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Church hires sex offender because God "forgave" him - he proceeds to rape teenage boy

PhDeac said:
My pastor never meets with a woman without his wife. Not a church rule. He just knows he doesn't want to be tempted or even give any grounds for someone to believe there is impropriety.
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Good lord, really? I could meet with a supermodel and not be tempted because I am a grown man in control of myself. And if wrongly accused I would demand a lie detector and if they still took me to trial I would take the stand and defend myself. That risk is worth it to carry on my life without having to have witnesses every time I am around a woman.
 
RJKarl said:
There's no reason to not expect HL to be expanded before Hillary gets to change the SC from right to left.
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Wow, I hadn't thought about it like this before, but you are right--the HL decision probably protects the church from any civil suit for negligent hiring.

:willynilly::willynilly::willynilly::willynilly::willynilly::willynilly::willynilly::willynilly::willynilly::willynilly::willynilly::willynilly::willynilly::willynilly:

Facepalm
 
WakeandBake said:
Good lord, really? I could meet with a supermodel and not be tempted because I am a grown man in control of myself. And if wrongly accused I would demand a lie detector and if they still took me to trial I would take the stand and defend myself. That risk is worth it to carry on my life without having to have witnesses every time I am around a woman.
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Doesn't really matter re: the lie detector. Those sorts of accusations can destroy a pastoral career. I knew an outstanding priest who was meeting with a woman who has some personality disorders/issues and she didn't like him. She went into his office one day, talked about a bunch of random/meaningless stuff for a few minutes, and then stormed out shouting "how dare you ask me to do that!" Next thing you know, he was trying to head off the storm that he knew was coming. He ended up okay, but it really pained him and caused temporary issues.

That being said, it's something to take into consideration in the field of ministry. I wouldn't go so far as to never meet with a woman alone because 1) I control myself and 2) I generally trust other people not to lie, but when I meet alone with a woman, I make sure that someone else is in the office and knows about the meeting (not necessarily the topic, or even who it is). Also, meeting in a room that has a window in the door is preferable. I hate it, but it's something that unfortunately happens in church life (both the abuse and the false accusations).
 
Church hires sex offender because God "forgave" him - he proceeds to rape tee...

Opiate of the fucktards. How many lives has religion destroyed?
 
WakeandBake said:
Good lord, really? I could meet with a supermodel and not be tempted because I am a grown man in control of myself. And if wrongly accused I would demand a lie detector and if they still took me to trial I would take the stand and defend myself. That risk is worth it to carry on my life without having to have witnesses every time I am around a woman.
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Yeah, putting aside the point about temptation, this is a pretty naive post, at least with respect to those in the ministry.
 
RevDeac06 said:
Doesn't really matter re: the lie detector. Those sorts of accusations can destroy a pastoral career. I knew an outstanding priest who was meeting with a woman who has some personality disorders/issues and she didn't like him. She went into his office one day, talked about a bunch of random/meaningless stuff for a few minutes, and then stormed out shouting "how dare you ask me to do that!" Next thing you know, he was trying to head off the storm that he knew was coming. He ended up okay, but it really pained him and caused temporary issues.

That being said, it's something to take into consideration in the field of ministry. I wouldn't go so far as to never meet with a woman alone because 1) I control myself and 2) I generally trust other people not to lie, but when I meet alone with a woman, I make sure that someone else is in the office and knows about the meeting (not necessarily the topic, or even who it is). Also, meeting in a room that has a window in the door is preferable. I hate it, but it's something that unfortunately happens in church life (both the abuse and the false accusations).
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I still think that is horrible and between this an the thread about the kid at the park, we've regressed as people and the lawyers are winning.
 
Avoidance of potential litigation is not the primary motivator here. My church has similar rules. I taught middle school Sunday school classes for five years and there always had to be two adults in the room or on retreats with the kids. Just taking totally reasonable precautions.
 
Madness

I can understand multiple adults on retreats and in the building, in case one if them drops dead or in case they have to care for a sick kid or something.

But keeping an adult nearby to ward off temptation or to provide a witness to prove you didn't feel up a kid or some lady from the congregation s a sad commentary.
 
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WakeandBake said:
Madness

I can understand multiple adults on retreats and in the building, in case one if them drops dead or in case they have to care for a sick kid or something.

But keeping an adult nearby to ward off temptation or to provide a witness to prove you didn't feel up a kid or some lady from the congregation s a sad commentary.
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It is indeed, but churches are soft targets for all sorts of evils/crimes. As CS Lewis has a demon say in The Screwtape Letters - no where do we tempt so effectively as on the very steps of the altar.
 
Come to think of it, I would never leave my kid alone with any of you sickos. Especially the lawyers
 
WakeandBake said:
Madness

I can understand multiple adults on retreats and in the building, in case one if them drops dead or in case they have to care for a sick kid or something.

But keeping an adult nearby to ward off temptation or to provide a witness to prove you didn't feel up a kid or some lady from the congregation s a sad commentary.
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That's just standard practice when working with children. Any organization responsible for looking after children almost certainly follows a rule of 3. It's more about protecting the children than preventing litigation. If that rule is well understood and followed it's much less likely for child abuse to occur.
 
WakeandBake said:
So you feel most people want to harm children? A majority of adults are child abusers?
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Of course not. The large majority of adults would never hurt a child. I just know that it is incredibly difficult to distinguish them from those that would. Most people (including childcare professionals) overestimate their ability to spot a child predator.

That's why organizations charged with looking after children almost universally follow a rule of 3. Breaking that rule is an immediate red flag and is going to draw extra scrutiny. 99 times out of 100 it's totally innocent but by having and following that rule you are much more able to prevent or quickly respond to that 1 time in 100.
 
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