Church hires convicted child molester as pastor.

The story



I'm curious as to what people think about a situation like this. A church has hired a pastor they know to be a convicted child molester, but those who hired him believe that because he hasn't reoffended in 17 years and is a man of god that he has changed and is no longer a threat.

I'm sorry if this offends anyone

I don't think this man should have been let out of prison. There are three acts that I feel are not forgivable; murder, rape and anything involving children.

Wow you're fast hehe. I was still working on the poll when you posted.

In my opinion, pedophiles gravitate toward jobs that allow them access to, and power over their targets. Jobs in schools, churches, youth organizations, counseling, and law enforcement seem to be obvious places to be amongst potential victims.

No such organization should EVER hire a known/convicted pedophile or other violent sex offender.

I don’t have statistics to back me up. I do have professional experience in working for a multitude of local and federal law enforcement agencies; this is exactly the kind of profiling they do. (yes… including looking at other cops )

Fundie equating pedophilia to homosexuality in 4... 3... 2...

1....


I'm a HUGE "fundie" (oops. outed myself.) I don't think it has anything to do with homosexuality.

It's lack of contol/power trying to gain power.



EDIT: By HUGE, I mean "very" not "Large."


Also... forgot the "in my opinion." Again with the fundies cramming their ideas down people's throats!

I didn't say that all fundies think this, but usually those who think this are fundies. I didn't say it because of your post either, Buster, which I fully agree with.

It's just that whenever something to do with clergy abuse is brought up in a forum, there will ALWAYS be someone who comes along saying something about homosexual priests as if homosexual=pedophile. Watch for it, it'll happen.

Interesting thing about pedophilia, as I understand it, is that one can be sexually attracted to children and not be a pedophile. The diagnosis only comes about if the person has acted on the attraction or is troubled by the attraction.

Also, all child molesters are not pedophiles. Just as rape can be a crime of power and opportunity, so can this be.

And finally, not all pedophiles are child molesters. It is possible to have the attraction but also the self-restraint to not act on it.

Not that this changes the case at-hand. He was convicted of molesting a child under 14, and pedophile or not, it would be much wiser to keep him out of an opportunistic setting, even if that means going without a pastor for a while, imo.

Actually, Chronic, I wasn't assuming you said it because of my post. I was kind of just being a Jack*ss trying to get one in by the "1" count. (My bad habit of trying to add levity to heavy topics.)

It's funny about us fundies... I consider myself to be VERY fundamentalist in many ways. I also believe strongly that the "vocal" fundamentalists that you hear from most frequently are not doing a good job at all at being "fundamental." The fundamentals of being a Christian, for example are really very very simple. They can really be summed up in a very short sentence... and it has nothing to do with homosexuality or pedophilia or what to wear at church, or anything else like that...

In many ways being a GOOD fundamentalist (never happens as much as we'd like it to...) is so liberal it makes me sick. (Did I mention that I'm conservative... crap...not my day...)

(Did I do OK not being too preachy?)

You did fine.

I guess the Harrises and the Phelpses and the Robertsons and the Santorums out there really ruin it for the ones with the common sense. Which is a sad thing indeed.

Ok... I'm loving the discussion here today, and my last post was way off topic... so here:


EXACTLY Lorelei! And that's why if he is REALLY reformed, HE should be looking elsewhere for work, without other people having to watch out for him. If he was truly reformed, he would not be putting people (his potential congregation) in the position to have to grapple with moral/judgment issues like this.

YES, something that serious *REALLY* does require him to change his life entirely in order to prove to society that he's changed. (God may not require it, but people do. )

Agreed. Even if he feels God does call him to be a minister, there are other avenues. He could work with prison populations, especially since he knows what it's like to be there (or if that's not possible given the criminal history, with the newly paroled). There's a reason recovering alcoholics don't tend to hang out in bars.

This is the part that blew me away. He had "a bad experience" ??? Hello, he committed a horrible crime that is rarely ever a one time thing.



Yea Ted Bundy claimed to have found God at one point too. They still didn't send him home with best wishes. It is one thing to forgive someone and encourage them to change, it is another to blindly trust that they have.

Lorelai and Buster hit the nail on the head, if he truly has changed, he would want to avoid the possibility of temptation.

Right now the congregation knows what this man is. But think about it, congregations change over the years. People move away, new members join, children grow up and have children of their own. In ten years, five maybe, no one will remember the risk this man poses. I feel I can guarantee that five years from now, no one will blink twice when this man is freely walking in and out of the church nursery.

The article never mentions any members of the church who were opposed to the hiring of this pastor. I have to wonder how likely it is that every single church member thinks this is a good idea. There has to be someone in that church right now who is jumping up and down and screaming "Are you people stupid?!"

Well this might be unpopular, but I say good for them. Now if he reoffends they'll have no one but themselves to blame, but I think it's very Christian of them to forgive the guy and give him a home. I think the whole notion of pedophiles, while a serious issue, has been blown out of all proportion and these people are demonized to a ridiculous extent. I have to wonder if all people were so willing to give second chances if perhaps there'd be a lot less recidivism instead of more.

Christian baiter.

My wife loves your stuff BTW. (Well... and I guess I do too... lol)

I'm still not going to bite though. Although... well... nevermind.

I think Chip made a good point. It's damn near impossible for someone to find work after prison. My state is now working with employers to encourage hiring by offering to pay a portion of their wages for a time. But without a job, it's very hard to get your life back in order.

Speaking of recidivism, when I went to look up some actual statistics instead of simply expressing an opinion, I found that the rates for repeat sex offenders are actually significantly lower than for crimes in general. I know this is a touchy issue. I just wonder if, given that, stirring up a fuss about a publicly admitted sex offender serves any useful purpose in actually protecting children.

Here is a paper on incidence of repeat sexual offense if you are interested.

http://66.165.94.98/stories/SexOffendersReport.pdf



This makes no mention of whether the sex offenders were rearrested for other crimes, but you get the idea. Tragically, while this pastor might have lots of eyes on him, many other children in that same community may already have been molested - by their own parents and step-parents.

hehe, crazy as it might seem I actually meant that in a good way - as in these seem to be people who are living up to their values rather than preaching one thing and doing another.

I think it's great that they want to be forgiving, even encouraging a person to change. Hell let him join the congregation and help him stay on the right path, great. Just keep him away from the kids.

Forgiveness does not and should not equal blind trust. In fact, if he really were changed, he wouldn't want to put the people around him at risk. He would be actively avoiding tempting situations, not seeking them out.

To forgive someone and wish them the best is a great thing, but I think these people are so blinded by their desire to be good forgiving christians that they are confusing forgiveness with trust.

Wow, thanks for finding some stats, Ananda. They make me incredibly angry. So these people have some of the lowest recidivism rates of any criminals? You sure as hell wouldn't know it from the media or politicians. In some places sex offenders are made to have signs in their yards, be listed on publicly accessible websites, have their neighbors informed of who they are and where they live. Why don't they just make them wear a scarlet P or burn them in the town square?

Again, I think the most important thing to consider is that if he was truly reformed, he would not have put himself at further risk (pronounced "temptation" in church) and would not have put his parishioners in this position.

OK.. Maybe the Christian thing to do would have been to help him find work in a lower risk position? Perhaps vouch for him or accompany him as he pursues his ministry in some other places like Lorelei mentioned earlier.

I do wonder, though, Chip, if that may not be to some extent because we take such great pains particularly with child mollestors to assure it doesn't happen again. Way more so than with any other crime I can think of.

The other thing that I wonder about skewing that statistic is the huge amount of these cases that we /know/ go unreported.

I don't see how he's imposing on his parishoners or putting himself or their children at risk. He's their pastor, not the youth director. If that were the job he was after I'd agree with you. You're arguing under the assumption that he's like an addict and whatever self-control he has now is a sham. I think that's an unfair assumption to make.