CHURCH CRIMES: Response to "Fallen" Church Leaders
I look forward to the day faith-based organizations will be forced to update their policies to more accurately align with current civilian laws. The laws that protect children from being preyed upon by prominent and predatory individuals, including ministry leaders and even parents sometimes, who exploit their power and “spiritual anointing” in order to satisfy their unethical and criminal impulses to intentionally or unintentionally harm or simply fail to protect children. The same impulses these clergy often preach about from the pulpit, offering advice and help on how to adequately reconcile those dark urges which they so mildly refer to as “sin”. Yes, surely along with bringing laws regarding online crimes into the 2020s, we can all anticipate the modification and execution of laws in every state to bring ministries (that is, non-profit, 501 C-3 organizations and the like) into modern-day criminal procedures.
How many victims, stories, cases must come out of the woodwork before we, as a society, MAKE CHANGE?
Having been raised in non-denominational churches, then working alongside my evangelical megachurch pastor husband for seven years, only to spend the last 12 years deconstructing the sinnewed webs of indoctrination, brain-washing, coercion, gaslighting, and sexual warping I believed for nearly 30 years of my life, I now professionally guide my clients through their own healing journeys of life after church abuse. So, I believe I am qualified to speak to a few things regarding church (aka faith-based, ministry) “misconduct”. For brevity sake, I will say “church(es)” for the remainder of this post, but let it be understood that I am referring to any religious organization, including but not limited to families, non-profits, ministries, charities, schools, foundations, volunteer organizations, etc.
First, it must be acknowledged that Biblically-based organizations often pride themselves on being called by God to “live to a higher standard” than non-believers (aka anyone who does not subscribe to their specific brand of faith). Supposedly that higher standard implies that there is more love, grace, and maturity applied to the human experience, as in they resemble Jesus on earth. But I think if we all take 60 seconds and consider all the Bible-believers we know, we can attest to how well that concept actually delivers. Moving on…
Second, these churches always either are without any protocol at all or they have constructed their own set of steps to “hold sinners accountable” when there has been a transgression (again, today we are talking about abuse of minors, but I can assure you this also includes abuse of adults, exploitation, fraud, violence, and anything else we consider criminal behavior). These protocols are typically grossly lenient, leaving room for situational discretion (which is up to the overseers at the time) and they usually follow scripture to some extent. Matthew 18, specifically, which reminds believers to forgive as God forgave them. Here I will resist the urge to dive into examining why religions that paint humans as damned and wretched from birth are carrying heavy manipulation vibes and how that mindset primes the landscape for a “culture” of exploitation, gaslighting, brainwashing, abuse, and a slew of other maladaptive human behaviors…
Thirdly, “sinners” (aka perpetrators or abbreviated, perps) are usually required to see a counselor as part of their “healing journey”. It is vitally important to note that Christian counselors are NOT the same as licensed therapists and rarely have any training in abuser-informed treatments. Along with forced counseling (which by the way, isn’t effective in “cleaning the slate” when a crime has been committed), these perps often “step down” from whatever position they hold and “take a sabbatical” from their involvement in the organization. Basically, they get away from the spotlight so time and “out of sight, out of mind” can properly squelch any buzz or frenzy around the criminal behavior.
By the way, at this point you might be wondering, “What about the victims? Where are they in all of this?” Ah, excellent question. They are quiet. They are small. They are behind closed doors. Because that’s part of the culture. To keep them quiet and small. They are told they are being heard while at the same time being asked to submit to leadership… Yes, the same leadership they trusted to protect them the first time, and which failed them. Yeah, they’re basically asked to keep quiet so the powerful ones can handle this “in-house” and not get authorities involved (which implies they are fully aware that authorities should be involved).
So then, everyone (the perp, the failed leaders, the victim, the family) then bide time to see how the dust settles and if, God-forbid, anymore victims speak up.
This, my friends, is a general sweep on how churches handle criminal behavior with minors. Things are “handled” behind closed doors, between the men in leadership, and within the circle of their own religion. The lack of checks and balances is astounding, not to mention the gaping underrepresentation for victim advocacy, and of course, far too often no criminal charges are pursued. The seering injustice on top of all of that, is that there are actual, trained experts who handle crimes like these every day–who advocate for victims and families, who understand and clearly communicate what victims rights are and what is indisputably illegal, and who are qualified to protect the rest of society from these criminals continuing to harm other victims. And churches don’t even acknowledge these experts exist, so victims are left at the mercy of the very organizations that failed to keep them safe to begin with. This is revictimization.
I am not alone in my outrage that so many organizations continue to get away with this sort of behavior every single day. In case it isn’t obvious, never trust people just because they have an important title (like pastor, leader, teacher, apostle, superintendent, grandparent, aunt/uncle, etc.), believe the same things as you, talk, act or speak the same religious rhetoric you do. None of these are qualified predictors for human behavior, trustability, or pure intent. Learn how to accurately assess human trustability (side note: this will most likely not be taught or learned within a church organization as the requirement for faith often undermines the core principle of emotional intelligence–critical and free thought), so you can be safe and you can teach your children how to be safe (not just physically, but spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and financially too).
The point of sharing this post is to spread awareness and to petition for a movement of docuseries to be produced on as many cases of church crimes over the years as possible. We must move to STOP THIS epidemic.
Share and spread the word: Don’t be the next victim of church crimes.
Here are a few links of stories that have surfaced in the last year:
More and more, Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc.
If you or anyone you know, have experienced abuse, you are not alone. Please reach out for help:
National Sexual Assault Hotline. Free. Confidential. 24/7.
800-656-4673
