Kyle Whitt: Sexual abuse in the SBC is not systemic, and the recently released report from Guidepost Solutions proves it. Part 1

Buy the truth, and do not sell it,
Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.

Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment,
But a man of understanding walks uprightly.

The first one to plead his cause seems right,
Until his neighbor comes and examines him.

Proverbs 23:23; 15:21; 18:17

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Key points: Is sexual abuse systemic and rampant in the Southern Baptist Convention? Have SBC leaders engaged in a massive cover-up of sexual abuse? Not according to the Guidepost Solutions Sexual Abuse Task Force report — yet to understand this reality, one needs to read the report and assess recent events in the SBC with discernment and understanding. Kyle Whitt helps us do just that.

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All the posts in this series are available from this page.

On May 28, 2022, Kyle Whitt, whom we met last year, released a video in which he critiqued the recently released report on sexual abuse within the SBC from Guidepost Solutions. Kyle explains

1. 1. 1. how the report shows that sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention is not systemic,
      2. why the recommendations contained in the report are problematic,
      3. where the problems really are, and
      4. what Southern Baptists need to do to
         1. • address the problem of sexual abuse to the extent it is present, to
            • prevent it from becoming a worse problem than it presently is, and to
            • reclaim the SBC.

The video is just over one hour. For my readers’ convenience, I’ve streamlined the audio of Kyle’s presentation and broken it up into three parts. All three of these segments are available on this page, along with the complete video. Each audio segment is just over 15 minutes long. In this post we’ll consider the first of the three. In this and in each of the subsequent posts in this series, I’ll present clips from the specific segment under consideration.

In the first segment, Kyle emphasizes two major points before beginning to dive into the findings of the report. We’ll look at each of these three elements in this post.

Observation One

The first point Mr. Whitt emphasizes is this:

The context of the Sexual Abuse Task Force report is the assumption that sexual abuse is systemic and widespread in the SBC, and that there has been a massive cover-up of this widespread abuse. However, the report shows that the opposite true.

Here is what Mr. Whitt says:

Ever since the #MeToo movement, there’s been this huge push that there’s some sort of big issue — really, to put it as a systemic issue — within the SBC when it comes to sexual abuse, that there’s both a rampant amount of it occurring and there’s also this huge conspiratorial cover-up of it. That’s how it’s being presented.

So, last year, at the convention, a man [Pastor Grant Gaines] got up and paraded an abuse survivor in front of everyone, and brought her up [and said,] You know, hey, the SBC isn’t taking care of people like this. We need to have an investigation. We need to get to the bottom of this. [You can watch a brief report from the AP on this here.] And because of the emotionalism it passed, even though the wording of it was not very good, not well-thought-out. Good intentions, poor execution. That’s been kind of what’s been occurring in the SBC for a while now.

Then that leads to the Executive Committee waiving attorney-client privilege and then losing their legal firm because that’s just a dangerous thing to do. [Former Executive Committee member Rod Martin emphasizes this very point in a video posted at the bottom of this page.] It opens you up to a lot of problems. There’s a reason that we have that in place in the legal system. And it was not required by the messengers. The messengers didn’t [explicilty] say you had to waive attorney-client privilege. The wording was slipped in there, but it was [effectively] worded as if required. They did it preemptively, which was very concerning, and it led to a lot of chaos.

But, again, it was all in the service, you know, of this greater good, this greater good — we’re going to get to the bottom of this huge issue. And there’s been this cover-up, and there’s just this massive, rampant issue with sexual abuse going on in the SBC, and we’re going to find all of those cases, and we’re going to find the cover-up and get rid of it. 

So now the report has been released. Looking at the report, there is so little that they found that if you actually pay attention to it, it paints the opposite picture — not a picture of massive rampant sexual abuse and massive rampant cover-up, but actually that we’re doing phenomenally well, considering that we live in a fallen world where there’s going to be problems.

The Stage Was Set for the Prevailing Narrative: My Insights Concur With Kyle’s

Last year after attending the SBC in Nashville, I listed some of my frustrations. Note item #3: I was greatly frustrated by the

bandwagon mentality shown by both leaders and messengers to support popular and even legitimate causes (opposing sexual abuse and opposing racism are two excellent examples) without weighing carefully the consequences of the specific approaches recommended or taken to address these issues.

Of course we should be concerned about issues like racism and sexual abuse! However, we also must understand that these are emotional issues. Moreover, people can be falsely accused. Further, we need to recognize the power of a prevailing narrative and a corporate consensus.

Neither opinions nor expectations can alter the facts in any given situation. Here’s an example. All of us can rejoice that slavey no longer is legal in the United States. At the same time, it is not an endorsement of slavery to point out that Robert E. Lee, who led the Confederate forces during the American Civl War, was a great military leader and a man with a generous number of qualities we should admire and emulate.

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For the sake of justice, we must never allow our feelings or the prevailing narrative on any situation or issue to obscure the truth.

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For the sake of justice, we must never allow our feelings or the prevailing narrative on any situation or issue to obscure the truth. As Kyle has indicated (and as I also have observed), on the issue of sexual abuse in the SBC, there have been overarching assumptions and exceptions that have titled public opinion in a particular direction. Forever and always, we must consistently seek to obtain and uphold the facts. We cannot render justice apart from the truth.

Observation Two

Note that Kyle says, “Looking at the report, there is so little they found that if you actually pay attention to it, it paints the opposite picture” from the one the narrative paints [emphasis added]. This is especially significant because of the expectations that gripped many: If abuse was extremely widespread and thoroughly, or near-thoroughly, hidden, as has been supposed, then why were these particular cases cited? 

Unfortunately, those in SBC leadership still are pushing the narrative, and most people apparently are listening to them and viewing the report through that lens rather than being open to the truth. This does not mean there aren’t problems in certain places; nor does it mean that any problems that exist should be ignored. Still, given the expectations of rampant abuse contrasted against the findings of the report, the notion of widespread abuse still is being assumed and promoted. Kyle emphasizes this; we can summarize his point this way.

Despite the actual findings of the Sexual Abuse Task Force report, the portrayal of widespread sexual abuse within the SBC and a massive cover-up still is being promoted and reinforced by SBC leaders.

[N]ow the report has been released. Looking at the report, there is so little that they found that if you actually pay attention to it, it paints the opposite picture — not a picture of massive rampant sexual abuse and massive rampant cover-up, but actually that we’re doing phenomenally well, considering that we live in a fallen world where there’s going to be problems.

Now, the response has been completely opposite, though. Specifically from SBC leadership. The statement that’s released with it by the task force [available from this page, and also here] is [includes these statements:]

The Nature of the Report

What does the report highlight? Kyle first notes the length of the Sexual Abuse Task Force report — 288 pages. He says that some may point to its length to emphasize the thoroughness of the investigation, but he himself contends that it’s long because it is vague and sermonizes. A report of this nature needs to be grounded in and focused on facts, or, we might say, the truth; not primarily on what should have been or what ought to be. There are places to emphasize these, of course. But an investigative report isn’t such a place.

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The report on the sexual abuse scandal involving Ravi Zacharias is only 12 pages long.

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Thus, being straightforward would have made for a tighter, more concise document and would have brought it closer to what a report of this nature ought to be like. Kyle cites the “Report of Independent Investigation into Sexual Misconduct of Ravi Zacharias” as an example of a report done the way it ought to be done. That report is a mere 12 pages long, and it really isn’t even that long. The first page is a title page, and the last page consists of a heading and a concluding paragraph of just five lines.

Someone might say, But that report involved only one person, not many. However, this isn’t the only reality that might affect the lengths of the two documents. The number of offenses, the nature of those offenses, and the quality of the evidence that the transgressions actually occurred carried great weight in the investigation of Ravi Zacharias’s misdeeds, and consequently in the report.

The Findings of the Report

Kyle next begins to dig into the specifics of the document — what the investigation found. He points to weaknesses in the report that cause him to question the strength of the narrative’s claims. We can summarize Mr. Whitt’s perspective this way:

Does the report present evidence of what it claims took place? Not completely, and not adequately.

In this case I’m not providing the text of Kyle’s comments, but I am displaying a copy of page 7 of the report, from which Kyle reads, for your convenience. The case Kyle makes speaks for itself.

Stay Tuned

One segment down; two to go. Stay tuned!

Special thanks to Kyle Whitt for the insights he shared in his video presentation on the Guidepost Solutions Sexual Abuse Task Force report.

 

Copyright © 2022 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture has been taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

Sexual Abuse Task Force webpage

Guidepost Solutions SATF report

List of Alleged Abusers