The victims' advocates who dogged the Roman Catholic Church over sex abuse by its clergy have now turned their attention to the Southern Baptists, accusing America's largest Protestant denomination of also failing to root out molesters.
The Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has started a campaign to call attention to alleged sex abuse committed by Southern Baptist ministers and concealed by churches.
Church leaders concede there have been some incidents of abuse in Southern Baptist congregations, but say their hands are tied when it comes to investigating complaints across the denomination.
Unlike the Catholic Church, with its rigid hierarchy, Baptist churches are independent. They make their own decisions about hiring ministers and conducting investigations, Baptist leaders say.
Several child sex abuse cases in Southern Baptist churches have surfaced recently.
Bellevue Baptist, a megachurch near Memphis, fired a longtime minister, the Rev. Paul Williams, last month after he acknowledged sexually abusing his son 17 years ago.
The church's internal investigation found that church leaders, including current pastor, the Rev. Steve Gaines, knew about the abuse last year, but did not act immediately.
AP
4 comments:
I found an article that gave data regarding sexual abuse by ministers and it was staggering. It not only happens with clergy- how many incidents go unmentioned which happen in summer camps, boys scouts, girls scouts, etc.
I hope that they have a lot of money once these accusations start coming in, look what happened in the Catholic Church $
The bigger issue is the Church, or anything resemebling it, is under attack from the inside out. Don't believe everyone who claims they are a pastor. There are people that would seek to abuse their power and leadership position. It happens everyday in the world abd you better believe it happens in the church.
The bigger issue is the Church, or anything resemebling it, is under attack from the inside out. Don't believe everyone who claims they are a pastor. There are people that would seek to abuse their power and leadership position. It happens everyday in the world abd you better believe it happens in the church.
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