“The sexual abuse of children is part and parcel of the cultures of the Independent Baptists and Southern Baptists,” Massi says in the book’s introduction.
When confronted by the scale of the problem, she says, Baptist leadership has “at best turned a deaf ear and at worst has countered with threats and intimidation.”
Massi says abuse victims and their advocates are routinely accused of “painting with a broad brush.” In her own Independent Fundamental Baptist tradition, she says she has been depicted as sexually promiscuous, a drug addict and a witch and had her life threatened three times.
Whistleblowers don’t fare much better in the Southern Baptist Convention, she says, quoting SBC leaders denouncing the advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests as “opportunists motivated by personal gain” and “just as reprehensible as sex criminals.”
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Massi says the book is sadly a work in progress. She is only about a third of the way through her notes and plans to release a second volume in December adding another 60 cases she knows about, with the list growing every week.
“Sex abuse is rampant in Baptist churches,” Massi says in a page at the end of the book that includes a form for individuals who have information about a case to fill out and submit for future volumes.
“I suppose if the SBC and IFB refuse to track dangerous preachers, it is up to us to provide the record, so that children in Christianity remain safe,” she addresses readers.
Book documents molestation in conservative Baptist churches
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