Denial: It ain't just a river

Last week in Arkansas, the longtime music minister at a prominent Southern Baptist church pled guilty to 4 counts of sexual indecency with children. It was a plea bargain deal. He had been charged on 54 counts.

David Pierce was the music minister at First Baptist of Benton for 29 years, and he preyed on trust-filled boys during much of that time. The prosecutor said there were “many” who claimed to have been victimized by Pierce “during the past two decades,” but that the statute of limitations had run on many of the claims.

So, the four charges on which Pierce pled guilty are just the tip of the iceberg. Even the 54 counts on which he was criminally charged are just the tip of the iceberg. We know there were many more who spoke up but whose claims were too old to support criminal charges. And there are likely many, many more who have never spoken of it at all but remain lost in silent undue shame.

In the face of so many wounded people, what did minister Pierce have to say for himself in the courtroom?

Nothing.

Pierce “offered no apology or explanation.” Instead, after the hearing was over, Pierce had his attorney read a statement that Pierce had prepared in advance. In that prepared statement, Pierce said this:

“The past several weeks have been very difficult for many, including the congregation of First Baptist Church, the people of this community, and those affected by these circumstances, and especially my family.”

“Those affected by these circumstances”???

Doesn’t he mean “those whom I sexually abused as kids”?

Do you see how Pierce tries to distance himself and to use words that minimize what he did? Those boys were not affected by mere “circumstances.” They were wounded by the sexual abuse that Pierce himself inflicted on them. And Pierce inflicted that abuse on countless boys, over and over again, during the course of two decades.

Pierce’s prepared statement then goes on to say this:

“Our family has learned that forgiveness and reconciliation are the first steps to mending broken hearts. To that end, I express my most sincere apologies to every person affected by my actions. It was never my intention to hurt anyone.”

Amazing, isn’t it? Just minutes after he was taken away in handcuffs, Pierce has his lawyer read a statement in which Pierce presumes to sermonize people on “forgiveness.”

Then there’s the clincher -- the part that really gets me. Pierce says, “It was never my intention to hurt anyone.”

Yeah. I believe that. Pierce’s intent was focused solely on himself. On his own sexual gratification and on the perverse satisfaction he got from controlling others through religious manipulation. But the boys themselves -- those other human beings who were in front of him -- they were irrelevant to Pierce.

For Pierce, those boys weren’t soul-filled human beings at all. He didn’t respect their humanity. He simply used their bodies to serve his own ends.

When a drunk driver crosses the center line and kills a family, he probably didn’t intend such horrific harm. He intended to drink, and he intended to drive, but he didn’t intend to kill anyone. Nevertheless, the law still holds him criminally accountable because his actions entail a high risk of serious harm to others.

When a trusted minister sexually abuses kids, he may not consciously hold the intention of hurting anyone. But there is a 100 percent probability that his actions will cause serious harm to the kids. One hundred percent. It’s not just a high risk scenario like the drunk driver; it’s a one-hundred-percent scenario.

That’s why Pierce’s stated “intention” is irrelevant. Sexual abuse of kids causes them serious harm. Period. So no one should be impressed by Pierce’s statement that “it was never my intention to hurt anyone.” The “hurt” is a 100 percent probability. Pierce’s statement merely underscores his own ongoing denial, rationalization and minimization.

But of course, Pierce isn’t alone in his denial. The denial of Pierce the perpetrator is supported by the denial of other leaders in the faith community.

The church’s former pastor, Greg Kirksey, who was also a 2-term president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, wrote a letter to the judge, asking for “leniency” and essentially telling the judge that Pierce should “not be sentenced to prison.”

You have to wonder whether Kirksey would ever make the same request for a non-clergy child molester. “Please, Judge, no prison time for this admitted child molester.” How many times do you think Kirksey has done that? Did he do it this time because Pierce was a fellow Baptist minister?

Do you think Kirksey imagines that Pierce’s status as a minister makes his crimes less heinous? It doesn’t. It makes his crimes even worse. But perhaps Kirksey is too mired in denial to comprehend that.

As they say… “Denial – it ain’t just a river in Egypt.”

And here’s what Rick Grant, the church’s current pastor, told the press, “It is hard to see someone you’ve known for years as a friend, mentor and colleague end up in this kind of circumstance.”

There it is again -- that minimizing word -- “circumstance.” Is it any wonder that the perpetrator deflects it as a mere “circumstance” when that’s also what his senior pastor calls it?

It makes it sound as though this was something that just sort of happened, doesn’t it? As though it were a “circumstance” beyond anyone’s control, and Pierce just happened to “end up” in it.

But of course, that isn’t how it was. It wasn’t just a “circumstance.” It was intentional, deliberate and calculated conduct that minister David Pierce pursued for at least two decades, using a church ministry as lure for his prey.

Then, after calling two decades’ worth of a minister’s child sex abuse a mere “circumstance,” pastor Rick Grant quickly shifted gears to sing the praises of First Baptist -- this church in which countless boys were horribly harmed -- and to say that “God will bless us if we strive to follow his will for our lives.”

Pastor Grant still doesn’t get it, does he? That’s what all those boys were trying to do. They were striving to follow God’s will, as it was maliciously brainwashed into them by one of pastor Grant’s staff ministers.

At First Baptist Church of Benton, striving to follow God’s will is what got those boys sexually abused by a minister.
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For more insights on the nature of denial in sex offenders, see Sex offenders refuse plea bargains in The Morning News, 8/29/09.

For more info on this story of decades-long clergy sex abuse at First Baptist Church of Benton, see my prior postings: (1) Questions need answers in Benton; (2) Basically brainwashing; (3) What’s wrong with this picture? and (4) A good man who does nothing.

See also BaptistPlanet's take: “Sentenced after confessing more than a decade of sexual abuse.”