When most people hear “clergy sexual abuse,” they think of the Catholic Church.  After all there has been tremendous publicity about Catholic Church Clergy Abuse.  Just think of the movie “Spotlight” based it is based on the real-life series of stories by The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team that earned the newspaper the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.  So, that association of clergy sexual abuse and Catholic Church is not without basis, given the most thoroughly documented institutional scandal in American religious history.  There is an important reason it became so well-documented.  The Catholic Church’s hierarchical structure, the same structure that enabled decades of cover-ups, also created the trail of internal records, bishop transfer documents, and diocesan files that investigators and plaintiffs’ attorneys could eventually obtain and use in court.

Most Protestant, evangelical, Baptist, and independent churches do not have such an equally well-organized internal structure. And in some critical ways, that makes abuse in those communities harder to expose.

The problem of clergy sexual abuse is not a Catholic problem per se, it is not confined to the Catholic church alone. It is a power problem. It exists wherever authority is concentrated, accountability is absent, and institutions have more to lose from disclosure than from silence.

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Investigation – The Largest Protestant Denomination in America

The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. In May 2022, following years of pressure from survivors and advocates, the SBC Executive Committee commissioned an independent investigation by Guidepost Solutions. The resulting 2288-page report was released on May 22, 2022.  It revealed what Russell Moore, a former SBC public policy leader, called “not a crisis, but an apocalypse.”

The Guidepost investigators found that SBC leaders had stonewalled and disparaged clergy sex abuse survivors for nearly two decades. Senior Executive Committee leaders were described as “singularly focused on avoiding liability for the SBC,” to the point that survivors who came forward were dismissed as having “hidden agendas” or characterized as “opportunistic.”

Among the most damaging findings it was revealed that an SBC staffer had been quietly maintaining an internal list of Baptist ministers accused of abuse. When that list was eventually made public in May 2022, it contained more than 700 entries.  Of the 700 on the list, 409 believed to have been SBC-affiliated at some point.  It was revealed that known abusers had been allowed to keep their positions and move to new churches without warnings to their congregations.

In August 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had opened an investigation into the SBC related to the abuse crisis. The SBC’s Executive Committee confirmed it had received a subpoena.

Independent and Nondenominational Churches – No Hierarchy, No Accountability

The SBC scandal received significant media attention. Far less scrutiny has fallen on the thousands of independent and nondenominational churches that operate with no denominational oversight whatsoever.

In December 2018, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram published a four-part investigative series examining the Independent Fundamental Baptists (IFB), a loose network of conservative Baptist churches. The series documented more than 400 allegations of sexual misconduct across 187 IFB churches and para-church organizations spanning 40 US states and Canada.

These cases attracted a fraction of the media coverage given to Catholic abuse scandals.  This was not because the abuse was less serious, but because the institutional structure was harder to map. There were no bishops to subpoena, no central records to obtain, no denominational leadership to hold publicly accountable.

That structural vacuum is noteworthy. According to religious data researcher Ryan Burge, cited in a 2024 New Republic investigation, nearly 13 percent of all U.S. adults now identify as nondenominational Protestant Christians, and there are now more nondenominational churches than any single denomination in the country. These communities have no external oversight body, no central authority to investigate complaints, and no mandatory reporting chains. Church governing boards are often appointed by the same pastor they are theoretically supposed to hold accountable.  This is what researchers call “accountability capture.”

Law Professor Boz Tchividjian, a grandson of Billy Graham and founder of the nonprofit G.R.A.C.E. (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment), which conducts independent abuse investigations for Christian institutions, has stated publicly that sexual abuse in evangelical churches rivals the scope of the Catholic Church scandal.

The Mandatory Reporting Loophole

One structural factor that enables abuse to continue undetected in non-Catholic religious communities rarely receives the attention it deserves.  The fact is that in 33 states, clergy are exempt from mandatory reporting laws that require teachers, doctors, and other professionals to report suspected child abuse to law enforcement, if the church deems the communication privileged.

This finding comes from an Associated Press investigation published in 2022. The clergy-penitent privilege has been invoked by Catholic institutions, as well as by Southern Baptist, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), and Jehovah’s Witness organizations to shield accused abusers from civil and criminal scrutiny. Ohio is among the states where this exemption applies.

What this means in practice is that a pastor who learns of ongoing abuse during a counseling session may face no legal obligation to report it to authorities. A church elder who receives a complaint from a victim may handle it internally, or not at all, without violating any mandatory reporting requirement. This vacuum allows for abuse to continue and protects the institution.

This is precisely why civil litigation has become the most powerful tool available to survivors of non-Catholic clergy abuse. A civil lawsuit does not depend on mandatory reporting. It does not require a criminal investigation or conviction. It requires evidence that an institution knew, or should have known, about the abuse, and that the institution failed to act.

What Evidence Exists in Non-Catholic Clergy Cases

Survivors of abuse at Baptist, evangelical, or independent churches often assume they have no case because there are no diocesan records or bishop transfer documents. That assumption is worth questioning.

Multiple categories of evidence are typically available in these cases. Internal communications such as emails, text messages, and board meeting minutes frequently contain references to complaints, internal discussions about the accused, or decisions about how to handle allegations. Employment and volunteer records can reveal background check failures or prior complaints that were ignored. Witness testimony from other congregation members, youth group participants, or staff who observed grooming or were pressured to stay silent is often substantial. Prior complaints to elders, deacons, or pastoral leadership, even if dismissed verbally and never recorded, can be reconstructed through testimony. Digital communications between the abuser and the survivor, including social media messages, are increasingly central to these cases.

Institutional liability in non-Catholic clergy abuse cases rests on the same legal foundation as any other.  It’s anchored in what the church leadership knew, when did they know it, and what did they do, or fail to do, in response.

Constant Legal Group Handles Clergy Abuse Across All Denominations

Constant Legal Group (CLG) represents survivors of clergy sexual abuse regardless of denomination. Whether the abuse occurred in a Southern Baptist congregation, an evangelical megachurch, an independent fellowship, an Orthodox community, or any other religious setting, the legal theory of institutional accountability applies, and the civil courts are open.

CLG’s practice operates nationally. We pursue both the individual who committed the abuse and the institution that enabled or concealed it. 

There are no upfront costs. We only get paid if we recover compensation for you.

We are here to hear your story.  If you were abused by a pastor, youth minister, elder, or other church leader in any religious denomination, call us for a free, confidential case evaluation.

855-906-2561 | constantllp.com

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Contact Constant Legal Group for a confidential evaluation specific to your circumstances.