Patheos blog
February 14, 2019
Bt Gene Veith
The Roman Catholic Church has been shaken by revelations of rampant sexual abuse among its clergy. Now the Southern Baptist Church is being shaken by a similar scandal.
The Houston Chronicle has uncovered 380 church workers–pastors, but also youth ministers, Sunday School teachers, and other volunteers–who have been charged with sexual misconduct over the last 20 years. That list includes 250 who were charged with sex crimes, including rape, sexual assault, and child molestation.
The investigation found some 700 victims. Some were children as young as three. The cases seem to be mostly heterosexual assaults, but some were homosexual. Some of the girls got pregnant and were pressured into getting abortions.
As with the Catholic scandal, another dimension is the cover-up and failure to take action on the part of church officials.
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