Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: NYer

380 over 20 years? I am surprised it is not more. Certainly not all of these cases involve pastors buggering little boys.

In contrast there were 3,400 sexual assault cases referred to the Vatican over a 10 year period (2004-2014).

Where there are people there is sin. All churches have sexual misconduct problems.


12 posted on 02/10/2019 7:54:07 PM PST by plain talk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: plain talk

Running the numbers, the Baptists and the Roman Catholic churches are within a fraction of a percentage point in abusive leaders.


16 posted on 02/10/2019 8:02:54 PM PST by Don W (When blacks riot, neighbourhoods and cities burn. When whites riot, nations and continents burn.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies ]

To: plain talk

And there are more Catholics that SB. To compare, we have to use percentages to be fair.


25 posted on 02/10/2019 8:30:43 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies ]

To: plain talk
Total number of Catholic clergy worldwide = 458,453

As of Dec, 31, 2013, the latest year for which I could find statistics. Source, CNS

Total number of Baptist clergy worldwide = 168,000.
As of Dec. 31, 2017, the latest year for which I could find statistics, Source, Baptist World Alliance

The ratio of Baptist clergy Catholic clergy is less than 1/2.

This is in no way exact, for many reasons; but it's roughly accurate, a good ballpark estimate -- not "orders of magnitude" wrong --- considering the Catholic Church has (roughly) 1.2 billion members, and is the largest church worldwide, whereas the Baptist Churches, the fifth-largest church grouping, have roughly 47 million members, world total.

Ballpark estimate, as I say.

My point here, is that abuse numbers are not directly comparable. The Catholic Church is much bigger, and has correspondingly bigger abuse numbers. It is not a given that there are more abusers in the Catholic Church as a percentage.

The Catholic Church has a hierarchical structure, which means at worst, when individual clergy offend, the whole structure can be implicated in supervisory malpractice and collusion.

OTOH, the Baptist churches have no defined oversight or canonical reporting requirements from the git-go, so when individual clergy offend, most have no boss or any higher-ups to whom they're officially answerable.

Could most Baptist churches tell you if there were any "credible allegations" against their assistant pastor in 1949? Probably not. They don't even attempt to keep 100 yers' worth of phone logs, correspondence, medical records, psych evaluations, a complete employment record from seminary to cemetery, or anything of the sort.

The bottom line is: the numbers, while not directly comparable, are not orders-of-magnitude different. ANY abuse is hideous. Sin-checking? Check yourself first.

Might want to check http://www.stopbaptistpredators.org/index.htm

71 posted on 02/11/2019 12:48:58 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o ("The Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth." - 1 Timothy 3:15)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson