Once again the headlines tell us about another religious leader who has been accused of sexual molestation. Megachurch leader Pastor Eddie Long is the latest to join this club of pedophiles. He is now one of many on this long and sordid list of “moral” leaders who have used their positions of power to abuse the trust of the followers they claim to serve. I am sure when (and if) the Jesus portrayed in the Bible said to the little children “Come unto me” he did not mean “Cum unto me.”
While I am a skeptic as far as the existence of an actual historical Jesus, the pictures of Jesus I remember as a child did not show him exposing himself. Now, since no one who wrote the New Testament stories about him actually met or knew him, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that when he told people to “Turn the other cheek” he was not talking about some poor child he was raping. Granted, we don’t actually know who wrote the first 4 books on the New Testament which tell about Jesus. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were not their real names and these books were written 35 to 59 years AFTER Jesus was supposedly to have died. So really, all of the information about him is completely speculative at best.
Perhaps there was a side of him and his apostles we don’t know about but……I am willing to bet that IF there was a Jesus who existed and preached “Love thy neighbor as thyself” he was NOT referring to thy neighbor’s children.
Now, I can understand the reality, twisted as it is that no one is perfect and that even religious leaders struggle with right and wrong. People screw up and make mistakes, even mistakes as sick and depraved as molesting a child. These people should be immediately be taken out of these positions of trust and turned over to the law so that: 1.They can face the legal consequences. 2. They can possibly get much needed mental health treatment. But the most important reason to take action against them swiftly is: 3. So they be taken out of that position of trust and away from other children who need to be protected from a pedophile.
The Catholic Church has covered up hundreds and hundreds of molesters and their victims in an attempt to save the reputation of the church. For years and years they have shuffled priests who were molesters from parish to parish hoping to keep everything quiet. The priests would move to a different flock filled with hopeful and unexpected followers who never knew until it was too late that their new priest was a monster.
What’s worse is that one of the most heinous instances was the recent events involving a school for the deaf in Wisconsin and Father Lawrence Murphy who abused, sodomized, and raped vulnerable young boys for decades. For years the boys went to police, archbishops, and anyone they could tell to try and get someone to help them. They tried to use their sigh language to explain in graphic detail what was happening but………..their cries fell on deaf ear (no pun intended) Nothing was done and the cycle of abuse was perpetuated on more and more boys.
To make matters worse it was just learned in March 2010 that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who is now Pope Benedict XVI, HAD received letters about Father Murphy in 1996 from Archbishop Rembert G Weakland of Milwalkee who said that the deaf community needed “a healing response from the Church.” The Vatican and the man who would someday be Pope, sat on the case, then equivocated, and when Father Murphy died in 1998, he died a priest. Never punished or defrocked. Left to abuse again and again.
The Pope recently tried to apologize for the abuse and attempted to shift the blame to others but he is directly responsible for putting the reputation of the church ahead of the safety of children and should be held accountable as an accessory to a crime in my opinion. If you know a crime is being committed, and you NOT only do nothing but you actually HELP the molester find more victims…….is that NOT being an accessory to a crime?
If you are a Pope, does it make you immune to prosecution for crimes you commit?
The Mormon Church too has its scandals from Bishops who actually molest young people to the Bishops who cover up the crime. There have been many instances of sexual abuse by Mormon Boy Scout leaders who were known pedophiles by their own Bishop or even previous Bishops, and yet after a quick slap on the wrist and promise to repent, were sent out to molest again. Mormon beliefs and practices operate specifically to keep sex abuse secret.
And I quote from ldslaw.org:
”One of the LDS’s central beliefs is in keeping the public image of the Church pure. According to LDS’s Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, “it is our great mission to be a standard to all the world. . .” Achieving that goal, the manual teaches, requires measures that “safeguard the purity, integrity, and good name . . . or moral influence of the Church.” When one of the missions of a church is to be a moral example for the world, and to protect its “good name,” the incentive to prevent the appearance of tarnishment is powerful, as it has been in both the Catholic and Mormon traditions. This means that the institution will work hard to keep the damning information inside the organization and away from outsiders.”
For example, an Arizona appeals court held last year that a Mormon Bishop’s testimony in a child abuse case was privileged because the defendant’s statements were made during a confession. The Bishop and prosecutors asserted that the communication was not privileged because the defendant’s wife was present in the room at the time, and the defendant had already disclosed the abuse to his wife, but the Arizona Court of Appeals disagreed. This is not only a matter of ensuring that a child abuser can be successfully prosecuted—churches also face significant civil liability if a clergy discloses privileged communications. The LDS Church has already lost at least one civil lawsuit after a Bishop went to legal authorities after a member of his congregation confessed to sexual abuse. To this end, the LDS Church provides all ecclesiastical leaders in the U.S. with a 24-hour hotline to legal counsel that can analyze each factual scenario and provide counsel as to whether the applicable state laws allow/require the ecclesiastical leader to disclose the abuse.”
I also quote from the LDS Church’s official statement on child abuse:
“Mormon leaders are discouraged from cooperating with authorities in cases involving abuse. They are not supposed to testify in abuse cases involving their own members (unless the Church itself is implicated), and they must confer with their Office of Legal Services or the Area Presidency before talking to civil authorities. In other words, there must be a pause between learning of the horror of abuse and picking up the phone to involve the authorities. Moreover, they are not supposed to persuade victims to testify (or not to testify) against LDS members.”
Clearly, protecting the abusers and the reputation of the Church is more important than protecting the children. I have access to an online ex Mormon group forum and often the pain of not only what happened to them but what happened to some of their children is heartbreaking to read. What’s more their heartbreak is compounded when they find out that like the Catholic Church, the abuser it slapped on the wrist, told to pray and repent and “to go and sin no more.” Then he goes right back to the same position or similar as a Boy Scout Leader or Sunday school teacher with the parents oblivious to the danger their child is in.
Recent clergy abuse scandals in the U.S. aren’t limited to Roman Catholics, nor even to Christian churches. Both Hare Krishnas, FLDS, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses are also facing charges over the leaders’ sexual abuse of minors.
Twenty-three states have laws requiring clergy to report only when the information is not privileged. In these states, for instance, a clergyman who learns of abuse in a confidential communication, such as a confession, has no legal duty to report it to authorities, whereas a clergyman who personally observes abuse or has an independent reason to suspect abuse is required to report. In nine other states, clergy have a duty to report child abuse no matter what. And in the remaining 18 states and in the District of Columbia, reporting statues do not require clergy to report child abuse at all.
On a slightly different note, parents and especially fathers who sexually abuse their children, may confess to their pastor or bishop to and then………..go back and violate their child again. The churches “good Old Boy’s Club” watches each other’s backs, makes excuses, slaps each other on the wrist, and moves on to the next child.
When are we going to stop letting religious leaders get away with destroying our children’s lives and giving us the excuse, like Pastor Terry Long did to his congregation today of “I am not a perfect man.” Seriously? That’s it? I am not a perfect man? Or like the Pope said “I wasn’t in charge or I didn’t know” when he signed the papers moving a molester to another parish because of the scandal? How about, this excuse….”We have made mistakes” Seriously, is this what we are willing to let religious leaders get away with? Mistakes are one thing. Abusing a child and covering it up so more can be abused is an entirely different matter.
When are we going to stop listening to excuses by parents who have molested their own children, family member, or neighbor? I frankly don’t give a shit IF you were abused as a child, have low self esteem, get too high on drugs or alcohol to know what you are doing, don’t get enough love from your spouse……or believe God or the Devil told you to do it………………..I don’t give a damn what lame excuse you use to justify your despicable behavior because you and I both know its bullshit. You know it’s wrong but think you won’t get caught because no one will believe the child. You think you can scare the child into remaining silent and you don’t give a rat’s ass who you hurt because you are a selfish self-serving individual who should go to jail regardless of your petty excuses.
Wake up America and think about something other than your new iPad, cell phone, computer game or promotion. Think about your children, who you are leaving them with, what they are doing, and where they are. Be aware of their behavior and moods and talk to them about what to do. Keep them close to you and stop plopping them down in front of a TV or video game all day or letting them be somewhere with someone who may harm them. Be a damn parent for a change and if you can’t or don’t think you can do it……………..do the world a favor and get yourself fixed so you CAN’T be a parent.
When are we going to start protecting our children? When to we stand up and call this what it really is? Not all bogymen are hiding in the bushes waiting to prey on our children. Sadly, many of them are at the dinner table, classroom, baseball practice, camp out, and surprisingly…..most of them appear to be standing at the pulpit.
