tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post6301014857185742092..comments2024-03-17T16:21:14.907-05:00Comments on Stop Baptist Predators: Low expectationsChrista Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04560409585720043015noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-33745795510894740972008-06-06T23:29:00.000-05:002008-06-06T23:29:00.000-05:00"--and believe it or not, there are people who hav..."--and believe it or not, there are people who have made false accusations and ruined people's lives and ministries."<BR/><BR/>Please do your homework before making such a statement. The incidence of false reporting in the secular world is low and in Christian circles would be even lower! But, we have many victims who do NOT speak out because of people like you. They know they will be treated like you are treating Christa and they have been abused enough. <BR/><BR/>"Who do you think would be the ones to determine if something was a credible accusation?"<BR/><BR/>The civil authorities who tend to take it more seriously than many so called Born Again Christians who do not seem to think sexual perversion is that big of a dealLinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04723395060585207854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-42642176289430846192008-06-05T22:54:00.000-05:002008-06-05T22:54:00.000-05:00Baptistlife.com/SBC has a topic entitled Sexual A...Baptistlife.com/SBC has a topic entitled Sexual Abuse & the SBC Annual Meeting. Kaylor has an entry written Thursday, June 5 at 9:25pm that is of interest. They are talking about including sexual harassment in the proposal. Kaylor's mother was harassed and fired for complaining. She sued, won and four years later the minister who harassed her was fired from the Missouri State Board. Now he has been placed on the SBC's International Mission Board!<BR/><BR/>We definitely need a database and if an SBC organization does not use it, there should be consequences. I know every person might not be listed but at leaast it would be a start. And we need a review board. Victims need to be able to take their complaints to a place that is unbiased, where they feel safe reporting to people who understand, not to people who support the one being complained about and sometimes do the same things themselves.<BR/><BR/>Clergy sexual abuse is like a cancer that has invaded the church, is spreading and destroying people's lives and churches. We must stop turning our backs on it. That is what we are doing when we do nothing about it.<BR/><BR/>Thank you to this website for your strong stance against clergy abuse. There are actions behind your words.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-566343049629297722008-06-05T14:42:00.000-05:002008-06-05T14:42:00.000-05:00Christa,Seriously, would you consider being the he...Christa,<BR/><BR/>Seriously, would you consider being the head of such a board?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-49226052596910056612008-06-05T14:09:00.000-05:002008-06-05T14:09:00.000-05:00Other faith groups have already dealt with this. S...Other faith groups have already dealt with this. Southern Baptists don't have to completely re-invent the wheel.<BR/><BR/>In other faith groups, lay-people and professionals in related fields (e.g., psychologists, sex crimes detectives, etc.) serve on review boards for assessing whether clergy are credibly accused.Christa Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04560409585720043015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-34502335934583623962008-06-05T13:05:00.000-05:002008-06-05T13:05:00.000-05:00Maybe we could make Christa the head of the databa...Maybe we could make Christa the head of the database. In charge of determining what is valid and how much information to share. <BR/><BR/>I think that would be the best solution to the problem at hand.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-45472470665510168842008-06-04T15:17:00.000-05:002008-06-04T15:17:00.000-05:00"This ought to be a no-brainer."Amen, Junkster!In ..."This ought to be a no-brainer."<BR/><BR/>Amen, Junkster!<BR/>In an <A HREF="http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=8916" REL="nofollow">on-line readers' poll</A> last year, 96 percent of <I>Tennessean</I> readers said Southern Baptists should create such a database. I guess they all saw it as a no-brainer, too.<BR/><BR/>Thanks also, junkster, for reminding us that this isn't really a problem about the autonomy of local churches. It's about a radicalized version of "autonomy" that Southern Baptist leaders are using as "a smoke screen for apathy, indifference, and fear of loss of power and/or money."Christa Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04560409585720043015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-57828526893826824972008-06-03T23:04:00.000-05:002008-06-03T23:04:00.000-05:00Whether 40 instances in 15 years, or 40 in 1 year,...Whether 40 instances in 15 years, or 40 in 1 year, or 1 in 40 years ... any occurrence of sexual abuse by a minister is too many. Even the <I>possibility</I> of it is sufficient reason to ensure that a mechanism for reporting, review, and action is in place. This ought to be a no-brainer.<BR/><BR/>I, too, want to have hope, and although I know God is more than able to exceed our expectations, perhaps my faith is not what it should be in this matter. But the truth is, at this point, I would not be surprised if there is not even a serious acknowledgment of the problem at this year's Convention meeting, but rather just more excuses and appeals to "autonomy". I'm just so tired of that valid, biblical doctrine being abused as a smoke screen for apathy, indifference, and fear of loss of power and/or money.Junksterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14422651080120306816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-31771289955429889262008-06-03T09:57:00.000-05:002008-06-03T09:57:00.000-05:00I can't say that its any worse. They are both awf...I can't say that its any worse. They are both awful.<BR/><BR/>I do have one question. Who do you think would be the ones to determine if something was a credible accusation?<BR/><BR/>Not trying to pick a fight--just wondering.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-78431065970025882662008-06-02T21:18:00.000-05:002008-06-02T21:18:00.000-05:00How in the world have we "ignored or ridiculed" th...How in the world have we "ignored or ridiculed" the need for accusations to be credible? SNAP is the very organization that has repeatedly REQUESTED of SBC leaders that they establish an independent objective review board, staffed by professionals in the field, to assess the credibility of accusations. That was our request in our original letter to SBC leaders a couple years ago, and we've been hammering on it ever since. Obviously, it's a difficult issue, and that's exactly why churches need objective, professional assistance in assessing accusations. There are no easy answers, but the answer cannot be to do nothing. Each and every allegation of clergy sex abuse should be treated with grave seriousness.<BR/><BR/>And what about assessing the credibility of ministers who deny abuse and then move on from church to church to abuse more and more? Those denials deserve to have their credibility assessed by objective people also.<BR/><BR/>Other faith groups have managed to come up with standards and with review boards for assessing the credibility of clergy abuse accusations. Why not Southern Baptists?<BR/><BR/>Every study out there has determined that false accusations are extremely rare among those who report having been sexually abused as a child or adolescent. Here's <A HREF="http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/res/csa-acc.html" REL="nofollow">one reference</A>. The number I have seen most frequently over the course of the past couple years is about 4 percent.<BR/><BR/>No doubt it's a terrible thing for a minister to be falsely accused. About the only thing I can imagine that would be worse would be to be molested and raped by a trusted minister and then to be ignored and disbelieved when you try to report it to others you trusted, and then to watch while your rapist-pastor continues in his pulpit.Christa Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04560409585720043015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-78515630327655629552008-06-02T21:03:00.000-05:002008-06-02T21:03:00.000-05:00That statement is so over the top ignorant...I wil...That statement is so over the top ignorant...I will restrain myself...why bother.<BR/>Brainless AND heartless.gmommyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11713588262748876624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-85412479041869155072008-06-02T19:35:00.000-05:002008-06-02T19:35:00.000-05:00I never said there weren't people who hadn't had t...I never said there weren't people who hadn't had their lives ruined but two wrongs don't make a right.<BR/><BR/>Just because someone hollers wolf doesn't mean that there actually is a wolf.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-29496942323897504392008-06-02T19:20:00.000-05:002008-06-02T19:20:00.000-05:00"and believe it or not, there are people who have ..."and believe it or not, there are people who have made false accusations and ruined people's lives and ministries."<BR/><BR/><BR/>and believe it or not, there are many people who have had their lives ruined, or at the very least...forever altered, by ministers who should never have been in any kind of ministry...<BR/>but they continue today after molesting countless vulnerable and innocent people.gmommyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11713588262748876624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-91043850939314915642008-06-02T19:03:00.000-05:002008-06-02T19:03:00.000-05:00All you have to do is Google "background checks" a...All you have to do is Google "background checks" and you will find all the good information that you need. <BR/><BR/>Perhaps churches are wary because of blogs like this and because there are sexual predators in lots of churches and they don't really know what to do.<BR/><BR/>The other thing you all seem to ignore or ridicule, is that the key to a lot of this is that the accusations must be CREDIBLE--and believe it or not, there are people who have made false accusations and ruined people's lives and ministries.<BR/><BR/>This is a very difficult situation and there are no easy answers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-26839794119693628982008-06-02T14:55:00.000-05:002008-06-02T14:55:00.000-05:00Here is an exercise everyone can do. Call your ch...Here is an exercise everyone can do. Call your church and see who they use to do background checks. I called several SBC churches because I needed to do a background check and did not know who to use. I got so much run around, interrogation, and never a straighforward answer. You would have thought there was something to hide or reason to fear. Surely someone at churches check ministerial staff or preschool and children's leaders. I just wanted to run a background check for personal reasons and wanted to use the one that my church or other SBC churches used. But I am non the wiser about background checks after making the calls. I was never given an answer by any church. Are they really done?<BR/><BR/>Name withheld for good reasonsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com