Posted on 11/12/2011 9:54:56 PM PST by Alex Murphy
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) – A Southern Baptist seminary president said Baptist churches should pay heed to the child sexual abuse scandal tarnishing Penn State University and immediately report any credible report of child abuse to legal authorities.
“Sometimes Christians and indeed those in churches or Christian institutions seem to have the protective instinct that we need to find out more before going to any legal authority with that kind of suspicion,” Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said Nov. 8.
“We need to get over that reluctance,” Mohler said. “We have to leave it to the legal authorities to sort out whether or not abuse is taking place or whether there is any actual threat. When anyone reports to us the sexual abuse of a child, when anyone says that it was observed, or when any child complains of any kind of inappropriate activity, it’s not a case for the kind of investigation that we might want to launch ourselves.
“This is a case for calling in the authorities, because after all, this is not just about determining what is taking place in any event or accusation but what is the credible threat that even now if we delay, similar children might be put in similar danger.”
Amy Smith, Houston-area representative of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, urged Mohler to address specific, serious and documented cases of failure to report child abuse by Southern Baptist churches.
Smith recently documented that a Mississippi minister indicted on eight counts of sexual abuse of five boys was fired by Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas over similar allegations in 1989, but church leaders -- including then-new pastor and future Southern Baptist Convention president Jack Graham -- did not call the police.
“When you see a crime, you call the police,” Smith said. “You don’t go to your boss or employer. When you suspect child abuse, call the police. Going to your boss, employer, church, or other institution, etc., to make a report, does not protect kids. Criminal behavior requires a criminal investigation by law enforcement.”
Smith said church leaders with knowledge of child sex crimes should come forward to police, no matter how recent or long ago the abuse occurred.
“Predators need secrecy and protection to do harm,” she said. “The light of truth and knowledge is our greatest tool in protecting kids. A child's life is never of lesser value than an institution and the power and prestige its name holds.”
David Clohessy, SNAP’s national director, said he would like to see Mohler’s sentiments enshrined in SBC policy. “It’s easy to say stuff,” he commented, “harder to do stuff.”
“We need to get over that reluctance,” Mohler said. “We have to leave it to the legal authorities to sort out whether or not abuse is taking place or whether there is any actual threat. When anyone reports to us the sexual abuse of a child, when anyone says that it was observed, or when any child complains of any kind of inappropriate activity, it’s not a case for the kind of investigation that we might want to launch ourselves.
“This is a case for calling in the authorities, because after all, this is not just about determining what is taking place in any event or accusation but what is the credible threat that even now if we delay, similar children might be put in similar danger.”
Sometimes the church in keeping the State from its business, a most worthy cause by the way, forgets that the Creator gave three institutions for man...Marriage, the Church, and Government.
I guess Mohler hangs out with a different group of Southern Baptists than I do. In most of the congregations I’ve been in, a child molester would have run to the police FOR PROTECTION!
Some of us ‘bitter clingers’ cling to both Bibles and Guns!
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