Several years ago, a Florida journalist coined the word "Talibaptists," which I thought was appropriate, given Baptists' conduct in a great many contexts.

Fringe group? One in six Americans self-describes as being a "Baptist." Yikes! If that's a fringe group, it's a scary-large fringe group with a lot of influence on a huge number of people.

Actually . . . CBS News reported that "Ernest Willis was 38 and a church deacon when, authorities now say, he raped Anderson." http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/29/earlysh...

Merrywood Baptist Church is shown as being affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. (shown on the sbc.net website under church search function). The largest Protestant denomination in the country has no system whatsoever for weeding out these guys, for any credentialing process, for any denominational oversight process, or for any sort of "ministry" or help for the countless people who are wounded by Southern Baptist ministers. Many thanks for continuing to document these cases, Mojoey!

What if a pastor were a serial rapist? If he's Baptist, he'll likely be able to get away with it for a very long time. Consider the case of "murdering minister" Matt Baker who easily moved through a string of Baptist churches and organizations for 16 years until, finally, he was brought up on murder charges in 2010, and found guilty. Only then did it come to light that he had also left a wake of numerous sexual assault and abuse reports, many of which were known about by other Baptist officials, and some of which involved minors. But no one ever did anything. It took a murder to bring that pastor's horrific history to light because Baptists did a fine job of keeping it all covered up.

You're exactly right, Mojoey. Baptists put too much power in the office of pastor and, unlike other major faith groups, they refuse the implementation of any realistic structures for accountability and oversight. While other major Protestant groups in this country have at least begun to try to put systems in place to prevent abusive pastors from church-hopping, Baptists don't bother. Instead, they stand on the sidelines and piously recite their mantra of "local church autonomy." In effect, they use their own radicalized religious doctrine as a rationalization for blind-eyed do-nothingness in the face of clergy child molestation. It's a shame of a sham.