Beinart, who
is also an associate professor at City University of New York, presented a
possible answer: “Perhaps,”
he said, “it’s because, all too often, America wants reconciliation without
truth itself.”
I think
Beinart may be on to something.
“Truth
itself” can be terribly hard. It’s way easier to skip straight to the
reconciliation part.
Certainly, we
have seen this pattern in Baptistland, where religious leaders are fast to
preach on forgiveness but disinterested in the truth about clergy sex abuse and
cover-ups.
Indeed, in
America’s largest Protestant faith group – the Southern Baptist Convention – religious
leaders are so disinterested in – or afraid of – the truth about the extent of
clergy sex abuse and cover-ups that there doesn’t even exist the possibility of
a denominational process for assessing clergy abuse reports. Nor does there
exist any denominational process for keeping records on how many abuse reports
a minister may have, for informing congregations about multi-accused ministers,
or for disciplining those clergy who cover-up for the unspeakable crimes of
their colleagues.
One of the
best ways to protect children in the future is to hear the voices of those who
are attempting to tell about abuse in the past. Those voices almost always carry
ugly, hard truths – truths about not only the preacher-predators but also about
the many others who turned a blind eye or who were complicit in covering up for
clergy child molestations.
Baptists
need their own sort of Truth and Reconciliation Commission to bring the truth
of these voices into an arena where they can be heard.
Those who
have been victimized by clergy sex abuse are in desperate need of a safe place
where they can tell their stories and be heard with respect and compassion.
Those who have known about abusive clergy or who had reason to suspect, those
who have been complicit in cover-ups, those who have engaged in intimidation
tactics for the silencing of victims, and those who have followed the direction
of senior pastors to keep such things within the church family – all of these
people – are in need of a safe place where they may now tell what they know,
express their remorse, and do what is still possible for making kids safer in
the future.
Those
parents who sit in pews and wonder about how many of their leaders may have
been complicit in covering up for clergy child molestations – those parents
also are in need. They need a credible outside resource to illuminate the truth
for them – or at least as much of the truth as can possibly be ascertained.
So long as
Baptists persist in trying to deal with clergy sex abuse “without truth,” kids
in Baptist churches will not be made safer.
They will
not be made safer by Baptists’ all-talk-no-action resolutions, and they will
not be made safer by hollow pronouncements on the preciousness of children.
Rather, if
kids in Baptist churches are to be made safer against clergy sex abuse, then
Baptists everywhere must engage a sacred commitment to shared truth.
A faith so
feeble that it fears the truth is no faith at all.
___________________________
Some
of my remarks in this posting were previously quoted by journalist Peter Smith
of the Louisville Courier-Journal in
an article called “Evangelicals urged to
confront sexual abuse.”
Thanks to Frederick Clarkson for quoting extensively from this posting in his 12/10/2013 article titled "Child Sex Abuse Crisis of the Religious Right Grows."
Thanks to Frederick Clarkson for quoting extensively from this posting in his 12/10/2013 article titled "Child Sex Abuse Crisis of the Religious Right Grows."
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