The United States Department of Justice has formally initiated an investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention’s handling of clergy sexual abuse, with the government likely setting the stage for a prolonged and expansive probe into the inner workings of the denomination.
The general counsel for the Executive Committee has confirmed that they’ve already received subpoenas from the government, but no specific person has been called to testify yet. In response to the news, entity heads have released a statement, saying they will fully comply with any investigations, writing in part:
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 sexual 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. The fact that the SBC Executive Committee recently completed a fully transparent investigation is evidence of this commitment.
A statement from SBC entity leaders and SBC president @bartbarber on the initiation of an investigation by the @TheJusticeDept. pic.twitter.com/yIopOScCAz
— SBC Executive Committee (@SBCExecComm) August 12, 2022
Commenting on the news in a series of Tweets, reporter Megan Basham suggested that the SBC brought this upon itself, despite the fact that the DOJ should have no interest in these matters:
What did SBC think would happen? If you give authoritarian administration opening to insert itself into largest Protestant denomination, home to voters who consistently vote for conservative policies, they’re going to take it.
And let’s be clear, there is NOTHING here that should interest DOJ. The “secret” list was all already public. This is purely admin taking advantage of the opening all the SBC leadership’s hyperbolic virtue signaling offered.
Oh, and don’t forget there is now no attorney-client privilege in place! 🤦♀️ So anything the DOJ wants to make an inflate or twist, they’re going to be able to. What a dumpster fire.
