KANSAS CITY (MO)
Faith Matters blog
July 10, 2019
By Bill Tammeus
A decade or two ago many Americans were under the impression that the only religious group dealing with charges of sexual abuse was the Catholic Church.
Shambhala-Thangka-fullThat has turned out to be wrong on many counts. For example, this summer’s national gathering of Southern Baptists devoted a lot of time to how to handle sexual misconduct charges in various Baptist congregations and institutions.
And just this week, The Denver Post published this story about abuse among Buddhists in Colorado who are part of what’s called the Shambhala movement. It also published this backgrounder about Shambhala.
As the story noted, “Shambhala, the Boulder-born Buddhist and mindfulness community, for decades suppressed allegations of abuse — from child molestation to clerical abuse — through internal processes that often failed to deliver justice for victims, The Denver Post found through dozens of interviews with current and former members and a review of hundreds of pages of internal documents, police records and private communications.
“That suppression came in the form of worshipful vows students said they were told to maintain to the very teachers they alleged abused them; in explicit and implicit commands not to report abuse; and through a cultish reverence that served to protect Shambhala’s king-like leaders, according to interviews and third-party reviews commissioned by Shambhala itself.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.