Baptists DO sexually abuse their trust sometimes, just as the financially abuse their trust sometimes.
Yes, as do all denominations.
But since any such abuse drags the name of Christ thru the mud, I think the church has an obligation to hold their pastors (or priests) to a HIGHER standard, not a lower one.
On this I agree 100%.
The only case of sex that I know of involved a deacon and a young woman in the choir, and he was forced to resign before the next church meeting that Sunday.
Of all the priests and nuns involved with my family, including my children, my nephews, from 35 years ago to the present day (and my kids and grandkids go to parochial schools, and one son to a Jesuit HS) I know of no instance or accusation at any parish or school by anyone. I do know of two music ministers/choir members sexual activity, but that was in protestant churches, and I only found out because my husband was a visiting musician. Nobody in those instances resigned or left the church.
At a study last Saturday, one of the topics discussed was knowing your weakness and taking steps to prevent it from bearing fruit. I asked our pastor, who is about 60, if he would consider counseling a beautiful 25 year old woman alone in his office, or an 18 year old, or a 15 year old. He was a bit startled, but his response was “Absolutely not!”
The point was that doing so opened him up to false accusations, and worse, opened him up to temptations that still exist.
He mentioned a guy he knew who had been very promiscuous when young, who converted, but still found it tempting to watch porn while on business trips. He had asked some of the men to call him every night he was on the road, because he was less likely to give in to temptation if he knew a friend would call him.
I posted on this thread because the guy was making excuses rather than facing the problem. It’s “Ephebophilia”, not pedophilia or homosexuality. But that doesn’t face the problem head on. Saying the boy was 14 so it is ephebophilia is hiding from the obvious. And when a Catholic does that, it hurts Baptists as well - all sexual and financial wrongdoing is a huge stain on the name of Jesus.
The non-christians I’ve met don’t distinguish between Catholic priests and baptists - they just say Christians are hypocrites and use that as an excuse to reject Christ. They probably would reject him anyway, but I would prefer they had less ammo...