Sex abuse spans spectrum of churches

[Bill]

Despite headlines focusing on the priest pedophile problem in the Roman Catholic Church, most American churches being hit with child sexual-abuse allegations are Protestant, and most of the alleged abusers are not clergy or staff, but church volunteers.

These are findings from national surveys by Christian Ministry Resources (CMR), a tax and legal-advice publisher serving more than 75,000 congregations and 1,000 denominational agencies nationwide.

CMR's annual surveys of about 1,000 churches nationwide have asked about sexual abuse since 1993. They're a remarkable window on a problem that lurked largely in the shadows of public awareness until the Catholic scandals arose.

The surveys suggest that over the past decade, the pace of child-abuse allegations against American churches has averaged 70 a week. The surveys registered a slight downward trend in reported abuse starting in 1997, possibly a result of the introduction of preventive measures by churches.

James Cobble, executive director of CMR, who oversees the survey, says the data show that child sex-abuse happens broadly across all denominations– and that clergy aren't the major offenders.

"The Catholics have gotten all the attention from the media, but this problem is even greater with the Protestant churches simply because of their far larger numbers," he says.

Of the 350,000 churches in the US, 19,500 – 5 percent – are Roman Catholic. Catholic churches represent a slightly smaller minority of churches in the CMR surveys which aren't scientifically random, but "representative" demographic samples of churches, Dr. Cobble explains.

Since 1993, on average about 1 percent of the surveyed churches reported abuse allegations annually. That means on average, about 3,500 allegations annually, or nearly 70 per among the predominantly Protestant group, Cobble says.

Complete Story.....http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0405/p01s01-ussc.html

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Pretty sad stuff but it is good to publicize these problems.

[meeks]

...just when you thought it was safe to go back to church...

[Doc Stier]

As of February 2009, the United States has a total resident population of 305 million. According to the demographics of the most recent poll and survey data (2008), approximately 76% of the overall American population identify themselves as Christian, with 25% identified as Roman Catholic and 51% identified as non-Catholic Christian. A mere 15% of those surveyed listed themselves as non-religious, and only 5% refused to answer. Thus, approximately 229 million Americans identify themselves as Christians.

Given these numbers, barely 1% of the Christian population is involved in allegations of sexual abuse across the boards, and it is likely that many of those are false allegations. And so, by and large, it actually is quite safe to go back to the church of your choice, if you are so inclined to do so.

[Steve James]

Given these numbers, barely 1% of the Christian population is involved in allegations of sexual abuse across the boards, and it is likely that many of those are false allegations.

Whoa, that implies that sexual abuse is committed less by Christians --or that the USA has less sexual abuse than ... somewhere else. If the majority of Americans are Christians, then the majority of everything, including crime, is committed by Christians (or those who identify themselves as such). We can always question the sincerity and accuracy of that identification. As for the false allegations, that's definitely true. But, just as in rape cases, the perpetrator almost always denies; and the victim has to prove.

Anyway, I don't really care about statistics that compare groups on the basis of crimes. They are useless, except to either try to denigrate a group or absolve another. And, I don't believe that Christians are any better or worse than any other group of people; and that goes for all the denominations. All sinners.

[KEND]

I think the public was shocked not only by the number of priests involved but the extent the church tried to cover up by moving priests around, exposing more juveniles to abuse, rather than punish the perpetrators.

[Doc Stier]

I think the public was shocked not only by the number of priests involved but the extent the church tried to cover up by moving priests around, exposing more juveniles to abuse, rather than punish the perpetrators.

Agreed. The Roman Catholic hierarchy didn't handle the problem very well or in a very timely fashion. Even so, the obviously guilty perpetrators of those crimes represent a very small percentage among priests serving church communities throughout the nation. Instead, they make up only a fraction of 1% of the total number of priests.

Unfortunately, due to the criminal actions of these few, the reputation of the Roman Catholic Church and its many honorable and ethical clergymen was severely damaged, especially in the minds of non-Catholics. Although I am not a Roman Catholic Christian myself, it seems unfair to me to condemn the RCC as a whole because of a few really 'bad apples' in the barrel.

[Ian]