The U.S. Department of Justice has concluded its investigation of the Southern Baptist Convention, having not filed any sexual abuse-related charges against the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.
The Baptist Press, the official news organ of the SBC, announced Wednesday that the DOJ informed attorneys with the SBC that the investigation had concluded.
The DOJ launched its investigation of multiple entities within the SBC in August 2022 after a report that the convention failed to respond to sexual abuse accusations in member congregations properly.
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“Earlier today, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York informed us that the investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention and Executive Committee has officially concluded,” said SBC attorneys Gene Besen and Scarlett Nokes in a statement given to BP.
“We are pleased that the matter has been resolved without any charges or further expense against the Executive Committee or other SBC entities. It has been an honor to represent and support the Convention and the EC throughout this process.”
As of last December, the SBC Executive Committee had spent a little over $2 million on legal costs tied to the Justice Department’s investigation, according to BP.
Timothy Pigg, lead pastor of Fellowship Church of Immokalee, Florida, took to his X account on Wednesday to denounce what he called the “‘sexual abuse coverup’ narrative.”
“The ‘sexual abuse coverup’ narrative caused harm to the people who stood against the power-hungry platform-builders in the SBC,” Pigg tweeted. “For instance, SBC members slandered Fellowship Church and me.”
“My wife received messages on social media encouraging her to leave our marriage due to her being married to someone who covers up abuse. Other pastors’ wives on my staff were urged to persuade their husbands to leave the church.”
Pigg claimed that the “evidence and justification of these rabble-rousers” was his congregation’s ties to the Conservative Baptist Network, a theologically conservative organization.
The Justice Department’s investigation followed the release of a report by outside firm Guidepost Solutions commissioned by the SBC’s Executive Committee detailing how some leaders allegedly mistreated victims of abuse and had mishandled allegations of abuse.
“For almost two decades, survivors of abuse and other concerned Southern Baptists have been contacting the [SBC Executive Committee] to report child molesters and other abusers who were in the pulpit or employed as church staff,” stated the report’s executive summary.
“They made phone calls, mailed letters, sent emails, appeared at SBC and EC meetings, held rallies, and contacted the press … only to be met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some within the EC.”
In late February 2024, the DOJ completed its investigation of the SBC Executive Committee specifically, filing no charges. However, the overall denomination and its entities remained under investigation.
While there were no sexual abuse-related charges filed against the executive committee or the SBC overall, the DOJ did charge former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Professor Matthew Queen with lying to federal authorities.
Queen pleaded guilty and, earlier this month, was sentenced to six months of home confinement. He is prohibited from leaving except to get medical care or with permission from his probation officer.
