“Protestant numbers are harder to come by, the AP reported, because the denominations are less centralized than the Catholic Church. Many churches are independent, making reporting even harder.
“This bad news for Protestant Churches is sad news for all of us,” Father Morris wrote. “I would prefer the problem be limited to any one church—even if that church were my own—because it would mean more kids would be safe. But as I have said repeatedly over the last few years, the problem of sexual abuse of minors is not an issue of religious affiliation because there is nothing religious about abusing children. The phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors in church settings is the story of sick human beings taking advantage of their position of moral authority to prey on the weak and vulnerable. If Catholic clergy were to be faithful to their church’s teaching, there would be no abuse in the Catholic Church. The same goes for Protestant clergy. The problem, then, is not one of corrupt doctrine, but of individuals being unfaithful to the most basic precepts of their own religious belief.”
Insurance officials told the AP the numbers of sex-abuse cases has remained steady over the past two decades, but churches are doing more to prevent child-sexual abuse by conducting background checks, installing windows in nurseries and play areas and requiring at least two adults in a room with a child.
Still, said Patrick Moreland of Church Mutual, churches are particularly vulnerable 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.”
America’s largest Protestant group, the Southern Baptist Convention, voted last month to refer a motion to study the feasibility of establishing a database of Southern Baptist clergy and church staff who are credibly accused of, have confessed to or were convicted of sexual abuse or harassment to the SBC Executive Committee.
This year’s convention also adopted a non-binding resolution expressing “moral outrage” against the victimization of children.
Bob Allen is managing editor of EthicsDaily.com.
http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=9149
I believe many churches were infiltrated by these monsters over the decades yet the Catholic Church is the only one constantly targeted for constant headline pounding. We have cleaned up the mess yet we’re still being isolated, targeted, attacked, and mocked at our holiest of holidays by the power of the state-run media. This is their third/fourth/fifth round on our priests yet nothing on Protestants or Teachers. Don’t you find that more than a little strange?
I’ll be posting a thread on Protestant Pastors and also Teacher pedophilia when I get time - hopefully you’ll visit the thread so you can offer your grave concerns toward those institutions. I believe there’s been a couple of threads on it before on this forum and can’t remember seeing you posting on them. The socalled balance reminds me of the daily kos, DU, salon, etc., and the state-run media.
Correction: The Catholic Church has been around for 2,000 years and if you want to talk about what Protestants meted out toward Catholics we can get into that bigtime as I’ve experienced it first hand in my own country and something I’m very familiar with...