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21 Nov, 7 tweets, 4 min read
I’ve got fire coming out the top of my head today. According to their own public statement, @TexasBaptists destroyed information about clergy sex abuse.

Destruction of evidence that could protect kids & congregants. It makes my blood boil. #SBCtoo 1/7 baptiststandard.com/news/texas/tex…
2/ For 15 yrs @TexasBaptists “maintained a confidential file of ministers who were credibly accused.” They accepted info for the file only FROM CHURCHES, not from victims, & by their policy, info went into the file based on confession, conviction or substantial evidence of abuse.
3/ In 2016, @TexasBaptists stopped keeping this file AND (what I just realized) they also DESTROYED the evidence. In their own words: “Information that needed to be reported…was identified & passed on. ALL OTHER INFORMATION WAS DESTROYED." #SBCtoo baptiststandard.com/news/texas/tex…
4/ And guess who got to decide what information about clergy sex abuse would be “passed on” & what would be destroyed?

Attorneys for @TexasBaptists.

Yeah. Sit with that. 🤬 #ThisistheSBC
5/ How much info may have been destroyed? Back in 2007 @TexasBaptists spokesperson said there were “fewer than 100 names.” By 2016 probably more. So...100+ pastors with troubling info about sexual abuse reported by churches. Info that’s now been destroyed. stopbaptistpredators.org/article07/texa…
6/ Whether those 100+ cases involved pastors' sexual abuse of children (like my own case which was in the @texasbaptists confidential file) or sexual abuse of adult congregants, people should be informed about those pastors & protected against them. #SBCtoo
7/ And if Texas churches thought there was enough info to report those pastors (churches rarely report their own pastors), then someone other than @TexasBaptists own attorneys should have been the ones handling any decisions about the destruction of that information. Infuriating.

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More from @ChristaBrown777

Christa Brown Profile picture
20 Jun
🧵I give thanks for the #SBC21 vote for investigation of @SBCExecComm & audit re #SBC abuse. But I want to also be clear about the limitations of this vote. It carries POTENTIAL but for that potential to eventually be realized there must be bird-dogging & follow-up. 1/
The #SBC21 vote does not serve to expose a single clergy abuser or enabler; nor does it create a database of clergy predators. It doesn't provide communal validation to #SBCtoo survivors by naming their abusers. It doesn't provide any aid or therapy costs to #SBCtoo survivors. 2/
It does not make public institutional apology to any #SBCtoo survivor for grotesqueries of #SBC officials.

These much-needed steps are wholly left up in the air. Moreover, rather than helping #SBCtoo survivors, the vote is actually asking that survivors help the #SBC. 3/
Read 11 tweets
Christa Brown Profile picture
16 Jun
🧵re @toddbenkert motion at #SBC21. It's referred to @ERLC. Todd shared this strategy with me in advance. Yes, I'm wary of ERLC, no getting around it. You know me. Long history has dug a deep well of skepticism. Still...This is something substantive & real. It's earnest effort...
...that holds POTENTIAL to bring #SBC institutional reform, accountability for abusers & enablers, and true care for survivors. The word POTENTIAL is critical. THIS IS A BEGINNING, NOT AN END. There will be many possibilities for derailment. SBCers: You must persist. #SBC21
Concerns & possible stumbling points: 1) Sooo much will depend on WHO @ERLC hires for the audit. GRACE has strong track-record of trust in survivor community. 2) Funding may be a HUGE issue. 3) Aim of this 3-yr audit is broad-spectrum data & analysis.
#SBC21
Read 8 tweets
Christa Brown Profile picture
11 Apr
The 1st of 2 invasive cancers was diagnosed 10 yrs ago today.

Surgeon said it had begun growing about 6 yrs earlier, tho hidden to imaging.

My mind went back in time. Cancer began when I was in the thick of trying to report the #SBC pastor who repeatedly raped me as a kid.🧵1/4
So Hellish was the prolonged experience of trying to report an SBC pastor-rapist & protect others that the very cells of my body had mutated.

Cancer is a multi-factorial process but 1 factor correlated to its inception in me was church bullying & #SBC #InstitutionalBetrayal. 2/4
It took a terrible toll to speak truth into a system determined not to hear & designed not to hear.

And really? For what?

Tho his assaults on me are well-substantiated, he has still never faced any consequence.

And me? I'm just grateful to still be here. #SBCtoo #ChurchToo 3/4
Read 4 tweets
Christa Brown Profile picture
13 Mar
I'm so weary of those who persist in minimizing the sexual predations of pastors as "sexual sin." I wrote about this in 2008 & sadly, it's still just as relevant today. 1/7
#ChurchToo #SBCtoo
goodfaithmedia.org/its-not-about-…
2/ When you combine the tactic of sexual assault...the authority of a pastor & the weapon of God’s word, dehumanization of the victim is complete.

There is no weapon more powerful than the word of God in the hands of a perverse pastoral con man who traps true believers as prey.
3/ How should I have known to run from the word of God? How should I have known that Bible verses could be transformed into weapons?

With the coercion of God’s word, I didn’t see it as a weapon. My every instinct was to feel safe in the word of God & safe in the house of God.
Read 7 tweets
Christa Brown Profile picture
2 Jan
What's needed for #SBC2021 🧵: 1/ Motion to establish an independent #SBCTruthandJustice Commission on Sexual Abuse in the #SBC, with 7 Comm'n members to be initially named by @BozT, and to be people who are not affiliated with any SBC church or entity.
2/ The function of Comm'n shall be to A) create a safe & transparent process to receive, assess & document reports of sexual abuse committed by any pastor, minister, deacon or staff - current or past - paid, interim or volunteer - of any church or entity affiliated with SBC;
3/ B) report to civil authorities as needed; C) publicly name credibly-accused #SBC sex abusers; D) serve as an info resource for local churches; E) conduct outreach to #SBCtoo survivors; & F) publish periodic reports naming people & context of abuse complicity & cover-ups...
Read 9 tweets
Christa Brown Profile picture
2 Jul 20
Dear @FirstOrlando: Despite being a documented clergy predator who sexually abused me as a kid, Tommy Gilmore has had 50 years’ worth of care, cover-up & career advancement within the #SBC & the support for him obviously continues to this day. 1/10 #SBCtoo thewartburgwatch.com/2020/07/01/ope…
Meanwhile, I’ve been shamed, blamed, bullied, intimidated, ignored, threatened & vilified by Southern Baptist leaders – lots of them. The contrast is stark and painful.

Photo: Me at time of abuse in #SBC Girls Auxiliary regalia. 2/10 #SBCtoo #institutionalbetrayal #ChurchToo Image
Each time when he was done with me, he always ended by saying, “God loves you, Christa.”

You all are likely people who value your faith...imagine how much his conduct affected mine. Whenever someone wants to tell me about “God’s love” I feel a visceral urge to vomit & run. 3/10
Read 10 tweets

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