Where is the Outrage? (protestant pedophiles)

stop baptist predators ^ | 01-01-2011 | staff

[bronxville]

So many Baptist clergy could not possibly get away with so much abuse unless many others were complicit in turning a blind eye. Why do Baptist leaders tolerate the presence of ministerial colleagues who sexually abuse the young and vulnerable? Why do people in the pews not rise up and demand that their leaders be held accountable? Where's the outrage?

Why don't people at Bellevue Baptist in Memphis demand the resignation of Pastor Steve Gaines, who admittedly kept quiet about a staff minister's sexual abuse of a kid?

Why don't people at Trinity Baptist demand the resignation of Pastor Tom Messer, about whom there is significant evidence that he knew of a minister's serial sexual abuse of kids?

Why do so many people act as though clergy-abuse cover-ups are no big deal?

In my own case, the church finally made a written apology, but only after first threatening me and then seeking a secrecy agreement and finally being forced into an apology by a lawsuit. An apology extracted in a lawsuit (and handed off by their attorney) doesn’t carry the feeling of any genuine remorse, but it does constitute an acknowledgement of the truth. Their ministerial staff knew all along that this man had molested me as a kid. Yet, they tried every means possible to avoid owning up to that truth. And they didn’t bother to warn people in the pews of other congegations - people whose kids were at risk.

The apology was arrived at only after hours of hammering out the language in a court-ordered mediation session. “Churches should respond with righteous outrage and anger at such crimes against kids committed by church leaders they trust,” says the church. Well gee....doesn't that sound nice? But where is that outrage?

Even now, has anything changed? Have any of those who covered up and kept quiet about the abuse been held accountable?

The church’s music minister, James A. Moore, knew about it for 30 years and kept quiet. He was apparently content to leave countless other kids at risk. Yet, he is still the church’s music minister. Where’s the outrage?

The pastor of the church, Sam Underwood, is a man who was himself reported on allegations of sexually abusing a congregant. He showed his style of leadership when he shepherded the church to respond to my report of child molestation by having the church’s attorney threaten to sue me and insult my family (as though the fact that I grew up with a father who still suffered post-WWII combat trauma could somehow make the psychological injury of a minister’s sexual abuse not such a big deal). Even if church members see no need for accountability as to the adult congregant’s abuse report (presumably because they accept the deacons’ view that it was mere “sexual misconduct”), that would still leave a lack of accountability for Underwood’s failure of appropriate leadership when confronted with a substantiated report about one of the church's ministers who had sexually abused a minor. Yet, the man who chose hostility rather than compassion is still the pastor. The man who chose to threaten a child molestation victim rather than to protect others is still the pastor. The man who attempted to compel secrecy rather than reach out to other victims is still the pastor. Where is there any accountability. Where are there any consequences for such awful and immoral behavior? Where’s the outrage?

And what about the leaders at the Baptist General Convention of Texas? Was anyone there outraged at the fact that their long-time attorney threatened to sue a clergy abuse victim even when the abuse was readily substantiated? It certainly doesn’t appear that way. Where is the outrage?

And what about the fact that he tried to compel secrecy by pushing a confidentiality agreement while leaving the perpetrator in the pulpit? Were BGCT leaders bothered by that? Apparently not. In an even more recent case involving the same BGCT attorney, a secrecy agreement was used once again, while the perpetrator was allowed to remain in the pulpit. (Of course, most of the time, when a secrecy agreement is used, you'll never hear about it at all -- that's the whole point of it.) Where’s the outrage?

And what about the fact that a man with a substantiated report of having sexually molested a kid was still standing in the pulpit of a Florida mega-church talking about his children’s ministry even after 18 Baptist leaders had been informed? Those men are still in leadership positions. Where is there any accountability for the willing blindness of Baptist leaders who leave kids in harm’s way for clergy predators? Where is the outrage?

It is easy enough to look at the perpetrators and say therein lies the problem. But what about all the enablers? What about the many leaders who turn a blind eye and allow clergy molesters to move on to other churches where they find fresh new prey? Where is the outrage?

[bronxville]

- Penn State professor Philip Jenkens reported that between 2 to 3 percent of Protestant clergy are pedophiles. His same study reported that less than 1.7 percent of Catholic priests are pedophiles. There is simply no reason to think that clergy child molesters are solely a Catholic problem. - *The results of this survey were reported in the book, Ministerial Ethics by Joe Trull and James Carter (2d ed. 2004), and in The Baptist Standard editorial, “Churches must act to prevent clergy sexual abuse,” 4/22/2002. - (source: The voice of SNAP Baptist - http://stopbaptistpredators.org/alarmingnumbers.html

[bronxville]

Welcome to a collection of news reports on ministers who have sexually abused children:

ALL Protestant denominations - 838 Ministers

147 Baptist Ministers

251 “Bible” Church Ministers (fundamentalist/evangelical)

140 Anglican/Episcopalian Ministers

38 Lutheran Ministers

46 Methodist Ministers

19 Presbyterian Ministers

197 various Church Ministers

*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is available here without profit to people who want to read it for research and educational purposes. If you quote from this, please check (if possible) and acknowledge the ORIGINAL source. *** This service is provided by volunteers for non-profit.
http://www.reformation.com/

Baptist Hide and Seek

[...]Remember: Most clergy child molesters have never been convicted of anything. Of all the Catholic priests who have been removed from ministry, only 3 percent were able to be criminally prosecuted and only 2 percent were ever jailed. If Catholics themselves had not taken action - finally - over 700 child molesting priests would still be working in ministry. The largest Protestant denomination needs to do something about this problem as well.[...]
http://stopbaptistpredators.org/BaptistHideSeek.html

Compare the stats!

[Berlin_Freeper]

You know you are talking to a bunch of dope smokers?

[HangnJudge]

Sauce for the Goose...

[antceecee]

There is none. Absolutely on outrage unless it is a Roman Catholic Priest.
There is no outrage when it is a teacher from the Government sponsored schools.
There is no outrage if is a health care worker or social worker employed by Government.

Yet all of these sources, that interact with children are prone to the same levels of abuse.

Perhaps it is not identifiable by religion or vocation... perhaps it is human fallibility and parents should be aware that a human can fail on a “personal” level.. nothing else... personal choices.

[bronxville]

At least it’ll be documented as a future source which will probably occur within a day or two. What I’m actually trying to do is get them to understand that the homosexual-pedophilia atrocities are being used against the Catholic Church as leverage by the Marxists to weaken the Judeo-Christian religion as a whole. They fail to understand that they’re next...they kinda remind me of the dope-smoking leftist tools.

[buccaneer81]

I hate to say that FR has become a Catholic bashing site in the Religion Forum.

[Choozer]

Pedophiles are attracted to any profession that gives them authority over and/or access/entrust them to children. They become priests, ministers, teachers, principals, police officers, and various other positions that give them access. This is no indictment of any of these professions, but rather evidence of how widespread wickedness is.

[bronxville]

I’m in total agreement with all your points.

[buccaneer81]

So true. The Catholic Church was recognized by Ronald Reagan as a driving force in destroying the Soviet Union. I didn’t see any Presbyterians doing jack.

[Berlin_Freeper]

With the Catholic Church you have keep in mind that when you are The Real Deal then all the attacks are aimed at you.

Exactly like you say because they want to take you down and taking down the second or third is not as satisfying but eventually they will be next.

[Jeff Chandler]

I hate to say that FR has become a Catholic bashing site in the Religion Forum.

I noticed the same thing. In fact, the entire site has gone down hill over the past few years.

[PetroniusMaximus]

“There is none. Absolutely on outrage unless it is a Roman Catholic Priest.”

The Catholic argument, “See! others are doing it also!” is getting a little old - in addition to being morally sickening.

I’ve read articles on one of the incidents listed in the post. Seems like there was PLENTY of outrage at Bellevue. Members were calling for the Pastor’s resignation. A prominent seminary in Memphis called for him to step down. Members were shocked and outraged.

[buccaneer81]

Yep. Ten years ago it was a whole different scene. We still have great FReepers, but some other great FReepers have packed it in. And I’m not talking about RINOs who supported Rudy or Mitt. I’m talking about the ones who left on their own, because they saw the nastiness. Too many mouth breathers are on board today. I’d like to reverse that trend.

[TheDingoAteMyBaby]

Out of curiousity, are there any breakdown numbers as to boy vs. girl Protestant abuse victims?

[bronxville]

Hi again buccaneer. They’ve posted three threads on old homosexual-pedophilia in the Catholic Church within 36 hours - something one might expect the rabid Christian-hating Marxists to dredge up yet especially during Holy Week but they didn’t...makes one wonder.

[bronxville]

The Southern Baptist Convention’s Unconvincing Claims as to Why It Cannot Effectively Report or Prevent Clergy Child Abuse – and How Insurance Companies Can Exert Pressure to Ensure Better Systems

By MARCI HAMILTON

Thursday, Jun. 12, 2008

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has recently proven why it is that children are at risk for sexual abuse in our society: It’s easier not to protect them, and especially easy to issue ineffectual platitudes while looking the other way.

According to the Associated Press, the SBC has concluded that its decentralized structure of independent churches makes it impossible for it to establish a website of pastors credibly accused of child sexual abuse, or even to require the reporting of such crimes to the police. Yes, you read that right: The SBC is citing these lame procedural reasons for not taking the most basic steps to protect children from devastating abuse that can have repercussions that leave victims suffering for a lifetime (and that severely taxes society in medical and other resources).

In this column, I’ll rebut the Convention’s claims that policing and reporting abuse is an impossible task to put on its shoulders, and also describe how change in this quarter needs to come from what may seem like an unlikely source: the insurance industry.
[...]
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20080612.html

Sorry but this Protestant Pastor disagrees with you. He also believes Child Molestations by Pastors are being covered up. What say you?

[D-fendr]

Let’s see, how’s it go:

But PM, aren’t you outraged at the accounts in the article? I don’t remember any outrage on FR about it. It’s covered up by the leadership as the article states, and the perps stay in position.

< / sarc >

[buccaneer81]

Those 20 or so haters are not even remotely Christian. They can post all they want, but they represent no real Protestant church that I'm aware of.

What concerns me is that Jim Rob is apparently unaware of what's happening.

I'm going on 11 years here; it's almost like family, but if I get banned, it's a small price to pay for keeping the faith.

[bronxville]

I didn’t do an exact count but it appears to be more boys than girls which leads us back to the homosexual-pedophilia aspect which is never mentioned by the media. Political Correctness is screwing up, not only this country, but the world.