Southern Baptists say they face U.S. federal probe after sex abuse claims

(Reuters) – The Southern Baptist Conference, the most important U.S. Protestant denomination, mentioned on Friday that a number of of its entities have been being investigated by the Justice Division, after a report discovered the church had mishandled intercourse abuse claims and mistreated victims.

The Conference didn’t present particulars on the inquiry and the Justice Division didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. However the church’s govt committee mentioned in a press release it might absolutely cooperate with the probe and would “transparently handle the scourge of sexual abuse.”

An inside report commissioned by the Conference and launched in Might discovered that complaints of intercourse abuse by pastors and employees have been both ignored or lined up by high clergy, a follow that occurred over many years.

The Conference, which has 13.7 million members, has since issued a proper apology over the abuse and launched an inventory of a whole lot of offenders who’ve been criminally convicted, had civil judgments towards them or confessed their actions.

In its assertion, the Conference’s govt committee mentioned the Justice Division inquiry “will embrace a number of SBC entities.” Every entity is resolved to totally and fully cooperate, it added.

“Leaders throughout the SBC have demonstrated a agency conviction to handle these problems with the previous and are implementing measures to make sure they’re by no means repeated sooner or later,” it mentioned.

(Reporting by Rami Ayyub; Modifying by Leslie Adler)