SBC leaders called an abuse crisis a hoax. Abuse survivors want an apology.

(RNS) — A group of abuse survivors, advocates and pastors have called on a pair of Southern Baptist leaders to apologize for calling the denomination’s abuse crisis a hoax.

Those comments, according to survivors and others, make it harder to address the issue of sexual abuse in churches.

“Saying it is a ‘hoax’ sends the message to people in the pews and the general public to not believe survivors,” the survivors and advocates wrote in an open letter addressed to current Southern Baptist Convention President Willy Rice and the Rev. Jack Graham, a Texas megachurch pastor.

Both pastors have claimed that the abuse crisis that rocked the nation’s largest Protestant denomination in recent years was overblown. Graham has called it a hoax, while Rice, who was elected SBC president earlier this summer, referred to the crisis as a “ruse” and a “snipe hunt,” a term for a practical joke that involves taking people into the woods to search for a bird that does not exist.

“Calling it a ‘hoax’ is a PR ploy that sadly will be believed by some people,” the letter states.

RELATED: Willy Rice, Florida pastor and abuse crisis skeptic, elected SBC president

The letter writers also cite…