SBC Blogger Charged w/ Sexual Assault

[Big Daddy Weaver]

William Birch, 43, has been around the SBC blogosphere for a while as contributed/commented frequently at SBCVoices.com as well as on his own personal blog (which is down).

On Saturday, Birch was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 25-year-old-student in a dorm room. Both Birch and the victim are students are Southeastern Baptist Seminary.

According to several news accounts, Birch has confessed. According to , Birch confessed to blogger Dave Miller via e-mail.

One says that "According to an arrest warrant, police say the victim was mentally incapacitated and physically helpless at the time of the offense."

I'm not exactly sure what that means?

The links are below:

[Dave Roberts]

Usually in police terminology, the incapacatated means involuntarily or voluntarily drugged.

[Ed Pettibone]

[Big Daddy Weaver]

[Haruo]

Surely no SEBTS student would use alcohol?? But seriously, this was at Southeastern, not at Wake Forest, right? And so both students are male? (Which might not be obvious if we were talking Wake Forest.)

[Big Daddy Weaver]

Yea, Southeastern is in Wake Forest, NC.

Wake Forest University is in Winston-Salem, NC.

Although, I'm pretty sure Wake Forest U. started in Wake Forest, NC.

[Gene Scarborough]

As old Ollie Hardy would say: "This is another mess you have got us in!!!"

[William Thornton]

This isn't a mess. It's a crime, a deplorable felony. I see nothing to laugh at here, Gene.

[Sandy]

[Big Daddy Weaver]

Very true.

Do many seminarians at the SBC institutions live in traditional "dorms" as in this case? At Baylor, only undergrads are in dorms. There are some Grad students - a few Truett seminary students included I'm sure - who live in on-campus housing. These are apartments. The only graduate students living in a dorm are RAs.

A 43 year-old rooming with a 25 year-old in a dorm room is a bit unusual, I'd say.

[Big Daddy Weaver]

Wade Burleson has a fascinating blog post on this subject here:

[Ed Pettibone]

[Gene Scarborough]

William--

I totally agree that this is a serious legal and moral mess which should NEVER find a place on a Seminary Campus.

I was a student at SEBTS 1967-70. Johnson Dormitory housed students without their family and single guys like me. I was amazed at how many students were in their 40-50's when I was there. I was just graduated from Emory and had a fine roomate with family back in SC. He was in his late 40's.

NEVER was there the sordid stuff going on then as there seems to be now. The same could be said of society in general today compared to the 60's. Drugs were just coming in and the Hippies were there. Protest over the Viet Nam war was significant and the new motto was: "If it feels good, do it!"

My concern with the changes at SEBTS and seminaries in general is the amount of pretended perfection and religiosity going on. Students are people and people are not that pure, in reality. Too much of what is going on now in the CR framework involves personality worship over seeking to broaden the mind and serve churches as we did in my student era.

The hipocracy of the Pharisee thrives real well in such an environment so read Matthew 23 as to "whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones."

[Haruo]

[Sandy]

[Dave Miller]

For the record, none of us knows everything that happened. But several have drawn conclusions about the charges that may not be warranted by the facts.

Much damage comes when we try to play judge, jury and executioner.

For the record, Billy has confessed to what he did (and we are equally ignorant about what exactly that is). But he has not confessed to the suppositions, conclusions and extrapolations made here and at other sites (Wade's in particular).

Might we not just wait before we assume facts not in evidence and make judgments about exactly what happened that come from ignorance, not fact?

[Tim Bonney]

Dave, I appreciate the cautionary note. I read your blog post and I also appreciate the grief and the seriousness with which you are dealing with this issue.

I'm sorry to say that such events do lead to speculation once they become public. And I agree that speculation about the specific events not yet reported isn't helpful. But I did find what Wade said about the need of the SBC to take responsibility for helping keep track of offenders to be true. I realize that Southern Baptists are congregtational but other Baptist groups, incluing the ABC/USA, have found denominational ways to respond to offending clergy that helps protect the church. The SBC leadership needs to find an appropriate way to handle these issues and contribute to protecting its member churches.

The denomination's reputation is at stake and the safety of its members as well.

In the current case, the truth will out.

[Gene Scarborough]

Sandy and Dave Miller (in charge of SBCLife blog)---you are both fulla bulla!

SEBTS is just a school where education used to be more important than indoctrination. That is no longer the case and you can explain it since your kind took it over along with all of the SBC.

I use the word AUTHENTIC to describe my experience. It was as I experienced it in 1967-70. It is as the news reports the terrible scandal. It didn't happen in any shape form or fashion in my day.

I believe the reason was that we were there to get inspired and instructed. I was and have no regrets. Your kind of folks described it as "one step away from Hell"----how do you describe it now??????

[Big Daddy Weaver]

I'm not sure that anyone is playing judge, jury, executioner, etc.

Here's what we know per the media reports:

There was an incident.

The victim reported the incident.

The police issued an arrest warrant which stated - per the media report - that the victim was "mentally incapacitated and physically helpless at the time of the offense."

Those phrases "mentally incapacitated" and "physically helpless" are legal phrases that mean something specific.

William Birch was arrested.

Birch was charged with sexual assault.

Birch confessed according to police cited in multiple reports.

Birch was held on 50K bond.

He had a hearing scheduled for yesterday (Monday)

So, I'm not sure what judgments are being made. The phrasing from the police report certainly means something specific in the context of North Carolina law. When I cited the North Carolina statute (and other related statutes), I was not offering speculation but simply providing informed insight into what that phrasing could mean or likely means.

Dave M. knows what Birch confessed to him. We don't know specific details of what Birch confessed to the police. But we can clearly take away something from the fact that Birch was arrested for sexual assault and the police reported that he subsequently confessed.

Wade's only error (if we can even call it that) - from what I can tell - is that he made the unequivocal assertion that the victim was "drugged." Wade could have nuanced that a bit. The "drugging" is a possible implication of the warrant's phrasing if not the likely implication.

Nevertheless, Wade's assertion was not from ignorance.

After all, "mentally incapacitated and physically helpless" does indeed mean something...

[Tim Bonney]

[Gene Scarborough]

Let's quit playing around---somebody got molested and it was at SEBTS and it was worthy of Law Enforcement's complete attention.

Presumption of innocence until proven guilty quickly goes away when the accused says, "I did it."

[Gene Scarborough]

Tim---

With all due respect:

(1) You had nothing to do with SEBTS---I did
(2) You chose to leave the SBC for UMC so you still have no clue
(3) I love you, man, but if this were happening in the UMC somebody would be fried quick and the vetting---hopefully---would have caught it before it became a scandal!

It's just a step apart from "millstone around neck and cast into the midst of the sea" which Jesus advocated for anyone hurting one of his children---both physical and spiritual!

[Tim Bonney]

Gene

With all due respect, nothing would have been different in this situation if the pre-takover folks were still in charge. A crime was committed by an individual. That happens no matter who is in charge. The fact that I'm no longer a Southern Baptist doesn't mean I don't know what I'm talking about. Don't forget I grew up in the SBC and that I pastored in the SBC during the Takoever. I watched friends chased off and fired by the Takeover crowd. I was there in the trenches. I have no positive feelings for them. But truth is truth.

The reason I care about what you are saying here Gene is that you aren't doing your side (my former side) ANY favors by trying to blame everything from this event to the fall of western civilization on the SBC. Sorry, it just doesn't wash.

What the SBC is responsible for is how they respond AFTER the crime and not before. That's all I'm going to say on this because you aren't rational about it. You blame the SBC for everything even things the denomination has no possible control over.

[Gene Scarborough]

Tim---

You are putting words in my mouth over pre-1969. In no way am I implying the SBC was perfect. I am saying clearly: "It was more honest."

Sin is sin and becomes the most hipocritical among the righteous!!!

No one is perfect, but some of us are forgiven and doing our best not to pretend perfection.

[William Thornton]

Gene, I edited some of your stuff, not primarily because they are objectionable to others but because you look so foolish. I don't want you to put any negative personal stuff here that has to do with your family even if you don't name the individuals. You should know better.