Problem of Rampant Sexual Abuse Among Protestant Clergy

Reformation.com ^

[big'ol_freeper]

Special Bulletin

Welcome! Catholic sex scandals dominate the news. Are we next?

A sample of our own scandals is below:

ALL denominations - 313 instances

Baptist Ministers - 59 instances

"Bible" Church Ministers (fundamentalist/evangelical) - 150 instances

Episcopalean Ministers - 31 instances

Lutheran Ministers - 23 instances

Methodist Ministers - 25 instances

Presbyterian Ministers - 10 instances

various Church Ministers - 13 instances

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[DennisR]

One example: In either 1 Timothy or 2 Timothy it says that the doctrine to forbid marriage is a doctrine of demons. The Catholic Church forbids marriage of priests, which is totally contrary to what the New Testament teaches. So in this case, they adhere to a doctrine of demons rather than Scripture as the sole authority. Instead, they obey their own tradition. I am not bad-mouthing Catholics; I am just speaking the truth.

[DennisR]

Yes, but the writings in both the Old and New Testaments were around a long time before the Catholic Church came into existence, right?

[RaceBannon]

You can't expect a religion that follows without question, agrees without resistence, and accepts new gospels as though the old guy in the white robe had GODs phone number...are suddenly "overnite" wake up and bring the house down and clean it up...give them a little time to catch their breath. What has happened to the Catholic is going to happen to ALL Christian faiths soon enough

That is one of my thoghts almost, it is the unfeigned obedience without question attitude!! TYHAT IS WRONG!! These men are molesting their children, and they have to have a metting about this?? The only meeting that should be held is in a court!

[RaceBannon]

You are so blind to this, I am amazed, your church has an atomic bomb going off in it, and you point out brush fires in other buildings as being equal!!!

[Starwind]

What denotes a "bible" church

Typically they are independent (self-planted, self-lead, and stand alone) non-denominational community churches with names like 'Church on the Way', '{your town} Community Church', 'River of Life Church', 'Living Word Church', etc...they are Christian churches that adhere primarily to scripture and not intsitutions or denominational doctrine. Their personality comes more from the senior pastor's style than from an affiliation with a denomination.

Small pentacostal, charismatic, evangelical, fundamental, denominations like "The Vineyard", Four Square, Bretheren, can also be considered 'bible' churches.

In all cases, they're independent with an emphasis, ostensibly, on teaching the entire bible as written, and not doctrine or denomination.

[Starwind]

Note that this was a survey, there were absolutely no actual "70 reported cases per week" documented, this was an extrapolation of a survey conducted of about 1000 churches nationwide

Well actually, they're extrapolating from their sample. From the article you linked:

Of the 350,000 churches in the US, 19,500 – 5 percent – are Roman Catholic. Catholic churches represent a slightly smaller minority of churches in the CMR surveys which aren't scientifically random, but "representative" demographic samples of churches, Dr. Cobble explains.

Since 1993, on average about 1 percent of the surveyed churches reported abuse allegations annually. That means on average, about 3,500 allegations annually, or nearly 70 per among the predominantly Protestant group, Cobble says.

These are findings from national surveys by Christian Ministry Resources (CMR), a tax and legal-advice publisher serving more than 75,000 congregations and 1,000 denominational agencies nationwide.

So out of an available population of 75,000 churches, they surveyed 1,000 of which 1% (10) reported actual abuse, and they extrapolated that 10/1000 to the total population of 350,000 to get 3,500/yr estimated (which are 95% Protestant) so 3500 * .95 / 52 wk/yr = 63.9/week predominantly Protestant cases [Hmmm not 70....somebody's sloppy math]

Such varied survey results prove only one thing - that the survey is highly inaccurate. Theres just no way that a scientifically sound survey on church sexual misconduct would have results that vary from 0.1 percent to 1 percent in a single year!</>

They said their survey was unscientific, they aren't trying to fool anyone, they're just reporting what they find. We ought not to assume what "church sexual misconduct" is until we've measured and understood it. The data could be right.

Further, they stated their average was 1% annually since '93 so a swing to 3% in '94 is only a 3 fold increase for a 'peak' year and six years later in 2000 it was .1% and back to 1% for 2001. So we don't know why it max'ed in '94 and min'ed in 2000 and was otherwise average. It could be real phenomena we don't understand without looking, but considering their sample size, I'd say it's probably reported accurately, and for whatever reason there were 9 fewer abusers in 2000 than in the following year. Keep in mind we don't know if the same abusers keep re-abusing in the Protestant samples.

We all seem to think Protestants move the abusers out, so the data may reflect more what 1-time abusers do, rather than chronic long-term abusers. The abuse may in fact vary that much, rather than be consistent as has been assumed.

[Conservative til I die]

Ah, see, I'm not concerned in this instance on how they respond to sexual abuse scandals. My point here solely is that the bigoted non-Catholics on FR have assured me that this never, and I mean, eeeeEEEEEVER has happened in the Protestant world.

I think that is an absurd statement and needs to be exposed for the idiocy that it is.

[Conservative til I die]

What denotes a "bible" church Typically they are independent (self-planted, self-lead, and stand alone) non-denominational community churches with names like 'Church on the Way', '{your town} Community Church', 'River of Life Church', 'Living Word Church', etc...they are Christian churches that adhere primarily to scripture and not intsitutions or denominational doctrine. Their personality comes more from the senior pastor's style than from an affiliation with a denomination.

They also usually are found in basements or abandoned storefronts in the ghettos. And Harry Potter and the Tooth Fairy are Public Enemy #1

[Conservative til I die]

I am not bad-mouthing Catholics; I am just speaking the truth.

LOL, right. So Catholics are demons now? And my Catholic brethren wonder why I get aggressive in return. Silly me.

[Conservative til I die]

So, what is the point? Everybody does it so it is alright?

Boy, my post went right over your head, didn't it. That, and you obviously didn't read my post. If I wanted to say that Protestants doing it makes it allright, I would have said so, got it? My post said what it said, and nothing more, which was my mock shock over the fact that Protestants sexually abuse too, because hateful, spiteful bigots like a buffyT said that this just don't happen in the Protestant world.

I don't believe anyone has accused the Catholic's of being the only denomination with sin among the Clergy.

Actually, several posters have. Like I said, that was the reason for my post.

[Starwind]

They also usually are found in basements or abandoned storefronts in the ghettos

That is sometimes true. God is no respecter of buildings or men.

And many 'bible' churches in metropolitan areas average 3,000-5,000 members with grade schools and campus packed every night with bible studies, intercessory prayer meetings, missionary support, life groups, etc.

Most are a few hundred, recently planted, in rented gymnasiums, converted movie theaters, old grocery stores and bowling alleys, but they're fiscally healthy.

[Conservative til I die]

Ah-a, so exposing the bigots' lie for what it is, is hateful and bigoted in itself? Interesting, the attitude of some Catholics on this board. So now we're not even allowed to refute? Maybe I'll just say "Thank you sir may I please have another" in all my posts from now on.

[Paulus Invictus]

Amen and amen!

[DennisR]

Sir or Madam, you are responding emotionally to what I said. Did I say that Catholics were demons (reread my post)? Yes or no. What EXACTLY did I say?

[MHT]

As a percentage, 313 cases is pretty low when compared to the behavior of Shandley alone.

Once again, the point is missed. The Roman Catholic church considered their "clerical" law superior to US law and they did not report known incidents and offenders to authorities. They hushed it up, shuffled priests to new towns to do their same dirty deeds again, and used donated funds to buy silence from victims. They bypassed the law, enabling and abetting future criminal behavior from known predators.

Beyond their arrogance and belated (sincere?) remorse, they have made no pledge to correct the problem. They will continue to tolerate future incidents (two times, you're out--but one time?) They also refuse to deal with the basis and nature of the real problem--homosexuality among priests. It is thought that 40% of the priesthood is homosexual. These men will continue to do what they have done because it is the nature of the beast. The pedophiles among this group are limited. Most of these cases of abuse had victims who were male (pedophiles prefer females by a slight margin) and these victims were mostly entering puberty, not leaving it. Many of these relationships were long-term.

The ranks of the American Catholic church are filled with some sick dudes--either covering up, enabling criminals, or doing the dirty deed themselves.

Who really wants to take a communion host from a guy when you don't know where his hands have been last? Who really needs to hear their "advice" on matters of divorce and birth control (muchless the pathway to Heaven) when they have condoned anything as long as it was the behavior of one of their own?

[Conservative til I die]

And many 'bible' churches in metropolitan areas average 3,000-5,000 members with grade schools and campus packed every night with bible studies, intercessory prayer meetings, missionary support, life groups, etc

Very sad that so many are being led away from the Truth. The pastors would be better off with a millstone around their necks and hurled into the ocean.

[Starwind]

Very sad that so many are being led away from the Truth

Sincerely, in what false direction are they being led and how do you discern that from the size of their body and type of facilities?

[johniegrad]

Ah-a, so exposing the bigots' lie for what it is, is hateful and bigoted in itself? Interesting, the attitude of some Catholics on this board. So now we're not even allowed to refute? Maybe I'll just say "Thank you sir may I please have another" in all my posts from now on.

Would you please wipe the drool from your chin and explain what in the heck you are talking about?

[Conservative til I die]

They are being led away from the Truth, not because of the size of a congregation or where they worship, but quite simply because their doctrine is not the Truth. It's not Christ's teachings. It's not the teachings of the Church He entrusted with the Truth.

I'm sorry, but that is just the way it is. The fullness of Truth resides in the one holy Catholic and apostolic Church that Christ established sometime around the year 31 or 32 AD.

The further you move away from Catholic teaching, the further away from the full Truth you move. So Lutherans and Anglicans are pretty close to having the full Truth, while most Evangelicals, with their simplistic "faith and bible only" doctrines, are further away from the Truth, while cults like the Jehovah's Witnesses and Christian Science have gone off the deep end, into the world of heresy and pure lies.

Of course, that is not to say that Protestants don't have some of the Truth. Of course they do. They believe in the Trinity, that Christ was GOd, the importance of faith in Him, they read at least 80% of the real Bible (they leave out 7 Old Testament books). Even Jews, Muslims, and Hindus and Buddhists have some of the Truth. But it's what they are missing that makes all the difference.

Protestants are always coming onto Catholic threads, condescending to Catholics about how they follow Satan's doctrines, and how they worry about Catholics' souls. I just thought I'd let you know, without the insults and mocking, exactly how us Catholics feel about you Protestants. We are not moral relativists or multiculturalists. All sects are not equal or as valid. The Catholic Church is where the Truth lies, and the only place where the Truth lies.

[Conservative til I die]

OK, I'll try to explain it. I posted originally that these revelations about Protestant sex scandals exposes the bigoted BuffyT's argument that sex scandals never happen in the Protestant world. Only in the evil Catholic Church. You said that I acted the same way as BuffyT by even daring to say that, meaning that I am a bigot myself. I expressed astonishment at you and other Catholics basically saying that we are rude bigots if we laugh at the lies and bigotry of anti-Catholics. So you got rude right back. Any questions?