Now it's the Southern Baptists

[Jose Fly]

Abuse of Faith 20 years, 700 victims: Southern Baptist sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reforms

In the decade since Vasquez's appeal for help, more than 250 people who worked or volunteered in Southern Baptist churches have been charged with sex crimes, an investigation by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News reveals.

It's not just a recent problem: In all, since 1998, roughly 380 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have faced allegations of sexual misconduct, the newspapers found. That includes those who were convicted, credibly accused and successfully sued, and those who confessed or resigned. More of them worked in Texas than in any other state.

They left behind more than 700 victims, many of them shunned by their churches, left to themselves to rebuild their lives. Some were urged to forgive their abusers or to get abortions.​

Similar scandals and accusations of coverups have enveloped the Catholic Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Mormon Church. What's going on? Have churches become magnets for child predators? If so, is it because the predators know they can exploit the culture of sexual repression and denialism that exists in those faiths?

Honestly, it looks to me like a church is maybe one of the least safe places to send your kids.

 

[Skwim]

Can't say I'm at all surprised. Extremist groups, whatever they may be, and particularly their leaders, tend to disregard reason and act on their gut feelings. They also have little trouble talking out of both sides of their mouths; doing exactly what they decry. You know, hypocrites.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Abuse of Faith 20 years, 700 victims: Southern Baptist sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reforms

In the decade since Vasquez's appeal for help, more than 250 people who worked or volunteered in Southern Baptist churches have been charged with sex crimes, an investigation by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News reveals.

It's not just a recent problem: In all, since 1998, roughly 380 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have faced allegations of sexual misconduct, the newspapers found. That includes those who were convicted, credibly accused and successfully sued, and those who confessed or resigned. More of them worked in Texas than in any other state.

They left behind more than 700 victims, many of them shunned by their churches, left to themselves to rebuild their lives. Some were urged to forgive their abusers or to get abortions.​

Similar scandals and accusations of coverups have enveloped the Catholic Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Mormon Church. What's going on? Have churches become magnets for child predators? If so, is it because the predators know they can exploit the culture of sexual repression and denialism that exists in those faiths?

Honestly, it looks to me like a church is maybe one of the least safe places to send your kids.

Anything that represses, restricts, and demonizes sexual habits you will arguably end up with things like this.

 

[Jose Fly]

Can't say I'm at all surprised. Extremist groups, whatever they may be, and particularly their leaders, tend to disregard reason and act on their gut feelings. They also have little trouble talking out of both sides of their mouths; doing exactly what they decry. You know, hypocrites.

I also think the culture of tribalism in the more conservative faiths plays a role. Many of them preach that Satan and "the world" are out to destroy them, so when an abuse victim comes forward it can often be seen as part of that, and therefore is something that needs to be suppressed rather than dealt with openly.

 

[Jose Fly]

Anything that represses, restricts, and demonizes sexual habits you will arguably end up with things like this.

Agreed. Reading the article and some of the stories of how the victims, usually the young girls, were shamed by not just leadership, but the larger congregation illustrates your point. The story of how one of the victims had to stand before the congregation and ask for forgiveness is just sickening, especially given how the pastor was the father!

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Well, my grandmother used to go to her baptist church were the pastor was sleeping with the congregants. Some people go to church for unhealthy reasons. Church is supposed to be positive and enrich a person's life. However, some of us can go off track, human nature but not a good example of being a spiritual teacher and role model.

 

[PureX]

Authoritarianism is the perfect ideology for abuse of authority. And children are the most vulnerable to it in a sexual context. So it's not surprising that the sexual abuse of children (and even of adults) is a common occurrence among these authoritarian cults. The more authority is invested in their all-too-human leaders, the more perverted and abusive they are likely to become.

 

[sun rise]

Authoritarianism is the perfect ideology for abuse of authority.

Or in other words, Lord Action is correct - power corrupts.

 

[Revoltingest]

Or in other words, Lord Action is correct - power corrupts.

That's wrong.
People are corrupt even without power.
But with it, their corruption shines brightly.

 

[Cooky]

Abuse of Faith 20 years, 700 victims: Southern Baptist sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reforms

In the decade since Vasquez's appeal for help, more than 250 people who worked or volunteered in Southern Baptist churches have been charged with sex crimes, an investigation by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News reveals.

It's not just a recent problem: In all, since 1998, roughly 380 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have faced allegations of sexual misconduct, the newspapers found. That includes those who were convicted, credibly accused and successfully sued, and those who confessed or resigned. More of them worked in Texas than in any other state.

They left behind more than 700 victims, many of them shunned by their churches, left to themselves to rebuild their lives. Some were urged to forgive their abusers or to get abortions.​

Similar scandals and accusations of coverups have enveloped the Catholic Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Mormon Church. What's going on? Have churches become magnets for child predators? If so, is it because the predators know they can exploit the culture of sexual repression and denialism that exists in those faiths?

Honestly, it looks to me like a church is maybe one of the least safe places to send your kids.

When will people wake up to the media's B.S..?

Every large organization, that has children has this problem.

 

[Jose Fly]

When will people wake up to the media's B.S..?

Every large organization, that has children has this problem.

I'm trying to think of a non-religious large organization that has a decades long history of harboring pedophiles, shuttling them around, covering up their crimes, and publicly shaming their victims, but I'm drawing a blank.

And is that really the narrative you want to go with here? "When it comes to sexual abuse, we're no better than any other large organization"?

 

[Jose Fly]

Authoritarianism is the perfect ideology for abuse of authority. And children are the most vulnerable to it in a sexual context. So it's not surprising that the sexual abuse of children (and even of adults) is a common occurrence among these authoritarian cults. The more authority is invested in their all-too-human leaders, the more perverted and abusive they are likely to become.

So conservative churches simply are not safe places for children. That's quite a revelation, isn't it?

 

[Revoltingest]

When will people wake up to the media's B.S..?

Every large organization, that has children has this problem.

It appears to be a big problem when the organization is secretive.
And even worse when it has some immunity to police action, eg,
the Catholic Church.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

When will people wake up to the media's B.S..?

Every large organization, that has children has this problem.

But not every large organization claims things like "Jesus loves the little children." (Southern Baptists are pretty big into that, and tend to believe young children who die automatically go to Heaven having never had the time, opportunity, or mental capacity to freely choose baptism)
Southern Baptists only formed over the issue of slavery (they supported it), and still yet supports racial segregation, strict gender roles and gender segregation, and my Southern Baptist homeschooling even justified and supported Apartheid Africa (going by what it claimed, you'd think Nelson Mandela had not one shred of decency or humanity in him). And sex is pretty shameful, strictly only for a married man and women with the goal of reproduction being very preferred.
There's even a Baptist church where I used to live that is in some pretty hot water over the pastor sleeping around with women in the congregation, for abusing his children, and bribing witnesses and victims to remain silent (he even promised to buy one of his sons a house).
No, really we do need more stories like this to shake the idea that church is a place of morality and decency. Some people are, some churches are, but the assumption is erroneous and needs to go.

 

[nPeace]

Only in religion...?

Law Enforcement
CopsToo: When Police Officers Use Sexual Assault to Terrorize Vulnerable Communities
Hundreds of sexual harassment claims against male police officers
4 alarming things about sexual assault and police that you probably don't know
Police officers in the US were charged with more than 400 rapes over a 9-year period

Teachers
Record numbers of teachers banned for sexual misconduct
Nearly 1,300 students victims of sexual offences by school staff over last 2 decades, Canadian study says
The Prevalence of Sexual Abuse by K-12 School Personnel in Canada, 1997–2017
AP uncovers 17,000 reports of sexual assaults at schools across US
A Crisis As Millions Of Students Abused By Teachers
Sexual harassment in education in the United States

Physicians
License to betray
Prestige protects even the worst abusers
Larry Nassar isn’t the only doctor accused of molesting patients. We need to do more to stop it

Caregivers
Abuse in nursing homes unreported despite law, government probe finds

 

[Cooky]

Good point @nPeace, in fact just the other day I read about a woman who was completely paralyzed and could not even speak who was living at a care facility and remarkably gave birth to a little boy! But this was no virgin birth, as nobody expected it to be. When the DNA test came back, the nurses aid was quickly arrested and taken into custody for rape.

And @Shadow Wolf, @Revoltingest, and @Jose Fly, these are care fatalities who "claim" to care for the needy! Clearly it's time to drop this erroneous belief that healthcare facilities care for peoples health.

Woman in vegetative state gives birth at Hacienda Healthcare in Phoenix

 

[Shadow Wolf]

And @Shadow Wolf, @Revoltingest, and @Jose Fly, these are care fatalities who "claim" to care for the needy! Clearly it's time to drop this erroneous belief that healthcare facilities care for peoples health.

I didn't know, as a mental health care provider, that we have this "erroneous belief." Why not tell that to some case managers who sacrifice their personal time, birthdays, holidays, and have to work every day helping to care for people. Sure, there are some crap providers out there, but it's erroneous to say it's an "erroneous belief" when we spend entire afternoons and evenings with clients when they have a medical emergency, work all night with a high risk client to ensure their safety, and keep going on despite how cruel clients can be to us (one of my former coworkers nearly got in a lot of trouble over a risk assessment she did on a teenaged client who gave her a very difficult time and later admitted a couple days later that it was intentionally so). Yup. I've had run ins with crappy providers. But health care providers were consistently among those who accepted me and didn't give me any troubles for being trans.
Insurance often doesn't care, but providers often do (many even commit insurance fraud so a client can get needed services).

 

[Cooky]

Doctor sex abuse is tolerated by regulators and forgiven in every state, a national investigation finds.
Cases found in every state; doctors forgiven; a national investigation

The medical profession shields doctors’ abuse nationwide, leaving patients in the dark.
System shields doctors’ abuse nationwide, leaves patients in dark #DoctorSexAbuse

 

[Revoltingest]

Good point @nPeace, in fact just the other day I read about a woman who was completely paralyzed and could not even speak who was living at a care facility and remarkably gave birth to a little boy! But this was no virgin birth, as nobody expected it to be. When the DNA test came back, the nurses aid was quickly arrested and taken into custody for rape.

And @Shadow Wolf, @Revoltingest, and @Jose Fly, these are care fatalities who "claim" to care for the needy! Clearly it's time to drop this erroneous belief that healthcare facilities care for peoples health.

Woman in vegetative state gives birth at Hacienda Healthcare in Phoenix

Care is given...it just isn't perfect.

 

[Cooky]

I didn't know, as a mental health care provider, that we have this "erroneous belief." Why not tell that to some case managers who sacrifice their personal time, birthdays, holidays, and have to work every day helping to care for people. Sure, there are some crap providers out there, but it's erroneous to say it's an "erroneous belief" when we spend entire afternoons and evenings with clients when they have a medical emergency, work all night with a high risk client to ensure their safety, and keep going on despite how cruel clients can be to us (one of my former coworkers nearly got in a lot of trouble over a risk assessment she did on a teenaged client who gave her a very difficult time and later admitted a couple days later that it was intentionally so). Yup. I've had run ins with crappy providers. But health care providers were consistently among those who accepted me and didn't give me any troubles for being trans.
Insurance often doesn't care, but providers often do (many even commit insurance fraud so a client can get needed services).

That's all fine and dandy, but the rape crisis continues in the healthcare field, and the State shields rapist doctors from being exposed.

Rape is an epidemic in the healthcare industry, where doctors routinely rape patients. We all need to recognize this.