Who are the "groomers"?

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Jose Fly
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Who are the "groomers"?

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Post by Jose Fly »

On Sunday, a report summarizing an independent investigation into sexual abuse in US Southern Baptist churches was released. The investigation uncovered some very disturbing details:
1. Top leaders repeatedly tried to bury sex abuse claims and lied about what they could do

The report describes how key Southern Baptist leaders engaged in a pattern of ignoring, stonewalling and even “vilifying” sex abuse survivors. The report details multiple instances when Southern Baptist leaders shot down requests by survivors and other concerned members to maintain a database of abusers. Publicly, the leaders said they couldn’t because of “church polity,” or the denomination’s decentralized structure. But the report found that their attorneys had advised them that they could keep such a list and that the leaders did so in secret.

2. A former SBC president was considered “credibly accused” of sexual assault

3. Unheeded warnings went on for decades

The report also described a series of instances when leaders ignored warnings by sex abuse survivors and advocates. In 2016, a person called to report a pastor’s involvement in abuse of her mother. According to the report, a staff member for the Executive Committee asked Boto, “Do I call this lady back? I suspect no.” No documents indicate a follow-up response, the report said.

4. Leaders seemed to put concern over potential litigation over people’s safety

Southern Baptist leaders appeared to value avoiding lawsuits over preventing sexual abuse, according to the report, which stated, “it is striking that many reform efforts were met with resistance, typically due to concerns over incurring legal liability.” For example, based on outside counsel, leaders recommended removing the word “crisis” when referring to sex abuse.
When we put this together with similar problems in the Catholic Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Mormon Church, it's quite apparent that US Christianity has a widespread and long-running problem with sexual abuse and covering it up.

As horrific as all that is, it's particularly galling given recent efforts by Christians across the US to paint LGBTQs as either abusers themselves or "groomers" (people who manipulate and prepare victims for abuse). From they way they tell it, transgender people are constantly lurking in bathrooms, ready to assault unsuspecting children and women, and LGBTQ teachers and school officials are "grooming" students to become future victims. From that hateful and bigoted position they seek to use the force of government to relegate LGBTQs to second-class status.

Yet in reality, children are at far greater risk from being abused in Christian settings! And when that becomes apparent, Christians take deliberate steps to not only cover it up, but demonize the victims and protect the abusers!

So what's going on here? Is this sick and hateful people projecting their own faults onto others? Is it a case of "every accusation is really a confession"? Something else? All of the above?
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Re: Who are the "groomers"?

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Post by Diogenes »

Jose Fly wrote: Tue Feb 07, 2023 12:40 pm Wow, that's a crazy story! Sadly, it's not surprising though. We actually had a pedophile in my (extended) family. Thankfully the age difference between us meant he never tried anything with me, but all of us who were kids at the time knew he was creepy and weird, and stayed away from him. Eventually he was arrested and it turned out he had been using the church as a means to gain access to his victims. But even though his victims testified against him and he was caught with a ton of child porn in his possession, a lot of my Christian family members to this day refuse to believe any of it. They still see him as "a good Christian man who loves the Lord", and they figure God just wanted him in prison so he could minister to inmates.

It's truly bizarre to watch.
Yes, not surprising at all. I put it off to tribalism and the cluster of phenomena discussed in the 'Debilitating effects of taking Genesis literally' thread. Fortunately my parents were not of that sort. They were well aware that just being a member of the flock did not ensure either sanity or good conduct. I'm proud of my mother, now 100 years old. She formed a group she hosted, much of which consisted of women who felt shunned by their preacher/pillar parents because of their gender choices. My parents and their close friends in the church, many of whom were college professors, had a more well reasoned and informed Christian faith and the whole cohort was kind and supportive. I did not leave their church because I had an personal animosity to that community. I left because the more I read the less authority I could ascribe to the Bible.

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Re: Who are the "groomers"?

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Post by Jose Fly »

Diogenes wrote: Tue Feb 07, 2023 12:57 pm
Jose Fly wrote: Tue Feb 07, 2023 12:40 pm Wow, that's a crazy story! Sadly, it's not surprising though. We actually had a pedophile in my (extended) family. Thankfully the age difference between us meant he never tried anything with me, but all of us who were kids at the time knew he was creepy and weird, and stayed away from him. Eventually he was arrested and it turned out he had been using the church as a means to gain access to his victims. But even though his victims testified against him and he was caught with a ton of child porn in his possession, a lot of my Christian family members to this day refuse to believe any of it. They still see him as "a good Christian man who loves the Lord", and they figure God just wanted him in prison so he could minister to inmates.

It's truly bizarre to watch.
Yes, not surprising at all. I put it off to tribalism and the cluster of phenomena discussed in the 'Debilitating effects of taking Genesis literally' thread. Fortunately my parents were not of that sort. They were well aware that just being a member of the flock did not ensure either sanity or good conduct. I'm proud of my mother, now 100 years old. She formed a group she hosted, much of which consisted of women who felt shunned by their preacher/pillar parents because of their gender choices. My parents and their close friends in the church, many of whom were college professors, had a more well reasoned and informed Christian faith and the whole cohort was kind and supportive. I did not leave their church because I had an personal animosity to that community. I left because the more I read the less authority I could ascribe to the Bible.

Yep, you should definitely be proud of your parents. It takes not just critical thinking skills, but courage to go against the grain like that.
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Re: Who are the "groomers"?

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Re: Who are the "groomers"?

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Former youth pastor gets 60 years in prison for sex crimes involving boys

A former Southern Baptist youth pastor was sentenced to 60 years in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to 13 counts of sexual assault and child pornography charges involving six different boys.
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Re: Who are the "groomers"?

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Post by boatsnguitars »

It has been said that the purpose of the Church is Pedophilia, everything else is just incidental.
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A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew
God gave a secret, and denied it me?
Well, well—what matters it? Believe that, too!”
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Re: Who are the "groomers"?

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Post by William »

Jose Fly wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2023 3:03 pm Former youth pastor gets 60 years in prison for sex crimes involving boys

A former Southern Baptist youth pastor was sentenced to 60 years in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to 13 counts of sexual assault and child pornography charges involving six different boys.
From the link:
At the time of Hord's arrest, First Baptist Church Bentonville released a statement: "We are ministering to the survivors and their families who demonstrated incredible courage in coming forward. We are praying for God's perfect peace for those who have been harmed and God's justice for the abuse of His people."

Nathan Smith, Benton County prosecutor, said as soon as the church learned of the abuse allegations against Hord, they contacted authorities.

"It's horrible. Look, even Jesus in the New Testament tells us there are wolves in sheep's clothing, right," Smith told THV 11, noting that he, along with the victims and their families, are happy with the sentence.

One victim said he didn't feel anything for Hord but indifference in an impact statement while one parent lamented that the former youth pastor stole the innocence of the boys in God's name.

"The reality is, with a person like this, you're never going to get what you feel like is equal to what they have done," Smith said. "But what you can get is to a point where you feel like that it allows the families to move on."

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