I am not at all surprised that religious evangelical men use their power to terrorize women and children. trump bragged about sexually assaulting women and at least 20 women came out and accused him of assaulting them as well as his penchant for trying to see young women naked and the way he talks about his daughter's body would have any self respecting person not vote for this vile person but evangelicals overwhelming voting this abuser into the highest office in the land and now we are supposed to believe that your religion has a problem with men who abuse others?
A little too late to be believable and have any credibility.
10
When it comes to sexual matters, Southern Baptists are the second-to-last people I would turn to for advice. (The Roman Catholic Church claims the top spot.)
This denomination is one of the great enablers of American Sex Panic — phobic and hysterical on the subject, and viscously oppressive and violent to gay people in their congregations who do not have the means to break away.
To hear Southern Baptist preachers, you would think that the Bible was a book about sex! Why do they choose THAT issue to fulminate about rather than, say, giving to charity? Its unhealthy culture has corrupted American life far too long.
Don’t ask for wisdom from those who are not wise. Give them a mirror
7
Organized religion has completely lost its moral standing at this point.
Sexually exploiting and abusing children while blaming other for being evil (gays, feminists, ethnic minorities, etc) is the exact hypocrisy Jesus warned us all about.
4
Put more women in the pulpit. This is the best way to diminish child abuse in the church/mosque/temple.
3
Really this is quite too delicious for words!!!
Among the most hypocritical, self-righteous, sanctimonious religious entities and followers on the planet— that’s what this crew is. That is, just as nasty and deviant as any other sect they might choose to criticize.
But maybe their support of Trump, to the extent it exists, is just reflective of his own predilections and evil deeds.
All of a piece.
6
Dear Mr. Moore,
To answer your question, what should the SBC do next, how about you stop teaching that human females are somehow less than fully autonomous human beings?
6
A typical word salad signifying nothing. The sexual abuse in the SBC is linked to their patriarchical teachings with women virtually having no standing. "Complementarity" is a sham. So, we have here lots of worry and lots of Jesus, but no insight as to the causes flowing from doctrine. Read the #exvangelicals like Christopher Stroop and others who see through this.
2
Spare me, Mr. Moore, the completely false rhetoric of “just how born again we are.” Your organization is the devil’s court of racism and sexism and politicization for exclusionary ideological policies, none of which bear upon Christ’s teachings.
I’m not sure of the kind of “theology” practiced by the Southern Baptist Convention but from an outsider’s perspective, it’s long on the persecution of non-whites and women and children and longer on the punishment and separation from God for offenses not against Him but Baptists.
Your organization exists to uphold the separation of the races and the marriage of church and state so that your peculiar brand of “religion” may be force-fed into the general population—not for their edification and instruction—but for their political subjugation and crushing dominance to the political right wing of American politics.
You’re quite eager and quick to blame “American culture” and the Catholic Church for their violations of the human person under cover of a hegemonic authority every inch as evil as your own. Why not admit that, yes, your men—especially—have rushed outside of the Christly embrace of virtue in pursuit of a good that marriage, decency and custom warn against.
Have you forgotten the tale of the potter and his pottery? Does the creator answer to the created? That’s what you’re trying to do as you twist the evils of a uniquely American belief system to justify Christ’s will on Earth—so long as it is white men who are in control.
3
Of course your church faces a "crisis of credibility". All churches and religions do. Belief in things (gods) that don't exist is mental illness and teaching these beliefs to children is child abuse. Sexual predators inside and outside of religions need to be dealt with by police and law inforcement like the thugs (robed, ordained, or otherwise) that they are.
3
What sanctimonious, self deluding and misleading nonsense this writing is!!
The core problem in these Baptist churches - as with everywhere else on Earth - is the sexual predation conducted by their powerful men. Everyone knows this.
There is no point in invoking Heaven, God or Jesus. Any supposed intervention from any of these putative entities has so far had no lasting demonstrable beneficial impact whatsoever anywhere anytime.
Clearly these Baptist Churches and the like are going to need a whole lot more help from the "here and now" #MeToo before they they get anywhere near to cleaning up their act.
3
While you're at it, consider adding additional resolutions to ensure those autonomous churches not preach vile, inciteful trash about other groups. That means NOT instructing one's congregation that all Jews are cursed by their god, or that their god considers gay people evil.
It would also be nice if you'd resolve to refrain from further attempts to legislate your personal religious moral code, and acknowledge that other faith-based beliefs are equally valid.
Hey, I can dream, can't I?
3
Organized religion has always been and will always be a scam. Money, sex, abuse, murder, wars, and holier-than-thou hypocrisy are its major tenants, and are what hold the various denominations together within themselves.
I kinda like the TV preachers. At least they are up-front about wanting to get rich off of the congregations' "donations" to his or her "ministry."
Evidently, these supporters believe that since they are dumb enough to fall for this scam, everyone else should fall for it, too (the so-called "evangelicals"). Misery loves company, I believe is the cliche.
Adults know that organized religion is simply another political party seeking money and power over the rest of us "poor stupid fools." Most used car salespeople seem to display more morality than the people running organized religions do.
Power is power--religion is simply another nefarious tool to get you to do what I say, even if it means taking off your clothes.
It can be fixed, however I doubt the will of the people who fall for all this to fix it. Imagine organized religion without a political agenda, without huge real estate holdings, without TV stars.
I know, you can't "sell it" that way, so it will not happen. Alas!
2
Religion was only the opium of the people, now it is also the rapist and the abuser of the vulnerable. They have acquired new names, but they are still the same bunch of disgusting old men with one imaginary friend.
4
For most it seems being religious excuses everything
3
Uh Oh....next up.... Evangelicals.....the purest of the pure....and the holders of Our Nation's Values ( my caps...please say the words with phoney Trumpian solemnity....as in "Our Great Military" or "Our Great First Responders"....)
Hope we don't find out Mike Pence has been taking any naked selfies .....
3
oh... so NOW sexual abuse bothers them. Why didn't it two years ago?
3
I find it ludicrous that anyone allows unproven 2000-year-old fables to guide their lives. But fine, it’s their lives.
But please, leave the rest of us alone. We don’t want your social values legislated on us. We don’t believe in Zion. We don’t want to be wished a blessed day. We don’t want your Sunday morning social activities subsidised by the tax code. We don’t want you impoverishing huge swaths of the country,
Leave us alone, just like philatelists. They never wish a “stampy” day.
5
SoBaps : your time is up. Beware.
2
From the corrupt catholics and now these fake religions the Baptists they need to be closed down. Women need to be priests and in charge they have better heads on their shoulders than the abusive men . Yesterdays horrible news about a Catholic Bishop in India sexually assaulting a nun 13 times should be the end of that religion world wide. For two thousand years this is the best it got to be. Other religions please don't wait that long you see bad behavior fire the creeps now.
1
Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 18:6 & Luke 17:2
1
According to the figure published recently in NYT, there are at present some 33,800 Christian denominations in the world. The natural or perverse carnal temptations are too strong to keep all the Christian and Judaic clergy free of sin.
My position would be, "All are guilty, excommunicate all, God will recognize the innocents".
2
The Evangenital is just a Catholic in denial.
Aren't these the types who are obsessed with "Purity" and have creepy father daughter "Putity" marriage rings?
To me churches just seem to be sadistic sex clubs.
4
Maybe it's time the patriarchal, authoritarian Baptist Church reconsiders abortion.
3
Not a bad statement.
Pretty much what we'd expect from a big-time, big bucks church organization and its independent profit centers.
"Everybody does it, even other churches."
"Gosh this is bad, yes? We better do something."
"Maybe it isn't all that bad because American culture; we're struggling just like you...that workin'?"
"Why didn't somebody tell us sooner?!"
At least you got where few churches have gone of late: "Jesus doesn't need us to cover up. He's pretty much good on his own."
So, sure, do the guilty-church perp walk, keep a low profile for a bit, and get back down to cases.
That's where my big problem is.
Like your Evangelical co-power-religionists, you boys love to make a big political stink. You love to proclaim your special vicitimhood at the hands of liberal barbarians, your mission to save the nation and the world.
You do a deep dive into the reasons you need to be super-political, to take over stuff, to run everybody's lives by getting politicians and judges to see things your way.
Because freedom is the devil's workshop. Because the law is meant for you to take over everybody's life.
Because ungodly liberals have to be stopped.
Somehow, despite all this, and especially despite the fact that you have known exactly what you know today for decades and done and said nothing, you still think you have the right to tell me and mine how to live, to take control of my country.
Its not sex, maybe, but that's where your apologies need to begin.
4
This is just old men who find no joy in having sex with their old wives so they watch porn on the Internet and submit to their urges by molesting young women and boys who are trusting in them for the word of a non-existent god. These people don't believe in christ they believe in sanctifying their lust in his name. This is what organized religion does. Don't tell me there is a place for religion in life, it's a joke played on those who want to believe in an afterlife.
2
"The church is to be the place that previews for the world a picture of what the kingdom of God is like..."
According to standard evangelical theology, I think then the most striking feature of this kingdom of God is what is not included in it -- the billions of souls who will not be in heaven, but will instead be sentenced by this allegedly perfectly just deity to an eternity of torture in hell.
How such a picture of God does not horrify people as utterly monstrous tells me a lot about human nature.
And to add insult to that injury, these same testifiers will then say, with a straight face, God is love.
Madness piled on top of sadism.
3
So, so sorry with my last comment submission. I forgot I'd still had a prior paste from a prior mailing that was still on the previous document page from where I'd written and pasted the comment for this article.
Again, so sorry....
1
Please send this article to Franklin Graham, special delivery.
3
Kudos to Mr. Moore for accepting the truth of the Chronicle's reporting (and to the Chronicle for uncovering this abuse!) and condemning the predatory element in his convention.
However much he roars with pain and outrage at the beginning of the article, he throws away his credibility when he suggests that "training" and "systems" will fix this horror, that "withdrawal from fellowship" is a big enough threat to keep the "wolves and robbers" from quietly slitting lamb-like throats in the SBC.
No where near good enough, Mr. Moore.
Those who rape vulnerable people, including little children, and use coercion and threats to keep victims silent cannot believe the teachings of Jesus. Period. The Golden Rule is trampled and the idea of judgement, of Heaven and Hell, is clearly brushed aside. These hypocrites who use religiosity as a weapon have no place in pulpits or administrative offices, and the structure which protected them needs to be fundamentally changed.
The SBC must open all files to civil investigators. Predators and those who enabled them are equally vicious and should be equally prosecuted. The all-male hierarchy that demonstrates that women are not equal to men and that discourages women from reporting abuse to sympathetic listeners must be completely dismantled. Women must be equal in positions of influence and policy. Civil boards of lay people must be given oversight in financial and personnel matters.
Make your changes as real as your outrage, Mr. Moore
2
The first 15 years of my life were spent in the Southern Baptst religion which teaches, among other things: “God loves you and you’re gonna burn in hell”; “ sex is dirty and nasty and you should to save it for the one you love”; and, “even the lowest of males is superior to any female”. I was not at all surprised when the current WH resident won their worship. I often wonder, after yet another hate filled tweet, how they might explain to the Founder of Christianity, their unqualified obeisance to him.
2
While I don’t believe in the divinity of Christ, I do believe in most of the messages he shared. So powerful were these words that they have survived centuries after his death.
Jesus has passed, but not his messages. All Christian religions would do well to remind themselves of what Christ actually said, not just what they want to hear.
I give credit to Mr. Moore for calling out the Baptist community. If there are degrees of sexual abuse and assault, certainly the worst are those done under the guise of religiosity. I don’t believe in hell either, but if I did, there would be a special place for the deviants who have committed these crimes.
1
I'm afraid that I am of the opinion that for way too many people, especially the so-called "leaders of the flock", that a claim to piety is plainly and simply a cover (much the way "patriotism" is for those who have never served). Claim faith on Sunday, then go ahead and put the screws to your fellow man the rest of the week.
Further, especially with southern baptists, the "get out of jail card" of forgiveness is immediately at hand, at least for the "approved" ones in the eyes of this exceedingly political, right wing "religion".
3
Back when Ms. was a dry state, the legal question of drinking would hit on occasion, and we always laughed at the old joke, "Ms. will always vote dry as long as the Baptist's can manage to stagger to the polls."
First the Catholics and now the Southern Baptists...
Back in the days of the old southern camp meeting, it was like a God-inspired baptismal Woodstock. And there were always girls and moonshine to divert one's attention away from the fire and brimstone.
We all would be so much bettor off without it.
"imagine no religion, it's easy if you try...
no hell below us, above us only sky."
If we can manage to survive long enough, eventually we will find ourselves united in our self-concept of human species identity, working together to share our societal benefits and promote clean, shared human life for all, without religion.
If we can manage to survive...
1
A report on sexual abuse has rocked the denomination. How will it respond? Like religions have responded since the beginning of history. They will cover-up, lie, manipulate and continue to abuse. Religion is not about the search for meaning. It is about power and fear. The only thing that will take it down is the take over of people's souls by the new digital gods. It will not be any different because we are not different.
Maybe there will be a new AI god who will be able to keep data on our sins and create a new version of hell.
2
This from a group that includes evangelicals who are too willing to excuse egregious sexual behavior even when committed by our president when it suits their purpose. Does anyone else see hypocrisy in this sanctimonious sect?
3
Mr. Moore is the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission for the Southern Baptists. I have to assume that anyone with a title like that is working every day to overthrow the Constitution of the United States by trying to force religious laws on the rest of us. When are we going to see a #MeToo moment about that?
I also have a question: Mr. Moore, at what point did anyone in your church decide to call the police? Your list of things that need to be done doesn't include that.
3
It's a very sad day when preachers and priests are the people you DON'T want our kids around.
18
Fundamentally, why do we believe that another human being is a path to God? These priests (any religion!) are no better or worse than you and me. Why are we shocked that they are prone to the same human urges as many others? The problem is - in positioning themselves as propagating the message of God, or as a path to God, they are hypocrites. Our spiritual self believes in a universal force - but let’s set aside these hypocrites and charlatans - and not give them the credibility that they seek
2
The Roman Catholic Church, the movie industry, government the Baptists, the military...anywhere that men make up the majority membership and hold power, some men express that power in sexual dominance. It's primitive and it's (too) slowly changing. But an obvious step to curb this atavistic tendency is for more women to be in positions of power. Learn from the past and act on what you learn.
2
When you need someone who lies already on the floor kicked in the teeth, call a Southern Baptist. They'll do it. When you need someone to make the best of lame racist taunts, call a Southern Baptist and if you want to climb the pinnacle of hypocrisy, you will find a fair many Southern Baptists near the top. I have always maintained that I would rather leave my kid playing an afternoon with clad pornstars than with that bunch. We have standards.
4
Gee, I thought it was only single, male priests that abused children. I thought it was because they were single and not married that they abused children. Southern Baptists were the first to spread that tale.
How wrong I was and they were.
2
We have special sin taxes for alcohol, why not for Baptists?
1
In addition to this harm, you also judge people not like yourselves (within your cultural groups) quite harshly and wrongly.
Especially, the LGBT community harshly, hardly with Christian love or charity, and in many cases you have supported and promoted forced conversion therapy, which is just as devastating and harmful as sexual abuse.
When this is how God made some people, as gay, as LGBT. You have failed to love – who God loves and how God loves.
You have missed the mark time and time again. Southern Baptists will have and do have an awful lot to answer for in how they have practiced their faith.
And you have broken faith with other Christian traditions that are absolutely more accepting and forgiving of what it means to be human. Who do provide services and communities of faith to the marginalized.
Being overly Judgmental - Intolerant - Prejudice - Racist - Dehumanizing & Demonizing of Others (not like you) – And Unloving – Lacking Christ's Compassion – Runs high on your list of sins in my humble opinion.
You have forgotten it seems Christ's two greatest commandments.
Hear what our Lord Jesus saith:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 22:37-40
You have failed to respect the dignity of every human being.
3
>The church is to be the place that previews for the world a picture of what the kingdom of God is like — a place where sinners are reconciled to God and to one another, where the weakest among us are loved and respected.
Passages like these in the opinion piece sound, to me, so pre-modern, so medieval. Here's another:
>But even with all the needed reforms in place, the church should be worried most about Jesus himself, who will ensure the holiness of his church, even if it means evacuating his temple with a whip of cords.
Jesus was a man with certain insights, no different in that sense from the Buddha, Socrates, Immanuel Kant, FDR, Wittgenstein, Einstein, etc. They do occasionally occur within our midst, it seems.
None of these gents, however, really merit our worship in temples demanding our allegiance. Just learn from them and move on, to see if some of what they claimed might be successfully applied to solving problems we all face.
Come on, people, this is not about reverting to the irrational, ok?
Christianity -- how can it distinguish itself from idolatry? In the behavior of its adherents? That has always seemed unlikely.
For what reason(s) are Southern Baptists to be more respected than Yezidis, Confucians, or indeed, polytheistic Papua New Guineans?
By their deeds shall you know them, no?
2
The real question is how you can continue to believe in Jesus as your protector? How can you continue to tell people that if they are overwhelmed just hand your problems to Jesus and he will handle them? How can you profess that Jesus always has your back. How in conscience, can you tell people that Jesus loves them. While there might well be a God it is easily proven it is not the God that Christian religions claim. If he will not protect the most vulnerable he is not the God you claim him to be. If he allows millions of children to be abused, to be starved, to be tortured especially by those in the Church how can you reconcile that with what you profess? IT IS NOT POSSIBLE. If there is a God it seems he is more like the old testament God. What is your answer? I know: God moves in mysterious ways; we cannot know the mind of God. Great but you do claim to know the mind of God when it suites your purpose. You really need to examine deeply what the basis of your belief is.
2
Oh, Mr. Moore, we saw Evangelicals voted for Trump overwhelmingly. We know just what kind of born again christians you all are. And we know what Jesus would say about the hypocracy of voting for such an immoral man as Trump, and also what he would say about sexual abuse scandals in his church. Clean house and give all those rich pastor's money to those who are sick and needy!
3
As someone who grew up in the Bible Belt (back in the days when evangelicals were considered kooks), I recall quite well the ridicule heaped by holier-than-thou Southern Baptist children on us Catholic children. It may be some time before the smirk leaves my face.
2
Why on earth would this guy think it's a problem outside of his walls. This isn't the first time there's been a scandal when it comes to Baptist preachers.
Women and men - AS WELL AS CHILDREN - have accused leaders of Baptist churches of sexual misconduct, and it's been covered up for years, and more than 130 of them have been found guilty of rape, kidnapping, sexual assault, etc. and so forth.
This guy is suddenly rocked by one report?
Really??
Look up Star Telegram's investigation of sex abuse found in Baptist Churches across the United States.
Google MegaChurch Pastor Jack Schaap, for instance, accused of abusing underaged girls who then wanted his sentence reduced, claiming the girls were promiscuous and purposely tempted him. BAPTIST.
Baptist Youth Pastor John Cordero who pleaded guilty to having sex with a 16 year old in his congregation.
I'm sorry, but you have the "religious" freedom to your opinions, but not to your own set of facts, Russell Moore.
And it's a fact that you knew about these abuses well before this year. Either that or your world was "rocked" recently because you chose to live under one.
3
It seems that the greater the repression in a given religion, the greater the abuse. Food for thought there.
3
Sounds like the Leadership of the Southern Baptists (like the Vatican before them) does not want to admit they have a problem.
One letter to the NYT is hardly an answer to this problem.
I hope God sends them a message that Americans are tired of this behavior and the hurt that it causes. Shame on these 'so called men of god'.
1
Reading the comments below from NYT readers, it is obvious that there is a abundant skepticism about the willingness of Southern Baptist leaders like Mr Moore to do any more that mouth their pieties about the stain of sexual abuse in their churches.
I guess they will have to do more than just write a nice Op Ed on the subject.
Show us that you mean what you say, and this is not simply damage control!
1
So the Southern Baptist Convention which once advocated for slavery and white supremacy and later was an apologist for the Confederacy and supported Jim Crow & whose leadership and membership is often both racist & virulently homophobic is also a bastion of sexual abuse? Who would have guessed. Lots of bad faith supports equally bad behavior.
3
Men abuse young women and even girls in this world. We notice it here and fight against it while in the undeveloped world it is a much more prevalent fact of life.
Will enough laws and enforcement stop this? Did we have enough laws when Hollywood titans were abusing women back before the days of telelvision? Ever heard of Weinstein?
2
I believe Jesus and indeed all religion was created so that evil men could prey on the weak and vulnerable.
1
Oh please. They're ALL a bunch of hucksters selling false hope in a make believe friend.
1
When evangelicals who are Southern Baptists gave Donald Trump a "mulligan" for his infidelities with a porn star and a Playmate of the year, they gave up any pretense of moral authority. When they endorsed Judge Roy Moore, a credibly accused child predator, they doubled-down on their lack of any semblance of morality. They have become the very devil they rail against with "fire and brimstone." That they would and should clean their own house is obvious. That they can or will is dubious.
4
It's not just the Southern Baptists but all evangelical churches need a thorough examination. Their belief that men MUST totally dominate anything female makes them a breeding ground for abuse of al that is feminine, including little bitty girls. Many women have had this sort of experience in those churches and it needs to stop along with predator priests.
3
"How did this happen"?
Huh?
A better question would be - how could this NOT have happened?
This is just the latest in male-god dominated "religions" that demand supplication and denounce refusal or questioning of authority. (Even "god" is somehow a man? Isn't that kind of convenient?)
No surprise they are revealed to have a filthy, rotten, history of men in power preying on (even raping) the powerless.
I have a long and deep bond with the wise bodhisattva named Jesus (I went to Catholic school (for an eternity) before I left the flock (see above reference to male dominated religion)
He is rolling over in his holy sepulcher at the suffering perpetrated on women and children by so called "holy men."
3
"...when a person...from that point onward could be, at the point of death, expected to stand before God in judgment...."
Looks to me like a whole lot of Baptists and millions of others who self-identify as Christians, don't take their judgment day encounters with God seriously.
Their hypocrisy stinks to the high heavens...and they can take that as a warning.
3
A lot of organized religion structures and hierarchies are cult-like in their coercive
nature and are
self-reinforcing, but they also attract people who need authoritarianism in their life ... belonging to “clubs” where everyone agrees with you ... we need more skeptics and less sheep ... its like someone said, Sunday morning is the most segregated time in America ...
2
I'm shocked! Shocked, I say! Evangelicals are typically above reproach! Only a week ago, Franklin Graham said he had never heard Donald Trump tell a lie...
4
I've been alive 68 years Mr. Moore. This is not news, or new news, to anyone.
Perhaps you should take a good hard looks around you. When opportunity for 'sin' is available just as many Born-again Baptists jump at the chance as do those in any other religion.
3
When I was young Yankee Air Force Officer stationed in the segregated south, I was told that Southern Baptists felt that incest was acceptable as long as you kept it in the family.
1
Hmmm. Betcha the flocks believe those preachers were done in by those kids using their feminine, or masculine wiles on those poor boys.
1
Oh sure, these folks will make big changes. On another planet in an alternate universe. You can’t support a predator as president and be expected to clean your own house. And they won’t. Men of God. How dare they.
1
Enough with the ridiculous sermonizing and actually take responsibility.
Waiting for Jesus, “who will ensure the holiness of his church, even if it means evacuating his temple with a whip of cords” is about as relevant as hoping Batman or the Tooth Fairy will save the day. Vulnerable persons are being assaulted and raped by predatory individuals who need to be fully prosecuted by the laws of the state and federal government. I don’t care if you’re a member of the SBC or the society of Zeus; your ethical responsibility is to report any and all cases of abuse to the authorities. Why are religious people so incredibly crazy?
1
Explains in a nutshell why Christianity is so pro birth - more people to abuse!
The day that religion is wiped off this planet will be a bigly great day for humanity. Religion serves no purpose at all other than to instill control of the masses.
2
On the bright side... at least they weren’t dancing.
4
Yes, the forest of religious horrors and hypocrisy is vast. But I do think that cleaning up around ones own tree is should be our first order of business.
I have been waiting for a long time—long before their orange, Isaiah 45 hero was "forgiven" for his unholy past, present, and future—for the self-so-called "evangelical christians" to own up to their own "sins." Until recently, most of their time and ire has been spent castigating "unbelievers;" which means non-"evangelicals." Then addt the idiotic complaint that there is a "war on christianity" in this country because many of us (maybe most?) don't want to kneel before somebody else's so-called god, or cow-tow to their religious doctrine. So, bully to Mr. Moore for speaking up about what is nor good in the SBC.
Now, maybe a doctrinal council should question why an evangelical minister would be at a gun class when he should have been preaching, or why that same "reverend" packs heat every Sunday when he preaches.
Now, maybe some "evangelical theologian" will explain the U.S. constitution to Jerry Falwell, Jr.; or maybe even explain whatever passes for thought among "evangelicals" that came up with the magical coincidence that since Isaiah 45 talks of Cyrus, the non-jewish king who freed the Jews from Babylon, it predicts the advent of a certain nitwit who now resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. as the 45th president.
Now, maybe some "evangelical" sociologist will explain Tammy Fay's eye make-up.
We can always hope.
1
The Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) were always obsessed with sex and death. Hence there is life everlasting to deal with death, and men controlling women or any sexual object of desire as a form of mate guarding.
2
How about as punishment we (the People) rethink all the tax breaks your autonomous churches receive?
2
I thought this was satire.
1
As a Presbyterian minister, I call upon the SBC to get to the root cause of abuse of women and children in both the SBC and the RC church: a theology of male domination which teaches unquestioning obedience to a patriarchal God and his earthly stand ins.
38
" Some saw abuse, for example, within the Catholic church, and attributed it to a priestly celibacy or to a powerful church hierarchy different from American evangelicalism. "
The hierachy in American (and Canadian) evangelicalim is just as powerful. It consists of the local congregations' ededrs, who ensure that the pastor(s) they engage toe their doctrinal, moral, and political lines.
4
When my belief in God sinks low I find a deep sadness that whispers "how could God let this murder, abuse, war happen?" Then I remind myself that man was created with a free will and it is mankind that harms mankind.
10
What I don't understand is say when a tornado, flood, or earthquake wipes out an apartment (so not an act of man), and from the natural disaster say 45 people die and say 12 survive. The survivors often will say how close they feel to God and that they are blessed to have survived instead by the same token not angry God allowed a tornado to kill 45 of their friends, family, and neighbors. If God exists and is all powerful and all knowing....well you get the point.
10
Born Again Scalliwags:
I've had past experience of some born again evangelicals that was so poor in terms of their hypocrisy that I coined the phrase "Born Again Scalliwags' to call out their behaviours.
1
Hey, those of us reared in the South know that in dry counties the Baptist boys always knew where we could find the bootleggers. Cognitive dissonance seems to be no plague among many Baptists.
3
As a victim of childhood sexual abuse, raised in a fundamentalist religious environment much like the author enjoys and describes, I read this entire article with revulsion and disgust.
This is a lipstick-on-the-pig discussion.
I appreciate the Times giving forum for all view points. There is no news organizations like the Times with the clout and prestige to do so. It allows everyone to ponder and consider all view points.
With that said, American Evangelical Christianity is dead on the doorstep. The theology is flawed, historically butchered by thousands of years of councils and misinterpretation around an individual who came to raise human consciousness, the opposite of what the Southern Baptist system promotes.
God killed his son to save us? That kind of abusive thinking has led us to right where we are, discussing with seriousnesss an environment full of powerful and often twisted men, taking what they want, everywhere. You wouldn’t even be having this conversation if you hadn’t been caught, would you?
Patriarchy is dying. Religious systems that protect the guilty are being exposed. The Bible Belt is rife with the hypocrisy of niceness, private torments and systemic protections. Time for the powerful to be exposed and stop hiding behind your small selves. The party is over and no one is waiting for you to figure it out.
Welcome to the future without you. We’re going to be just fine.
4
Much as I try to see the good religions do in society, I simply cannot get past the rank hypocrisy shown by leaders and many of their congregants when it comes to all manner of immoral misbehaviors perpetrated by some of their leaders and in particular the willful blindness accorded to fabulously flawed people, like Trump and a myriad of his fellow travelers.
3
Are sexual predators drawn to religious organizations because, until now, they have been protected there? Or do sexual predators make up a much larger percentage of the general population than I had ever thought before?
1
It's odd that so many of these pastors, priests, and preachers accuse us all of being "Godless" while they are living proof there is no God. Pasolini was right -- power does what it wants.
1
We need to protect children whose parents decline to press charges because they believe the child would be further harmed by being on the witness stand confronting the abusers. This fear kept a Southern Baptist preacher from prosecution for acts of pederasty in the small TX town where I grew up. Constitution demands that the accused can face the accuser; but the child has rights as well.
1
There is nothing new here. In 1990, my soon-to-be wife and I went to the chaplain's office on Scott AFB to find a chaplain to perform our wedding. The available Protestant chaplain was Southern Baptist fire-breather, as bolt upright as they come. We figured we could put up with him. However, before our wedding he was deployed to Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Shield. A few months later he was arrested for importing pornography into the country, and the investigation showed he had been sleeping with enlisted women who had come to him for marriage counseling. Because it was reported, he was convicted and served time in federal prison. This is what needs to be done to these ministers.
41
"Jesus announced a reign in which children and the vulnerable are not just cared for but are the “first” in the kingdom of God." Fine words that any person of faith can endorse. But such words require deeds to avoid being mere empty sounds. Sexual abuse under cover of religion is, as the writer says, a form of rape. So also is the failure of the Trump administration to respect the legality of families crossing the border, presenting themselves to customs and requesting asylum. Then their children (2700 or more) are taken from them and many now unaccounted where they may be subjected to sexual and physical abuse--never mind the psychological damage from separation which is permanent. What do the churches say about that? What would Jesus say? Self-declared Christians have been strangely silent. That makes them enablers and equally guilty.
1
It is time to discontinue the tax-exempt status of religious institutions.
5
Thank You Brother Moore for facing this head on. I am deeply ashamed this has happened in the church where I found my salvation. Let us move forward and deal with this as the ambassadors of Christ we were called to be. Most importantly, let those who's trust was betrayed, find healing and justice.
8
Boy this Jesus deity sure engages in a lot of impotent hand wringing over the behavior of his earthbound agents.
And these crimes and misdemeanors were exposed by secular journalists. Scientific studies have shown that atheists are endowed with more empathy and a stronger moral code than believers. It’s time to push back against this fake narrative that ethical conduct can only spring from religious indoctrination.
5
Sexual abuse isn’t about sex, it’s about power.
Religious hierarchy isn’t about religion, it’s about power.
No one should be surprised when the two intersect, nor when the power structure chooses to protect itself (and, not coincidentally, the abusers, who generally are a part of that power structure), rather than support, defend, and heal the victims.
49
Mr. Moore's comments are well stated. Religious organizations must be extra vigilant when dealing with a staff of people. Reports, on ' curious behavior ' need to be investigated On the Spot. Suspects need to be reported to law enforcement ASAP. NO fooling around or wait and see. NOW!!!
I grew up Southern Baptist and didn't leave the Baptist church until my mid-30s. It took me another ten years to give up religion altogether. I won't pretend to be objective.
The Baptist church treats women as second class citizens. It does this systematically and intentionally. The patriarchal dominance in the Baptist church is woven so deeply into the fabric of the church that it isn't going to change. That is why I finally gave up and left the church.
Most Baptist churches won't ordain female pastors or even female deacons. Many Baptists literally hold Eve responsible for original sin and think women should be subservient to men. Good grief, it feels like I'm describing views widely held in 1519, not in 2019.
Combine that view of women with a patriarchal power structure that gives incredible deference to pastors and male church leaders and you have a recipe for abuse.
Do not be fooled by Mr. Moore's propaganda. The Baptist church isn't going to change. It is incapable and unwilling to admit that its archaic view of women is the ultimate source of the problem.
2
Not to mention the fact that the Southern Baptists became a political organization. That was not true if the Southern Baptist churches I grew up in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
1
I refuse to be part of any church that restricts women to working with just other women and children and will not allow a woman to preach or to be in a leadership position as equals to.men. This is the problem in the Catholic and Evangelical Churches. Men are dominant and women are seen as less then men. Until this changes in society and in the church the abuse will continue. I suggest that instead of being in politics to fight abortion and gay people the church should clean up their own house.
1
I enjoyed your article but feel it does not go far enough. I have seen domestically abused Christian women on T.V. say that they were told by their Baptist male dominated church to forgive their husbands and take them back. I too as a child had this "forgiveness" ploy used against me. While one can forgive down the road, a protective and punitive action needs to be taken first.
3
I am grateful for this honesty but we must go further. Sexual and other abuse is not, as many maintain, a male power issue. It is an institutional power issue. The evidence of horrifying abuse by nuns in all female religious orders (most hideously but not exclusively displayed at Tuam in Eire and reported in this paper) make blaming masculine power impossible. We must search deeper for the causes.
The nuns, denied any power by their male ‘superiors’, take out their frustration on unfortunate children in their care. It’s still a male power thing.
1
I grew up Southern Baptist in the '50s, in a solidly Southern Baptist family, and it's hard to imagine our boring preacher wandering from his wife and kids (his daughter decided to become a preacher as well, but he didn't approve--she went ahead anyway). Years later, when I was in New York, I did like to visit Marble Collegiate Church--Norman Vincent Peale was the head preacher, though I preferred the second-string Rev Caliandro. The generous acceptance of ideas as well as people was far more appealing than the conservative Baptist ideology. My cousin Mary Ann, whose father was a Southern Baptist preacher, became a member. (I'm not surprised that Donald Trump claims that it was his church, because it was a favorite for celebrity weddings--including his.) Still, I moved on from organized religion, which I've seen more and more to be a way for men to control women--and other men, of course, to a lesser extent. The Southern Baptist sex abuse reports did surprise me--but they don't shock me. We all have seen what happens when religion and money and lust get mixed together--it makes for fascinating drama, but it's best to keep one's distance from the real thing.
3
The basic problem with the Baptists are that over the last two generations they changed from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. variety, which was prominently concerned with justice, to the Jerry Falwell type, which was determined to annihilate modernity and multiculturalism and to reinstate the Patriarchy.
While liberal Protestants and liberal Catholics dealt with the fact that even though God is addressed as "He" in the Bible, this doesn't mean God is a man. Southern Baptists went the other way. They conspicuously denied women the pulpit and emphasized a "complementarian" view of marriage, where men and women have different roles, but the man runs the show. Sort of a pre-Brown vs. Board of Education situation of separate and not equal.
So, when boys are raised in an environment where girls and women are systemically seen as less valuable than boys and men, and when churches don't deal with this problem directly, then the same problem of violence against women in culture also affects their churches.
This outcome is no surprise, but simply the result predicted by anthropology, sociology and psychology. Mr. Moore wastes too many sentences talking about "sinners, God, Jesus, Christ, church, good and evil."
The Southern Baptist Churches should instead start talking about equal rights for women. You know, women as equal partners in marriage and as preachers from the pulpit. That should start to correct the situation.
3
No matter what the institution - family, church, school - we see over and over again that those in charge will do anything to preserve the reputation of the institution, no matter how horrible the victims' injuries. The enablers need to feel real punishment: prison. They have proved, over the centuries, that it's the only way they might possibly understand.
5
A good friend of ours was abused by a married adult man in her church beginning when she was a teen. Eventually she had a child by the liaison. The damage was staggering and lifelong. It is hard to understate the significance of sexual abuse of teens by adults. At the same time, the child (the woman's only child) has been a joy to the mom, and is now happily married himself, with kids planned. Such a complicated web.
3
A reason for cautious optimism on this issue in all denominations is that the educational attainment for parishioners is coming closer to the that of the clergy. Deference on this point is waning and this is a good thing.
More ordained women change the power dynamic, social norms and preaching. Episcopalians have been ordaining women as priests since 1979. Later, women were ordained as bishops.
In 1983 I participated in a women's weekend retreat. When the priest celebrated the Eucharist, our most consequential liturgical act, I realized, "Wow, we can have Church, we can be Church, without men". It was deeply thrilling to this cradle Episcopalian.
No church must ever be complacent. There are potential abusers everywhere. No denomination is immune.
4
Hi Everyone,
Thank you for reading this comment.
I know it’s tempting to denigrate all religions, but please be careful about generalizing around stereotypes and criminals.
Not all religion is divisive. And many religions are centered on human values we hold as precious, such as:
* Human rights
* Women's rights
* Environmental stewardship
* Peace
* Education
* Social services
* Health
* Love
* Generosity towards strangers
* Interfaith communities
* Diversity
There are many religious people who unify their communities and build bridges, and shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand.
It's vitally important that none of us build walls or create dead ends – instead, let's inspire people around us and create momentum for future generations to pursue goodness.
Religion is often about striving. Religion strengthens and sustains hope. My religious experiences have been about seeing and celebrating goodness, learning to walk in other people's shoes and not be judgmental, to better understand myself, to illuminate triumphs of good will, and to learn to better address the challenges and grief that human beings face during their lives.
Thanks for considering these ideas.
:-)
6
One does not have to participate in a religious organization to have a spiritual life. If a person feels he or she is somehow being controlled or abused while in such an organization, then report such to outside authorities if a criminal activity is occuring. Then get out of that organization quickly. Your higher power will still be with you wherever you go.
4
Sorry but when white evangelicals including the Southern Baptist Convention support Trump with all of his infidelities, marriages, sexual assaults, bigotry, and lies, that shows the direction they chose to go.
Jimmy Carter famously left the SBC for reasons he provided in a letter that mentioned "such beliefs as separation of church and state, servanthood of pastors, priesthood of believers, a free religious press, and equality of women."
The hypocrisy is rank. The most innocent victims are hurt by sins such as these, but this abuse reflects many of the public views when evangelicals are happy to avoid the glaring contrasts with their stated values in a figure such as Trump.
May the victims and their families find healing. Congratulations to the Houston Chronicle for bringing this into the light.
25
I left the SBC more than 25 years ago, mostly because of its wrongheaded dismissiveness toward women in ministry and its conflation of right-wing politics with godliness. The church where we now worship has in place policies to prevent adults being alone with children and has had these policies for years. Most people in leadership positions would never do such a thing, but just one such abuser can do untold harm.
13
The son of a police chief told me his dad said, "It's simple, predators go where the prey are."
14
Church officials should be required to alert law enforcement of any and all credible accusations of criminal behavior within their ranks.
Anyone who does not alert the appropriate civil authorities should be treated as accomplices after the fact.
15
Mr Moore, it is time to acknowledge that men and women are equal, not 'complementary'. Some women are fit to lead - some men are not. We are all individuals, with different gifts.
It's a mystery to me why any woman supports your church or even attends services, given its archaic and harmful views of women and LGBTQ. The racism and support of slavery in your church's history is vile. Lots of 'plain' to do.
If your church is actively teaching innocent children that females are in a second class status, 'called' to motherhood and being a 'helper' then it is continuing to do more harm than good.
17
@Cal Such great, logical points. Thanks.
1
Any church that promotes a view of sexual ethics, expecting to persuade others to affirm its view, has got to affirm its own view with its own actions. How can the Southern Baptist Convention expect others to believe that sexual intricacies before marriage or same-sex intricacies are wrong when hundreds of its ministers have victimized children and adults members of their churches?
6
The idea of confessing sins is a very practical managerial process. You want to deal with the sin before it gets to the 'Boss'. You want to ameliorate the damage before there is no option but God confronting you with it. But like most uncomfortable, inconvenient situations people put off what they can despite the coming consequences. The end result of that action is lying to God, and that's a problem.
1
This isn't just a Southern Baptist crisis, it's a church crisis. Just last week there was a NY Times article reporting on Pope Francis confirming the rapes of nuns by bishops. Nuns, repeatedly raped, were told by the church hierarchy to remain quiet - no doubt in a vain hope of maintaining the illusion of purity. I've never been religious, but this blatant derangement by the clergy is proof positive that trust in the church is misplaced and they shouldn't be gifted tax-free status to reward deranged behavior that even when revealed they attempt to cover-up. They're not special, chosen and/or divinely inspired. They can be every bit as vicious and inhuman as the lowliest of the low not draped in a white robe.
8
I don't expect the Southern Baptists to have much more concern about this than they seem to have about a President who has done much of the same thing.
19
Churches, mosques, synagogs, temples, classroom, work place, social situations, alone, with others, in families, in jails, in drama, on the internet, in the military. Endlessly astounded that it happens. Really? The idea that it will be 'taught out of us', once and for all is stupid.
Socialization is ongoing, from the 4 year old that hits their sibling with a heavy toy, to the executive that clime a right over their subordinate. Ongoing. We can decrease the incidence, but we will never eradicate it. 10 years from now those that are 8 will be 18. Will the person raised by TV and the internet benefit from endless lectures, or would they benefit more from a parent that can be with them, not working 18 hrs a day, but with them for dinner homework and laughter? Teach, lecture, preach, but if there's no love in the hime, no $ security, they just might not get it.
3
How could you possibly be surprised?!
Right-wing religious literalists attract dominating males. (Please, don't self-righteously pretend that isn't an honest defining characteristic of the Southern Baptist Church.)
Those males believe they have the right to do whatever they want, particularly with women- usually because they believe God has spoken to them.
If those males are closeted gay men who can't come out for fear of losing their standing, they're even worse.
When those males give the President of the United States a pass for the way he treats, humiliates, pays off, and divorces women, all as a matter of entitlement, they become even more empowered.
Not one bit of this is surprising. And not one bit of it is going to get better, because most of the offending males are going to sell themselves as having repented and been forgiven.
All in the name of God (who, in their context, is a male), and all in the name of Jesus (who, in their context, taught his disciples that women were second class people).
Give me a break.
16
True Detective season one laid this story out pretty clearly, with the ornaments of crime fiction, yet at its core indeed a true tale of how intransparent, unaccountable, patriarchal power structures inevitably become hotbeds of corruption and sexual abuse. The German Catholic church and local evangelical sects are proof of the matter no less than their US equivalents and it is puzzling that most of the faithful don't flee from or burn down those temples of the unregenerate in disgust. It is obvious that self-regulation is a non-starter and civil law enforcement needs to come down on these criminal networks with a heavy hand.
5
There are lots of speeches and recriminations from churches after their hypocrisy is exposed. But the problem never seems to go away.
As Captain Kirk says to Platoneus at the end of "Plato's Children" episode
"You're very good at making speeches, [Parmen.] Just make sure that this one sinks in."
7
Fundamentalists of every stripe, Jews, Christians, Muslims, all believe in only two things: subjugation of women and the preservation of power in the hands of a priestly elect. Mr Moore’s column proves just that.
12
What I got out of this is the writer wants to shame people out of committing sexual abuse because it is abhorrent and WRONG. OK, but no where do I see the author stating what will or should be done, other than wag a finger of moral judgement. Also, where is there proof that shame is a successful deterrent? From what I've read, the more egregious the sexual crime the more the perpetrator gets off on it. The "solution" in this essay strikes me as fighting fire with liquid.....lighter fluid.
3
The author might consider checking in with his fellow church members and finding out how many of them voted for a man to become president of the USA who was an admitted sexual assailant, divorced twice and openly cheated on all 3 of his wives. If this is the kind of national leader they chose, KNOWINGLY, then is the nature of their pastoral leaders really any surprise?
17
Was MeToo a hashtag during the decades and centuries and millennia when Catholic priests were abusing boys and nuns under their charge? Nope. Why does this latest barely shocking revelation have to be linked to the MeToo trope? Why can't it be something else? Call it -- I don't know -- a crime. We don't have to brand everything. Do we?
1
Well said, Mr. Moore.
Abusers hiding behind a facade of 'piety' and 'blamelessness' because of their power in any faith tradition are the lowest and vilest of all of us sinners. Those who enable the abusers are as bad.
May they all go to their own unique eternal reward for an eternity of torment.
The Southern Baptist Convention has a long way to go it they are going to meaningfully portray themselves as representatives of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ tells us, "If you love me, you will obey my commandments."
The Southern Baptist Convention has brazenly rejected the authority of Jesus Christ in their enthusiastic support of the invasion of Iraq and support for the death penalty. They have supported a president who oppresses the stranger, the sick, and the poor.
It is hard to imagine an organization that has strayed further from our Lord's message.
8
Many don’t seem to mind having a lying philanderer and bully for President so it’s hard to imagine they will mind having sexual predators as religious leaders. They seem quite capable of supporting sinners in leadership roles as long as the sinners talk a good game. My guess is they will decide the victims led the upstanding leaders on or that it’s fake news or some illogical combination of both.
4
Yes. Thank you for your essay. This needs to be done. We as a country need to address sexual abuse. It is an epidemic.
1
How can any organization have gender equality while misogyny is ingrained into its very core? Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Mormonism, all teach the same creation story about women. Eve being formed from Adam's rib to amuse him. That's bad in itself, but it only gets worse with each new book. When any organization is lopsided in this way, and the only rules are written in stone, gender equality cannot survive.
8
"How will it respond?" You're asking that of folks that support Trump ( who has never asked for any kind of forgiveness) on his serial adulteries, lies, frauds and cons... They will "forgive" the preachers and offer a pat on the back to the victims... Hopes and Prayers... that resolves them of any responsibility. Past or future.
3
"'The SBC governing documents ban gay or female pastors, but they do not outlaw convicted sex offenders from working in churches.' Exactly. I have been saying this for years. The church's hypocrisy when it comes to "sexual sin" is horrific.
And I know you have heard me say it before, but I will say it again: when your theology denies the experiences of women as called by God to the pulpit, you are teaching boys and men that women cannot be believed and that women cannot trust their own experience. Not every victim in this story is a woman, but all the perpetrators are men, specifically male pastors whose authority we were taught not to question.
I had a hard time reading this article. Not because it was so horrific, but because I already knew it to be true, and I hate that no matter how often I (we) speak the truth, people don't believe us. Here is yet more proof if you are still on the denial train."
Rev. Kyndall Rae Rothaus,
11
The world would fare better with less religion and more spirituality.
8
Actually, the hypocrisy and evil behind the abide and cover up is EXACTLY why I have nothing to do with organized religion.
1
They will never do anything about it.
3
It is odd how these churches appear to act in their own selfish interests whilst in the same breath proclaiming they live a holy life that gets them into Heaven. The God I know does not discriminate and certainly does not reward ignorant racists with a penchant for sexism and extreme self serving greed. The contradictions they display are too many to count. The main point I would like to shed light on is the separation from Church and State needs to be put into law and soon.
3
When will the church elders and higher ups realize that people don't turn into pedophiles when they get involved with the church.
They are already pedophiles when they get involved. They are drawn to the easy and confidential contact with innocents.
The church needs a better screening process before putting people in those positions.
71
No religion is immune. This is a male power issue, with men taking advantage of women, who are weaker, both physically and in terms of status in society. Religion, most of which preach that women are weak, are to be obedient to men, to submit to their husbands, etc. only fuels the opportunities for less honorable men to abuse their power over women.
What bothers me most is the hypocrisy of the religious. They preach the word of God, tell us how to live, what to believe, try to govern every aspect of our lives, but then feel free to commit the most horrible abuse. It is worse because they hold themselves out to be better than us, to be more moral, to speak for God.
As long as men, religious or not, have such an unequal amount of power and control over women, nothing will change. The Catholic Church will continue to sweep sexual abuse and rape under the rug, while wondering why their parishes are dwindling in numbers and why people aren't making the kinds of donations the church wants. If donations are going to protect priests who rape and sexually abuse kids, who rape nuns, etc., then that isn't religion, that's a gang/criminal organization masquerading as religion.
83
@marybeth I agree with much of what you said! However, do you think people who genuinely believe the Bible is the word of God, preach it as the word of God and follow its commands "feel FREE to commit the most horrible abuse." I agree with you that many men abuse the responsibility that the Bible gives them and use it wrongly. However, simply because someone does something wrong it doesn't necessitate that their religion is wrong or faulty.
Also, you shouldn't generalize the entirety of religion as something negative or something that "only fuels the opportunities for less honorable men to abuse their power over women," simply because many men (sadly too many) in religion have abused power over women. It's terrible that men wrongly live in accordance with their perception of truth, however I think generalizing the issue doesn't solve the problem.
Just like many evil things have been done "in the name of God," many evils have been done in the name of the Republican and Democratic Parties, in the name of black and women's rights, in the name of devotion to ones country (USSR and Natzi Germany), etc. The common denominator isn't religion, because many of these groups don't even promote a religion or outlawed it.
The common denominator is mankind. Where mankind is, there sin, or wrongdoing, is. And I think that the Christian message is a beautiful one because it says all people are broken, messed up and have sinned, yet God does love and provide forgiveness to everyone.
2
Based on what I see, for the most part, being a believer is believing that stating you are a believer gives you a moral mulligan to do anything you want. Commit a sin, ask for forgiveness, get a mulligan. Once you have the absolution, the slate is washed clean giving you the opportunity to repeat the cycle....sin, ask for forgiveness, get a mulligan. Repeat cycle as many times as you want. The more pious you are, the greater the sins you can commit. This is evidenced by the fact that so many of these crimes are committed by religious authority figures, be they priests of baptist, roman catholic, or whatever religion.
The hypocrisy is staggering.
93
@Aaron Of London
I bet there are even men who think they are MORE pious because of the regularity with which they repent their abuses/offence. I'm thinking of the recent story of an abuser who stood up in his congregation and gave his tearful mea culpa's and was honored for it, while his victim got no public support and was even criticized. Or maybe they enjoy the self-loathing for their actions, and believe that makes them more pious. Or maybe they see nothing wrong with what they have done, that's it's women who have historically had the role of leading men into sin, so shift the blame. Or they believe it's the role of women to always submit and therefore they are simply underscoring the way things are. The ability of people to rationalize their bad behavior is unlimited --and churches take an active part.
8
@Aaron Of London I agree there are many people who do that and that's a problem. However, even though many people may feel like they can sin as much as they want and ask for forgiveness, that's actually not supported by the Bible that they confess to "believe."
The Apostle Paul in Romans 3:8 talks about those people and says that "their condemnation is just!" And The Apostle John in 1 John 3 says that Christians won't continue to live in habitual and unremorseful sin but their lives will change.
The fact that you've seen people live in this "sin, repent, repeat" mode is just saddening and should not be the case for people who love God and believe the Bible. I'm sorry you've had to see that.
1
@Aaron Of London No that is a failure to believe what Gods word says. Our human fallacy means even the saved are bound to sin every day in some way. What you suggest is one can choose to repeat deliberate evil willingly, and receive forgiveness. Such a person has not received true salvation and never will. Because he had no intention to change in the first place.
1
I’m an ex-Southern Baptist for a variety of reasons, most of them personal and not political. I am also a public school teacher. I have seen alarms raised over the “epidemic” of sexual misconduct among teachers, and I’ve cautiously pointed out that it is a minuscule number who have been accused out of the hundreds of thousands of teachers in Texas. But I know it’s no defense for what is definitely a problem.
There are those who will look for unique flaws in the Baptist Church as a cause of this abuse. But while there may be some unique challenges faced by the church in addressing this problem, I think it’s safe to say that any large organization that puts adults in close proximity to children is inevitably going to have some bad actors in it. Diligence in prevention means never taking anything for granted and being as honest as possible about the potential for abuse. Baptists will have to endure some schadenfreude over this, but all organizations, secular or religious, should take heed.
2
@Joshua Krause -While I agree that predators can be found in all types of organizations that bring adults into close proximity with children, it is undeniable that the percentage of predators in religious organizations is higher than in secular ones, teaching for example.
The fact that religion provides 'cover' makes it a logical career choice for predators. Thus one should expect a higher vigilance irreligious organization's governance. Unfortunately, the reverse seems to be true. Add to this the temptation to cover-up is very strong.
This, in turn, compounds the hippocracy, since the
whole premise of a religious organization is that it stands on a higher moral ground.
Are religions going to self-destruct?
1
It has nothing to do with religion or religious practices. Wherever there is a hierarchy that is male, this kind of thing will happen. The problem is with the sex drive, which has evolved to be nearly the number one instinct governing the human mind. Particularly, the male sex drive. Yes, our civilization has developed checks on this drive, but they are very weak and flimsy.
Add to this, that the sex drive is often twisted by any number of neuroses, imbalances or mental illnesses that can afflict the minds of men, stemming from troubled families, repressed anger, feelings of superiority or inferiority, trauma, abuse, (abusers were often childhood victims) and many other things.
And then consider the messages that bombard us at all times from advertising, popular songs, tv, movies, and books: a thousand times every day we are hit with the message that sex is life. If you’re not getting satisfied sexually, you’re not really living. This is what sells products. And most of us take it in reasonably well, but for many, it becomes an obsession that distorts their lives.
Is it morally worse when it afflicts the religious? Only when the authorities cover it up.
2
Patriarchy is embedded in the dogma and structure of all christian denominations. And Patriarchy, by definition, gives men "privileges". No one should be shocked or surprised when men feel entitled to take advantage of those "privileges". It's inevitable.
32
@Nancy Julian...
Southern Babtists have been preying on LGBTQ human beings for Centuries. That these patriarchal males have also been preying on the females near them is perfectly consistent with their lack of empathy, compassion and spiritual responsibility.
7
@Nancy Julian
Misimpressions like these is the fault of the NYTimes, which treats catholics and evangelicals as if they represented "all christian denominations". You wouldn't know from reading the NYTimes that many denominations ordain women and therefore do not have "patriarchy" embedded in their "dogma and structure".
The gospel, minus moralism, is unconditional love. It is the existing default of religion, cosmology and all other human enterprises including the sciences. Unconditional love is meant to be practiced in our physical world of matter. Some will choose to abuse and do hurt and harm. A punitive, condemning approach is fruitless. It defies logic. Love is the only fruit-bearing remedy. It always has been.
4
@Stephen C. Rose
True, and completely unhelpful.
Elder Russell Moore makes some powerful points. I hope they are repeated throughout the Southern Baptist Convention by its pastors and deacons, and repeated especially among the young. This is, indeed, a time of reckoning. Christian people should feel comfortable in asserting their own boundaries and know how to respond when these boundaries are crossed, whether by people inside the church or outside. And you need to teach the young about this. Just as every other church should.
4
I read this piece curious to see how an organization with such self-professed moral and religious superiority as the SBC would handle such a crisis, and now I know. Taking a cue from their co-religionists in the Roman Catholic Church they are meeting it with sincere words of regret--mostly that the church's dirty secrets were found out. For in re-reading it, I found no real promise of change in the future and most troubling of all, a rather cursory sense of empathy for victims.
Would I be a cynic if I felt justified in believing that there will be many a sermon delivered this Sunday across the Convention how these revelations are the active work of dark and demonic forces--namely the Houston Chronicle?
63
Polling over the past couple of decades has seen a steady movement of Americans, first not attending church and then leaving the church completely. Some have projected that by 2040, a majority of Americans will claim no religious affiliations. What has now been revealed in the Evangelical Church will only further move Americans, particularly young people, away from any type of religious belief structure.
Religion in this country is on the decline. How the Catholics, Evangelicals and other churches 'handle' these issues may stem the speed of the retreat from organized religion, it certainly will not stop it. It can only move those who now question religion as a viable spiritual choice to continue to leave organized religion in the future.
10
@Bryan
Americans may be leaving "organized" religion but they're not abandoning religion altogether. They're becoming mystical free agents, what we used to call "Cafeteria Catholics." They reject birth-control restrictions while embracing abortion bans. They get divorced at the drop of a hat but still get remarried in a church. You might not be able to identify them as Episcopal or Catholic or Jew, but they still believe in a supernatural spirit who controls our destines. And when our elected representatives still insist on chanting prayers on the people's turf, it's chilling.
3
I appreciate Russell Moore's remarks about #metoo movement as it relates to Southern Baptists. It is my view that Baptists churches are no different from any other social organization and are in sync with the weaknesses and vulnerabilities that are common to American society. Religions are as likely to reflect social norms as they are to shape them. A humorous example: years ago church music was majesty and tuneful. Today, churches have ragtag bands who produced music of the lowest standards. Jesus didn't think that up; society imposed its norms on churches. To quote a famous person: SAD! LOL
7
Our churches have plenty of MeToo problems and it is hardly restricted to Baptists. Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Muslims are all offenders. The religious are deemed worse as hypocrites. In my opinion, though, we all struggle with our weaknesses and hypocrisy of the religious is no worse than hypocrisy of the secular.
44
@michjas
I agree with you, except that the power of religion, which (almost invariably) demands unquestioning belief, makes it easier for a person of religious authority to dominate the followers, so when s/he exploits them it is more awful.
19
@michjas I could not disagree more. Churches ( all of them) claim moral authority and moral virtue as their guiding principles. For ANYONE in any position to stop a pedophile and not do so is horrible. To do so in the name of protecting an organisation, especially one that claims moral superiority, is satanic.
14
As long as the so-called religious consider themselves morally superior to the rest of us, their hypocrisy most certainly IS worse. They need to straighten themselves out and leave everyone else alone. Good luck getting them to do that.
13
As Spinoza proclaimed and Einstein endorsed, “Nature is God, and God is Nature”.
There you have it. A true God that one can see, hear, touch, smell and taste.
13
This is christianity in a nut shell. Abusive.
FREE your mind. There are no gods.
32
Moore can say these WWJD-like things, but then his congregation has no problem chanting "Build The Wall".
41
Pull a Trump. Kill the messenger. 'Problem' solved because there is no 'problem'! Easy! Like trade wars!
16
Shouldn't they have had their "moment" at least 30 or so years ago, when Jim Bakker of the PTL (Pass the Loot) Club claimed he was "maneuvered" into a n extra-marital relationship by an evil temptress?
34
@Jbugko
Do I correctly recall that after that incident she (I'm disinclined to name her), posed for a Playboy pictorial? Was Playboy maneuvered into this? In any case, did both have "free will" in their decisions in these situations? Not everyone agrees that "free will" exists. As Oscar Wilde said, "I can resist anything exception temptation." And as Christopher Hitchens ironically said, "We have free will - The Boss says so!"
7
@dwsingrs8 she needed the money after he destroyed her life you goof ball.
2
Well said.
The way to bring clergy in line is to hit them where it matters most to them -- in the pocket book. When the collection plates are empty they will come around quickly. As long as the gullible continue to give, they will not.
33
@Penseur - Hear hear. Revoking their tax exemption would be a great start.
23
I would add one other thing...remove the tax deferral that...for some reason...we allow for all religions. That really burns my cookies.
5
@SuzieQD: Fortunately their personal income is not tax exempt and some of those Baptist Preachers are raking in big bucks.
2
Jesus may or may not have existed. Assuming he did, and assuming he and the father and the holy ghost are prefect and see all for all time, and that we are his/their creations, then Jesus is responsible for the mess made on Earth by those touting allegiance to him/they. I do wonder where all the miracles are to save the day or reinforce the Christian worldview. Interesting that the holy trinity hasn't been able to intervene to embellish its creds since all the way back to the Bronze Age when the stories of the Bible were written by unnamed authors.
15
1. All serious academics agree that a man known as Jesus lived in the region of present day Palestine and was crucified by Pontious Pilate in the 30s AD.
2. The record of miracles is extensive and continues to the present day--it's literally the only reason the Catholic Church canonizes Saints.
You are free to disbelieve if you like, but you shouldn't need patently false straw men to confirm your disbelief.
1
@Ed Smith I have thought for a long time when i see Jesus upon a cross, he is there for his sins as well as ours. He created through the process of evolution and after seeing what the early hominoids were capable of and did, he let the upcoming Homo Sapians continue upward and onward to their full blown existence? I'm glad he did but we are a vicious lot and yet, we can do great and beautiful things. (Only now and then) That's the mystery of it all but Christ had atone too.
Non church goer
"How will it respond?" By blaming the victims, obfuscating, delaying, paying settlements but not admitting fault, etc -- straight from the (mostly) right wing/religious playbook. We've seen this movie too many times.
25
@Mark: Paying settlements but not admitting fault? I thought only Donald Trump did that -- about 666 times.
1
@Mark Read the Houston Chronicle articles if you want to know how this institution will respond: Hide & deny; blame the victim; bury its collective head in the sand. One can substitute the name of any large, powerful institution for the SBC. This abuse has been going on for well over 1,000 years. Anyone who attends these churches is an accomplice.
1
As someone not burdened by faith, I am often surprised by the hollowness of arguments that are based on faith. Take Jesus out of this situation, and what you have are bad people doing bad things to vulnerable people. They should be exposed and punished just like any other bad people doing bad things. We really don't need Jesus to tell us what to do.
50
Note one difference between the Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention: It is easier to investigate abuse by clergy in the Catholic Church, because each diocese maintains centralized personnel records that can be subpoenaed. Personnel records for Southern Baptist clergy are scattered among the multiple individual autonomous congregations that make up the Convention.
9
@Charles Chotkowski Charles, your point is well taken. With Baptist churches, for the most part there are no records to hide or to look up. Abusers just move on and nothing is written down. In all my years as a Southern Baptist, I only knew of one person who got out of line involving sex. He moved on to another state and remained active in the ministry.
5
The shepherd’s crook traditionally has a spike in the end opposite the hook. The spike is there to dispatch the wolves who attack the flock. Sad that the Southern Baptist clergy leadership has failed in its sacred responsibility to defend the defenseless.
7
Having grown up with religious parents and observing the world for 69 years, and having spent 19 years in the Middle East, I came to a pretty solid conclusion, or at least a rule of thumb: the more pious people are, the more hypocritical. Perhaps an extreme example is the US military reports that ISIS computers contained about 80% pornography. And, of course, the Southern Baptists aren't much holier.
38
It's encouraging that Mr. Moore is steadfast against sexual abuse. I have to give him that.
Now, perhaps Mr. Moore can enlighten civilized society in America and elsewhere as to how a majority of his Jesus-worshiping counterparts in the U.S. electorate could do the mental gymnastics necessary to vote for the moral and mental train wreck who currently occupies the Oval Office.
Honestly, it's difficult for me to take any adult seriously who is still willing to assume the moniker of "Southern Baptist", a sect that originated from the need to justify slavery in antebellum America. Praise the Lord! Yeah, right.
Mr. Moore believes he is destined for a special, favored place in the next life. I don't mind thinking I might be residing in some other location.
43
Women commit sexual assault at as high a rate as men. Sports coaches do so at as high a rate as clergy. Movements are loath to lessen their limelight by acknowledging human nature.
@CK:
"Women commit sexual assault at as high a rate as men". Not according to any data I have seen. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Since so much of sexual assault involves both accessability and an uneven power relationship, It seems unlikely in our society that this could be true.
6
@CK Women do? And your proof is .... what?
@CK facts please
How will it respond?
The easy answer is; it won't. It's part of their culture
9
Once, I thought this type of sexual exploitation of the young was concentrated inside the Catholic Church.
Now, thanks to recent revelations, I can see that sexual exploitation is rife in the Southern Baptist convention. But, it is also rife inside the Boy Scouts. And inside organized sports where evidence of exploitation of both female animal athletes is revealed every month, so it seems.
Finally, (in Canada) sexual exploitation seems to be endemic inside our police forces.
What conclusion do I draw? Predatory men will seek out the opportunity to prey on the vulnerable wherever they can. The predators are all too often the powerful. The prey are almost always the vulnerable.
Society needs to recognize that we have a huge pervasive problem that needs aggressively to be brought under control. Treating sexual exploitation as a crime of opportunity by the powerful against the weak is the only way to attack the problem.
The spinelessness of our churches in concealing just what has been happening has led to widespread exploitation. The same is true in our athletic and educational communities.
"The meek shall inherit the earth"; but, until that time comes, they deserve all the protection society can give.
22
@formerpolitician - A pervasion problem? Do you mean perversion? Since when is sexual aggressiveness perverted? It's as natural as greed. What it is a problem of misuse of power. That's bad but not what you call it.
Morality, ethics, values, what have you, are a middle class characteristic.
When you vote GOP you are voting for a party whose prime directive is the ever greater concentration of wealth and power on behalf of the wealthy and powerful.
To get elected the GOP says they are for middle class values. Then they get elected, and proceed to shrink the middle class.
Look at the global abortion rates. The nations with the highest abortion rates, typically Brazil, abortion is illegal but the concentration of wealth is high.
So every time a middle class Christian votes GOP, he votes to shrink the middle class, undermine values and increase the rate of abortion.
These people are pathetic in how they did evil's work in God's name.
17
Anyone that has read the New Testament, religious or not, know that most modern churches go out of their way to worship money. And those that can throw more their way.
Sexual predators within church groups should not surprise anyone. You put authoritative people in charge of the weak and venerable, children or women, looking for some leadership or guidance. Then provide little or no oversight, it is an ideal incubator for predators.
Look for News articles on this - No organization that deals with people is immune to this. As long as people join organizations that put their family members in others care, and the leaders and caregivers have no training and no real oversight this will continue. And even then thre will be isolated instances.
8
Mr. Moore, are you telling us that as President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission for SBC this is the first that you are hearing of this massive abuse that has gone on for decades? What did you know, and when did you know it? This is PR damage control, and comes off as totally insincere.
85
As a Catholic living in Texas for over 40 years there is much I could say but I'll leave it with a bigger bunch of holier then thou phonies you'll never meet.
As someone already said this explains their affection for Trump.
41
Russel Moore, Church and it’s clergy are a stain on humanity. “Do as I say, not as I do”. That sentence should be on the front door of every entry way of every church on this planet.
It’s not just sexual abuse that every church is rife with, its abuse of the congregations’ money. Gold, silver and large shrines to man’s ego. Churches need to have their tax exempt status removed.
47
@Homer I agree completely.
2
@Homer
Amen to that, brother!
1
Of course, we knew this already didn't we? White evangelicals have shown us that they are willing to overlook any amount of wrongdoing, in the name of immoral opportunism. They do not believe that women should have the same rights as men.
They were among the strongest supporters of Mr. Trump. It did not matter to them that Trump had been credibly accused of sexual assault, and he had admitted to doing so himself.
It did not matter to them that Mr. Kavanaugh, more likely than not, sexually assaulted an underage young woman.
Aren't these white evangelicals the very frauds and predators whom Jesus would have driven from the temple? The immoral opportunists and the perpetrators of sexual assault and the woman haters alike?
61
@Robert How are you making this a white evangelical issue when it crosses race and even religious boundries? There are many non-white Southern Baptists. And what dos Trump really have to do with this? Many Southern Baptists do not like Trump either. Russel Moore is a good example of one of them. This response just seems reactionary without understanding the issue.
11
@Carl
Thank you for your reply. As Mr. Moore says, this was also a cover-up. Trump and his white religious supporters have fostered an ethos of rampant immoral opportunism. That is precisely what Moore is talking about here. Moore tells us they covered this up because knowledge of it would interfere with their religious proselytizing. True, a minority of Southern Baptists don't like Trump. Most, however, do support Trump, especially the white churches. These people have made a strong claim. They claim to be moral voices for the nation. How could they support a man like Trump? How could they cover up such horrible crimes? How could they perpetrate such crimes themselves? This is more than just a tale of human failings. I don't believe my comment was reactionary at all.
23
"The church is to be the place that previews for the world a picture of what the kingdom of God is like — a place where sinners are reconciled to God and to one another, where the weakest among us are loved and respected." But, you see, that has never really happened in any of the Christian denominations because the seduction of power attracts those who would abuse and exploit the most vulnerable among them. I gave up on my religion (Catholicism) back in 2002 when I saw how horribly the Church did not deal with the sexual abuse in their ranks and while I only went back for three years, it disgusted me enough to say "never again." Religion has been a curse on the people, being spiritual is much more satisfying and no need to worry about dogma.
23
A clergyman or –woman may be more learned than you, but that does not make him or her any better than you as a human being.
13
It is good that those who hurt children are being sought out and castigated. This should be happening across ALL religions and creeds. I will wait right here for these moral superheros point their ire at any other religion. It is clear that there is an open war against Christianity in America, (and this is coming from an open atheist). I will wait right here till these virtue warriors to talk about what Rabbis do with a freshly circumcised baby in the orthodox sects. I'll wait right here while they look into Islam and its common practices of FGM, forced marriage and other atrocities against women. Or they can continue to rail against Christianity solely and prove the point that the Far Left is willing to align itself with other evils in order to overturn the religious system that built our current culture.
6
@Mystery Lits, Oh man, what a tangent.
1
@Mystery Lits
Protestant Christianity and its defenders are no better than any other religious group when it comes to this contemptible behavior, they just act like it, and then supported DJT, a known adulterer. But, like the Catholic Church, the SBC covered up the child abuse. Read about Dr. Moore's prinipled stance against Trump, which had all of the SBC hypocrites in a lather, here:
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/march/russell-moore-job-erlc-southern-baptists-frank-page-trump.html
At least he's saying something about list latest outrage!!
1
If there was an investigation of all religious denominations, you are sure to find sexual and physical abuse present. The Catholic Church, the Orthodox Jewish faith and now the Southern Baptists have been found guilty of these sins. Which religion will be revealed next to have abused members? Sad to say, I bet there is not one who is totally innocent. We must rid our houses of worship of this evil and whenever and wherever it occurs, it must be called out and condemned. Absolutely no exceptions.
7
@WPLMMT, and I wonder how many of these pious abusers have encouraged their victims to get abortions when needed?
3
The people's opium. Religiosity and all the contaminants used in the abuse of the teachings of the Man from Galilee are easily ignored. There is no Holy Grail. Follow the Ten Commandments as well as you can or find some other rules of the road. Organised Christianity is like snake oil. Bad for the snake and the person who buys it. Good for the wholesaler....for a while.
11
These are the same people who support Trump. Yet another glaring example of hypocrisy. If these people were truly Christian they’d dump Trump because he’s the anti-Christ, kick out their church leadership, sell the church assets, help the poor with the proceeds and spend their Sunday mornings volunteering at a homeless shelter, migrant center or food bank rather than impressing their friends with perfect attendance at their local, multi-million dollar mega church wearing their Sunday best.
23
@SPH needs to do a little fact-checking. This "These are the same people who support Trump" mantra falls into the trap of painting with a too-broad brush. The fact is that Dr. Moore is opposed to Trump, as are many other Southern Baptists, yours truly included. The headlines legitimately and correctly spotlight the Trumpistas among Baptist clergy, but that is far from the whole story. All the community activities of good will that SPH cites that Baptists should be involved in are front and center among my local congregation.
3
@SPH You do know that Southern Baptists come in all shapes and sizes and political affiliations. Russell Moore is one good example of a SBC member who dislikes Trump. Why stereotype and lump the whole group into one?
3
Sexual assault didn't even make it into the top ten list of sins (aka The Ten Commandments).
Yet a man "coveting" his neighbor's wife did make the list.
That's tells me all I need to know about a religion's ability to end thousands of years of sexual abuse of its females.
17
If these Southern Baptists are to have any credibility in their declared resolve to effectively confront the scandal of sexual abuse and predation, they should start by soundly condemning the loathsome, unrepentant criminal actions, self-admitted, by none other than the current President of the United States. What say you Southern Baptists?
19
Would any other tax-exempt organization be allowed to "investigate" sex abuse crimes internally and transfer the alleged offender to another site? I think we know the answer.
21
Not to worry Mr. Moore. After all of the revelations of abuse among leaders of other religious denominations, hardly anyone is shocked at the news of sexual abuse in yet another religious denomination, or expects anything meaningful to be done about it.
16
Light is finally reaching the dark corners, a plethora of them, of "churches" at last. So, where are the broad investigations and subpoenas? These organizations deserve ZERO protections. They are rife with abuses and need to be held accountable to the rule of law. ALL of them. That said, I cannot understand why anyone believes any of the facade. Sex, $, and power. That's what it's all about. Meantime, take away ALL exemptions.
16
Christians of all stripes have been steeped in "alternative facts" and "fake news"—becoming little Mike Pence's or Sarah Huckabee Sanderses—for 2 millennia. Covering stuff up, not facing evidence, dismissing hard or inconvenient truths, is what we (I'm one, barely) do. I doubt this revelation will make a dent. Perhaps a few honest souls will become a bit more agnostic.
10
Amongst the more flagrant examples of rank hypocrisy arising from this particular sexual abuse scandal are the instances of “counseling” by pastors urging impregnated parishioners to seek out abortion providers. Apparently. “sanctity of life” loses out to protection of church elders’ reputations...honestly, the immoral, unethical, and surely “un-Christian” behaviour by these so-called religious leaders dovetails perfectly with many of those self-same abusers’ support of Donald Trump, whose own behaviour over decades is a mockery of moral values. Is there any wonder at the continually falling church membership here in the US, given the track record of priests, pastors, bishops, et al?
17
As is said, the cover up is worse than the crime.
That this pastor would have the audacity to explain why the Southern Baptists are no better than the Catholic Church or the politicians or the celebrities - part of the #metoo movement, indeed - instead of showing humility and asking for forgiveness is appalling.
The hypocrisy of this opinion piece proves the depravity of these men. And they are just ordinary men - not at all men of faith.
11
@Mimi Did you read the same piece I did? He said the SBC had no excuse for what has happened.
8
I live in Quebec where when I was born Church and State were one and the same and where Mark Twain once said you couldn't throw a stone without breaking a church window. We understand power corrupts and even as we know power corrupts we are seeing the backlash of centuries of abuse at the hands of an institution most of our citizens regard as purveyors superstitious nonsense. We are not just nonbelievers we reject religions all religions and see religion as the right sees anything short of its inability to reconcile anarchy and autocracy as socialism.
I do not believe in the God of Moses and Mohammed but I believe in Jesus and choose to believe he believed in truth and the God of Einstein and in our universe there is no rolling of the dice and that cause and effect is never magic.
We are 50 years into kicking religion out of our government, our schools, our hospitals and our meeting places.
Power corrupts and the solution was taught to you by your Messiah. It is only humility that can make us larger than we are and some us understand your reverence for the world's smallest man who is devoid of both truth and humility.
Your church's biggest problem is not the abuse of power but of understanding your Messiah's message.
9
I don't need a lecture, explanation, or rationalizations. I need to see an immediate call to the police, and the follow up investigation.
"... Predators are awful and should be held accountable wherever they are found. But nothing is worse than those who would abuse the vulnerable under the name of Jesus Christ. …"
Why did god create these predators?
Epicurus caught the true essence of the god delusion:
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”
22
Since when do Southern Baptists have a problem with sexism? Their platform is literally that men rule over women.
34
@failingnyt, you always get me with these hilarious rhetorical questions. in this case, "How will it respond?"
the answer, which I already knew, is silence. but i like to read all the letters in the article which, together, spell out S-I-L-E-N-C-E. oh @failingnyt, you are so funny!
2
I personally know of three ministers, at two different churches (Dallas), who committed acts which had them dismissed from a particular church. The elders of each church publicly stated these ministers left because of personal reasons. However, each of them left because of sexual misconduct. In all three cases they just ended up at another Southern Baptist Church..
The SBC, unlike most churches, operates in a centralized model. That is, each church congregation operates independently, and is responsible for its internal operations. In return, they can use educational materials from the SBC, So there is no parish diocesan, arch diocesan hierarchy.
So, fired ministers could just end up anywhere, and the new congregation may never know about the minister's past.
A number of people have lambasted the Roman Catholic Church, even in these blogs, meanwhile they may know of an incident in their own non-Catholic church.
The Houston Chronicle may be uncovering the tip of a very big ice berg. And, remember much of the Christian fundamentalist political movement comes from the SBC. Talk about "people in glass houses, shouldn't throw stones".
14
I am a recovering Baptist, 11 years of perfect attendance in Sunday School as a kid and a young man. In the mid 60's our church welcomed a new pastor, very charismatic and fundamental in his preaching. Turns out he was having sex with his daughter, with the wife of a deacon (with whom he fathered a child), and one of the members of the BYF (Baptist Youth Fellowship). When my mother (the Junior Choir director) and others raised the issue we (entire family) were summarily dismissed from the church. Enough said.
285
@Richard Sawyer
He was not having sex with his daughter. He was raping her.
100
@magicisnotreal
Rape is having sex. Your emotion is overpowering your reason.
2
@Thomas Zaslavskyk Your lack of emotion is underpowering your reason. Rape is to sex what strangulation is to a hug.
10
There needs to be heavy regulation and oversight of religion in this country. The "Free Exercise Clause" prevents the government from "prohibiting the free exercise" and not "regulating" it. Many of the early state constitutions allowed for the free exercise as long as religion did not affect the "public welfare." The Founders of this country were VERY aware of church abuse. We can "trust but verify" that religions are not abusing their members many of whom are members against their will, i.e., children. We should regulate religion the same way we'd regulate a daycare center or nursing home.
11
@Jon
...along with coaches, team doctors, university professors, hollywood moguls and (most sadly) school teachers. This is an illness of the human soul, not of churches per se.
1
@jlunine
true. But the groups you mentioned are not tax-exempt, and are not essentially immune to government oversight.
2
The series of articles about the SBC by the Houston Chronicle are outstanding. The level of investigative journalism required is a testament to why we should support newspapers. I would encourage everyone to take some time and read those articles.
38
In Jesus’ day, women had important roles in the church. He would support participation of women in the church today as ministers, other clergy, and in other positions of authority. I think treating women as adults in the church with the same rights and responsibilities as men would help address the sexual abuse issues. It would make sexual abuse less likely and it would mean that women who were abused would be more likely to speak out.
I recommend the book Trauma and Recovery by Dr. Judith Herman to help understand the effects of sexual abuse and what is needed to treat victims of sexual abuse.
17
@lsl
Well and properly said! As clergy in a church (United Methodist) with its own troubles around sexuality, I couldn't agree more! Though we have come a little earlier to an understanding of Jesus' inclusive Kingdom than our Southern Baptist sisters and brothers - including the ordination of women (only in my lifetime)!
Still the most vulnerable must be protected at all times. How the Southern Baptists choose to honor this basic way to follow and love Jesus remains to be seen.
5
I doubt Southern Baptists will pay any credence to #MeToo when their hearts and souls belong to #MAGA.
"Beware of false prophets" ..
120
"If children got raped by clowns as often as they get raped by preachers it would be against the law to take your kids to the circus, part three milllion and one." - Dan Savage
62
In the mid-70s, in a small Central Texas city, a youth minister at First Methodist was found to have arranged some intimate moments with several teenage boys. Some parents had their suspicions, but only one (me) dared to speak out. Finally, to protect the “reputations” of the boys, the minister was quietly let go by the church’s board of trustees. He was immediately hired by an Assembly of God congregation. The catholics and baptists don’t have a corner on abuse. They are just the first to be widely exposed, so to speak. Any time such faith is invested in (mostly) men, there’s opportunity, and there will always be those who will exploit it.
43
@Bluebeliever
Of course this problem is not limited to Catholics and Baptists or to Christians for that matter.
The RCC gets a lot of attention because of the broad nature of the power and authority it claims and because of its historical struggles-battles and wars, really- with Protestants and secularization.
The SBC will be getting a lot of attention because it dominates broad swathes of the country. I meyt a Southern girl once upon a time- decades ago when I was a young man. She made it a point to tell me that she was a Presbyterian, NOT a Baptist.
8
@Lefthalfbach smart girl
2
I enjoy dynamic discussions prompted by Times opinion pieces.
But this is drivel, not of genuine intellectual interest to any person. We don't need sermons in our newspaper. Dialogue about religion is certainly fair and exposure of corruption is both fair and necessary. But this is just a shallow expression of unexamined, uncritical religious literalism and has no redeeming characteristics.
23
@Barking Doggerel
First, this is an opinion piece, not a news article or even a NYT editorial.
Second, why are you so angry?
@Barking Doggerel: So, you don't care about systemic abuse?
1
The ardent pursuit of the “unholy trinity” of Sex, Money and Male Power has basically come to define organized religion for me. Never forgetting of course the breathtaking hypocrisy as the church hierarchy fulminate from the pulpits about the very sins they most excel at.
61
Mr. Moore, your pain is audible; but you are missing the point. Christianity--and especially an evangelicalism that promotes the doctrine of original sin and of pre-emptive 'forgiveness' through 'salvation' and cheap grace--is a predator's perfect hunting ground.
Evangelicalism does not recognize my grandmothers' straight-and-narrow Methodism; it is a free-for-all hedonism--because Jesus saves and pre-emptively forgives everything. Good luck with that 'kingdom of God' thing.
34
I'd much rather read an opinion piece written by Debbie Vasquez on this subject than find myself reading the drivel of a self-serving president of a "Religious Liberty" Commission who has done nothing else but this letter sermonizing how it's now the age of accountability (now that we know what this president has been presiding over).
Over the past 30 years when it comes to addressing the issue, all he's focused on is how the religious right is not being given enough legislation passed in his favor - and without paying any taxes.
Where's the apology.
58
@Jbugko You won't get that.
Just hand-wringing and self flagellation for the cameras. Then back to the same-old -- sex and cash -- behind closed doors.
“Any church shown to be covering up for abuse, or that refuses to compassionately care for those who have survived such trauma, should be withdrawn from the fellowship of its denomination.” - No, the local police should be called, the CRIME reported, investigated, and if guilty, prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Doesn’t your bible say “Render unto Cesar that which is Cesar’s”? Meaning, FOLLOW THE LAW AND STOP COVERING UP A CRIME. Otherwise, your church is complicit.
65
@RT, In the midst of the third from last paragraph there is indeed the phrase "and they should commit to immediately reporting abuse allegations to civil authorities" so maybe your all-caps is overkill. That said, the question in my mind is why this point which should have been the lede was buried.
4
I am a survivor of not only incest but abuse by other men due to my conditioning early in life. Thus, I saw how evil men are at a very young age and I also saw the hypocrisy in the whole scheme of organized religions. Power and control. It all comes down to power and control. What better way to humiliate, intimidate and subjugate than to use sexual violence. Until the whole patriarchal system of power and control is dismantled, there will be nothing Jesus or any other superpower can do to stop the sexual abuse of children and other vulnerable people.
228
@Nancy
Tragically, almost all the major religions promote male power and control, starting with a humanoid male god who creates a MAN ""in HIS own image", and then takes a rib from the man to make a female "for HIS companionship." Because, you see, human males are at the very center of the universe. How arrogant. How narcissistic.
7
Thank you for writing this article about abuse. Perhaps you who are in authority might tell us what you would do to actively stand up for those victimized by abuser. But this article is at least a start.
I am not one who would condemn all religion or spirituality because of human actions, but I will condemn those who hide behind religions for their justification. Evangelicals excuse the abusive, misogynist behavior as 'boys will be boys' and this is the same attitude that many in that community will use to over look that behavior in their religious community. It is all well and good to preach about holy scripture and love, but to overlook suffering right under your own nose is the height of human disrespect are implicated in the behavior. I am not one to judge, and when I do something to hurt another I will take responsibility for it and say and do something to correct the behavior and attitude that caused it.
14
No surprise, this has been going on for decades if not centuries and across Christian sects and communities. If nothing else gives some relief to the Roman Catholics, but just as serious and devastating to all those abused by religious figures.
10
@Ken McBride "this has been going on for decades if not centuries and across Christian sects and communities." It's a world-wide problem not a Christian one. It's a human problem, not an institutional and/or organizational one. Abuse is worse when it happens by those in position or power to do so, however, it is just as wrong when committed by colleagues, family, strangers, etc. Ken, to demonize the other as if that's what would fix the problem is fantasy. Lets work together to understand and help heal each other.
7
@Robert
Yes, of course it's a human problem. But it's also an institutional and/or organizational one if institutions/organizations ignore instances of it, provide cover for abusers, and further victimize the abused.
12
I really think the time is far past when evangelicals should be talked about in a special way, or given any special deference, because they assert that their particular identity is somehow closer to a supernatural goodness and their particular focus is on morality. They have given ample proof that they are no more moral, and perhaps no less, then any random sample of individuals. As a group, they set no particular example by the lives they lead. There should be no greater surprise their human-created organization, The Southern Baptist Convention, is shot through with sexual abuse of the weak and defensless, than if they were an organization of gymnasts, or business people, or politicians.
44
@earlyman
Agreed.
Moreover, when will the evangelists awaken and support the social gospel?
9
"...When churches do cover up abuse, they often justify it by acting as if they are preventing the world from seeing scandal."
Well, thanks for explaining that one to all of us, Mr. Moore.
Now can you explain why it took this long to respond when there have been hundreds of Baptists Pastors since the 1970s who have sexually abused men, women, and children? Some of them actually served time in jail.
And it took you this long to respond.
No wonder your congregation is shocked. They should be shocked at the "religious liberty" you took in taking this long to make a statement.
And at how self-serving it is.
25
"Predators are awful and should be held accountable wherever they are found." And what about the minions all around who are willfully blind to what IS that should not be? Willfully deaf to human-produced existential pains; to the muted anguish of those too exhausted to voice theirs? Willfully ignorant as so many of US metaphorically "drown" in knowing, but choose not to understand?"accountable" in a WE-THEY culture which continues to seed, foster, grow and harvest, harmful words and deeds. Violating by creating, selecting and targeting "the other(s)," who are fellow human beings? Where are the personally accountable policymakers, local and national, secular and religious ( not in name only)? Indeed, what is God's accountability in all of this? Still dialoguing, as in the Sdom Biblical narrative whether there are at least 10 good men? Menschlichkeit is not a monopoly of any belief system. And ummenschlichkeit continues to have a receptive home in all of them!
3
My father was a pastor, not of an Evangelical Church. People loved his sermons, as did I, even as a child.
For all of his life his stated philosophy was that the message of Jesus was not how to find everlasting glory and life, but instead was to find fulfillment while on earth. He never once preached that all you needed was to "believe" in Jesus and you would be "saved." He never talked about going to heaven if you believed, or any of that life after death stuff.
Instead, he preached to live like Jesus. And, as a matter of fact, he did his best to do that himself.
Wish he was still alive. But I am glad he had his life before he had to witness that Christians elected Donald Trump.
104
@Dan
Your dad, though perhaps apolitical, must have been like some of the Christians and Jews I knew about decades ago and some today, who fought McCarthyism, political intolerance and hatreds, and militarism.
7
The Southern Baptist sexual abuse scandal is not wholly analogous to the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal. Unlike Catholic churches, Southern Baptist churches are autonomous; there is no church government or hierarchy and no bishops, cardinals or pope. The deacons of each Southern Baptist church interview and hire or fire their church’s minister and church staff. So there is no collective guilt. Each Southern Baptist church bears sole responsibility for the actions of its professional and volunteer staff.
There are about 47,000 Southern Baptist churches. The Houston Chronicle reported roughly 380 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have faced allegations of sexual misconduct involving about 700 victim over two decades. So no more than 1.5 percent of Southern Baptist church had reported cases of sexual abuses during the 20-year period.
4
@William Case
A small percentage of sexual crimes are reported; given the stigma about sex outside of marriage, especially among church-going people, and especially among Southern Baptists, it is likely that far more are actually committed. Statements like yours only serve to drive more of these crimes underground. Who would be willing to report a crime to you, knowing that your first reaction would be minimize it and cast doubt on it?
22
@Steve
That is why I referred to "reported cases." Still, the number of reported cases is small.
1
@William Case
William, it's just getting started. I am stunned and disappointed at your rationalizing. We've seen it all before. It doesn't end well.
10
RUSSELL MOORE, leader focusing on ethics in the Southern Baptist Church, writes movingly of the great harm done to the survivors of sexual abuse, but also of the scriptural admonitions to protect its members from abuse and exploitation, if they wish to follow the teachings of Jesus. He does not go to the next step to address the institutional response to the sexual abuse history in the church. Nor does he state clearly how he would implement training to help children and others protect themselves from sexual abuse. Absent such a commitment, I fear that the structure of the groups of abusers will continue their crimes unabated. with no oversight or structured response from the church leadership. It us understandable, given the example of the struggles the Catholic church has faced in attempting to identify and hold accountable those who abused children and adults sexually over generations. The fact that the Baptist church may not have any similar hierarchy means that a system of monitoring, investigating and bringing to justice alleged accusers, along with providing protection, support and counseling for those who are survivors of sexual child abuse. I would urge that the leaders consult with experts in the areas of human development, health and reproduction, along with treating survivors of sexual abuse as well as perpetrators. The journey will be long and difficult, sad and painful. But still essential. A powerful starting point is, Love your neighbor as yourself.
13
After reading this article I was reminded of the words of Jesus when he said: “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea.” While I agree with the majority of reader reactions that the first response of any institution, including the church, that encounters criminal behavior within its’ ranks, should be to contact the police, I am also reminded of Jesus saying: “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” As atrocious as the sins of these men are, they too have a savior that they can turn to. Jesus came to die for this very reason. Yes, there are degrees of sin, but none, even the worst, are unforgivable (definitely indictable though). Victims may not forgive perpetrators but God certainly will if He is approached with a truly repentant heart. Both perpetrators and victims are sinners that need a savior. It’s easy to separate the world into the bad guys and the good guys, but we know that people, cultures and society are much more nuanced than that. We live in a fallen world. Christians should point others to Jesus and the life that he led, not to the church, its’ leaders, or its’ followers.
@David
I'd like to point out that after the police are called, the perpetrators arrested and tried, and those guilty according to the laws of man put in prison, they can go ahead and find salvation and forgiveness behind bars.
52
@David
Who needs virtue when there's cheap grace for the asking?
10
@David
I don’t agree that victims are sinners. They are the ones who have been wronged.
8
Please read "Predators, Pedophiles, Rapists & Other Sex Offenders" by Anna C. Salter. It is an education on the behavior of sexual predators. This predatory behavior occurs in all walks of life. It seems to me that sexual predation is not handled well whether it is in our church, family, scout club or workplace. At the very least more knowledge might help us recognize the predators among us.
25
Welcome to the world of evangelical, fundamentalist Christianity. Looks awfully human, does it not?
My mother raised the four of us kids in a sect even more fundamental than the Southern Baptists (Dad was an atheist, go figure.) My two younger sisters have told me time and again how "creepy" several of the leaders of the congregation we were members of were, especially when the girls were participating in an overnight event at our local church or out of town visiting other congregations for "worship" and "Christian education" programs. Maybe the problem was there were never enough women chaperones and the men took it as their responsibility to personally see to the safety and welfare of the girls when they bedded down on cots or pallets in strange church buildings. Maybe. A couple of the local men were particularly willing, it seemed to my sisters, to shoulder that burden. As far as I know, neither of my sisters were physically touched or molested, but it's bad enough they even felt these vibes.
No, this is not new, it is not rare. It is par for the course. Fundamentalist Christians are obsessed with sex, at least as much as are the Catholic priests and bishops that have roiled that branch of religion. The fundamentalists don't have the excuse of that bizarre burden of celibacy. Makes you wonder which of the two, priest or preacher, is the worse predator.
65
When will North Americans realize that religion - all religion - is as divisive as the Trump presidency? Each denomination proclaims that its version is the truth while ignoring the fact that most beliefs are simply fairy tales. The most moral, ethical people I know are atheists.
108
@Jack Noon
AMEN!
4
I was a team member/speaker ‘For Such a Time as This Rally’ @ the annual meeting in Dallas asking the SBC for a sex offender database, mandatory training of all leaders on the issues of domestic abuse and sexual assault, & to raise awareness about cover-ups in the SBC. Our goal was to come alongside the church to help protect, respond to, & minister to survivors in Christ honoring ways. We consisted of our team members, a few SBC women, survivors who drove hours to stand in solidarity against abuse, & a pastor who had never attended an annual meeting but heard about the rally and decided to attend. No one in SBC leadership came near the rally. Your attendees who walked by on their lunch break had a variety of reactions. With a smile I asked, “Would you like a resource page to keep on file for ministering to victims of abuse?” A handful said thank you. Many wouldn’t look at me, I saw many thumbs down gestures, some rolled their eyes at me, one person told me there’s no such thing, I was asked why I was trying to create problems, many men and women walked to the other side of the sidewalk or road when I offered them a resource page. One woman threw her arms in the air, jumped back as if I were dirty or trying to hurt her, and stridently made a sound of disgust. Others replied, “No, thank you, not interested, or I don’t want one.” News cameras caught all of this. I was disheartened at the hard hearts. You may read more at SprititualBattles dot org to find free resource page.
147
@Carolyn Deevers Confronting the truth is very painful because it frequently shakes the entire foundation you rely upon. Recently, CNN interviewed a woman and told her that Trump spends $3.3 million in taxpayer money every time he flies Air Force One to Mar-A-Lago to play golf. The interviewee recoiled and said: "I have to believe he uses his own money for that".
No amount of proof would shake her mistaken belief.
When our fragile psyche depends upon beliefs, humans are unable to accept the truth. That's why Trump continues to succeed with the most vulnerable. Acceptance that they were "conned", the realization that they were so completely fooled by a world class liar, is simply too much to bear.
33
@Carolyn Deevers: that is truly a sad story. The SBC reminds me so much of the FLDS "keep sweet" mantra that women have to be subjugated into practicing.
16
@Carolyn Deevers
No surprises there. Turning one's eyes away from facts no matter how blatant allows these people, these good Christians to continue to support Trump and his actions--separating children from asylum seeking parents, for example--that are the actions of a pagan or worse.
13
Where will you find sexual abuse? Anywhere where children are found, where vulnerable adults are found, where there are great power imbalances. Schools, churches, sports activities, medical facilities, theatres, film industry, scouting, lots of workplaces. Ministers, priests, movie directors, teachers, coaches, principals, doctors, therapists, nurses have all been perpetrators of abuse. A small number of people in any profession do a great deal of harm to many.
Sexual abuse is not new. Widespread awareness of the problem is relatively new (1970's). I believe that it was the norm in ancient times. In ancient Rome, sexual slavery was commonplace. We have a long way to go before sexual abuse is a rare event.
20
The author has a good point: it's not just any particular religious denomination, and not just religions. ANY system that has a power structure is ripe for abuse. Those who are less powerful must constantly be on the watch for this tendency in their superiors, and those who rise to power must keep an even sharper watch for it in themselves.
I think most people don't make their way up the ladder with the goal of being able to abuse others, but if they think about the possibility at all, they think of themselves as decent people who would never do anything like that, and thus are not on guard against their own dark side. Something like asking a subordinate out for drinks and then maybe making a move on them can seem like a natural, normal part of life --- people go out for drinks and possible romance all the time, right? And if EVERYONE is your subordinate, then how are you supposed to avoid that? --- if you don't take into account the possibility that your subordinate is only saying yes out of fear for their job. Your assumption that the invitation is not fraught with peril and any subsequent relationship is purely voluntary is naive at best. Your assumption that you are a decent person who would never do such a thing must be questioned constantly.
6
@Bruce Great response. The SBC should be ashamed and do whatever it can to make sure these types of things do not happen again and do whatever they can to help the victims of the abuse. This type of abuse has been found everywhere. The same people condemning the SBC are in organization that have rampant abuse problems that are covered up. WE do not need a holier than thou response from anyone. What we need is a real response and real hope that things can and will get better.
1
Autonomy for each congregation also mean autonomy on how much insurance to carry to cover these claims. The Romans have zillions in insurance coverage, plus an immeasurable collection of art and real estate. The local Baptist Church has a sanctuary, a gym, a fellowship hall, several big screen televisions, and a couple of electric guitars. Don't expect a bunch of lawsuits against broke music ministers and youth pastors.
6
@TexasR
No problemo.
Do the crime, do the time.
At the very least, Step 1, they should lose all tax exemptions for all property.
Step 2?
Go to jail.
7
@rosa
Rosa, you are absolutely correct, on both counts.
No church should be exempt from the taxes we citizens pay, be they property, sales or income. No such concessions were made in the Constitution; none should be law now.
6
@Glen
You are so right, Glen. If the Constitution says, "Congress shall make no law -", then HOW did they get tax-exempt? Is it simply that no one has ever challenged it before?
Very fishy.
2
I am sorry to say that I find theseSouthern Baptists with whom I come in contact (and here in NE Florida they are the majority and are everywhere) to be very hypocritical. They preach love and acceptance, but basically only if one follows their dogma. Love God and all his creations and creatures, but they knock down forests, pave them over, and build mega churches. All they talk about is their church. Up north, people of many different faiths were mingling-no discussion of "my church" this and "my church" that.
I am respectful of both believers and non-believers - a good person comes in all manner of belief. I am angry at the hypocricy and the "my way is THE way - join me or you will not be saved." Save me from these people.
65
It is simple. These Baptists are tRump's base. Truth, Honesty, Facts, Science, Reason, Logic, Compassion, Empathy, Reality, Humanity do not not matter to tRump voters. Emotion and Feelings are all that count. "I have sinned, please forgive me." Yuuup.
51
The difference between the Southern Baptist Evangelicals and other denominations is tha they have a direct line to their Almighty. In the Catholic church sinners at least have to confess their misdeeds to a priest first, before being absolved from them
All the Evangelical sin's, even grave ones, are automatically forgiven by Jesus - the traveling Jewish lay-rabbi - who supposedly died for the sins of those who became his adherents.
As matter of fact, the whole falsely claimed history of the US having been founded as a Judeo-Christian belief is nothing but humbug.
The term "Judeo-Christian" originated with George Orwell trying to fight anti-Semitism in the 1930s.
Jesus - the traveling lay-rabbi, lived as Jew and died as Jew. Lumping together two distinct different religious belief systems, and teaching it in schools to boot, is to undermine the first ever monotheistic religion.
And the second supposedly monotheistic one had to declare a Trinity of three equal higher beings at the Council of Nicea in 325 C.E. in order to get pagans to join their new religion. The Christmas season with all its adornments is a copy of the Pagan rituals of celebrating the winter solstice.
Only the US has the division of Church and State in their Constitution, one that is constantly trampled on by the popier-than-the-pope ones.
27
@Sarah
France separated the Church from Public affairs in Government. It is called
"Laïcité ([la.i.si.te]), literally "secularity", is a French concept of secularism. It discourages religious involvement in government affairs, especially religious influence in the determination of state policies; it also forbids government involvement in religious affairs, and especially prohibits government influence in the determination of religion."
I don't know a single person here under the age of 65 who attends any church gathering with any regularity here except during the Holidays when some churches hire musicians to come play and sing the holiday songs or in the Catholic Faith those certain weeks where certain religious occasions are celebrated. Maybe there are a few hundred people in the Grand Cities and I just remain blissfully unaware because I live in a small village outside of Paris.
I've seen a handful of nuns, 2 priests, going about their business buy in the city since I moved here. That's been 18 years ago. I see many more Mormon Missionaries out and about; maybe 20-30, but that is it.
Nobody I know talks about religions here. You certainly won't find people sailing home baked goods to raise money for their church or leaflets espousing religion stuck under your windshield. The only religious people I've seen gather in the street are Muslim for the prayer times.
8
@Susannah Allanic
You are correct about France, but I referred to the Constitution of the US, where that law is anchored.
In 18th century Europe churches had great power over their respective government.
France, being a majority Catholic country is definitely more advanced than Germany. You probably know that Germans have to pay church taxes, automatically deducted from their pay. Churches are subsidized by the government.
Many Germans don't belong to any church anymore for that very reason. Yet then they can't be buried in their former denomination's cemetery.
3
@Sarah
Why should one have to deal with a priest? Protestants ascribe to "the priesthood of believers." The Catholic church didn't like the idea of people reading the Bible, as opposed to having it read to them by priests.
1
"A report on sexual abuse has rocked the denomination. How will it respond?"
It won't respond. Thanks for asking.
92
The Southern Baptist Church abuses all its members by short-changing science in favor of fairy tales. Our earth is 4.5 billion years old. Darwin’s evolution is scientific bedrock. The Bible contradicts itself countless times.
37
@JSK
The problem is the confusion of poetry (mythology) with prose (fact). That millions of people al over the world cannot tell the difference would be sad enough, were it not that they are also cynically exploited.
21
@JSK
that's OK they'll fix it in the next rewrite.
1
Abusing children is the singular most horrendous crime on the face of this earth, It's sad that for every Russel Moore, there are literally hundreds if not thousands of churchgoing folks - and their leadership - who will lie, ignore and castigate anyone who puts their churchly reputation at risk. There are no excuses for doing so and if there is shame in this world, it falls on every churchgoer and leader who fails to protect our children from the life long pain of losing their innocence at the hands of a selfish, immoral adult.
20
All these abuse cases involving religious orders have a common thread: leaders held up as authority by easily influenced people get abused. It’s also going on in our political system daily.
19
.Good for Mr. Moore for writing this article, not covering up this terrible scandal, and for seeking healing.
I was raised a Southern Baptist (First, Dallas) and found the denomination to be based on emotion, not reason or history.
17
FBC was the worst--and they're still doing it.
3
We need to remove the tax exempt status of all churches as well as require all of them to list in detail where every penny they collect is spent.
This would go a long way toward fixing problems in large religious institutions. It is after all the gobs of money more than anything else including the magical belief systems that attracts the degenerates and drives the coverups of their crimes.
117
@magicisnotreal
I certainly understand why you might want to remove the tax exempt status of churches. Of course churches are just one kind of tax-exempt organization. There are lots of secular 501(c)(3) foundations, trusts, etc. that you also might want to take a look at. But taxing churches would not fix the problems Mr. Moore is addressing nor would requiring full financial disclosure.
And a consequence of taxing churches would be to force them out of existence; the vast majority of individual congregations struggle financially. That may be a desirable outcome for you. But the unintended consequence is that you would also severely curtail a wide range of social services. Churches either directly or indirectly support homeless ministries, women's shelters, disaster relief, all kinds of poverty related services, environmental causes , affordable day care centers and much more.
My own small church feeds about 150 homeless people every Saturday along with a clothing distribution program. Along with other churches and organizations, we have a direct impact on the lives of people that would otherwise go hungry and unserved. We also contribute money to about a dozen local charities whose work we believe is in line with our values.
And we are entirely transparent with regard to income and expenses. Ask for a copy of our annual report and you'll find a four page spreadsheet showing how much we took in and how every dollar was spent.
11
no problem is too big that simply tearing up the Constitution won't solve it argument. brilliant.
3
@mkm
Not one word in the Constitution gives tax exemption to churches. Paying normal taxes is entirely consistent with the First Amendment.
4
This explains why evangelicals see no issues with Trump. Such behaviour seems endemic to their culture, so they idolize it.
122
If the investigators keep digging they will find that all of the Protestant denominations, including the Evangelicals, have the same "problem" : A Paternalistic Higherachy.
Why do you think trump is supported by these "Churches"?
68
The Southern Baptists along with many other denominations has proven themselves to be hypocritical. Yes they are right to condemn the sins of the few. Though this apparently has limits. Where are the voices condemning a President that brags about his sexual misconduct and his attitude towards women as sexual conquests. Is he better than Southern Baptists who committed sexual abuse? Why does he not only get a free ride but is supported by the churches.
If Southern Baptists want to solve their sexual abuse problems then they should first look to see how they define sexual abuse and who should be held accountable.
30
Any entity - be it business, religion, familial, or social - which believes that women are unequal or beneath the stature of men, is going to have perversion and sexual exploitation in its midst. Like slavery, once a class of people is considered to be put on this earth simply to do one's bidding, it is easy to tell oneself that using these people for sexual purposes is okay. Why is it so important for people to be equal in the eyes of the law and society? Because it will mean less exploitation of every kind.
76
@Kathleen
True equality would require that men recognize women as their moral and intellectual equals, who are fully capable of making ethical decisions, including whether to use birth control or not, and whether to carry pregnancies to term or not. True equality would require men to give up the myths that women are weak and incompetent.
All you ayatollah wannabes out there should examine your own glass houses.
1
Clearly Mark Twain was right: "There was only one Christian, and they caught him and crucified him--early."
147
Jesus was a rebel, the hippy of his day, and like the students
at Kent State was slaughtered by the powers that be,
the Sadducees and Pharisees, the "bankers" (read Chamber
of Commerce, and the alien military they used, hired, for the final act. If Jesus really returned and got going, gathering
a following of "radicals," how long would it be before Pence
encouraged crucifixion? 51% of the American public thought
the kids at Kent State got what they asked for. What chance now that organized religions with their twisted, exclusive theologies, will look inward and change? Would they confront
the NRA? Or enforce prison sentences for their corrupt priests and pastors? Or wash their hands of the matter?
25
Autonomous churches give rise to rampant clericalism, where each pastor builds a cult of personality around themselves. Baptist pastors are highly unlikely to to anything to undermine their own power. And the threat of "disfellowshiping" of autonomous churches is a joke. Baptists are institutionally incapable of addressing this crisis. As will be most Baptist churches.
14
@Gene Eplee
Then it will require a special investigating force.
If a cover-up is found then they lose all tax exemptions, are fully audited and jailed.
"Cults of personality" don't impress me much.
Perhaps that is because I vividly remember Jim Jones.
And David Koresh.
And Marshall Applewhite.
And the Rajneesh.
And Mel Lyman.
And......
5
Let's face it: we're a pretty nasty species. We make excuses for leaders who abuse children. We put individual interests over the common good. We ignore evidence and believe lies because it suits us. Even when we're supposed to be working together, we argue and undermine ourselves.
The problem isn't too much religion or too little religion or whatever. It's us.
Things won't change until we want them to. This means that we'll have to finally admit that our violent tendencies and our prejudices damage all of us, and that life actually really should be as fair as we can make it. This means that powerful people will have to go to jail and suffer meaningful consequences for their actions.
Unfortunately, I'm not optimistic, given the number of people who continue to idolize people like Joe Paterno and Donald Trump. As for Southern Baptists, given that their religion is so insistent that people ignore any and all evidence in favor of "faith," is the author really surprised about this situation? It's not surprising at all: it's predictable. Your leaders use your god and the credulousness of the faithful as props for power that makes them drunk. So does Trump. So did ... .
And the faithful just keep on believing, because, after all, faith is a great virtue.
41
As with the Catholic church, the biggest issue was covering up the abuse. Abusers, sadly, are found throughout our society. It is bad when they abuse anyone, especially children. It is far worse when the church covers up the abuse, allowing the abuser to attack others.
21
@Dave
It's not only "bad" and "sad", Dave - it is also a crime.
2
Both the Catholic Church and the Southern Baptists ought be removed from their tax free status , disbanded , and the perpetrators punished.
Instead , both of these alleged religious institutions are responsible for the introduction of religious dogma into both state and federal legislation which insists upon treating women as second class citizens , neither morally nor intellectually capable of deciding their own reproductive health issues.
It is incredible to consider that these corrupt religious institutions still draw constituents who appear before them for , of all things , moral advice.
And yet , they are the main impetus behind the medieval and arcane proposed legislation that regards women in the same light as barnyard animals and homosexuals as undesirables.
Go figure.
26
This child rape could be cleaned up in a New York Minute if, the first time a priest/minister is accused, that it is found out that any adult in the church knew and covered up.
It goes without saying that the p/m is jailed, hard time, for a minimum of 30 years.
And, at that very moment, the church, denomination MUST lose its tax exemption, both fed and state.
For how long?
Oh, until the abused child dies of, say, old age.
How tough is that, Russell?
I didn't see any specifics in your sermon, so these are mine.
Because, boy-oh-boy, am I getting tired of grown men raping children.
43
"The church is to be the place that previews for the world a picture of what the kingdom of God is like ... where the weakest among us are loved and respected. Jesus announced a reign in which children and the vulnerable are not just cared for but are the “first” in the kingdom of God."
Then why are so many Southern Baptists trying to do away with affordable healthcare? With safety nets? With respect for gays? With common decency? With policies to tax the rich at a more equitable rate? With respect for minorities? With fair immigration? With helping widows and orphans?
Yes, the sexual issues are terrible, but on just about every other issue, your followers ignore the words of Jesus. And I notice that you, Mr. Moore, did not say one word about all those other problems in your church. That's known as hypocrisy, and you just engaged yourself in it.
89
George Carlin.
Listen to his take on religion.
Very easy to do good work in this world without
6
Very easy to do good work in this world without organized religion. Listen to George Carlin.
13
Patriarchy is the problem. Small wonder that a denomination that preaches the headship of men and the subordination of women has a problem with sexual harassment and sexual abuse. But don't wait for theological change. Call the cops! A crime is a crime.
47
As a citizen of North Carolina, I can attest to the fact that the SBC controls the political agenda in this state. Their leaders have been at the forefront of attacking gays and transsexuals through referendum and legislation. They preach right wing politics from the pulpit while enjoying tax benefits for providing pastoral care. This includes racist demagoguery, anti-immigrant bashing, and strong support for cruel austerity measures that keep millions of people in poverty, poor health and educationally backward. It’s no surprise to me that sexual abuse is rampant in the SBC, or that the leadership has known about this problem for years. Expect some window dressing and white washing as a token response, while children continue to be abused by men who wrap themselves in the cloak of Jesus evade responsibilities for their disgusting proclivities.
39
I am glad to see this information coming out, I hold no ill will for the Southern Baptist Church, but society needs to have a broader and more complete understanding of predators amongst us. Pedophiles don't take jobs in old age homes, they take jobs that give them access to children and cover for their lifestyle. Same with abusers of Women and so on.
11
Organized religion is so convoluted.
Baptists claim Jesus as their spiritual leader. Yet Jesus was a poor, radical Jew who preached compassion for the poor and sick.
As far as I can tell, modern Baptists - who helped to elect folks like Donald Trump and Roy Moore - make little effort to follow the lead of their so-called spiritual leader.
Organized religion is basically organized hypocrisy.
38
There's an old Johnny Cash song called "Belshazzar", which related the story from the Book of Daniel. Fundamentalists should give it a listen. If there is a more direct warning about choosing to follow Trump, I don't know what it is. Wivesd and concubines, gluttony, the mocking tone, trampling on valued traditions, even a big old wall. It's all right there!
14
@Steve B.
Another Cash song, "God's Gunna Cut You Down," comes to mind.
1
Give me a break, Mr. Moore. Your denomination lost all credibility long ago. As the (finally!) atheist son of Southern Baptist missionaries, I can assure you that your entire system is rotten to its core. You have much to answer for. In this life, I mean.
57
Just wait until the Pentacostals (AG) are taken to task for their behavior.
9
I imagine it would be difficult to name a religious denomination that hasn’t had a problem with abuse. There have been articles citing problems regarding silencing child abuse victims of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Scientology, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Islam; if you can name it, there’s likely been abuse.
In my opinion, it’s because the church effectively elevates their holy men to a level just below God himself. Who are we lowly mortals to question those who bring us the word of God? When you put a person on that kind of pedestal, it makes it very difficult for a victim to even realize they’re being victimized, much less come forward to report it. And when the church leaders are more worried about word of scandal getting out than they are of protecting their congregation, the problem festers. Hiding the abuse allows it to spread.
Holding religious organizations and church leaders accountable for the cover-up is a start. But the problem is much deeper than that. The real problem, the real evil, is you that have religious leaders being told about the repeated sexual abuse of children and women, and ignoring it. To know this is happening and do nothing about it, is absolutely unimaginable to me.
145
@Patty O
There are no gods. That solves everything.
18
@Patty O
I agree with you, certainly, about the evil of cover-up on top of abuse. I want to point out, however, that abuse happens everywhere there are children - not just churches. You focus a lot on power structures in churches suggesting that church leaders are the problem - they are IN churches, but abuse happens as well in schools, scouts, sports, day-care, with baby-sitters. Leaders there are just as much a problem when it comes to cover-up, poor handling, minimizing, and not believing reports of abuse.
7
@Patty O Nothing compels people to attend church. The departure trend is obvious and irreversible. Disclosure of abuse caused me to leave the church and view people who remain as foolish & weak.
2
When I lived in Greenville, SC, I discovered there was a group for “Recovering Baptists.” All had experienced or knew of folks abused by someone in the church.
Living in Greenville, I heard so much more, the pitiful essence of which is so beautifully encapsulated in the following story from comedian Elmo:
***************
I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said, "Stop! Don't do it!"
"Why shouldn't I?" he said.
I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!"
He said, "Like what?"
I said, "Well, are you religious or atheist?"
He said, "Religious."
I said, "Me too! Are your Christian or Buddhist?"
He said, "Christian." I said, "Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?"
He said, "Protestant."
I said, "Me too! Are you Methodist or Baptist?"
He said, "Baptist!"
I said, "Wow! Me too! Are your Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"
He said, "Baptist Church of God!"
I said, "Me too! Are your Original Baptist Church of God or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"
He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God!"
I said, "Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?"
He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915!"
I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off.
59
@don salmon
Ah! Patsy and Elmo! The Oregonian published this decades ago, I cut it out and still have it!
I laugh every time.
I did this time, too!
Thanks!
5
@rosa
This is hilarious. The topic is very serious but I couldn't help lol.
2
My perspective on this issue has always been if the Church is going to behave like any other human institution then, what's the point?
12
@Iris Pereyra
Yes, and why should it not be taxed?
25
I grew up in various Southern Baptist churches, from Florida to Hawaii. I was sent to a private Southern Baptist high school. While I can say that many of the people I encountered had good intentions, I have never seen a bigger group of judgmental hypocrites than in this Church. It drove me away from organized religion forever. Maybe it’s the same in other versions of the Church, but I can only speak from my experience. Everything, but everything, was hellfire and brimstone and you would go to Hell for drinking, dancing, or having impure thoughts, amongst a host of other “sins”. Everyone judged other people’s expressions of faith. I will never forget it. What a joyless bunch of folks.
161
It should come as no surprise that the same people who are adept at convincing people that God exists and that if one does not believe in Him that one will be eternally damned, are also skilled in manipulating others for to satisfy their own sexual urges.
We would all do ourselves a favor if we realized that we are in control of ourselves. There is no imaginary friend in the sky pulling the strings.
The Southern Baptists need to come clean and turn over the sexual predators to the prosecutors.
28
We are such a short time, perhaps only two generations, from the time when the upper body strength of males determined their social status, that we are having a hard time changing social routines to effectively relegate males to an equal status with females. We leave males in superior social roles, where they continue with the ancient superior abusive roles, rather than retraining them to equality. ]
13
"Organizational survival" underlies the sins of those who abetted abusers, and yet think they are innocent.
But there is something that I more painful than the abuse itself for victims: it is the stone faced denial, and often shunning, of the reporter - not the perpetrator - by the defenders of the church, or synagogue, or choir or scout troop...
There is no religious group that can possibly escape this ancient betrayal of trust and exploitation of others especially children. For that, there is likely no children's group that doesn't have dark pages. And whenever activities are conducted in an essentially private space, by those who are so trusted that they are never supervised,, it is more likely that there will be hidden abuse.
For there to be reform, the public - and assorted congregations -have to get over is the naive belief that abusive behaviors are very rare, or that the perpetrators must be clearly mentally ill (they usually are not) and very different from everyone else they know. More often they occupy positions of trust, and may be charming, engaging people. They may do good works.
For children, all of them should receive age appropriate training in how to recognize inappropriate behavior, and who to tell when they are made to feel uncomfortable. Adults need to understand that the institutions they rely on are held to a high standard.
18
When you create a narrative of a righteous male God/Bully who does what He wants, whenever He wants; and when the endorsed response to that divine abuse is to accept - silently and obediently - whatever He does, should it really come as a surprise that the keepers of that monstrous narrative get in on the action? Or that their victims tend to remain silent and passive? Such abuse, and the silence that follows, resides in the very fabric of this type of hierarchical relationship: between God and Human, and by extension - according to the typical religious analogy - Male and Female, Master and Servant.
14
My hope and prayer is for all who name Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to be willing to do the difficult but vital work of creating systems that protect the vulnerable. How difficult it must be for all those victimized by people in a place meant to be a refuge. Institutional interests must be laid aside by church leaders in the context of love and reverence for a holy God. We can't say we love God, when we won't protect children and the vulnerable in our care.
6
@Jim Mather
Church Leaders? There's your problem.
2
I sympathize with the plight of Southern Baptists. But it is not coincidental that the Convention is male dominated, as is the Catholic priesthood.
Must we continue to say to the world that women are unqualified for ministry?
And when will we confess, with the greatest possible sincerity and sense of urgency, that we too long condoned slavery and the sins of its horrible legacy?
Not a one of us in ministry and attesting to the Christian faith,
in this times, not a single one, is innocent of complicity. Silence, evasion and finger-pointing at the sins of others, not to mention the hypocrisy and self-righteousness we have so stubbornly held on to—they have contributed to and made possible the "preying" upon the weak.
13
Did I miss the apology and get a sermon instead? This is just a long talking-point memo, instead of an outline to avoid abuse in the church from happening in the future.
111
Belief in the divinity is immaterial to one’s morality, as we have seen. Why does organized religion so often lead to predation? It would be a great thing if church leaders began the serious introspection around this sad fact but it never seems to happen. They instead discourage questioning of their dogma since blind following is necessary for them to maintain control. Yet if one does not question, how can there be a well ingrained personal sense of right and wrong by adulthood, one which might lead to movement away from them. What we see over and over is how religiousity can become a handy tool for justifying questionable and sometimes horrible acts and beliefs. Most recently, hearing those who say god told them to support Donald Trump, despite his own lack of morality, which they acknowledge and in earlier times, the Crusades and the Inquisition. Now one revelation after another of sexual and physical abuse within organized religious groups.
There is something very wrong here.
15
@MG I left the baptist church at age 12 after asking a question in Sunday school about the story of Jericho. after reading about the hypocrisy of the SBC I thank God for my wisdom. what if I had remained and put my children in danger?
6
What does kicking them out of the fellowship accomplish? Does it stop the abuse?
21
@Liz Beader
It denies them fellowship and access to more victims in the fellowship.
14
@magicisnotreal Jail time would do that just as well.
18
@Melissa Baldridge
So you want known perverts to have access to their victims? I'm not really following the logic.
The point of shunning is that the shunned has done something so heinous they can no longer be tolerated among the people they perpetrated.
3
The age of accountability started when Southern Baptists split from real Baptists over race (and pretended to themselves the split was over some obscure theological disagreement rather than race). The age of accountability continued when they backed segregation and racial injustice and convinced themselves that the Southern Way of Life was particularly dear to God. It reached another stage when they realized (or reluctantly admitted) that they had been wrong about race, but did not ask what in their faith enabled them to be wrong about race for generations and not hear those within and outside their particular faith who spoke truth to them.
They are accountable for this learned and taught ability to not hear the truth -- about race, about women, about social justice, and now about sexual abuse. And they are accountable above all for not seeking to understand this ability and look for ways to root it out of their faith.
Russell Moore shows how this ability to not hear the truth is still alive and well and working as designed. The Southern Baptists may abandon sexual abuse as they have abandoned (more or less) racism and are abandoning the subordination of women. But they will not abandon, or seek out and destroy, what in their theology and culture produces and maintains these abilities to not hear the truth.
Since love is the truth and the truth is love, their religion includes at its center the ability to not hear or feel love while thinking they do.
63
"The stakes for the church are high, and they are about far more than organizational survival." So far no church has demonstrated higher stakes than organizational survival, when tested by scandal. Only when public outrage threatened that very survival, have churches come forward with "real" concerns about abuse by the clergy.
18
As a former Evangelical I can speak to the blatant misogyny that is pervasive in the evangelical ranks. Women are not, according to the staff at Hope Community Church, a large congregation in Raleigh, NC, to be in "positions of leadership", unless, of course, they are only providing childcare through the "Children's Ministry". Following "biblical teachings" men are the decision-makers, their wives in a one down position of follower and preferably not to work outside the home. I realized the folly in following their dictates too late, and when my marriage imploded I was destitute.
100
Will other leaders in the SBC speak up? What about Franklin Graham and his family organization? Is this the beginning of public recognition of issues that are on their watch, not just others who have strayed or are of a different religion or unsaved? Time is now. The mote in one’s own eye is much bigger than ever imagined. The vulnerability and innocence of victims of sexual abuse and harassment are real, and the victims are not to be blamed as part of the universe of original sin and need to be treated seriously by the community they are part of. Police need to be involved in identifying criminals. Vetting all church officials with a CORI now and before being employed for any full time and part time assignments whether paid or volunteer needs to be in place. Forgiveness is not an excuse to forget and sweep all crimes under the rug of church policy whether official or unofficial. Pretending crimes never happened now or in the past is not acceptable.
14
This is a sermon, not a contrite recognition of the hurt these men have caused. It's certainly not an apology or strategy to prevent this moving forward. So very Southern Baptist.
185
Thank you for a powerful and simple prescription for all bodies of faith facing such scandals. The church is an institution of people--people attempting to follow the example of Christ, but people nonetheless. And people fail. If a church cannot confess its sins and seek forgiveness by following the laws of its communities, then it cannot hope to survive as a messenger of the Good News. "Jesus does not need the church to protect his reputation" is a powerful admonition for all Christians; in fact, it is churches and Christians that need Jesus.
8
My childhood was dominated by restrictions imposed by my parents in the name of the Southern Baptist religion. My father was a deacon and my mother lead the Youth groups. Dancing was prohibited unless you were married because it was deemed to lead to pre-marital sex. Homosexuality was looked upon as immoral and a sign of perversion or mental defect. Racism was dismissed as nonexistent, yet almost universally embraced.
Bible study and Good News Club took place after school at my house, with me and my siblings required to pass out fliers and bring classmates home with us. We memorized 14 bible verses a week to earn the "privilege" of attending "Bible Camp" in the summer, where we were treated more like prisoners than teenagers.
All this while adult members acted out their fantasies with impunity, with the knowledge that there were no restraints because all you had to do was pray for forgiveness. Discipline was imposed to prove Godliness to outsiders, while behind closed doors a different reality existed.
"Me Too" had an entirely different meaning at that time in regards to church leadership and many members of the congregation. Rather than a statement by victims desiring a connection with others who had been taken advantage of, it was a more exclusive club of perpetrators, requiring a tacit commitment to secrecy.
New generations of these pious adults support a president who is the embodiment of immorality. The Golden Rule has been tarnished by this pervasive hypocrisy.
179
@Yakker
This reads almost exactly like my experience growing up in an Assemblies of God church. Several teens were blessed with out-of-wedlock pregnancies sired by a succession of youth pastors.
20
@Yakker "Tarnished," hell. Under the Southern Baptist Convention, the Golden Rule has been reverse-alchemized to lead.
14
Russell Moore says, "The church is to be the place that previews for the world a picture of what the kingdom of God is like — a place where sinners are reconciled to God and to one another, where the weakest among us are loved and respected." As a former Southern Baptist I can honestly say that Moore's beatific vision does not match the denomination I experienced as a young adult. Beginning in 1979 a dogmatism emerged in SBC life that insisted on slavish acceptance of an very distinctive version of biblical inerrancy. Those who could not sign-off on the principles of this pivot were unceremoniously shown the door. The concern for "doctrinal integrity" so widely trumpeted by Moore and his cohorts became a convenient excuse for doctrinaire tyranny. All SBC leaders today owe their positions of power and privilege to this movement, and so, in some respects, does Donald Trump. Alternative facts theology makes the way easy for alternative facts politics. Members of SBC megachurches ARE the Trump base. Where was the love, Mr. Moore, where was the picture of God's kingdom, when the "Conservative" leaders of the SBC were purging their ranks? What sense have YOU made of reconciling yourself to the women and men you and your band of righteous brothers humiliated and cast aside?
125
I left the Baptist church in the late 70’s. It had brought progress to a halt with a change of leadership and become increasingly narrow. Even my devout, tithing Georgia Baptist mother was alarmed, but it had been her church for over a half century, and she stood by it. Everything written here is true - including the purges at the seminaries. The convention became the He church in a network where churches were to be autonomous.
I have some good memories of Baptist upbringing and my Baptist college education. There are Baptists I love and who love me. I respect Russell Moore’s opinions and his attempts to moderate, at least a little, some of the church’s positions. But I will never, ever return to the Baptist church.
37
@Thorn While I agree with the Conservative reasurgence in the SBC, I think you are also right about some of the leaders that were also the cause of many other issues. Some of the "best" people to fight against the rampant liberalism that was destroying the denomination were also tyrants. They could fight the war in ways in which other leaders would not but could not lead after the war was over. That is a generous explanation of what occurred. Maybe a better way of putting it (although kind of crass) is the SBC used evil people to ward off the devil.
1
It's surprisingly honest of Moore to admit that he was perversely satisfied by the scandals of other institutions, using them to elevate his own. Pride goeth before a fall, and all that.
Now, as many other commenters have already said, call the cops.
106
@Roarke
It's unsurprisingly dishonest of Moore not to see his satisfaction as a sign of pride and therefore a danger sign about his own faith. He thinks that God cares what he believes rather than how he believes it, and does not see or want to see that it is how he believes that produces the fruits by which he will be judged -- the moral of "The Book of Mormon".
12
Powerful institutions offer shelter to criminals and when these are discovered, the institutions will do everything in their power to minimize the scandal.
50
So what do the sexually abusive Baptist ministers, Catholic priests, politicians, and entertainment industry people all have in common? They are, each and every one, depraved men who have used undeserved power and influence to blunt the self-preservation instincts of the women and children whom they abuse, thereby decimating their proper sense of self-worth, and their sense of what is right and what is grotesquely, horribly wrong.
What, then, is unique about the men who use religious authority as the means to accomplish such foul ends? They claim "righteousness," the authority of their primitive texts and/or traditions, and the imprimatur of an all-powerful wizard/deity as justification. Baptist and Catholic abusers, perhaps particularly, are greatly aided by their favorite verses in the Bible which they interpret as making men the God-mandated overlords of women (helpmeets, aka servants), not to mention children (don't spare the rod on the little buggers).
71
Well said RBW. The Bible isn’t the word of a god, it’s the culmination of writings and self-serving proclamations by the men who wrote it. Yes, that’s right. The Bible was written exclusively by men.
The Bible is really a history book, and history is written by the winners. Christ never said that women should be subjugated to men. Never. All Christian denominations have perverted his words of inclusiveness, mercy, and compassion for all. If Christ came back today, he’d be mortified.
The various churches could police themselves, but at least in the case of the Catholic Church, we’ve seen these abuses covered up and deviants protected.
The best thing to do when these atrocities are discovered - call the cops. Call the cops on the deviants AND their enablers and throw them all in jail for a very, very long time. Sadly, that would require one very large jail.
12
“Nonsense. Jesus does not need the church to protect his reputation. And Jesus was, and is, enraged by those who would seek to blame him for empowering atrocities.” I would also add that Jesus does not need government to legitimize his message. Jesus most certainly does not need the state to impose “Christianity”. The “Church” and the “State” should always be separate - history is full of examples when, combined, they both became corrupt. Christianity has always relied upon the good in humanity, the “good news in the New Testament, and the promise of just treatment for all as its moral authority to influence society. Many evangelicals, today, have moralized away their Christian conscious in support of gain, power, or limited objectives. Be it molestation or Donald Trump, Christians should never make a deal with the devil for the perceived “greater good”.
87
@Kevin O’Brien
As a Baptist - albeit of the northern variety - I can only say, "Amen."
13
"He [Jesus] warned repeatedly that people would use religion, including his own name, to prey upon the weak and the vulnerable."
Good call.
The amount of damage done to society and individuals in the name of organized religion is staggering:
Wars, terrorism, sexual abuse, homophobia, honor killings ... the list is long and not an historical artifact.
And much of damage shares the same root: Demonization of the "Other".
This is a very human problem, that organized religion seems designed to amplify rather than repress. Mr. Moore's ideas are necessary, but history strongly suggests they will not nearly be sufficient.
69
@LT Yes, 1st Amendment establishment clause needs to be interpreted as freedom FROM religion, not as freedom to impose you religious proclivities on others.
1
What did you think would happen, when MEN are treated as virtual kings, and Women are a necessary evil. Necessary for breeding, child rearing, and housekeeping. I grew up in a Baptist household, and it is hell on earth for an intelligent, curious, equality minded Girl. Not so much my own Family, but the Church was a hotbed of abuse, secrets, alcoholic Fathers, all covered up and blamed on the Mothers, always. I haven’t set foot in any Church, except for Funerals, since leaving home at age 18. And I never, ever will. ALL I want is freedom FROM Religion. Period.
469
@Phyliss Dalmatian Well said. Power should always be balanced with all human beings equal.
38
@Phyliss Dalmatian
Phyliss: I truly appreciate this post. Amen.
32
@Alan R Brock
Thank you, Alan. I truly enjoy writing comments, I consider it a very good day when I’m successful.
18
"a place where sinners are reconciled to God and to one another, where the weakest among us are loved and respected"
Does Moore really believe this characterization of southern baptists is accurate? Maybe so, and there's the root of the problem.
Most see southern baptists as judgmental, theocratic, anti-woman, anti-gay and certainly hypocritical, in that they love Trump but harshly judge others for much less immorality. When Moore says they "love the weak," he means they demonize abortion rights.
The sexual abuse report, to me, shows that organizations in which women are believed to be subservient, by God no less, open themselves to abuse.
I hope they work to stop sexual abuse in their churches. But one thing they will not do is declare women equal to men. No women professors teaching men in seminaries, no women pastors, no women deacons.
233
@CinnamonGirl - some SBC churches have women deacons, actually. But no women teaching men or women pastors, to be sure.
14
@CinnamonGirl
"They harshly judge others' immorality" and rely on cheap grace for forgiveness of their own--ah--indiscretions.
17
Not true. Some Baptist churches do have women pastors, senior lead pastors. Ours did, for several years. Gay couples also married in our church. In the Baptist church, the local congregation calls its own shots. Sometimes, it gets kicked out of state or national groups, but they’re voluntary anyway.
2
This is a step forward. If we have learned anything in the last 35 years it is that sexual abuse is everywhere. There is no place or profession that has not found sexual predators and violators within. The question for Southern Baptists is - What steps are you going to take to support the survivors of sexual abuse and what are you going to do to prevent it from happening in the future?
This is not uncharted territory. It has happened before and there are successful ways to meet the very real needs of survivors and provide the education needed to give people ways to identify it when it happens to them and to stop the predator. Thought also need to be given to helping the predator to understand what they have done and help them not to reoffend because these people will, eventually, be back in the world again, living their lives.
The worst thing to do is nothing.
19
@MJM
The real question for Southern Baptists is - what is it in their faith that blinds them again and again to problems of social justice (with respect to blacks, women, gays, poverty, or sexual abuse). Predators need to be brought to an understanding of what they have done, but those who tolerated and protected and helped hide predators by getting their prey to remain silent need to be brought to an understanding, too, and at a much deeper level.
Such an understanding will make Southern Baptists crusade against their religion or leave it. Russell Moore is crusading against a part of his religion, but in order to save the whole religion that created and preserved this part.
He should bear witness by becoming an Episcopalian and writing about why.
6
As bad as the problem of sexual abuse is, your church has a much bigger problem.
" (Jesus) warned repeatedly that people would use religion, including his own name, to prey upon the weak and the vulnerable" He was right.
Southern Baptists and many other Christian religions have loudly supported politicians, mostly Republicans, who have passed laws that demonize the weak and vulnerable and failed to pass laws to protect them.
The list is long: withholding Medicaid, effectively destroying Obamacare, under-funding education, supporting police brutality against minorities, taking children away from migrant families, general prejudice against brown people, and worst of all: blinding supporting Trump in all his bad, malicious decisions, his lies, and his flagrant oral and written insults against women, minorities, gays, and anyone else not like him.....and not like your membership.
275
@Grey I agree. And it all stems from the abortion debate. Many church leaders have come to believe that we are called to change laws rather than change the hearts and minds of people. Jesus did not come to create a theocracy. He made that clear when he said "render unto Ceasar what is Caesars and to God what is God's". Now, we are blessed in that we live in a democracy, and by all means everyone should vote their values. But for some reason the so-called 'evangelical' movement (i.e. the political not the theological) has fixated on the idea that "if we could just change this law or that" we would again be a "christian nation", and ignoring the bigger picture - that we ALL have sinned an fallen short of the glory of God. We live in a fallen world and it is one hot mess.. whether it is abortion or allowing children who are born to live in poverty and abuse, or cheating on taxes, or running businesses that prey on the weak and poor. Anyway, the point i was going to make is that for the sake of this one issue - abortion - and the prospect of getting the 'right' supreme court makeup, 'evangelicals' are willing to support a lying cheating business man who is perhaps on the path of becoming a dictator in the order of Hitler or Mussolini.
6
Well said.
This denomination especially should hang its head in shame.
2
Is it any wonder that many of these church leaders enthusiastically support a POTUS who has had numerous sexual allegations set against him?
Birds of a feather...
342
First and foremost, you must report these crimes to the police. First and foremost!! Law enforcement must be involved. I have absolutely no idea why churches think they can police their own and handle matters internally. Sinners can be forgiven for their trespasses but in the cases of sexual assault forgiveness does not excuse them for being held accountable for their crimes. Every single sexual assault must be reported. These people committing these vile, evil acts are a cancer inside the church and have to be removed.
358
Not just removed by held accountable by being legally charged .
22
@Larry Imboden
Why do churches think they can police their own and handle matters internally? They're trying to keep it quiet. After all, it could drastically reduce donations, and that's what it's all about, isn't it?
19
@Larry Imboden – Bingo. Crimes must be handled by the people with trained expertise in that field.
This is the same lesson we learned (the hard way) about Universities handling sex crimes. First and foremost, you must report these crimes to the police.
18
Well, as is happening with the various Catholic Dioceses at long last, it must be said- Law Enforcement needs to take a look at the SBC.
I expect that many of these crimes are Youth Ministers in their early 20s with young teenage girls in BYF High School groups.
IN any event, it needs looking into.
14
I found out long ago I didn't need a church.
Nor did I need a middle man between me and God.
When my son was "saved" and became a Deacon in a SBC church we had some pretty serious theosophical discussions.
Since I held steadfast to my beliefs he eventually got frustrated and said I was a "religion of one."
To this day it is the highest compliment I have ever received.
79
@Texexnv
Thanks for this lovely story (though it's a pity it was your son).
You mean "theological". Theosophy is actually a religion of its own, an odd and interesting one. (I'm not a follower, just an observer of the Zeitgeist.)
2
@Thomas Zaslavsky
Definition of theosophy. 1 : teaching about God and the world based on mystical insight. 2 often capitalized : the teachings of a modern movement originating in the U.S. in 1875 and following chiefly Buddhist and Brahmanic theories especially of pantheistic evolution and reincarnation.
1
@Texexnv
Thanks. I apologize for correcting you! Are you saying you and your son had conversations about God based on mystical insight? Fascinating.
2
There was a time where religion was the mainstay of my life. From singing in choirs to Sunday prayers, religion gave me the strength to face life's tribulations.
And then it didn't. Once I encountered a "so called" religious leader who was nothing more than a despicable pedophile, my faith in god and the church evaporated like a puddle in the Florida sun.
When his superiors swept his dastardly deeds under the rug and simply transferred this pervert to another city where he could repeat his offense, I could no longer pray to a god who would tolerate such crimes.
Likewise, my faith in Trump evaporated when I learned that the state of New York forced Trump to shut down his nonprofit dedicated to children's cancer care because of funds misuse. Again I asked myself, what kind of god would create a person who would pilfer funds from the most vulnerable?
Eventually, my self confidence was restored when I realized that I could confront my demons without phonies wearing pointy hats asking for my hard earned cash.
You can too. Find your inner strength and stop begging parasites to rid you of your demons.
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@Molly J "my faith in Trump evaporated when I learned that the state of New York forced Trump to shut down his nonprofit dedicated to children's cancer care because of funds misuse."
...that happened in December 2018! So you took no issue with his laundry list of horrid actions towards women, employees, and countless others up until then?
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@Molly J, Julie S.
I believe you are confounding Trump's personal "foundation" with the Eric Trump Foundation's phony cancer collections, exposed in Forbes in June 29, 2017. Like most things about Trump family finances, though, many details of the corruption are obscure.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2017/06/06/how-donald-trump-shifted-kids-cancer-charity-money-into-his-business/#267b90766b4a
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I don't care what you say your beliefs are. I judge you by your works - your politics. Politics is where the rubber of your philosophy meets the road of reality.
In all the Churches of the Republican Way, Southern Baptist have always been the poster boys. Routinely they vote for war and military spending. Routinely they vote for tax breaks for the rich that destroy America and turn millions of homeless into the streets. Routinely they genuflect to the fascist GOP. What master do they think they serve? They have placed a money changer in the highest temple of the land.
They are idolatrous Bible believers who forsake the Living Loving Lord for their hokus pokus Bible god. They might as well dance around a golden calf.
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@Tracy Rupp I just saw footage of a Trump rally, aren't they doing that right now?
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@Stephen Csiszar
Good one! That calf needs his ears clipped.
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@Tracy Rupp Well said, Tracy, well said.
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Enough is enough with explanations and half-hearted internal programs.
Here's a plan for the Southern Baptists, other religious organizations, sects or denominations, colleges and universities, HR departments of any sized business, government or political offices: If a member, staffer, student, customer, person, man woman, or child, reports or alleges any sexual harassment or abuse to any "powers that be" in the organization, don't talk, don't question, don't fill out forms, PICK UP THE TELEPHONE AND CALL THE LOCAL POLICE. Not corporate security, not campus police, not the Dean of Sexual Abuse, not the employee ombudsman, not the union steward, and certainly not the accused.
Let the police investigate the claims professionally, thoroughly, and without regard to preserving the dignity or power of the individuals or institutions. implicated.
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@Richard Green
I agree! Pick up the phone and call the authorities! in fact that is law in many states. and I am speaking as a mandatory reporter for such things. Thank you for speaking out!
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@Richard Green
I agree wholeheartedly. Working in a college, I can't image that any local system has the requisite ability, authority and courage needed to do right in this situation. Call the professionals, i.e. law enforcement.
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@Richard Green When it comes to sexual assault, unfortunately the police are hardly known for “investigating professionally.” Quite the opposite, in fact.
Not that my argument is to keep abuse allegations in house... But that going to law enforcement is often not a solution either.
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Wow. I commend Russell Moore for speaking truth courageously to his own denomination. That's a pretty good working definition of a Biblical prophet. And, not surprisingly, it has cost him.
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@Julie Lyons
When it is courageous to speak out about pedophilia and the toleration and covering up of pedophilia, this only points to a larger cowardice about a root problem that made such ongoing pedophilia possible. Prophets get to the root; Russell Moore avoids addressing the corrupt root and instead advocates the cosmetic repair of repenting and trying harder so that the root's corruption may continue and not be unmasked by one of its many symptoms.
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@Julie Lyons - so true! I doubt many NYT readers realize how reviled Russ Moore is by traditional good-ol-boy southern baptists - makes my stomach turn
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"Safe Church" spaces is a program by which no child is ever left alone with an adult alone in church and where all children's education spaces have for example a glass pane so that all interaction with the kids can be easily be monitored at all times.
The Southern Baptists are arrogant by thinking that only Catholics and people who don't share their beliefs about Christ have institutions that expose children to abuse. As such, the institution itself is guilty of the abuse suffered by the children as enablers of the abuse. I don't hear this taking of full responsibility of the situation by the author who is the one who is in authority to take responsibility.
Creation of safe spaces is the duty of every church that cares to minister in the name of Christ. (read all religions). To really make a difference, and not just to Southern Baptists, is for readers, specifically readers who attend church, to institute better and tested procedures to create spaces where our children have nothing to fear in our churches. If your church resists, go somewhere else, literally for the love of God.
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Stop intellectualizing this issue and start prosecuting the perpetrators.
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@Vote with your $'s
You got that right.
Moore, long one of the more credible voices in the evangelical wing of American churches, makes a particularly strong statement about abuse in the church being not only an individual offense but a perversion of the entire idea and purpose of the church (see 9th paragraph).
I do wish folks using religious language would go easy on the "good shepherd" image, however (see 10th paragraph). True, images of Jesus as the good shepherd are not a Romantic pastoral idyll (though Romantic period art no doubt owes some debt to the Biblical imagery). But in protecting the flock from wolves and robbers, shepherds -- then and how -- have a very pragmatic purpose. It is to ensure that the sheep are available to be shorn or transfigured into mutton or lamb chops. Not a very comforting feeling for the clock, it seems to me.
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@rungus----------------Bravo from this vegan person, rungus. I get the shivers from the 23 psalm, too.
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@rungus
The "good shepherd" image is incorrect in another way; we are not sheep but rather goats. Sheep go astray; goats escape or go AWOL for a while. Sheep are stupid; goats are sly. Some of us are sheep, but most of us are goats. God prefers goats because they are not boring.
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I can't remember where I read an article on this yesterday but it included the photos of all the men accused of sexual abuse in the southern baptist church. Many were convicted felons and still belong to the church.
I have heard so many accounts of sexual abuse by religious people in power that is makes me crazy. Just because a man - or woman - can talk through a microphone shouldn't' give them power. What are their core values? Apparently they are sorely lacking in the SBC, as well as the catholic church.
Years ago a male acquaintance who was very funny and friendly, and who easily drew people to him, was out of work. He said, in all sincerity, that he might have to become a minister. I learned later that the man had been a crook - a gun runner in Texas. That woke me up. There are many ways to for lazy people steal and organized religion is one of the most profitable.
I gave up organized religion years ago and communicate directly with my higher power. It is time for many others to stop funding this kind of behavior, too.
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@njglea You hit the nail on the proverbial head. All of organized religion is about nothing more than money. They are all tax exempt, don't have to answer to the IRS, and dependent on congregations to fund their nefarious activities. They must have an enemy, too, of course, as that increases whatever waning relevance they may have. They have to have something to fight against, to show how they are standing between their congregations and the "evil" that ostensibly exists in the world. Communicating with your higher power is much more authentic, and a growing trend in what is becoming an increasingly hostile environment toward organized religion. If Jesus Christ could come down to earth and witness everything that has been done in his name, he would never stop throwing up.
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@Nancy
Do you want to be tax exempt? Found a religion! Scientology. The Church of Ecology (not the exact name; I just read about it and they even seem to mean well). Many small churches; and I strongly suspect the great majority of megachurches.
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@Thomas Zaslavsky
I don't want to be tax exempt. I want to pay my fair share just like I want churches to.
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It is unlikely that the Southern Baptist leadership will purge their ministers and other leaders publicly, if at all. As the Southern Baptists lose membership year after year their response has been to reaffirm their beliefs and double down on adherence to their creed. As a youth growing up in NC I belonged and attended a strict Southern Baptist church regularly until it became obvious to me that nearly all members were human with human weaknesses that made them no better than those who did not attend weekly services. Plus, I did not have to listen to our minister detail all the sins of the world and spread fear that the second coming would happen at any moment.
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@EDH Sorry you had such a difficult experience with an SB church. I also was raised SB but now attend a different denomination.
That said (having read the original articles) 300 or so abusers over 21 years is not a "purge" situation. Note this includes all workers and volunteers. Moore's response seems measured and reasonable.
Strongly disagree with one thing "nearly all members were human with human weaknesses". Nearly does not cut it. All members of all churches are human with human weaknesses. The point is are they working to be better?
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@Bob Read his whole sentence Bob: "it became obvious to me that nearly all members were human with human weaknesses that made them no better than those who did not attend weekly services." That last dozen words gives the meaning to the sentence. Jesus forgives sins (or so I'm told) but that doesn't give carte blanche to all.
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