Reading Time: 3 minutes After 18 months, an investigation into alleged sex abuse by the Christian musician Chris Rice has found that the accusations against him are “credible.” It’s a remarkable fall for the singer, songwriter, and youth pastor. Rice’s history in the world of contemporary Christian music (CCM) is a fairly successful one. In 1998, he was nominated […]
sexual abuse
Posted inLaw
Three men have sued the Catholic Church in Maine for child sex abuse
Reading Time: 2 minutes Now that a new law in Maine has gone into effect, giving sexual abuse victims a chance to seek justice even if the statute of limitations had previously kept them out of courts, three men have filed lawsuits against the Catholic Church. The Maine law now allows victims of childhood sexual abuse to file a […]
Posted inReligious News
‘Use as example’: Southern Baptist self-protection in action
Reading Time: 11 minutes The whole document is horrifying reading. But one line in it particularly caught my eye. It read, “Use as example.” Today, we’ll look at this so-called “example” that the SBC’s leaders wanted to stand out as a perfect example of sexual predators in SBC ministerial ranks. Along the way, maybe we’ll see just why the people behind this document wanted to use this particular person, Perez Blackmon, as their ur-example.
Posted inLaw
Christian predator Josh Duggar sentenced to over 12 years in federal prison
Reading Time: 2 minutes Conservative activist and former Family Research Council staffer Josh Duggar has been sentenced to 151 months (more than 12 years) in prison for downloading and possessing illicit images of child sexual abuse. He was arrested last year, found guilty back in December, and faced up to 40 years behind bars. The judge dropped one of […]
Posted inReligion
The Southern Baptist sex abuse report ignored the most important solution
Reading Time: 6 minutes On Sunday, the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, publicly released a massive internal investigation into the sex abuse crisis that’s embroiled so many of their churches. The report took an investment of roughly $4 million, involved interviews with hundreds of people, and collected over 5 terabytes of documents. The […]
Posted inLaw
Youth pastor who was ‘betrothed’ to 14-year-old girl charged with sexual abuse
Reading Time: 4 minutes When Robert Fenton was 26 and a youth pastor at Abide In the Vine Fellowship in Owego, New York, he told a couple that attended the church that he was drawn to their daughter and “meant to be with her.” She was 14 at the time. The church didn’t allow them to get married because […]
Posted inReligion
The Hillsong scandal—and damage control—continues
Reading Time: 8 minutes A few days ago, the world learned that Brian Houston–beleaguered founder of Hillsong Church, a global megachurch–violated his church’s code of conduct with “inappropriate behavior” directed at two women. He’s trying his best to spin-doctor what he did, but he’s just making his situation worse. In the process, he’s revealing just how extensive his enabler network is–and how far they’re willing to go to protect Hillsong itself.
Posted inEthics
The first rule of Christian sex abuse
Reading Time: 4 minutes Christian leaders know that abuse allegations will open them up to a lot of uncomfortable questions and scrutiny. In demanding silence, they simply act to protect their livelihoods and reputations.
Posted inLaw
Russian priest who adopted 70 kids convicted of sexual abuse of minors
Reading Time: 2 minutes You’ll never believe what happened when a conservative religious leader adopted 70 children. I’m just kidding. You know exactly how this plays out and you’re horrified without even reading another sentence. But I’ll tell you the horrific details anyway. Nikolai Stremsky was a rector at the Holy Trinity Convent of Mercy in Saraktash—part of the Urals in Russia. […]
Posted inGeneral
The SBC Isn’t Handling Its ‘Abuse of Faith’ Megascandal
Reading Time: 9 minutes SBC-lings like to imagine that their denomination is a loose federation of churches that govern the denomination from the bottom up. Yep, they’re all just big ol’ Jesus-ers who Jesus together — and, coincidentally, pool material resources to convert and control the whole world. The opposite is actually the case, as the EC demonstrated in spades that week.