US Southern Baptists ignored, covered up sex abuse claims: Report

Christa Brown, who said she survived sexual abuse as a teenager at a Southern Baptist Convention church, has said a new report that details decades of cover-ups by the denomination's leadership 'fundamentally confirms what Southern Baptist clergy sex abuse survivors have been saying for decades' [File: Julie Bennett/The Associated Press]

Leaders of the United States’ largest Protestant denomination – Southern Baptists – for decades ignored or covered up sexual abuse allegations against top clergy, according to a new report.

Survivors repeatedly shared allegations with the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), only to be met with “resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility”, according to the report released on Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an independent firm contracted by the SBC following an outcry over the allegations and the prospect of the executive committee investigating its own conduct.