Ex-Southern Baptist leader hits back at sex assault claims: 'Marital fidelity was nobody else’s business'

After it was revealed in 2022 that over 250 Southern Baptist Convention staffers or volunteers had been “charged with sex crimes” against more than 700 victims, the church conducted its own investigation that uncovered “703 abusers, with 409 believed to be SBC-affiliated.”

As the Friendly Atheist's Hemant Mehta points out, one of those facing allegations from the SBC's internal investigation is former SBC president Johnny Hunt, who ran the organization from 2008-2010. On page 149 of the report, it alleges that Hunt “had sexually assaulted" the wife of another pastor on July 25, 2010.

Hunt, the report said, “groomed the couple with flattery and promises of help in ministry.”

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The couple attended the SBC’s annual meeting that year, and Hunt invited them to spend time with his family at a beach where he was vacationing, the report says.

The report says that, as the the couple grew closer to Hunt, he invited the woman to stay at a condo by herself, but she didn't know that Hunt was staying next door. One night he invited her back to his place.

"Dr. Hunt then moved towards Survivor and proceeded to pull her shorts down, turn her over and stare at her bare backside. He made sexual remarks about her body and things he had imagined about her," the report stated. "During this time, Survivor felt frozen. Survivor said these were some of the longest moments of her life."

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The report went on to state that the woman "mustered the courage to ask him could she turn back over, and Dr. Hunt said yes. When she turned back over, she began to pull up her shorts. Dr. Hunt then pinned her to the couch, got on top of her, and pulled up her shirt. He sexually assaulted her with his hands and mouth."

According to a previous report from Religion News Service, without telling his congregation, "Hunt went through a secret restoration process that included counseling sessions with the woman he had fondled and her husband. He then returned to the pulpit."

He then retired in 2019 and took on a new role as a senior vice president for the SBC’s North American Mission Board "and continued his busy and often lucrative career as a preacher and public speaker."

According to the Friendly Atheist, Hunt is suing the church, saying its investigation ruined his life. His lawyers said the interaction "involved only kissing and some awkward fondling.”

They went on," Pastor Johnny was not the president of the SBC or a member of the Executive Committee at the time of the incident. He was merely a private citizen whose marital fidelity was nobody else's business."

Read the full report the Friendly Atheist.