Sexual Abuse in other faiths?

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HabemusFrancis

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Hi all. We are all sadly familiar with the many news reports on Clerical sexual misconduct. For me it has been a very disheartening, shaking experience, sifting through the various articles, and grand jury reports of various cities/ dioceses. I am fortunate to live in the Twin Cities/ Minnesota archdiocese, where thankfully, there has not been a flood of lawsuits and bankruptcy.

But I wonder about other faiths? Is it really just as bad in other religions? Is it better? Is it worse? I have heard that the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Southern Baptists have severe problems in this regard, though this is just heresay.

Does anyone know?
 
In our town there was a Church of the Brethren minister who went to jail for sexual abuse of a minor - so it exists.
 
There have been convictions for sexual abuse of boys among the ultra Orthodox Jewish community in NYC and in up-state New York.
 
There’s thousands of stories we can find concerning protestant pastors and sex abuse, too many to count, and by far more than Catholic clergy. Here’s a few from just the past few weeks.

**
Trial of pastor facing sex charge begins**

HARLAN, Ky. (AP) — The trial is beginning for an eastern Kentucky pastor facing counts of rape and other charges involving a girl younger than 14.

Caraway is the former pastor of Loyall Church of God in Harlan County. He is charged with rape, sodomy, sex abuse, unlawful transaction with a minor and use of an electronic communications system to procure a minor for a sexual offense.

Trial of pastor facing sex charge begins - seattlepi.com

FBI arrests pastor on child sex abuse charges in eastern New Orleans

New Orleans - The FBI has arrested a former Missouri pastor wanted on child sexual abuse charges in New Orleans. George Spencer, 48, was arrested Friday on several charges of forcible sodomy of a child and child molestation by the FBI New Orleans Violent Task Force.

Spencer worked as a pastor at Greater Works CME Church in Kansas City.

FBI arrests former pastor on child sex abuse charges in eastern New Orleans | NOLA.com

**
Pastor facing child sex abuse charges has criminal background**

MARSHALL COUNTY, AL (WAFF) - A Marshall County pastor now facing child sex abuse charges in Texas spent nearly a decade in the Texas state prison system before he was hired to pastor a church in Albertville.
41-year-old Mark Allen Green is jailed on a half million dollar bond in Texas and faces sexual abuse and aggravated sexual abuse of a child charges in Ellis and Navarro counties involving two victims under the age of 18.

Pastor facing child sex abuse charges has criminal background - Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee

Pastor Pleads Guilty to Unlawful Sexual Contact with a Minor

GALLIPOLIS, Ohio (WSAZ) – Standing in a courtroom before members of his congregation, a former pastor was sentenced to 15 years in prison for multiple counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
Young was the pastor at Simpson United Methodist Church in Rio Grande, Ohio.

Pastor Pleads Guilty to Unlawful Sexual Contact with a Minor

Elmhurst Pastor Charged With Sexual Abuse Of Teen Girl

Chicago - Former associate pastor Darin Evans, 41, is being held on $300,000 bond for allegedly sexually assaulting a teenage girl over a period of seven years. Court documents show Evans started the relationship with the girl when she was 16, and the assaults happened in public places, including cemeteries and on church-sponsored youth retreats.

Midday News Links: Former Elmhurst Pastor Charged With Sexual Abuse Of Teen Girl: Chicagoist

Franklin County pastor indicted on sexual torture, child abuse charges

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Alabama – A former Franklin County pastor has been charged with sexual torture and abuse.
The victim was an 8-year-old girl and that the abuse went on for nearly a year inside Hovater’s home in Spruce Pine. The victim’s family attended Hovater’s church.

Local pastor jailed on sex abuse charges

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A local pastor is behind bars for allegedly sexually abusing a young female family member over a period of several years.
Jonnie Franklin Winnell, 59, of Gypsum Lane in Elkview, is being held at South Central Regional Jail.
Winnell was charged with three counts of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian and/or a custodian.
Winnell is a pastor at United Gospel Mission on Charleston’s West Side.

Local pastor jailed on sex abuse charges� - Cops and Courts -

And that is just a very small sample of those occurring in April. There are countless stories of Protestant pastors sexually abusing children. Too many to track even in recent weeks.
 
I think to a large degree the media has singled out the Catholic Church and has hurt her greatly! I believe that in many instances, the media drooled all over themselves in there haste to purposely harm the Catholic Church. I found the following very, very interesting;
themediareport.com/fast-facts/

Peace, Mark
 
I heard it said that if you lump all the protestant denominations together, this would include the “independent” churches as well, their record wouldn’t be better than the Catholic one. In fact, it may be far worse. Just think of the scandles that have made the news. Oral Roberts, “The Lord told me that if I don’t come up with $30 million in 30 days, then he’ll call me home to heaven.” (this while tears are streaming down his face.)
Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, him for misappropriation of money, plus having an affair with his secretary.
Jimmy Swaggart. Saying that any minister caught with his pants down should leave the ministry for a minimum of 1 year. Then getting caught with his pants down and thinking that his statement shouldn’t apply to him.
And I’m sure there are many others. Oh, like a minister here in Kansas who got jail time for killing his wife because he wanted to marry another woman. If I remember correctly, they had planned on killing her husband as well.
 
People who profess to follow a faith and go on to sexually abuse children do so not because of their faith, but do so IN SPITE of their faith. So why bring the faith into question when it is clear they are going AGAINST the teachings of the faith?
 
I work in law enforcement and know firsthand that child sexual abuse happens in all faiths.😦
 
HabemusFrancis said:
Hi all. We are all sadly familiar with the many news reports on Clerical sexual misconduct. For me it has been a very disheartening, shaking experience, sifting through the various articles, and grand jury reports of various cities/ dioceses. I am fortunate to live in the Twin Cities/ Minnesota archdiocese, where thankfully, there has not been a flood of lawsuits and bankruptcy.

But I wonder about other faiths? Is it really just as bad in other religions? Is it better? Is it worse? I have heard that the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Southern Baptists have severe problems in this regard, though this is just heresay.

Does anyone know?
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Of course there are pedophiles throughout society, and especially where they can have access to their victims. There are also pedophiles in coaching, in teaching, every aspect of our society. But the press does not report on these cases as often as it does the Church. The constant drumming of the Catholic Church as being filled with pedophile priests is because the liberal press HATES the Church and everything She stands for.
 
Nigel7 said:
There’s thousands of stories we can find concerning protestant pastors and sex abuse, too many to count, and by far more than Catholic clergy.
Click to expand...
But why is it in the US we only here about Catholics? :confused:
 
TheRealJuliane said:
Of course there are pedophiles throughout society, and especially where they can have access to their victims. There are also pedophiles in coaching, in teaching, every aspect of our society. But the press does not report on these cases as often as it does the Church. The constant drumming of the Catholic Church as being filled with pedophile priests is because the liberal press HATES the Church and everything She stands for.
Click to expand...
Do they ever! I think my jaw would hit the floor if something positive was ever reported about the Catholic Church. A good place to read some of the trash that the media pummels our Church with is over at the Catholic League.
catholicleague.org/

Peace, Mark
 
Wildkit said:
But why is it in the US we only here about Catholics? :confused:
Click to expand...
We need to keep asking that question, because essentially that prejudice makes it dangerous for children from non-Catholic backgrounds and in non-Catholic settings. If you think it doesn’t happen on your athletic team, in your boarding school, public school, R.O.T.C., boys or girls club, in your home, hospital, in your synagogue, mosque, temple, congregation, coven, spiritual center, Scientology group, cult, atheist or agnostic club, support group, then you are not protected (if you are a child) or not protecting your children (if you are adult).

However, THAT being said, we must never be so outraged at the accusations or exaggerations that we do not have appropriate outrage at what DID happen in our Church. One case would have been one time too much. We need to protect ourselves and our children from people with inappropriate boundaries and behaviors. And we need to do that with a calm and clear mind, not paranoia.
 
If I might disagree…

All the media reporting on the Church I dont think has hurt her. I think even from the most anti catholic reporters, the reporting has Helped Her!

Because of all that reporting, and all the public outcry, our church has become better!🙂

It has led to stricter more scruitinous admittance for seminarians, has made kids safer, and I think has served as a form of chemotherapy for the Catholic Church. It may be painful and hard, but its needed to get rid of the cancer! That is my take.

I have heard Jehovahs witnesses and mormons are worse because of their clannish, secretive, insular nature…
 
Mark121359 said:
I think to a large degree the media has singled out the Catholic Church and has hurt her greatly
Click to expand...
There’s a Special Commision that has been set up in Australia to investigate child abuse within the Catholic Church. It is concerned with obstruction to police investigations, failure to report serious crimes to the relevant authorities (that would be the police themselves), discouraging witnesses to come forward, allerting alleged offenders and destroying evidence.

Look for any media reports about abuse in Australia (and most other countries) and it is not about individual cases, which obviously and unfortunately occur in many organisations, but the sytematic cover up by the Church of these abuses.
 
Bradski, Im sorry to say you are correct. From what I have read, the sexual abuse crisis was ultimately caused not by homosexuality, not by Jimi Hendrix/ Mick Jagger, and not the “craziness of Vatican II” but rather, an abuse of power.

The abuse of power, that made parents not believe their children about their revered priest, the abuse of power that made families feel cowed and beholden to the bishops who got them to sign secrecy oaths and accept payoffs, the abuse of power that made other priests feel they couldnt report a fellow priest to the police and displease their superior.

That being said, I do believe the worst is behind us. Benedict has cleaned up and clarified the whole process, and so many people are aware of it now, tht it could not fester for decades and decades, like it did in the past.😦
 
Actually Jewish Rabbies in the US have one of the highest rates Of sexual abuse against children in the US but because Jews tend to be quite powerful in the media they avoid giving too much coverage to it. Like someone else said a few Rabbies last year were finally put on the media but I think it was because two of those cases involved the death of the children making it more serious, and hard to cover up but yes it does happens and in higher numbers, is just that the media is only interested in attacking the catholic church.
 
Dakota_Roberts said:
Because all the other Christian groups in the US are smaller and fragmented thus having no unified identity.
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And what about the jews? They are not small and they are not fragmented and they do have a unified identity. They also have the highest rates of pedophiles. Why we don’t see the media attackingng them?
 
HabemusFrancis said:
Bradski, Im sorry to say you are correct. From what I have read, the sexual abuse crisis was ultimately caused not by homosexuality, not by Jimi Hendrix/ Mick Jagger, and not the “craziness of Vatican II” but rather, an abuse of power.

The abuse of power, that made parents not believe their children about their revered priest, the abuse of power that made families feel cowed and beholden to the bishops who got them to sign secrecy oaths and accept payoffs, the abuse of power that made other priests feel they couldnt report a fellow priest to the police and displease their superior.

That being said, I do believe the worst is behind us. Benedict has cleaned up and clarified the whole process, and so many people are aware of it now, tht it could not fester for decades and decades, like it did in the past.😦
Click to expand...
And I have read that there was a concerted effort by organized homosexuals who wanted to bring the Church down from the inside, to get into seminaries in the 1960’s and 1970’s, which they succeeded in doing. Then, when abuse happened, the knowledge of pedophilia at the time was not extensive and it was not known that pedophiles were largely unable to be reformed. The Bishops did the best they could with the knowledge that they had at the time. But many people take what we know now, backward in time and think “They should have known this!” Sure, they should have, but they didn’t! Only gradually and with a lot more experience has it been shown that pedophilia is a very stubborn disorder.

The Catholic Church has done more than any other faith to prevent these events from happening and to treat each one as it should be dealt with. Of course there would seem to be more, since the Church is made up of over a billion people. And when the scandals first started to emerge, people didn’t realize that these cases were from an era where next to nothing was known about pedophilia.
 
TheRealJuliane said:
And I have read that there was a concerted effort by organized homosexuals who wanted to bring the Church down from the inside, to get into seminaries in the 1960’s and 1970’s, which they succeeded in doing. Then, when abuse happened, the knowledge of pedophilia at the time was not extensive and it was not known that pedophiles were largely unable to be reformed. The Bishops did the best they could with the knowledge that they had at the time. But many people take what we know now, backward in time and think “They should have known this!” Sure, they should have, but they didn’t! Only gradually and with a lot more experience has it been shown that pedophilia is a very stubborn disorder.

The Catholic Church has done more than any other faith to prevent these events from happening and to treat each one as it should be dealt with. Of course there would seem to be more, since the Church is made up of over a billion people. And when the scandals first started to emerge, people didn’t realize that these cases were from an era where next to nothing was known about pedophilia.
Click to expand...
I have read exactly the same thing, in fact there is a book unfortunately I can’t remember the name but it mentioned that the diary of one of these activists was found after his death and the book mentioned how he was able to successfully enter the seminar and how he worked to destroy the church from the inside.
 
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