For those who wonder why I post news stories about pastors

[MineralMan]

and the like who commit sexual assaults on young children and teens, my explanation is detailed below. If you still do not understand, I probably cannot help you. This was posted in another thread, but I wanted to repeat it as an original post in a new thread:

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The youth minister of the church I attended was caught, in flagrante delicto, with a 14 year old girl who attended the church. I knew her. She was a semi-depressed person who had low self-esteem and other problems. We were acquaintances, but not close friends due to age difference.. Clearly, he took advantage of her by befriending and praising her. Then, he took a different sort of advantage.

He was not prosecuted. He was not arrested. He was sent away, instead. A couple of years later, I discovered that he was still a youth minister, at a church not 20 miles away.

At the time I was an 18-year-old and on my way toward atheism, but still a member of that church. I approached the pastor and demanded an explanation of why that young man was still a youth minister. I was young, but not stupid, and had a habit of asking difficult questions. Somewhat arrogant, I suppose, in many people's minds.

The answer I got was unsatisfactory in the extreme. The pastor said that the young man, in his 20s, had sincerely repented of his actions and had been forgiven. My parting words were, "By the 14-year-old girl he seduced?" I received no answer. So, I wrote a letter to the pastor of the church where that offender was employed. I detailed what had happened in the church I attended and explained that I did not understand how he could be trusted with young teens.

I never got an answer from the other pastor, but that person no longer worked at that church.

The girl? Well, she didn't fare so well. I learned, while I was off at college, that she had taken her own life. Early 1960s. I doubt things have changed, though. That incident was just one of those that led me to a total rejection of religion.

[Major Nikon]

1. There are some who want to pretend rape by church authorities is no different

...than rape that happens within any other organization.

The obvious problems with this flawed idea is that churches are unique in several regards. The church is regarded as a moral authority. Churches also often provide counseling services (almost always unlicensed) to people at their most vulnerable, including children, and have an inherited trust from followers and parents simply because they are associated with that moral authority. Churches often like to take care of problems "in house" rather than involving law enforcement, and this is often endorsed by a membership who consider "god's law" to be above that of man. So it's easier for churches to cover these types of things up. In some instances you have churches and church sympathizers providing protection to sexual predators in order for them to escape prosecution.

[MineralMan]

3. Yes. All of that.

Often, parents believe the church, too, rather than their own children. Disasters ensue.

[irresistable]

2. Many innocents have paid the price for that "forgiveness loophole" that allows for even more harm.

Plus they attribute the offense to "Satan", which turns the perpetrator into a victim.

[MineralMan]

4. Yes, and that's the worst part.

The victims get blamed and sometimes it leads to tragic consequences. And those in charge just shrug. I have some personal feelings of guilt in that specific situation. I have often wondered it I could have done more, and prevented a tragedy. Realistically, I think not, since I was not close to the victim, but still...

[Major Nikon]

5. Blame is a biblical tradition

It's worth pointing out the "original sin" was Eve's corruption of Adam. The serpent (satan), convinced Eve to eat the fruit and Eve convinced Adam. Women subsequently bare a disparate penalty for this sin as a reminder. In other words, women are a tool of the devil used to infiltrate the minds of men. That's why modesty is coerced, compelled, and sometimes forced upon women, yet almost never men. Even those who may not outwardly claim they subscribe to that interpretation still subscribe to the effect, which is to place the burden on women for modesty and responsibility for fornication. Disparate dress codes, disparate morality expectations, and severe restrictions on family planning services are all a result.

[MineralMan]

6. Well, that's the excuse given, anyhow.

I have a different hypothesis. Men recognize that their very lives depend on a woman, without whom they could not have survived. To compensate for that, and to pretend to be important, they use their superior physical strength to subjugate women in general. A few recognize that paradox, but not many.

[Major Nikon]

7. It helps that this principle is not only sanctioned, but commanded by the bible

As part of Eve's punishment, women are commanded to be subservient to men so they can keep them in check.