As the Watchdog blogger succinctly explained it, the church didn’t
call the cops on the child molester – a minister who has since been convicted –
but did call the cops on the member who asked questions about it.
That’s Baptistland for you.
 |
| Jack Graham |
The church is Prestonwood Baptist
Church in Plano, Texas. With about 32,000
members, it’s one of the largest churches in the Southern Baptist
Convention. Its senior pastor, Jack Graham, is a former two-term Southern
Baptist Convention president, and he heads a ministerial staff of about 40.
You’d think there would be somebody
in the mega-sized-leadership of this mega-sized-church who would do the right
thing, wouldn’t you?
You’d be wrong.
So far, they have not only failed
to do the right thing – over and over again – but they have affirmatively done
the wrong things – over and over again. For two decades, Graham and other Prestonwood
church leaders kept the allegations against their former minister under wraps, and in doing so, they allowed many more kids to
be placed at risk of sexual predation. And now, they try to bully a member who simply seeks to ask some questions.
The story has been repeatedly
reported in the media. Just take a look at that long list of articles at the
bottom of today’s story in the Associated Baptist Press (which,
incidentally, is a news service that’s independent of the Southern Baptist
Convention). It’s also been reported on WFAA TV and CBS News, in the Clarion-Ledger newspaper, and in numerous postings by numerous bloggers, including myself. It’s a story that shows an abdication of
institutional responsibility and an abandonment of moral responsibility.
So why don’t the people in
the pews see this? Why don’t they speak up? Why don’t they demand
accountability?
That’s always the mystery,
isn’t it? Southern Baptists say they care about children, but in a church with
32,000 members, only one man speaks up.
 |
| Chris Tynes |
That man is Chris Tynes.
Remember the name. I think you’ll wind up hearing more from him. He’s polite,
but very persistent. He's not one
of the silent many. You can follow the continuing developments in this story
on the Facebook page that Tynes has started called People Against Prestonwood’s Silence on Allegations of Sexual Abuse.
Ever the optimist, I'm hoping that many more will eventually join Tynes in his efforts.
Meanwhile, I’m still
remembering the over-the-top editorial that the Dallas Morning News wrote about
Jack Graham back in 2008, when another one of Prestonwood’s ministers was
arrested on child solicitation charges. The News heaped undue praise onto
Graham for the simple fact that he addressed the congregation after the
minister’s arrest. But of course, by the time Graham spoke, the story of the
arrest was already making headlines, and so Graham didn’t have the possibility
of keeping things quiet in that case. Now, since the news about this
two-decades-long scandal has finally come to light, we see what happens when the
possibility for keeping things quiet does exist.
“In the end,” wrote the
Dallas Morning News editorial, “the real scandal in cases like this comes not
from the sins and crimes of sexual offenders. No church will ever be free of
that. The truly damaging scandals arise when church leaders mishandle these
crises by failing to treat them with the gravity they deserve. Many in church
authority have failed their calling and their congregations under similar
conditions through defensiveness, dissimulation and deferring hard decisions.
Not Jack Graham.”
Yes . . . Jack Graham.
___________________________
Thanks to Patheos.com for linking and quoting this posting under Fred Clark's "Smart people saying smart things" column, March 11, 2013.
Thanks also to Deep Thoughts blogger, Mojoey, for spreading the word about this "unholy scandal" in "Baptist hell."
___________________________
Thanks to Patheos.com for linking and quoting this posting under Fred Clark's "Smart people saying smart things" column, March 11, 2013.
Thanks also to Deep Thoughts blogger, Mojoey, for spreading the word about this "unholy scandal" in "Baptist hell."
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