I wrote a column last year about the Baptist General Convention of Texas posting a database of pastors who may have served Texas Baptist churches and had been convicted of various sexual crimes.

Now there is a call for a national database, aired in a recent story in the Nashville Scene. The alternative weekly aimed criticism at the Southern Baptist Convention for not taking more active steps to curb the problem within SBC churches.

The story named two specific cases from a Memphis suburb. One involved a longtime pastor indicted last fall on charges of rape and sexual battery, and the other a minister who molested his son two decades ago.

Although the latter was eventually fired, the pastor who knew of his transgression but initially kept it quiet remains on staff.

Funding a database

An article about the problems mentioned that messengers to the SBC's 2007 annual convention requested that the denomination's executive committee conduct a feasibility study concerning the development of a database of SBC clergy and staff who have been "credibly accused of, personally confessed to, or legally been convicted of sexual harassment or abuse."

The committee is to report back to the convention at the 2008 annual meeting June 10-11 in Indianapolis. Noted the Scene, "While the SBC executive committee has reportedly been 'studying' the potential for such a database for a good six months or more, there's little to show that they've made progress."

One reader who called the article biased and one-sided asked, "Who says they're not doing something? Just because the SBC is not allowing this reporter access to internal discussions he concludes that they are hiding something."

Another pointed out there is a major difference between the SBC and the Catholic church: individual churches in the SBC are completely autonomous, meaning the SBC has no say in who a church hires as its pastor.

Point well taken, and one that is often overlooked by critics outside the convention. Those who see the executive committee as some kind of national headquarters fail to grasp the inner workings of the denomination, which exists as a cooperative effort to fund missions and seminary education. The committee in Nashville doesn't dictate any policies, procedures or hiring practices to any church, anywhere.

Nor is the SBC the only denomination that practices local church autonomy, but assembles on a larger basis for fellowship, to fund missions or adopt statements of belief.

Moving ahead justified

That said, one hopes the SBC moves ahead with a national database that will consist of convicted offenders, to make information more readily available to guide churches in due diligence and hiring decisions.

After all, the victims of sexual abuse hardly care about the intricacies of church polity. They want to know that congregations didn't neglect their responsibility to exercise caution in determining who to place in their pulpit or on staff.

Nor will the courts look kindly on churches that hire sex offenders and try to excuse it away by saying a routine background check didn't turn up any evidence.

This issue won't stop with the Southern Baptist Convention, either. Churches of all stripes need to be aware of such problems and take steps to deal with them before they turn into criminal cases or costly lawsuits.

No doubt this is a sign of the morally decaying times in which we live, but the distastefulness of the task is no reason to avoid carrying it out.