Abuse verdict goes against Baptist state convention
By Allen, Bob | |
Proquest LLC |
The attorney for a man awarded
"I think it's a good thing for the
The jury handed down a unanimous verdict on
Weil, a civil trial lawyer with 30 years of experience who specializes in sexual abuse cases and victims' rights, said to his knowledge it is the first time that a verdict has gone against a state convention in a case involving child sexual abuse.
A 2008 article in the Nashville Scene quoted
Guenther said the SBC has been sued in sexual abuse cases only five times. It settled only one of those, and that was not through an admission of guilt but because the denomination's insurance company chose to pay the plaintiff a "small nuisance value" rather than the attorney fees to try the case, he added.
Guenther said the SBC typically is dismissed from lawsuits because in the denomination's system of governance local churches and not the national organization are responsible for choosing and supervising their ministers. "The law does not hold persons hable for things they had nothing to do with," Guenther told the Nashville Scene.
However, Weil said the local-church autonomy argument is "really a legal strategy and not so much a reality," noting that voluntary cooperation doesn't prevent state and national conventions from chastising churches that affirm homosexuality or call a woman as pastor.
Weil said regardless of who signed the minister's paycheck, he was an "agent" of the state convention, which gave him eight weeks of training and conducted criminal, motor vehicle and credit checks but didn't bother to contact "his two immediate previous churches, where he was run out of town" over inappropriate conduct with boys.
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Copyright: | (c) 2014 Christian Century Foundation |
Wordcount: | 618 |
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