• The SBC lawyers say the Department of Justice has served subpoenas to executive committee.
• The SBC was accused of covering up abuse and demonizing survivors in a report from May.
• It has 13 million members, with the majority living in the south of the US.

The largest Protestant denomination in the US claims that an investigation into se*ual abuse by its clergy has been opened by the authorities.

The Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) legal team promised to cooperate “fully and completely” with the probe.

The SBC was accused of covering up the abuse and demonizing survivors in a report from May.

The SBC has 13 million members, with the majority of them living in the south of the US.

According to the Church’s attorneys, the Department of Justice has served subpoenas to the executive committee.

As a result of an inquiry conducted for the SBC by an outside firm, SBC executives said the probe focused on systemic se*ual abuse issues identified by May’s report.

In a statement, they stated that “Individually and collectively each SBC entity is resolved to fully and completely cooperate with the investigation,”

“While we continue to grieve and lament past mistakes related to se*ual abuse, current leaders across the SBC have demonstrated a firm conviction to address those issues of the past and are implementing measures to ensure they are never repeated in the future.”

In the wake of a 2019 report by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News that disclosed hundreds of alleged cases of sex abuse within the church, the SBC initiated its own inquiry.

A few top members of the Church’s executive committee were identified in the 288-page study as having control over how the Church handled reports of abuse and being “singularly focused on avoiding liability for the SBC.”

According to the investigation, these officials “protected or even supported alleged abusers.”

Due to the way the church is structured, calls and emails from survivors or other Southern Baptists who are concerned would be “ignored, disbelieved, or met with the constant refrain that the SBC could take no action” the report said.

A number of recommendations were made, including limiting the use of non-disclosure agreements and legal settlements by the accused and establishing an independent commission to supervise changes in the way se*ual misconduct is handled.

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