Absence of federal prosecutions does not mean absence of crimes

The shut-down of a federal investigation is not a substantive determination on the absence of crimes. It’s a procedural event.

Furthermore, crimes involving sexual abuse and assault are more typically crimes that fall under state law.

So, the absence of federal prosecutions does not in any way indicate the absence of criminal conduct, the absence of immoral conduct, or the absence of harmful conduct.

This is why, together with David Clohessy and Dave Pittman, I had previously called for state attorney general investigations of abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention, similar to the nearly two dozen state investigations that have been conducted on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

The documented facts remain

Nothing about the closure of the DOJ investigation changes a thing about the fact of 700 known victims that were documented by the Abuse of Faith exposé on sexual abuse in the SBC. (And those were almost all child victims in cases with criminal convictions, which experts recognize as the tip of the iceberg.)

Nor does the closure of the DOJ investigation change anything about the Guidepost investigatory report’s documentation of how terribly top SBC officials treated clergy sex abuse survivors and of how they did nothing to help survivors – or to protect others – when confronted with clergy sex abuse reports.

Nor does the investigation’s closure change anything about the fact of hundreds of Southern Baptist pastors who were listed on the SBC Executive Committee’s own long-secret list of credibly accused abusive pastors… or about the fact that they kept the list secret for so many years.

All of this documentation remains. It’s not as if the closure of the DOJ investigation erased it, and it’s cruel for some Southern Baptists to pretend that it did.

Likewise, the SBC’s chronic failure to reckon with abuse remains.

Anyone who follows the headlines can readily see the ongoing stream of news reports about sexual abuse and coverups in the SBC.

No surprise in this shut-down

Finally, there is almost certainly a political component to the shutdown of the DOJ investigation. So again, it’s not a substantive determination.

Shortly after the election, on X, I predicted that the Trump regime would shut down the DOJ investigation into sexual abuse in the SBC.

This wasn’t a difficult prediction to make because it’s no secret that Trump likes to cater to his friends and seek retribution against his perceived enemies. And no group has been a bigger friend to Trump – and to Trumpism – than the Southern Baptist Convention. As pastor Ben Marsh once said, without Southern Baptists, “Trump is gone a long time ago.”

Moreover, given that Trump himself is a civilly adjudicated sexual abuser (and has had dozens of women accuse him), it didn’t seem likely that he was going to be the sort to take sexual abuse seriously.

So, the shut-down of the DOJ investigation comes as no surprise.

And it sure doesn’t give any cause for Southern Baptists to brag.

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Update 3/15/25: This ChurchLeaders article provides numerous examples of the public comments of Southern Baptist pastors and leaders, perversely twisting the closure of the DOJ investigation into an institutional exoneration and labeling those who pushed reforms as “liars” and “radical activists.” It’s revolting. It’s false. It’s cruel. And it’s a punch in the gut for clergy sex abuse survivors. The article also quotes and links this column of mine.

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