The state of Georgia is trying to protect its children from sex offenders.  To that end it passed legislation in 2006 (updated in 2008) that is viewed as the toughest in the U.S. There is only one problem: the law criminalizes all volunteer activities by registered sex offenders in religious organizations.

Bruce Ware, professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., actually does know why husbands abuse their wives.

Four teenage girls were molested by their youth pastor. When one teen finally disclosed, the senior pastor fired the youth pastor and reported him to the police. He was charged and prosecuted for sex with a minor. So far, so good.

A woman recently shared with me her experience of being assaulted and stabbed by her abusive husband. As she recovered from her injuries, she turned to her church, expecting pastoral care and support.

I think it is safe to say that everyone was surprised that Pope Benedict XVI talked about the pedophile priest crisis everyday he was in the US on his recent trip. In fact, he began the conversation with reporters on his plane enroute.

Pope Benedict XVI has arrived in the U.S. for his first visit as Pope.  And there is some good news here. Ironically, “good news” and the Church don’t often appear in the same sentence these days.  So I am always on the lookout for this occurrence. 

 

 

 Whatever Became of Sin? This was the provocative title of a book by psychiatrist Karl Menninger in 1974 written out of his concern that in the beginning of the culture wars, we were losing our sense of moral focus and jettisoning the notion of “sin.”

International media recently carried the newstory about a Saudi Arabian woman who was gang raped and then sentenced to six months in prison and 200 lashes after she spoke out to protest the lenient sentences given her attackers.

Among the numerous school shootings in the past several weeks, one stands out for me: the killing of Lawrence King, 15, allegedly by Brandon McInerney, 14, in Oxnard, California. However, it got the least media coverage.

So let’s assume for a minute that institutions like the church, when confronted with the disclosure of unethical behavior like sexual harassment or abuse, tend to act in their own best interests. On the surface, this is what I call the “institutional protection agenda.”