Posted on 10/01/2005 8:23:16 AM PDT by narses
Despite headlines focusing on the priest pedophile problem in the Roman Catholic Church, most American churches being hit with child sexual-abuse allegations are Protestant, and most of the alleged abusers are not clergy or staff, but church volunteers.
These are findings from national surveys by Christian Ministry Resources (CMR), a tax and legal-advice publisher serving more than 75,000 congregations and 1,000 denominational agencies nationwide.
CMR's annual surveys of about 1,000 churches nationwide have asked about sexual abuse since 1993. They're a remarkable window on a problem that lurked largely in the shadows of public awareness until the Catholic scandals arose.
The surveys suggest that over the past decade, the pace of child-abuse allegations against American churches has averaged 70 a week. The surveys registered a slight downward trend in reported abuse starting in 1997, possibly a result of the introduction of preventive measures by churches.
"I think the CMR numbers are striking, yet quite reasonable," says Anson Shupe, anIndiana University professor who's written books about church abuse. "To me it says Protestants are less reluctant to come forward because they don't put their clergy on as high a pedestal as Catholics do with their priests." At least 70 incidents a week
Dr. Shupe suggests the 70 allegations-per-week figure actually could be higher, because underreporting is common. He discovered this in 1998 while going door to door in Dallas-Ft. Worth communities where he asked 1,607 families if they'd experienced abuse from those within their church. Nearly 4 percent said they had been victims of sexual abuse by clergy. Child sexual abuse was part of that, but not broken out, he says.
James Cobble, executive director of CMR, who oversees the survey, says the data show that child sex-abuse happens broadly across all denominations– and that clergy aren't the major offenders.
"The Catholics have gotten all the attention from the media, but this problem is even greater with the Protestant churches simply because of their far larger numbers," he says.
Of the 350,000 churches in the US, 19,500 – 5 percent – are Roman Catholic. Catholic churches represent a slightly smaller minority of churches in the CMR surveys which aren't scientifically random, but "representative" demographic samples of churches, Dr. Cobble explains.
Since 1993, on average about 1 percent of the surveyed churches reported abuse allegations annually. That means on average, about 3,500 allegations annually, or nearly 70 per among the predominantly Protestant group, Cobble says.
The CMR findings also reveal:
• Most church child-sexual-abuse cases involve a single victim.
• Law suits or out-of-court settlements were a result in 21 percent of the allegations reported in the 2000 survey.
• Volunteers are more likely than clergy or paid staff to be abusers. Perhaps more startling, children at churches are accused of sexual abuse as often as are clergy and staff. In 1999, for example, 42 percent of alleged child abusers were volunteers – about 25 percent were paid staff members (including clergy) and 25 percent were other children.
Still, it is the reduction of reported allegations over nine years that seems to indicate that some churches are learning how to slow abuse allegations with tough new prevention measures, say insurance company officials and church officials themselves.
The peak year for allegations was 1994, with 3 percent of churches reporting an allegation of sexual misconduct compared with just 0.1 percent in 2000. But 2001 data, indicates a swing back to the 1 percent level, still significantly less than the 1993 figures, Cobble says.
Child sexual-abuse insurance claims have slowed, too, industry sources say.
Hugh White, vice president of marketing for Brotherhood Mutual Insurance, in Ft. Wayne, Ind., suggests that the amount of abuse reported in the CMR 2001 data is reasonable though "at the higher end" of the scale.
Mr. White's company insures 30,000 churches – about 0.2 percent to 0.3 percent of which annually report an "incident" of child sexual abuse. But he says that his churches are more highly educated on child abuse prevention procedures than most, which may account for a lower rate of reported abuse than the CMR surveys.
What all the data show is a settling that followed "a large spike" in the frequency and severity of church sexual misconduct claims from the mid-1980s, White says.
"Church insurance carriers implemented educational programs and policies that have helped decrease and then stabilize the trend," agrees Jan Beckstrom, chief operating officer for the church insurer GuideOne Insurance in West Des Moines, Iowa.
CMR surveys also show many smaller churches have lagged in starting such programs, while larger churches with more resources and management controls have led the way. And for good reason: They have more to lose, and a larger abuse problem.
"I don't know of a church that isn't doing this," says Simeon May, of the Richardson, Tex.-based National Association of Church Business Administration, which gives training for large churches with administrators.
At Grace Community Church in Tempe, Ariz., the executive pastor, Gary Maitha, says his church has adopted a tougher sort of love since 2000. That's when criminal background checks, finger printing, detailed questionnaires, and careful policies – such as never having children and adults "one-on-one" – kicked into gear. It's a necessity with 700 to 800 children showing up for Sunday School and many more for other church activities during the week, he says.
"We have fingerprinting and a criminal background check for anyone over age 18 that works with children," says the Rev. Maitha. "If it comes back with a blemish, they're not working with kids. That's all there is to it."
Debby DeBernardi, director of Grace Community's children's ministry, says church policies require, for instance, that adults go in pairs when supervising bathroom breaks for children and that they check to ensure no adults are in the bathrooms, before children enter. Fingerprints for Sunday school
Men who've been screened and fingerprinted may work in the nursery. But only female staff members – not volunteers – may change diapers. Only adults wearing an identity badge that indicates they've been cleared may work with children – and photo IDs are coming soon. Some long-time volunteers, offended by all the new policies, have bowed out of children's activities.
But the new procedures have already proven their worth, Ms. DeBernardi says. "We did have someone already apply who had a police file and had been accused of child molestation. Because of our new procedures, we caught it.... Sometimes you have to bring people in and say, 'Look, you're welcome to come to the church, we love you. But you may not minister in the children's area.' "
That sort of toughness is swiftly becoming a prerequisite for insurance coverage, and to protect against lawsuits and false allegations, which can be nearly as demoralizing to a church organization.
The problem, Cobble says, is that churches are the perfect environment for sexual predators, because they have large numbers of children's' programs, a shortage of workers to lead them, and a culture of trust that is the essence of the organization.
Churches have been active since the early 1990s in addressing the problem, Cobble reports. More than 100,000 copies of a book he co-authored, "Reducing the risk of Child Sexual Abuse in Your Church" were sold.
Since January, when Roman Catholic dioceses nationwide began drawing headlines over pedophile priests, some church organizations have focused anew on revamping sexual abuse policies.
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, for instance, is reportedly drafting a new sexual- abuse policy.
Ralph Colas, of the American Council of Christian Churches, a Bethlehem, Penn. organization representing fundamentalist denominations, reports fresh activity. "I've helped several churches this last week draw up some guideline policies," he says. "I've encouraged churches to secure legal advice, to make sure they are meeting the legal mandatory reporting requirements." Fear of lawsuits sparked new rules
But the shift to "trust but verify" – impelled to a degree by current headlines – has been ongoing since a conference in Chicago in November 1992 when more than 100 denominational leaders met for the first time to discuss how to deal with child sex abuse. About that time, insurance companies were dropping coverage of churches without screening policies.
"What drove leaders to begin to respond to this issue was not the welfare of children," Cobble says. "It was fear of large, costly lawsuits."
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Wow!
You know, I've about had it with religion. Religion just seems to be an area denial for investigation of criminal and terroristic activity.
I have my bibles and I don't need a false front for a church or a self appointed homo to interprete it for me.
::disgusted::
BTTT!
Protestant Born Again Minister Child Abuse List
ping.
**James Cobble, executive director of CMR, who oversees the survey, says the data show that child sex-abuse happens broadly across all denominations– and that clergy aren’t the major offenders.
“The Catholics have gotten all the attention from the media, but this problem is even greater with the Protestant churches simply because of their far larger numbers,” he says. **
BTTT with some real facts.
And money.
Sex abuse spans spectrum of [non-Catholic] churches
WV Pastor Wanted for Soliciting A Minor
The humiliation of the Southern Baptist convention
Clay County Baptist pastor accused of sexual battery of child
Fox News Report
In fundamentalist and evangelical churches -- sexual abuse
Other non-Catholic churches and sexual abuse
Add destruction of the family in there, too.
FYI
Where are all the protestants that crash Catholic threads? We need to hear from them about this, too!
“Where are all the protestants that crash Catholic threads? We need to hear from them about this, too!”
These sick monsters are just as sick as your sick monsters are.
Do you have a point to make?
L
for later
While it may happen anywhere nowhere is it systemically covered up and its perpetrators shuffled to unsuspecting congregations as it is in the Roman church. That is the difference
And it’s proponents are still trying to defend the indefensible. Rather than pointing ringers at others or excluding what happened why don’t you turn your energies into cleaning up your own mess?
Even though public school teachers are responsible for more molestations, Christians will be judged more severely, and especially Catholics. They were called to Protect the innocent and shepherd souls. Better they get punished in THIS life, to the full extent. It all needs to be revealed and The Church cleansed.
Seems a big difference is in COVERING UP. Many churches now screen helpers, but what has caused huge problems for the Catholics is the homosexual aspect and the cover up of pedophiles/homosexuals by those above them.
I do not 'knowingly' crash Catholic threads! What is beyond bizarre is how easily it is for some catholics to play the 'everybody is doing it' card. I read the article, it simply does not measure up with what has been exposed.
The claim is made by many, that the Catholic Church is the 'bride of Christ', the oldest, biggest, baddest Church ...and then some will contrast and compare their 'holy' abuse to the evil protestants... seriously?
I did not find one example where some protestant preacher, called himself 'holy father' abused one single child. The article dating back to 2002, projects that only the Catholics were getting the media attention.. and their 'surveys' point to a larger widespread problem across protestantville. The article attempts to claim that 'secrecy' is the protestants fault for hiding criminals among them...
There are two typical excuses given for the perverts running catholicism ... Secular media picks on them... the 'book of Jay' report commissioned by the US Catholic Bishops ... it is just a homosexual issue. After all the poor priests have been seduced by an invasion of post-pubasant boys.
Then the church ladies, dumpster dive on evil protestants for their sexual perversion stories... as whitewash, see 'everybody is doing it'. God said sodomy is an abomination... messing with a child, mentality, physically, or sexually is against God ... and He keeps the only record that counts for everybody.
Christ instructed Matthew 10: 5These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
6But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
8Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
9Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,
10Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
11And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.
12And when ye come into an house, salute it.
13And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.
14And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
******15Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.********
You just 'heard' what Christ said would be...
Not surprised.
Sadly, it is across board in the Christian Faith community.
1 Peter 4:17.
The house cleaning has started, via the closing of the wallets and pocketbooks.
The reason the Catholic Church got more press is because it’s got much more money to enable far more predators.
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