Kat Coble and AuntB and Elizabeth at “Pith in the Wind” and Gavin (and others I’m sure–please let me know in the comments) are posting about the recent Nashville Scene report that the Southern Baptist Convention (”SBC”) seems to be punting rather than deal with the issue of sex abusers within the SBC.

This is a tough subject. I have ZERO sympathy for sex abusers. And as far as criminal justice is concerned, you likely haven’t seen a less sympathetic person than me. (Some of you are nodding your heads). On the other hand, I can sympathize with the SBC in this context. The SBC isn’t like the United Methodist Church or the Catholic church (or any other large denomination, frankly) so comparing what other denominations can do or have doesn’t seem fair. The reality is that the SBC could be the biggest, most powerful loosely affiliated organization in the history of the world. The organization represents a subtle balance between orthodoxy and autonomy, and I’m not sure where maintaining a database and investigating complaints and refereeing disputes and expecting compliance squares with autonomy. Indeed, the Scene article is entitled “What Would Jesus Say?” but this really isn’t an issue of what the SBC should say, it is about what they will do, and maintain, and enforce. As a lawyer, I also think the SBC’s reticence could fairly be about how implementing proposals advocated by the SBC’s detractors could force the SBC to assume liability without a means to manage their liability, given the way that the SBC is “organized.”

Unlike the federalist-circumventing tactic of our nation’s speed limit laws or DUI laws which are imposed through the carrot and stick of DOT money; unlike the disciplinary or leveraging tool of denominational ownership of church property, there doesn’t seem to be a way to impose something from the top down in the SBC, given the nature of their organization and given the proclivities of so many of the leaders in the member churches.

I won’t pretend that I do not have a reflex to believe the best about the SBC–the things that make them so controversial in the blog universe (which tilts left) endear it to me. And I won’t pretend that I am rather disinclined to believe the best about groups Kat Coble termed “tortseekers.” That being said, I will admit that this situation gives me pause. While infidelity or taking advantage of one’s position as a pastor may be issues properly resolved within a church body (or perhaps a denomination, which doesn’t include the SBC), I don’t believe that crimes are “issues” or “conflicts” that should be kept quiet or in-house. Hopefully churches, especially SBC churches that have no other available filter, are doing criminal background checks on prospective hires.

For a whole host of reasons, the SBC is on the Scene’s naughty list. And holding up a couple of pastors (or former pastors) who turned out to be abusers and who happen to have been seen with current leaders within the SBC at one time or another is not the same as demonstrating that the SBC is shuffling sex abusers around the org like priests or public school PE teachers. For the time being, I think I’ll direct my outrage at the sexual perpetrators.

Update: Glen Dean describes why he would label the Nashville Scene story is a hit piece.