Ethics expert claims malpractice in SBC sex abuse probe

The Guidepost Solutions investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention’s handling of sex abuse claims was not legal or objective, an independent ethics expert concluded. Amy McDougal of CLEAResources said her opinion was based on a review of the Guidepost report, as well as depositions from both Guidepost and SBC leaders. McDougal submitted her analysis in August to the legal team of former seminary professor Michael David Sills and his wife, Mary, who sued Guidepost and other entities that they said defamed him. The CLEAResources report was among discovery materials in the Sills case that were recently made public.

Guidepost’s 2022 report sent shock waves through the SBC, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. The 288-page report concluded that the SBC’s executive committee prioritized avoiding legal liability over caring for survivors and guarding against abuse. The U.S. Department of Justice probed the SBC following the Guidepost report. However, it closed its yearslong investigation in March without filing any new charges. The SBC spent over $2 million during the investigation and sold its headquarters to pay legal expenses.

The Guidepost report did not meet the standards of Tennessee law for investigations, McDougal wrote. Guidepost was not licensed as a private investigator in the state, she said. Also, the probe’s independence was destroyed by conflicts of interest involving several members of the investigative team, according to McDougal’s report. McDougal also wrote that the Guidepost report used inconsistent definitions of abuse and victims of abuse, and failed to establish proof of their allegations. She added that Guidepost investigators failed to notify Sills of allegations against him and then used his silence as an argument for his guilt.

However, a separate report from SI Global Partners found fault with McDougal’s report, writing that she “inferred several facts which were inaccurate, without basis, or both, and her conclusions were based in significant part on incorrect assumptions.” 

WORLD reached out to Guidepost and the SBC Abuse Prevention and Response Task Force seeking comment for this story. The organizations did not respond immediately on Friday to comment on McDougal’s ethics report.

Who is Guidepost Solutions and what methodologies were used in the report? Guidepost Solutions describes itself as a leader in domestic and international investigations. Global Investigations Review ranked Guidepost in an annual list of leading law firms and investigation consultancies for six consecutive years. Guidepost made headlines in 2021 after it uncovered what it said was evidence of alleged sexual abuse by the late Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias.

During Guidepost’s review of the SBC, investigators interviewed roughly 330 individuals and had access to more than five terabytes of data, according to the report. Additionally, Guidepost reviewed court filings, sex offender records, social media postings and news reports to assess how certain sex abuse allegations were handled within the SBC. Sex abuse survivors were questioned, as well as former and current SBC staff. Guidepost’s report is branded as independent. 

Dig deeper: Read Mary Jackson’s story on the SBC’s response to the Guidepost report.