Posted on 06/15/2007 5:33:53 AM PDT by Between the Lines
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The three companies that insure the majority of Protestant churches in America say they typically receive upward of 260 reports each year of young people under 18 being sexually abused by clergy, church staff, volunteers or congregation members.
The figures released to The Associated Press offer a glimpse into what has long been an extremely difficult phenomenon to pin down — the frequency of sex abuse in Protestant congregations.
Religious groups and victims' supporters have been keenly interested in the figure ever since the Roman Catholic sex abuse crisis hit five years ago. The church has revealed that there have been 13,000 credible accusations against Catholic clerics since 1950.
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.
Some of the only numbers come from three insurance companies — Church Mutual Insurance Co., GuideOne Insurance Co. and Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Co.
Together, they insure 165,495 churches and worship centers for liability against child sex abuse and other sexual misconduct, mostly Protestant congregations but a few other faiths as well. They also insure more than 5,500 religious schools, camps and other organizations.
The companies represent a large chunk of all U.S. Protestant churches. There are about 224,000 in the U.S., according to the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, although that number excludes most historically black denominations and some other groups, which account for several thousand congregations.
Church Mutual, GuideOne and Brotherhood Mutual each provided statistics on sex abuse claims to The Associated Press, although they did not produce supporting documentation or a way to determine whether the reports were credible.
The largest company, Church Mutual, reported an average of about 100 sex abuse cases a year involving minors over the past decade. GuideOne, which has about half the clients of Church Mutual, said it has received an average of 160 reports of sex abuse against minors every year for the past two decades.
Brotherhood Mutual said it has received an average of 73 reports of child sex abuse and other sexual misconduct every year for the past 15 years. However, Brotherhood does not specify which victims are younger than 18 so it is impossible to accurately add that to the total cases.
Abuse reports don't always mean the accused was guilty, and they don't necessarily result in financial awards or settlements, the companies said. The reports include accusations against clergy, church staff and volunteers.
Even with hundreds of cases a year "that's a very small number. That probably doesn't even constitute half," said Gary Schoener, director of the Walk-In Counseling Center in Minneapolis, a consultant on hundreds of Protestant and Catholic clergy misconduct cases. "Sex abuse in any domain, including the church, is reported seldom. We know a small amount actually come forward."
Tom Farr, general counsel and senior vice president of claims for GuideOne, based in West Des Moines, Iowa, said most abuse cases are resolved privately in court-ordered mediation. Awards can range from millions of dollars down to paying for counseling for victims, he said.
One of the largest settlements to date in Protestant churches involved the case of former Lutheran minister Gerald Patrick Thomas Jr. in Texas, where a jury several years ago awarded the minister's victims nearly $37 million. Separate earlier settlements involving Thomas cost an additional $32 million.
When insurance companies first started getting reports of abuse from churches nearly two decades ago, the cases usually involved abuse that happened many years earlier. But over the past several years, the alleged abuse is more recent — which could reflect a greater awareness about reporting abuse, insurance companies said.
Insurance officials said the number of sex abuse cases has remained steady over the past two decades, but they also said churches are working harder to prevent child sex abuse by conducting background checks, installing windows in nurseries and play areas and requiring at least two adults in a room with a child.
Patrick Moreland, vice president of marketing for Church Mutual, said churches are particularly susceptible to abusers.
"By their nature, congregations are the most trusting of organizations, so that makes them attractive targets for predators," he said. "If you're a predator, where do you go? You go to a congregation that will welcome you."
A victims' advocacy group has said the Southern Baptists, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, could do more to prevent abuse by creating a list of accused clergy the public and churches could access.
"I think they should have a list of credibly reported clergy child abuse," said Christa Brown, a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a group initially created to hold the Catholic church accountable for sex abuse by its clergy.
"These are things people are entitled to know," said Brown, who says she was sexually abused as a child by a Southern Baptist minister. "The only way to prevent this crime is to break the code of silence and to have absolute transparency when allegations are raised."
At the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in San Antonio this week, the Rev. Wade Burleson of Enid, Okla., proposed a feasibility study into developing a national database of Southern Baptist ministers who have been "credibly accused of, personally confessed to, or legally been convicted of sexual harassment or abuse."
A convention committee referred Burleson's motion to the SBC executive committee, which will report back with findings and a recommendation at next year's meeting in Indianapolis.
Southern Baptist President Frank Page said leaders are considering several options to help churches protect children against abuse.
"We believe that the Scripture teaches that the church should be an autonomous, independent organization," Page said. "We encourage churches to hold accountable at the local level those who may have misused the trust of precious children and youth."
Several years ago, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, which represents moderates who have increasingly distanced themselves from the conservative-led Southern Baptists, started a list of accused clergy for churches, but not the public. Under pressure from victim advocates, the Texas group just released the names of some convicted sex offenders who may have been ministers in local congregations.
Joe Trull, editor of Christian Ethics Today and retired ethics professor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, helped the Texas convention create its registry and says there are now about 11 cases involving clergy abuse with minors.
But he believes these are just the "tip of the iceberg" because churches don't have to report abuse cases to the registry and aren't likely to.
"The problem we're having is that churches just weren't sending the names," Trull said. "In the normal scenario, they just try to keep it secret. We're going to have to be more proactive and let them know if they don't come forward, they're helping to perpetuate this problem."
Got it, I will try harder :)
I saw your response to ears about making it personal. Could you give me some guidance on how my post could be taken personal? As far as I can tell, I was (personally) attacked, and simply responded by pointing out the presumption of the attacker. Guidance would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Several here have found it helpful to review the use of pronouns before hitting post.
For instance, "your statement is incoherent" is not making it personal whereas "you are incoherent" is. And, as in the above, "That's too many presumptions for me, Mr. C." would not be making it personal.
Noted. Thanks.
Please see post #209, which is close to my thinking on the subject. At this point, I cannot address this issue further.
I've been doing quite well and hope you are as well.
I don't have the kind of data you seem to be asking for... but I don't need it. I can give you the answer to the underlying question... and quite easily.
The Body of Christ... the Church Militant if you will... is made up of men... and therefore sinners. And no flavor of sin is exempted just because someone is saved... and especially because of what flavor of Christian he calls himself.
If it's a really big church (say... a billion+ members), there are going to be thousands upon thousands of these kinds of horrendous examples every year. If it's just the church down the street with 200 members... it could be many years between examples.
But the result is the same. If you look to the denomination and say "this is the 'correct' one and is closer to God - so I won't have to worry about ever dealing with a pastor falling to sexual sin", then you are just fooling yourself.
A commonly misunderstood verse (by protestants anyway).
Tell me... when Israel was also called a kingdom of priests ("kingdom - Mamlakah " also being translated "royal" on occasion) in Exodus... did God do away with the ministerial priesthood?
Or does your Old Testament end part-way through the second book?
Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Luke 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
Furthermore, the levite priests never had a part of the land. They were God's part, He was theirs. Now, as Jesus said, his kingdom is not of this world. 'Nuff said
Second, Protestant clergy number in the hundreds of thousands. Catholic clergy number (maybe) in the 40 thousands, more or less.
On the one hand there are many more Protestant clergy "eligible" to be abusers. On the other, there are many more potential victims for each of the Catholic clergy.
Third, how dumb do you think I am? The church down the street with two hundred members probably belongs to an affinity group which numbers in the millions of members. Remember, the article said there were three main insurers for the more than 100,000,000 "Protestants".
4. I believe your answer is unconvincing and unresponsive.
But the result is the same. If you look to the denomination and say "this is the 'correct' one and is closer to God - so I won't have to worry about ever dealing with a pastor falling to sexual sin", then you are just fooling yourself.
I agree wholeheartedly my friend. I will go even farther; If you look at a denomination and say "this is the one and only true church" you are just fooling yourself.
That said I believe the individual Protestant Churches (most of them) probably belong to some kind of affinity group and get group rates from the three major insurers based on experience. I would also expect the Catholic Churches are getting their insurance from a limited number of insurers. This makes sense to me but "what do I know"? (I do remember from my past experience and education, admittedly way way back many years ago, that's the way business works.)
If I were a betting man I'd lay money on the following:
1. Pedophilia among Protestant and Catholic clergy is similar; almost nonexistent.
2. Sexual abuse and "indiscretion" among Protestant clergy would be largely heterosexual.
3. Sexual abuse and "indiscretion" among Catholic clergy would be largely homosexual.
Once again, thank you my friend. (You did expect some little "educational abuse" from me didn't you?)
He renewed the priesthood of Melchizadek and offered bread and wine. An offering that continues to this day (and most certainly was the center of liturgical worship in the early church). Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
That demolishes your attempted point. He fulfilled the law.... He didn't destroy it. The Law remains.
If true, so what? If a nondenomination pastor has a gay affair with a choir member and down the road Presbyterian lesbian minister sleeps with a teenage girl... and a block further down a Baptist minister abuses a young boy...
... it doesn't get reported in the paper as a "protestant" problem. You may lump "Protestant Clergy" into a single group, but the media doesn't (and rightly so).
Third, how dumb do you think I am? The church down the street with two hundred members probably belongs to an affinity group which numbers in the millions of members.
Apparently "dumber" than you were in years past. :) The "church down the street" is not necessarily likely to be affiliated with a larger group. Sometimes there is a titular similarity (i.e. "Baptist" is seen all over - with little connection between two churches sharing the name)... Think of all the "X Bible Church"s you see around... they share no connection with one another (apart from being part of the Body) and no media outlet will associate the two.
Remember, the article said there were three main insurers for the more than 100,000,000 "Protestants".
So? That leaves off several factors... one of which is obviously that media accounts of large numbers of abuse cases cause others to come out of the woodwork. I'm not saying allegations are made up, but people who have remained silent are more likely to cease doing so when three others turn out to have been abused too. If you never hear about it... ??? And that impacts lawsuit filings and this insurance claims. As the article says quite clearly
4. I believe your answer is unconvincing and unresponsive.
Nope. It's the only rational response. You're trying to compare denominations by trying to find some statistical measurement of sinfulness in their clergy.
I'm sorry to tell you... but an accurate survey would show "100% Sinners" in any denomination.
If I were a betting man I'd lay money on the following:
1. Pedophilia among Protestant and Catholic clergy is similar; almost nonexistent.
2. Sexual abuse and "indiscretion" among Protestant clergy would be largely heterosexual.
3. Sexual abuse and "indiscretion" among Catholic clergy would be largely homosexual.
I rather doubt it (oh... you would win #1 if you could find many takers). The mistake is obviously assuming that if someone decides to become celibate, he's more likely to have been gay. I don't buy it. Paul said it was best for a man to remain celibate... shall I then assume that protestant ministers (virtually none of whom remain so) are more likely to be sexual sinners?
Once again, thank you my friend. (You did expect some little "educational abuse" from me didn't you?)
Of course. Good to hear from you again. How have you been doing?
Not sure but I believe I’ve seen this movie
somewhere before. :-)
Not sure but I believe I’ve seen this movie
somewhere before. :-)
Must have been a double feature even. :-)
Do you frequently find that you gain extra credibility by dodging the points others make?
As for your claim... you may remember that when He offered Himself... He said "Do this"
How ya been, oh Ignorant one?
:)
Good to hear from you.
Ignorant as ever. Invincibly even. Doin' good. You?
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