[NYer]

Many accusers said their experiences of sexual assault at the hands of church officials they trusted changed their lives forever. Debbie Vasquez said she was 14 years old when her pastor at a rural Southern Baptist church in Texas first molested her. She said the married pastor continued to assault her for years, including impregnating her when she was 18.

So much for the theory that this problem would not exist with married clergy.

[KDF48]

I have been a staff member of Southern Baptist Churches for 18 years. I know there are false Christians sometimes in leadership. I have not seen any cover-up or deaf ears. I’m not saying it has never happened. There are several thousand leaders. I have seen church wounds and church discipline. We do not take lightly the things that take us to hell.

[onona]

So much for the theory that this problem would not exist with married clergy.

Your words...…..Volumes. But who will hear ?

[Will88]

So much for the theory that this problem would not exist with married clergy.

I don't think that's even a theory. It's been known for ages that sex abuse takes place among teachers and students in schools of every description, and in the workplace and anywhere else where people associate on a frequent basis.

[roving]

I haven’t gone to church in years and this is one of the reasons. I prefer to study at home on my own.

[YogicCowboy]

I left ministry in part because of such hypocracies (which I wearied of fighting) - and neither I nor most others are saying that sexual/erotic sins do not exist at all among married clergy.

I say that the temptations are EXACERBATED and COMPLICATED by the compulsory, extra-Biblical vow of celibacy, coupled with the added extensive homoerotic dimension.

I refuse to equate a male pastor seducing a post-pubescent girl with a male priest seducing a pre-pubescent boy. Both are sins, but the added perversion of the victim being a same-sex young child matters!

The problem in the Catholic church is worse.

Your argument is a straw man.

[marajade]

A lot less numbers than the CC. I think Houston alone had just recently released a report that 10 times of that amount had been involved in sexual misconduct.

[9YearLurker]

The scale is small compared to that of the Catholic church. And how many Catholic priests were actually tried and convicted instead of sheltered and if need be shifted out of US jurisdiction?

[odawg]

“So much for the theory that this problem would not exist with married clergy.”

The article includes ministers AND “volunteers” and did not give the breakdown included in the 380. Obviously the volunteer part would include the largest segment.

Jesus warned of wolves in sheep’s clothing.

[af_vet_1981]

So much for the theory that this problem would not exist with married clergy.

The problem is grave sin, not marriage or lack thereof, and Calvinism does not help. Whether committed by Catholic, Protestant, or Other, it is deadly.

• But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
• Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
• For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
• Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
• Be not ye therefore partakers with them.

Ephesians, Catholic chapter five, Protestant verses three to seven,
as authorized, but not authored, by King James

[Cronos]

Married clergy has nothing to do with it. It’s a human failing. I note that only 2% or less of clergy fail in this way - lower than teachers, scout masters etc. it should ideally be 0, but it’s not

[richardtavor]

380 Laity out of the thousands of Southern Baptists over decades? Hmmm. I wonder how that would compare percentage wise against the perverts in the press who wrote this hit job? Or the priests in the Catholic Church? Or members of Congress? I would say that if you try to say “would not exist with married clergy”, I would say that this hit job points out that no group is without guilt, but the Southern Baptists are probably less like than certainly the Media or Congress, or other religious groups.

[FourtySeven]

Also, so much for the claim that only the Catholic Church didn’t report such crimes and moved pastors from parish to parish instead.

I must admit I’m surprised by this. I honestly was starting to think that maybe this (covering up such crimes and moving the offenders around) was only a problem in the Church. It was paralyzing actually a true trump card for the anti-Catholic critics.

Maybe now though we can all acknowledge this isn’t a problem for just one denomination but a problem of fallen humanity. Without having read the rest of the thread that’s my hope at least.

[FourtySeven]

I’m becoming increasingly convinced that the root of this issue lies in the increased sexualzation of our culture in every aspect, in ads in print and on television, in movies, at work, and of course driving it all is pornography.

It’s all rotten to the core, stemming from the sexual revolution of the 60’s and 70’s, that freed stigmas associated not only with use of porn but also sex before marriage, and of course homosexuality itself.

When the sexual revolution divorced the purpose of sexual union from its purpose (procreation), and made it just another commodity to sell, either directly through pornography, or indirectly through the sale of birth control, that’s when all these perversions started cropping up in greater and greater numbers. In every walk of life. It’s not just a coincidence.