RE: Sick and angry about sexual abuse in Baptist churches
Baptists, how do we feel when we read about the sex abuse going on in our denomination?
Today, I read about a pastor who abused teen girls in his youth group, physically and online. Do the parents want this man in jail? I would.
I feel enraged, and beyond that sick. My first reading about the pastor and teen girls made me nauseous.
After processing the “sick,” I want to fight and rebel against … what? That is the problem. Who and what is to blame?
Am I to blame for being a Baptist? Was I stupid to believe the faith stories I learned at church? Was I preyed upon spiritually and intellectually, my donations used to fund sexual predators? This cannot be true, yet what about evidence to the contrary?
Do I dare send my grandkids to youth activities and on mission trips—as if I even could get them to go?
Fellow Baptists, we want answers, and sometimes there aren’t any. I turn to God to love me, teach me and my family, and bring me to truth.
What about the church, the body of Christ? Who will fix what is wrong? Who will defend women and children who have been abused? Are Baptist men, leaders, deacons, our Sunday school teachers, our givers—are they listening?
I am listening really hard for an answer.
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Ruth Ann King
Dallas, Texas
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