God was front and center. They lived and prayed every day in their churches. They may have even prayed to be free of their sins or sinful nature. The children may have prayed for God to protect them everyday. Using your thought process, why then do so many people want the return of God to the classrooms or the 10 Commandments to our government buildings? Apparently being surrounded these and other reminders as well as prayer has little effect.
He could NOT have been front and center in the lives of those men who raped and abused those people. A person who is deeply devoted to God, and is filled with His Spirit, does NOT allow himself to indulge in such hypocritical and heinous sins. Everyone sins, but these are not the little sins we commit every day, like sassing our parents or stealing a candy bar, or cheating at golf. There are sins so heinous, that only a totally corrupt person commits them. Can a tree of thorns, produce fruit? Can a bitter fountain bring forth sweet water? Neither can a totally corrupt person belong to God.