"...Abuse reports do not always mean the accused was guilty, and they do not necessarily result in financial awards or settlements, the companies said. The reports include accusations against clergy, church staff and volunteers."
So we have 260 accusations of sexual abuse among "clergy, church staff and volunteers." That means janitors, local hires, office workers, etc.
The article further states...
"Church Mutual, GuideOne and Brotherhood Mutual each provided statistics on sex abuse claims to The Associated Press, although they did not produce supporting documentation or a way to determine whether the reports were credible."
So within the hundreds of thousands of Protestant churches in the United States we have 260 reports of suspected, unsubstantiated abuse per year among "clergy, church staff and volunteers."
Let us now compare one Roman Catholic diocese, the Los Angeles Diocese, who paid out on one day in 2007 over $660 million dollars to settle real, actual, proven sexual abuse cases against Roman Catholic priests.
One day. One city. $660 million.
If Roman Catholics think this is "losing," then I suppose that's the same logic that Ignatius Loyola used when he said that if the papacy says "black is white," then, by gosh, black is white. lol.
Then you quote:
"...Abuse reports do not always mean the accused was guilty, and they do not necessarily result in financial awards or settlements, the companies said. The reports include accusations against clergy, church staff and volunteers."
Same thing could be said about the Catholic Church. Settlements are not usually an admission of fault, but are a mitigation of risk. Just look at the settlements which large companies enter into every single day. I suspect that if the typical small protestant church had large assets or giant insurance policies they'd be getting hammered for large settlements for rampant sexual abuse of minors, as is discussed in this article.
And don't forget, the article also mentions that the 260 figure is just the "tip of the iceberg" for sexual abuse of minors within the thousands of protestant denominations. And I quote:
Joe Trull, editor of Christian Ethics Today and retired ethics professor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, helped the Texas convention create its registry and says there are now about 11 cases involving clergy abuse with minors.
But he believes these are just the "tip of the iceberg'' because churches don't have to report abuse cases to the registry and aren't likely to.
"The problem we're having is that churches just weren't sending the names," Trull said. "In the normal scenario, they just try to keep it secret. We're going to have to be more proactive and let them know if they don't come forward, they're helping to perpetuate this problem."
Wow. Secrecy? Failure to report sexual abuse of minors? It would seem pretty hypocritical to bash Catholics for such things when protestant clergy do the same which you accuse their Catholic counterparts.
How many cases? Over how many years? How many were allegations recently made, that went back more than 20 years?
Let's look at what the article says about a jury verdict and settlements for the sexual abuse perpetrated by a protestant minister:
One of the largest settlements to date in Protestant churches involved the case of former Lutheran minister Gerald Patrick Thomas Jr. in Texas, where a jury several years ago awarded the minister's victims nearly $37 million (euro28 million). Separate earlier settlements involving Thomas cost an additional $32 million.
$69 Million. One protestant preacher. Ouch.