“Southern Baptists believe that the local church in New Testament times was autonomous, and thus our local churches are autonomous,” Executive Committee President Morris Chapman said in his address to messengers at the SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis.

The move came in response to a motion, passed nearly unanimously by messengers to last year's SBC meeting, asking officials to study the database idea.

However, in its report to messengers, the Executive Committee noted, “it would be impossible to assure that all convicted sexual predators who ever had a connection with a Baptist church would be discoverable for inclusion on such a list.” The report also stated that a Baptist-only database would likely omit sexual offenders coming to SBC churches from other denominations.

The committee recommended that SBC churches use the Department of Justice's national sex-offender database, calling it the best resource for protecting congregations against employing known abusers.

Responding to critics who suggest that the Executive Committee's action on the sex-offender database is insufficient, Chapman cited SBC resolutions passed in 2002 and 2007 supporting thorough punishment of sexual predators.

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