When I first saw myself described as “the public face” of Baptist clergy sex abuse survivors, I pondered how in the world that had happened. It wasn’t exactly in my plan, you know? But because I survived every attempt of a powerful mega-monied institution to silence me, I’m now able to write and speak about sexual abuse in Baptistland. So that’s what I’ve done in the hope of shining a light on the widespread systemic problem of Baptist clergy sex abuse and church cover-ups.
Things started unraveling when I began trying to talk to Southern Baptist officials about the minister who molested and raped me when I was a kid. I could not have imagined the sort of duplicity and intimidation I encountered. If I hadn’t experienced this Baptistland nightmare in the reality of my own life, I never would have believed it. But when I wrote an op-ed about it for the Dallas Morning News, my inbox was flooded with similar stories.
If you want to learn more about me, this article by Sarah Stankorb provides a good introduction. And I’ve written a book; it’s called Baptistland: A Memoir of Abuse, Betrayal, and Transformation.
This site is where you can explore some of my published columns and articles. I also have a prior book called This Little Light: Beyond a Baptist Preacher Predator and His Gang.
For six years, I maintained the StopBaptistPredators.org website, which compiled media reports on Baptist clergy sex abuse cases and had the first-ever database of convicted, admitted, and credibly accused Southern Baptist clergy sex abusers. These sites are no longer being maintained, but I hope they may still serve as a resource for others.
I was the first Baptist clergy sex abuse survivor to directly address members of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee at the “Baptist Vatican” in Nashville, and I’ve continued to plead for reforms for nearly twenty years. I’ve been profiled and quoted by numerous national and international news outlets, including the Associated Press, Washington Post, New York Times, Houston Chronicle, VICE, Religion News Service, Huffington Post, National Public Radio, Christian Science Monitor, Baptist News Global, ABC 20/20, London Times, Réforme, Radio-Télévision-Suisse, and Haaretz.
The Religion News Association named me as one of the “Top 10 Religion Newsmakers” of 2022:
“Christa Brown, whose advocacy for fellow survivors of sexual abuse helped force a reckoning over the Southern Baptist Convention’s history of mishandling cases of sexually abusive ministers and of mistreating victims.”
I’ve served on the Board of Directors for SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and the Board of Advisors for the Child-Friendly Faith Project.
But of course, this clergy sex abuse stuff is just one part of my life. For twenty-five years, I practiced law in Texas and was a board-certified specialist in civil appellate law.
My educational background includes:
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J.D., with honors, from University of Texas School of Law, where I received membership in the Order of the Coif
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M.A. in anthropology from University of Texas at Austin, where I held a University Fellowship
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B.A., with highest honors, in French and English, from University of North Texas
After leaving the law, I started into a Ph.D. program at Iliff School of Theology. At the time, I imagined it might help me make sense of what I was seeing in Baptistland — the cover-ups, the mass-scale denial, the failure to protect kids, the victim-blaming vitriol, and the refusal to implement common-sense safeguards. But of course, understanding on an intellectual level and understanding on an emotional level are two different things. In any event, a double-cancer came along and, ultimately, left me with more clarity about what I wanted — and didn’t want — in the rest of my life.
So nowadays, you’re more likely to find me hiking on a trail or sitting on a yoga mat rather than at a press conference or in a courtroom. I’m a mom and a grandma, and wife to a man I’ve loved for over forty years. When I was younger, I would not have been capable of even imagining such a good life. My heart is filled with gratitude. Happy trails.
X: @ChristaBrown777 // email: christa[dot]brown[at]prodigy[dot]net // In Solidarity on Substack
Christa Brown 