PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
June 25, 2018
By Peter Smith
Christa Brown of Tennessee has called on Baptist churches for years to set up an independent panel to evaluate allegations of sexual abuse by clergy— such as the youth minister who sexually assaulted her as a teenager — and to keep predators from striking again at another church.
Pastor Jimmy Hinton — a Somerset Church of Christ minister who confronted his own pastor-father about the sexual abuse that landed the latter in prison — has worked to educate churches on the ways child molesters manipulate fellow believers into trusting them with their children.
Melanie Jula Sakoda has made it her own mission to hold Orthodox Christian churches accountable for sexual abuse by their priests and others.
All of them agree on this: that a future Pennsylvania grand jury could find as much evidence of sexual abuse and cover-up among other religious groups and youth-serving organizations as a current statewide grand jury is expected to find among Roman Catholic dioceses. That grand jury is expected to release a mammoth report if it clears ongoing legal challenges by individuals named in its report.
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