The US Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention, the main Protestant church in the country, the religious organization announced on Friday.
She is accused in a recent independent report of having practiced obstruction and concealment in the face of victims of sexual assault.
The Protestant Church intends to "
cooperate fully and completely
" with the authorities, she said in a statement.
“
The leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have shown an unwavering determination to address the mistakes of the past and to put in place measures to ensure they are never repeated in the future
,” continued the Church.
Nearly 400 volunteer pastors and educators involved
An independent investigative report, commissioned by the Southern Baptist Convention, concluded in May that alleged victims of sexual assaults and those who sought to speak out within the Church had clashed for almost two decades to "
resistance, obstruction and even outright hostility
" from members of the executive committee.
This sex scandal, involving nearly 400 pastors, volunteers and educators who assaulted more than 700 victims, was brought to light in 2019 thanks to the investigations of two Texan daily newspapers, the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News.
In June, the religious institution had announced the implementation of tools to fight against sexual assault, in particular the publication of a database listing publicly the members of the SBC accused of sexual abuse as well as the creation of a crisis unit responsible for implementing reforms to combat these attacks.
The Church had also made public a 205-page document listing since 2007 its members who have been accused of sexual violence.
The Southern Baptist Convention, with a network of thousands of churches, has over fifteen million members, mostly in the southern United States.