NEW YORK (NY)
Patheos blog
December 10, 2018
By Terry Firma
“My earliest memory of being molested was when I was four years old. It was Sunday school.”
So begins the fourth and final installment of an extraordinary Fort Worth Star-Telegram investigation into child molestation in and around independent Baptist churches. Published yesterday after an eight-month investigation, the story by journalists Sarah Smith, Shelly Yang, and Neil Nakahodo reveals how a network of churches and schools covered up nationwide sexual abuse — and, in an all-too-familiar pattern, helped relocate the evildoers.
Here are a few gut-wrenching passages.
On religious impunity:
Even if criminal charges are brought against a church leader, he might be allowed to continue in ministry. Facing charges that he had sex with a 14-year-old, a pastor left his Indiana church for Miami, where he told his new congregation that the girl was “promiscuous.” Though he pleaded guilty to felony stalking in 2009, he didn’t leave the church until 2014. He maintains his innocence. He’s one of nearly four dozen men who were allowed to continue in their ministry after facing sexual abuse allegations — and even convictions, the Star-Telegram found.
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