Protestant sex abuse figures released; Three big insurers say they get at least 260 reports a year involving minors.

[Apocalypse_12]

Quotes from the article:

Protestant numbers have been harder to come by and are sketchier because the denominations are less centralized than the Catholic church; indeed, many congregations are independent, which makes reporting even more difficult.

Sex abuse in any domain, including the church, is reported seldom. We know a small amount actually come forward."

These are very important points.

The numbers are worse than what the article, that the OP linked, has stated.

There are independent Protestant denominations who have pastors that keep strict control over their members. Therefore, should a scandal come, it would be quickly covered up because the pastor convinces his congregation that the issue is a “matter of God.”

Let me explain:

It’s not a theory. Not a bold claim. I’m not making accusations. There was a girl I knew that went to an independent Baptist church. Their youth pastor there was a molestor. He sexually molested several of the youth that attended the youth group, mainly the females. The girl I just mentioned happened to be one of the teens that he molested. She told me all of this; it’s not speculation.

The youth pastor was the son of the pastor of the church. After awhile, she told her parents about it, and her parents went to the pastor about it. Well, somehow the news got to the congregation. The pastor was quickly able to cover it up, telling his congregation that it was a “matter of God” and that the elders would solve it. The congregation followed that blindly. They even went so far as to call the girl that I knew a “whore.” That’s how brainwashed they were. Granted, some of her sexual actions with the youth pastor was consensual, but some of the girls did not have consensual relations. And the girl I knew was 14 at the time. It wasn’t entirely her fault. Mostly the fault of the youth pastor.

She and her parents have since then left that church. They were infuriated.

Another thing that is being overlooked along with Protestant sex abuse is sex abuse committed by female adults. One woman was charged in my area with child sex abuse, but she was only given house arrest. All the other men got prison.

 

[SyCarl]

Hopefully rather than pointing fingers, churches will do something about it. The Presbyterian Church in Canada has adopted a policy to hopefully deal with the problem.

presbyterian.ca/education/leading_with_care/leading_with_care.pdf

 

[BelFarfalla]

Why don’t you clean up your own backyard instead of looking at how bad your neighbor look.

This is a very amusing response.

To echo your response, why don’t Prodestants clean up thier own bad neighbor hood before attacking Catholics on this topic?

I am sure that the person who started this thread did so because so many people act as though the small percentage of Catholic priests who have abused young teens mostly are the only clerics in the world who have ever done this.

 

[BelFarfalla]

Hopefully rather than pointing fingers, churches will do something about it. The Presbyterian Church in Canada has adopted a policy to hopefully deal with the problem.

presbyterian.ca/education/leading_with_care/leading_with_care.pdf

As has the Catholic Church. In the past most parents of the abused child would not turn an offending priest into the authorities. Now that people know that sex offenders cannot be rehabilitated, the Church tell the parents that by law the offender has to be turned in. I’ve seen this in action here in town in the past decade. Its the way it should be.

 

[truthnlight]

This is something rarely reported about. The media would normally have us think that these crimes are the purview of only the Catholic priesthood.

detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007706150339

“One of the most explosive features of the national scandal is that some Bishops protected, even promoted, priests accused of abuse and shuffled them among unsuspected parishes.”

15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Mark9:42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

9:43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:

9:44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

 

[truthnlight]

“And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” -Acts 17:10-11

1 Corinthians 6:9-10
9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Romans 1:25-27
25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-- who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

newhope123.org/ <----------HELP

 

[BelFarfalla]

“One of the most explosive features of the national scandal is that some Bishops protected, even promoted, priests accused of abuse and shuffled them among unsuspected parishes.”
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. ……

The Catholic Church had monasteries that dealt with priests who have problems. They hired therapists and psychologist, and medical doctors to see to the priests who were accused of such things. A priest would go to a treatment facility . When the attending physicians told the Church that the priest was ‘cured’ he would be reassigned. Most of the priest molestation cases were against young teens… probably older then 12 or 13. The church followed the advice of the medical folks. As it turns out the medical folks had no more idea of what they were doing then the Church did.
We all know better today. A person to is a pedophile or how prefers man/boy love is a sick individual who can never be changed. This has been acknowledged and the CC has changed how they handle this cases. As I said earlier, when the scandal broke out here a long time ago, the Church did not protect anyone…. The priests who were accused were turned over to authorities.
I am aware of many cases of sexual abuse of Children by Protestant ministers. One of the cases I now of is one of my sisters-in-law. She was friends with the daughter of a minister. The minister and his wife sexually abused my sister-in-law, their own daughter, and other children. Their Protestant church hierarchy continues to protect them. Knowing how child molesters are, they are probably still molesting young girls.
If anyone thinks that the problem of church hierarchy protecting, hiding and moving around child molesters is only a CC problem, they are not facing reality. The problem also exists in Muslim clergy. It is a problem with people not unique to the CC.

 

[truthnlight]

The Catholic Church had monasteries that dealt with priests who have problems. They hired therapists and psychologist, and medical doctors to see to the priests who were accused of such things. A priest would go to a treatment facility . When the attending physicians told the Church that the priest was ‘cured’ he would be reassigned. Most of the priest molestation cases were against young teens… probably older then 12 or 13. The church followed the advice of the medical folks. As it turns out the medical folks had no more idea of what they were doing then the Church did.
We all know better today. A person to is a pedophile or how prefers man/boy love is a sick individual who can never be changed. This has been acknowledged and the CC has changed how they handle this cases. As I said earlier, when the scandal broke out here a long time ago, the Church did not protect anyone…. The priests who were accused were turned over to authorities.
I am aware of many cases of sexual abuse of Children by Protestant ministers. One of the cases I now of is one of my sisters-in-law. She was friends with the daughter of a minister. The minister and his wife sexually abused my sister-in-law, their own daughter, and other children. Their Protestant church hierarchy continues to protect them. Knowing how child molesters are, they are probably still molesting young girls.
If anyone thinks that the problem of church hierarchy protecting, hiding and moving around child molesters is only a CC problem, they are not facing reality. The problem also exists in Muslim clergy. It is a problem with people not unique to the CC.
/QUOTE

17:16 AEST Fri 5 Apr 2002 WORLD

Church should turn in child molesting priests: US poll

AFP - Ninety-seven per cent of US Catholics think the church should turn priests accused of molesting children over to police, according to a nationwide poll published today.

In addition, 66 per cent of Roman Catholics responding to an ABC News/Washington Post poll disapprove of the way the church hierarchy has handled the allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

The Roman Catholic Church has recently been plagued by a spate of lawsuits and allegations that it covered up sexual abuse by priests by moving the accused to new parishes, by paying off the accusers and by convincing judges to seal the case files on priests accused of preying on children.

It was the Church’s attempt to cover up the accusations for as many as 40 years – instead of attempting to prevent recurring incidents – that earned Catholics’ disapproval, the Post reported.

Of all Catholics, 45 per cent “strongly” disproved of the church’s handling of the problem. As the scandal unfolded, Catholics’ favourable opinion of the church fell to 73 per cent, from 88 per cent in February.

Of the overall US population, just 45 per cent had a favourable view of the church.

The poll of 1,086 adults between March 25 and 28 had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 per cent.

 

[truthnlight]

High AIDS Toll Among Priests Has Been Obscured, Paper
Says

Washington Post (01/31/00) P. A4
From news services

KANSAS CITY, Mo.–AIDS has killed hundreds of Roman
Catholic priests in the United States although other
causes may be listed on their death certificates, the
Kansas City Star reported yesterday.

The newspaper reported that its examination of death
certificates and interviews with experts indicated several
hundred priests had died of AIDS-related illnesses since
the mid-1980s and hundreds have the AIDS virus. The
death rate of priests from AIDS is at least four times that
of the general population, the newspaper said.

Bishop Raymond J. Boland of the Diocese of Kansas
City-St. Joseph said the deaths show that priests are
human: “Much as we would regret it, it shows that human
nature is human nature.”

Six of 10 priests responding on confidential questionnaires
from the newspaper said they knew of at least one priest
who had died of an AIDS-related illness and one-third knew
a priest living with AIDS.

The paper cited the case of Bishop Emerson J. Moore, who
left the Archdiocese of New York in 1995 and went to
Minnesota, where he died in a hospice of an AIDS-related
illness. His death certificate attributed the death to
“unknown natural causes” and listed his occupation as
“laborer.”

After an AIDS activist filed a complaint, officials changed
the cause of death to “HIV-related illness,” the paper
reported, but the occupation was not corrected.

 

[Nighthaven]

When I applied for seminary I had to submit to a very thorough background check which includes criminal and other checks. Your references are checked out in detail, and during seminary your are evaluated. If you’ve touched a child before applying for seminary, and was convicted for the offense you might as well forget about becoming a priest. You can get on your knees and beg, and say the Holy Spirit has transformed you, God came down and changed you himself, none of it will matter, your application will be denied. In Seminary if you exhibit pedophile tendencies you’ll immediately be questioned on the topic, if the bahavior continues you’ll be removed from Seminary. Since seminaries communicate with each other don’t count on getting accepted to another seminary.

If you’ve managed to survive all the way to ordination than you better keep your hands to yourself. Once you wear the Roman Collar you won’t find an ally with your bishop if you touched a child. These abuse cases are high dollar lawsuits, no bishop wants a bankrupt diocese.

The church does what it can to protect it self against these people, but since the clergy aren’t divine they can’t read men’s hearts they aren’t able to fully protect against pedophiles making the first act of touching a child. Of course after that first act he is gone, sued and in jail.

In countries where medical records aren’t protected the church looks at those during the background check. If you’ve been in therapy for abusing a child than that Roman Collar will never be yours.

 

[BelFarfalla]

17:16 AEST Fri 5 Apr 2002 WORLD

Church should turn in child molesting priests: US poll

AFP - Ninety-seven per cent of US Catholics think the church should turn priests accused of molesting children over to police, according to a nationwide poll published today.

In addition, 66 per cent of Roman Catholics responding to an ABC News/Washington Post poll disapprove of the way the church hierarchy has handled the allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

The Roman Catholic Church has recently been plagued by a spate of lawsuits and allegations that it covered up sexual abuse by priests by moving the accused to new parishes, by paying off the accusers and by convincing judges to seal the case files on priests accused of preying on children.

It was the Church’s attempt to cover up the accusations for as many as 40 years – instead of attempting to prevent recurring incidents – that earned Catholics’ disapproval, the Post reported.

Of all Catholics, 45 per cent “strongly” disproved of the church’s handling of the problem. As the scandal unfolded, Catholics’ favourable opinion of the church fell to 73 per cent, from 88 per cent in February.

Of the overall US population, just 45 per cent had a favourable view of the church.

The poll of 1,086 adults between March 25 and 28 had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 per cent.

Sounds like an accurate article to me.

 

[mark_a]

This is something rarely reported about. The media would normally have us think that these crimes are the purview of only the Catholic priesthood.

detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007706150339

The media chase big ratings numbers like the lawyers chase the deep pockets.

 

[BelFarfalla]

High AIDS Toll Among Priests Has Been Obscured, Paper
……
The newspaper reported that its examination of death
certificates and interviews with experts indicated several
hundred priests had died of AIDS-related illnesses since
the mid-1980s and hundreds have the AIDS virus. The
death rate of priests from AIDS is at least four times that
of the general population, the newspaper said.

This sounds very speculative to me… some people who had no idea about the priests looked at their death certificates and decided that the priest died of AIDS. In most of society that is called fabricating rumors and lies. I have no doubt that some priests died of things related to AIDS. But to look at their death certificates and make such a judgment is just wrong.

Bishop Raymond J. Boland of the Diocese of Kansas
City-St. Joseph said the deaths show that priests are
human: “Much as we would regret it, it shows that human
nature is human nature.”

Are you surprised to find out that priests are human? I’m curious as to why you even posted this here since it is not illegal in the USA for priests to be sexually active. It is against their vows but it is not illegal. In a society that allows sex between any consenting adult you are shocked? This thread is the ILEGAL sexual abuse of minors not sexually active priests.

Six of 10 priests responding on confidential questionnaires
from the newspaper said they knew of at least one priest
who had died of an AIDS-related illness and one-third knew
a priest living with AIDS.

You do know of course that statistics are very misleading… for example does this mean that six out of 10 priests are know different priests with who died of aids or do all of the priests know a small handful of priests, the very same priests, who died of AIDS? For example everyone in my kids high school know of the one kid in the school who has been open about their having AIDS. This is one kid out of 3000. But I could say that 100% of the kids in our high school know at least one kid with aids… lol it’s all the same kid…one kid, not an epidemic.

 

[truthnlight]

This sounds very speculative to me… some people who had no idea about the priests looked at their death certificates and decided that the priest died of AIDS. In most of society that is called fabricating rumors and lies. I have no doubt that some priests died of things related to AIDS. But to look at their death certificates and make such a judgment is just wrong.

Are you surprised to find out that priests are human? I’m curious as to why you even posted this here since it is not illegal in the USA for priests to be sexually active. It is against their vows but it is not illegal. In a society that allows sex between any consenting adult you are shocked? This thread is the ILEGAL sexual abuse of minors not sexually active priests.

You do know of course that statistics are very misleading… for example does this mean that six out of 10 priests are know different priests with who died of aids or do all of the priests know a small handful of priests, the very same priests, who died of AIDS? For example everyone in my kids high school know of the one kid in the school who has been open about their having AIDS. This is one kid out of 3000. But I could say that 100% of the kids in our high school know at least one kid with aids… lol it’s all the same kid…one kid, not an epidemic.

Its the world news
not from me. The only point I am trying to make is, that if it was going on in my church and they did not get that pastor out. I would leave. Thats all sorry if I upset you:blush:

 

[BelFarfalla]

Its the world news
not from me. The only point I am trying to make is, that if it was going on in my church and they did not get that pastor out. I would leave. Thats all sorry if I upset you:blush:

Its in the world news? Just because it was published does not prevent it from bring garbage reporting. There is NOT ONE thing in that article that is hard fact that tells us how many if any priests have AIDS, how they got the AIDS, or if the Church was involved in any of the alleged cover-up.

What you posted was an attack on the Catholic Church because it misused reporting ethics and statics. Its only purpose was to make the Church look bad, not to inform us of anything. We know nothing more coming out of it then we did going into it…
some priests probably have AIDS and have died from it.

What Church do you belong to? The same things are happening in all Churches regardless of denomination.

So if one minister in your denomination had AIDS you’d leave your Church and your faith? Is that right?

 

[quantumDeus]

From what numbers are available, the incidence of pedophilia is approximately 4% of the general population of the US (which is by far way too large, but that is another issue). Such a general percentage is probably true across any other “generalistic” slice of US socio-groupings, including the Catholic Church or any other (JWs, Mormons, etc., etc.).

You cannot condemn the institution for the actions of individuals as long as the institution is doing nothing to abet and further the offense. Nowhere does RCC canon permit nor encourage pedophilia nor homosexuality.

As Ravyn rightfully pointed out, these are HUMAN traits and tendencies. That a person that has these tendencies also belongs to some other grouping is coincidental … they could be gnostics, pagans or human secularists. The fact is that they are human, and they are doing what humans unfortunately do all too well - sin.

Society has an obligation to separate these offenders from the rest of the population (hence jails). That being said, that does not mean that we can’t, as CHRISTIANS, pray for them AND for the victims. Or are we to assume God’s mantle and JUDGE the human heart and mind? A rather dangerous and presumptuous thing for a Christian to do, don’t you think?

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

Back when the catholic scandals broke, I pointed out that this is a problem among all denominations and religions. And, that we all must take steps to ensure child safety. In fact, I posted studies that were avilable at the time. In fact, as I recall among traditional religions like Islam, Judaism, etc., it was 10 percent of the children were sexually abused, the percentages were somewhere around 15 - 20 percent in smaller, less structurized sects of all religions – an example of this would be were authority stops with the pastor of a local church.

Sexual Abuse of Children Authorized by Islamic Clerics
youtube.com/watch?v=hVsmt41aLxE

soundvision.com/info/socialservice/sexabuseimamwest.asp

google.com/search?q=child+sexual+abuse+Islam&hl=en&start=10&sa=N

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

ChristiaNet Poll Finds That Evangelicals Are Addicted to Porn
HOUSTON, TX – (MARKET WIRE) – August 7, 2006 – If there could be one place protected from the cancerous infection of pornography and sexual misconducts, one would assume that the Christian church would be that sanctuary. But, recent research is revealing that no one is immunized against the vice-grip clutches of sexual addictive behaviors. The people who struggle with the repeated pursuit of sexual gratification include church members, deacons, staff, and yes, even clergy. And, to the surprise of many, a large number of women in the church have become victim to this widespread problem. Recently, the world’s most visited Christian website, ChristiaNet.com, conducted a survey asking site visitors eleven questions about their personal sexual conduct. (christianet.com)

Amazingly, there were one thousand responses to the poll conducted by ChristiaNet.com. ChristiaNet.com partnered with Second Glance Ministries in evaluating the poll responses and it seems the Christian community is struggling with many of the same “temptations” that the secular society is faced with.

“The poll results indicate that 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography,” said Clay Jones, founder and President of Second Glance Ministries whose ministry objectives include providing people with information which will enable them to fully understand the impact of today’s societal issues. 60% of the women who answered the survey admitted to having significant struggles with lust; 40% admitted to being involved in sexual sin in the past year; and 20% of the church-going female participants struggle with looking at pornography on an ongoing basis.

“There have been dynamic paradigm shifts in the behavior of Christians over the last four years,” explained Jones. “Technology [the Internet] has allowed pornography to flood the market place beyond a controllable level.” Jones’ ministry also includes providing Christian intervention programs for churches and for individuals. All of Second Glance Ministries’ services are free and recipients may remain anonymous.

“We directed over 100,000 inquiries to Second Glance Ministries in one year,” stated ChristiaNet.com’s President, Bill Cooper. “We are seeing an escalation to the problem in both men and women who regularly attend church.” ChristiaNet.com is committed to addressing the devastating consequences that sexual addictions can have on a family and society by providing a safe environment for blogging discussions and referrals.

For more information visit ChristiaNet’s website at: christianet.com
new.marketwire.com/2.0/rel.jsp?id=703951&sourceType=1

Some 40 percent of clergy have acknowledged visiting sexually explicit Web sites, according to a 2000 survey conducted by Christianity Today and Leadership magazines

msnbc.msn.com/id/4659326/

google.com/search?tab=nw&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=ministers%20addicted%20to%20porn

 

[truthnlight]

Its in the world news? Just because it was published does not prevent it from bring garbage reporting. There is NOT ONE thing in that article that is hard fact that tells us how many if any priests have AIDS, how they got the AIDS, or if the Church was involved in any of the alleged cover-up.

What you posted was an attack on the Catholic Church because it misused reporting ethics and statics. Its only purpose was to make the Church look bad, not to inform us of anything. We know nothing more coming out of it then we did going into it…
some priests probably have AIDS and have died from it.

What Church do you belong to? The same things are happening in all Churches regardless of denomination.

So if one minister in your denomination had AIDS you’d leave your Church and your faith? Is that right?

No if he did that sex crime and was still preaching in my church not for aids.
Tell me this, what in the news is hard fact.

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated then the man who reads nothing but newspapers.
Thomas Jefferon

 

[Bennie_P]

It is not just the Catholic Church, anyone who commits the atrocities should be held accountable.

It is a fact that most male on male pedophilia is committed by person with a homosexual basis.

You cannot deny that the Catholic Church hide this and allowed it to continue. It is a matter of public record that the Church hide priest actions, transferred them between churches, and or just ignored the actions. The Church was wrong in their actions and the denial of what happened.