Good policy which prevents many cases of sexual abuse?, and Baptists about as bad as Catholics at covering up.

[Multicolored Lemur]

U.S. Southern Baptists release scathing report on sexual abuse

For decades, complaints of sex abuse by pastors and staff in the largest U.S. Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, were either ignored or covered up by top clergy, according to an internal report released on Sunday.

www.reuters.com

The nearly 300-page report details how complaints were kept as "closely guarded information" within the Convention to avoid liability, "to exclusion of all other considerations," it said. . .

It’s fairly devastating. And I would welcome info that it’s not as bad as it looks, for it looks just terrible.

And just like with the Catholics, we seem to have many cases of, people who are not themselves abusers covering up for people that do.

Why?

I’m guessing it has to do with pretty complex reasons of how institutions work (and don’t work) and how people conform to what’s expected of them on the job (in fact, people tend to over-conform).

And not just to be down on religion.

I understand the fields of psychiatry and psychology are pathetic at dealing with the minority of practitioners who bully and coerce vulnerable patients into sex, including patients who were formerly victims of childhood sex abuse. And again, we have people who are not themselves abusers covering up for people who are.

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And as far as good policy which might potentially and even probably prevent many incidents of sexual abuse,

this is something we as good-hearted, realistic, constructive persons will probably need to figure out on our own.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

Good and important topic, Lemur.

Based on how the rape allegations against Justice Kavanaugh was handled, I tend to be critical of allegations that lack evidence. To some, the accuser is always right but I think that sets a dangerous precedent. At the same time, automatically assuming that the victim is looking for money (being opportunistic), especially when there are multiple cases, like that in the Catholic Church, also sets a bad precedent.

I would say that if the case can't be determined, as in, if allegations are true or not, then no one should be charged. That would be my standard especially when there evidence is nothing more than an allegation (no witnesses, no physical evidence, no police statements, etc.). If the abuse cases involves kids, then all of those things may be hard to gather.

Some of my proposals would be:
1. Pastors need to start wearing body cams when having private meetings. I'm assuming this is when a lot of the abuses would occur.
2. Pastors or the Churches even need to inform victims of their rights and get them to report an incident immediately.
3. Undercover operations should be done on suspect abusers, to see if they'll take the bait. This doesn't even have to involve law enforcement but it can involve the victim trying to lure the abuser into the same situation while having some hidden surveillance. I'm borrowing from the show called, To Catch a Predator.

I think that increasing transparency and accountability will scare would-be abusers and help catch predators in the act.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Based on how the rape allegations against Justice Kavanaugh was handled, I tend to be critical of allegations that lack evidence.

The Democrats did allow it to appear like a last-minute thing on their part.

But to me, it was quite believeable.

Brett was by action “joking” with a younger high school student about raping her. A little like you might put a finger against a friend’s back and say, “Stick ‘em up!”

He started to drag her to a bedroom.

His friend defused the situation by turning it into a group hug. But that would have been another couple of terrifying seconds for the young lady.

maybe after the group hug, going with the next positive step (past mistakes and all) —> The friend should have then told Brett, not cool. Should have pushed him. Should have let it escalate to a fight and beat the living **** out of Brett.

Or the young woman’s older brother or cousin should have later beat the **** out of Brett. Then he would have remember the incident.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

I think most guys would say, Hey, if I had a friend who had, for example, sexually abused his 14-year-old step daughter, I would beat up my friend.

 

[MarcosClarke]

The author of the topic correctly understood the problem! The problem is institutionality. Catholic priests cover up for each other and try not to inform society about their crimes. More than 200,000 children have been victims of sexual abuse by the clergy of the Catholic Church of France over the past 70 years. This is evidenced by the results of a large-scale independent investigation. And this is only France, and I'm afraid to imagine how many are worldwide. The fact is that I am a member of the first church of love from Portland (our website, as proof https://firstchurchlove.com ) and the Protestant model, in principle, does not allow such crimes. This is our great advantage.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

The author of the topic correctly understood the problem! The problem is institutionality.

Thank you for the nice compliment.

And I bet you, too, could come up with a couple of examples either of institutions working well, or poorly.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

I am still sticking with my To Catch A Predator proposal (borrowing from the tactics of the show).

To really get to the heart of the issue would take understanding why or how are these leaders led to abuse their own people. Is being single and celibate part of the problem which might be the case for Catholic priests that have to remain single? Is it a mental health issue?

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

I am still sticking with my To Catch A Predator proposal (borrowing from the tactics of the show).

I believe in spot checking.

But if we’re going to have someone there with a tape recorder, for example, trying to see if a suspect will attempt to abuse, I really hope they have on-site back up.

I mean, almost like a mob boss having muscle. I hope there are three large individuals in the next room. One might be the brother of the “bait,” maybe two are.

Yes, it’s useful. But I do think it’s potentially dangerous.