(RNS) — Leaders of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination face a pair of new lawsuits that accuse the denomination of covering up sexual abuse in local churches. The lawsuits were filed — one in federal court, another in Arkansas — as the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee is set to discuss the future of abuse reforms in the 13 million-member denomination. One of the lawsuits was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee on behalf of six survivors of alleged sexual abuse, who claim SBC leaders violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Better known by the acronym RICO, the act was initially passed to address organized crime. The complaint, a civil matter filed in late December, names the SBC Executive Committee along with churches in Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana and Alabama — and recounts the history of the SBC’s recent abuse crisis, including the 2021 Guidepost Solutions report commissioned by the denomination’s annual meeting. The complaint also details the alleged abuse suffered by the plaintiffs and the consequences of …