DOJ investigating Southern Baptist Convention over handling of sex abuse

• Some senior SBC leaders had also "protected or even supported alleged abusers."

What they're saying: The SBC Executive Committee said Friday that it's been informed that the investigation will include "multiple SBC entities."

• "Individually and collectively, each SBC entity is resolved to fully and completely cooperate with the investigation," SBC president Bart Barber and all SBC entity leaders said in a statement Friday.
• "Our commitment to cooperate with the Department of Justice is born from our demonstrated commitment to transparently address the scourge of sexual abuse."
• "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 statement added.
• The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The big picture: The Southern Baptist Convention passed two reforms to address sexual abuse at its annual convention in June. The reforms would establish an abuse implementation task force and create a process for tracking credible accusations against ministers and pastors.

• In May, the SBC published a list of hundreds of clergy and other church staff who were found to be "credibly accused" of sexual abuse.
• SBC clergy abuse allegations originally came to light in a joint 2019 investigative report by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News.
• Membership of the country's largest Protestant denomination is at the lowest it's been for some 40 years.