Posted on 08/23/2018 12:56:19 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
“Sexual abuse is the most underreported thing — both in and outside the church — that exists,” says Boz Tchividjian, a grandson of Billy Graham and a former Florida assistant state attorney.
As a prosecutor, Tchividjian saw dozens of sexual abuse victims harmed by a church’s response to them. (In one case, a pastor did not report a sexual offender in his church because the man had repented. The offender was arrested only after he had abused five more children.) In 2004, Tchividjian founded the nonprofit organization Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), which trains Christian institutions in how to prevent sexual abuse and performs independent investigations when churches face an abuse crisis. Tchividjian says sexual abuse in evangelicalism rivals the Catholic Church scandal of the early 2000s.
As the #MeToo movement has swept into communities of faith, several high-profile leaders have fallen: Paige Patterson, the president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary was forced into early retirement... Illinois megachurch pastor Bill Hybels similarly retired early after several women said he’d dispensed unwanted kisses and invitations to hotel rooms.
Sovereign Grace Churches (SGC), an influential chain of congregations, allegedly failed to report sexual abuse claims during the ’80s and ’90s to the authorities and caused secondary trauma to victims through pastoral counseling. In one instance, an SGC pastor allegedly told a wife whose husband sexually abused their daughter that her husband “was not attracted to his 11-year-old daughter but rather to the ‘woman’ she ‘was becoming.’
Without a centralized theological body, evangelical policies and cultures vary radically. While some church leaders have worked to prevent abuse and harassment, many have not. The causes are manifold: authoritarian leadership, twisted theology, institutional protection, obliviousness about the problem and, perhaps most shocking, a diminishment of the trauma sexual abuse creates.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Evangelicals, we can no longer say sexual misconduct is just a Roman Catholic problem. ~ Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Convention
Protestants can be very arrogant when pointing to Catholics. ~ Boz Tchividjian, grandson of Billy Graham, Liberty University professor, and executive director of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE)
Again with the old articles?
You have a problem.
You’ve got courage, I’ll give you that, lol!
Hey, Boz Tchividjian, while you are dropping the names of the fallen, how about Tullian Tchividjian. Ever hear of him?
Regardless of the denomination, Christian churches and leadership that abuse power and fail to protect their members from sexual predators, and then go on to protect the predators from the consequences of their crimes are guilty of taking the Lord’s Name in vain. They call themselves Christian while working for the other side. It is disgusting. No denomination can pat itself on the back and act as if their side is without people who abuse their power.
Rush had a seminar caller on today. CondoleezzaProtege is the same thing.
You’ll have to change your handle CondoleezzaProtege. But not to worry. You probably don’t have to straighten up.
The one incident with Sovereign Grace Churches happened two decades ago and caused the break up of that church. Even those churches who broke away say the rehashing of an issue that was settled 15 years ago is neither helpful or warranted to any of the people remotely involved.
Does sexual abuse occur in Christian Churches?
Sure it does. Often the pastor getting caught with a hot looking chick. Or even the your minister with an under aged girl.
In the Catholic Church? It’s a priest with a 10 year old boy.
You tell me which is worse. You tell me which happens more often.
The poster is very fair-minded in what she (or he) posts. Catholics are always told to man up in these discussions - perhaps it is good advice for everyone.
your = youth
And some of the abuse in the Catholic church happened 4 or more decades ago. The timing of the sin doesn't matter. What matters is did it happen? What is being done about it? And if SGC "split up" does that mean that part of the church disavowed CSC (criminal sexual conduct) and another part approved of it?
Think Joe Paterno covering up Sandusky’s child sex abuse.
As a Catholic let me plead with Evangelicals.
Please DO NOT ignore this problem in your church!
It can come back and destroy you.
Study some of the things Billy Graham did to prevent such things from happening. He was a very wise man.
In my limited experience, sexual sins in evangelical circles are either consensual between adults and dealt with by the families and the church, or are rapidly prosecuted, not swept under the rug for decades.
Not always of course, but far more so than the systematic hiding of perpetrators by Catholic hierarchy.
As an LCMS Lutheran, you are correct.
Take steps now. We drew a rather cut and dried policy for this at my congregation. Was painful (no one wanted talk about the possibility), but it is done.
BTTT!
Were not some of the accusations against Catholics OLD stories, too?
Need look no further than the Willow Creek Church of lately. Please Google it and we know that we all need to take care of one another.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.