A New Database Outs Churches With Sexual Abuse Allegations

The Database

Protestant Accountability contains public records documenting over 2,700 church workers who either committed sexual abuse or mishandled related investigations while holding institutional authority. The database covers church staff broadly, from associate pastors and worship leaders to youth workers and staff who have never preached.

The volunteer-run database accepts entries such as court records, state attorney general reports, news articles, and—since convicted or ousted clergy may switch denominations—data from other survivor-run archives like Stop Baptist Predators, Bishop Accountability, and Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

To avoid inviting libel suits, convicted sex offenders are denoted differently than those named in media coverage about pending investigations, charges, or trials. Moreover, the database pulls from credible sources in the public domain, is not investigative, and does not directly influence legal cases, although it can aid law enforcement.

Rather than instigating hearsay or innuendo, the database preserves public documents that broken links and expired pages often erase. This streamlined and easily searchable archive serves an important purpose: churches can use its records for hiring screenings since Protestant churches have no centralized authority that keeps personnel files.

Founders of Protestant Accountability announced its launch in August at an online press conference organized by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Chellee Taylor, key architect of the database, is a survivor of sexual abuse who in 2022 won a settlement from the Southern Baptist Convention after alleging the denomination covered up her assault at Journey Church in Orange City, Florida.

“I don’t want to burn down the church, but I don’t have a problem dismantling the aspects that are harming people,” Taylor told Christian Today. “The reason that we built this site is because I love the church and I love what the church can and should be. But what it is currently does not mirror that at all.”

Why Survivors Need This

Communities often disbelieve or victim-blame sexual assault survivors, typically placing the burden of proof on survivors and/or subjecting survivors to purity tests before taking their victimization seriously. In fact, multiple studies show that anticipated discrediting is a common reason why approximately 80 percent of survivors do not report sexual assaults.

Such swift and pervasive dismissal can saddle survivors with disenfranchised pain, defined as emotional or physical suffering that society does not openly acknowledge, validate, or support. In turn, invalidation can cause a shocking or traumatic experience to feel doubly painful because of abandonment or alienation.

Protestant Accountability’s database validates survivors, even if churches isolate and silence them. That acknowledgment can be life-saving, considering that universality—or mutual validation of shared experience—can catalyze healing.

While collective denial and institutional coverups are not unique to churches—prisons, sports teams, workplaces, and universities mishandle allegations, too—research indicates that certain doctrine can foster authoritarian submission and groupthink that greatly decrease the odds of congregants believing survivors and challenging pastors.

For example, one study found that church members who perceived church leadership as having divine authority were less likely to engage in “upward dissent,” valid and justified disagreement directed toward people higher in a church’s leadership hierarchy.

Relatedly, another study found that clergy can suppress dissent differently than leaders of ordinary organizations. By misconstruing disagreement as sinful opposition to God’s will, pastors are able to conflate their own will with God’s will, and play God themselves.

Institutionally, investigations and research suggest that many Protestant institutions not only lack misconduct reporting mechanisms, but they also lack upstream feedback channels. Constructive criticism usually flows top-down only. Thus, critiquing leaders may seem unfathomable because a model or protocol for dissent is often non-existent.

Systemically, denominational oversight is also limited, given that most Protestant churches have a decentralized and localized governance structure. Research shows that all Protestant churches lack a single universal ecclesiastical hierarchy, even if some congregations are connected to regional bodies or denominations.

This means that pastors can disband disciplinary boards or HR systems if they see fit, conveniently obstructing justice for survivors by undermining accountability processes.

A lack of institutional oversight can also mean that there is no ethical code for practitioners who hold a position of authority over anyone they’re counseling or mentoring. Since there is no uniform standard of pastoral care across Protestantism, many leaders get away with rationalizing pastoral malpractice or religious abuse.

Sexual Trauma Can Fuel Religious Trauma

Survivors of sex abuse within churches often suffer from a specific form of post-traumatic stress syndrome known as religious trauma syndrome. While defining and unpacking the symptomatology is beyond the scope of this post, you can read more about the disorder in my previous posts. What is important to remember is that religious trauma is not simply about the struggle to unlearn harmful dogma and fill a void. It also involves immense grief in the aftermath of losing an entire community and social support system—not to mention grappling with identity erasure, systemic gaslighting, and severe fear of venturing into a world that has been stigmatized as wholly dangerous.

If you or someone you know is a survivor of church-based sex abuse or religious trauma syndrome, reach out to a mental health professional who specializes in these particular sub-areas of trauma recovery. To find a therapist near you, visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory.

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