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."
You're free to do the same.
"Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? -- Gal. 4:16
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You do yourself a disservice with this statement, friend.
Well then.......good news, Doc!
A Church "literally filled" with "sexual deviates" (sic) is unlikely to last too long, wouldn't you say? A church so deeply rotten will undoubtedly self-destruct......and soon.
Are we agreed?
Good.
Here's a suggestion; hold your breath and don't let it out until it happens.
Are these priests teaching something counter to the magisterium about their priestly role in the church?
Where do you disagree with the statements of those priests? Where have those priests erred?
It’s always good when we’re able to hold our tempers and not make the discussion personal.
So far all I've heard is RCs who refuse to see it.
Which, of course, just seems to be more of the same old blindspot. For parents, this is a dangerous evasion.
If the Catholic Church is as bad as you describe, we're surely done for. And soon, wouldn't you say?
Are we now discussing these things as a service to ourselves?
I didn't know.
I apologize, but I’ll have to get back to you on this.
ROTFLOLOL!!!
Must I salute, too? I could also click my heels, if that is of any benefit to you.
There will always be error in this world. As God wills.
"For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you." -- 1 Corinthians 11:19
The RCC is not known for consistency. Perhaps one day the Holy Spirit will lead it into the merciful full light of the truth of Christ risen, made known to us by the word of God and the power of God.
You know the most recent per year number for the RCC, don't you?
The fact that only some of the 260 per year are clergy isn't much of a comfort.
Beyond all that, my point is that none of us can relax our guard. The predators are unrelenting so we have to deny them the opportunities to abuse.
The only thing any Protestant really wants is for a member of the RC to return to the Bible and read from it. We're content in knowing God gives ears to hear and eyes to see and a new heart to whom He wills.
Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" -- Philippians 1:3-6"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
I don't "edit for shock value"
Uh huh.
So 2 posts later, in #78 I read this:
Unlike the RCC clergy whose ranks are literally filled with sexual deviates.
"Literally filled". No hyperbole or shock value there, of course. Then, on a roll now, 3 posts later we have this:
I speak against some of the doctrines of the RCC which are anti-Scriptural fables.
Again, no shock value there.
So.......our clergy is "filled" with perverts and and our doctrines are "anti-Scriptural" fables.
Rather than attempting to refute this, which as others have pointed out, is an exercise in futility in your case, I'm running with it. Agreeing with you.
Ours is a Church full of sexual deviants engaged in teaching fables. Give us your medical prognosis, Doc. Don't be shy. Definitely a terminal illness, no? God's blessing could never be with such an abomination, surely?
How long to live?
And as we've seen from the article by the priest I posted, the RCC teaches that priests are "another Christ."
Thus, can you imagine for a moment the paralyzing fear of a child who is being molested by a man whom his parents and church are telling him is "another Christ?"
That lie is not told in Protestant churches. Children who might be abused by a Protestant clergy would run from him as they would run from any other man.
The problem is deep inside the RCC. As long as it insists priests are "another Christ," they are preaching "another Gospel."
BTW, I, for one, fully agree with that priest and his article.
Your extracts are another matter.
The actual quote was "edit for shock value."
But I bet you knew that.
I don't mind my posts being seen as "shocking." The errors of the RCC are massively shocking and do far more damage than anything I might inflict on the magisterium's confusion.
You'll note also, for the sake of the truthfulness of your comments, that I was speaking of the immorality of the clergy. I never once made that assessment of the congregation.
But you probably knew that, too. And yet you still chose to misquote me...again.
Thank you for that excellent Scripture. May we all have our moment of clarity by the hand of God as Paul did on the road to Damascus.
So you believe that "priests are another Christ."
Thanks. Your agreement has been noted now from heaven to all parts of the earth and below.
Wow. You even post your invective against the Catholics in a thread critical of the Protestants. You don’t stop. But nice try to point the floodlights in the other direction.
The article reads that there are upwards of 260 reports of sex abuse in the protestant churches per year. In the Catholic church, however, the article points out that there has been 13,000 cases of child molestation since 1950. Whipping out the ole calculator and figuring out the average per annum for the Catholic Church reveals 232 cases per year (13,000/56).
Oh, but those doing the fact gathering must be papists right? Or the supposed victims of the Protestants are liars?
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