Christianity Today commits a deeply troubling gaffe

“A note from the editors of Leadership Journal: We should not have published this post, and we deeply regret the decision to do so. The post, told from the perspective of a sex offender, withheld from readers until the very end a crucial piece of information: that the sexual misconduct being described involved a minor under the youth pastor's care. Among other failings, this post used language that implied consent and mutuality when in fact there can be no question that in situations of such disproportionate power there is no such thing as consent or mutuality.”         -  Marshall Shelley, editor, Leadership Journal (13 June 2014)

            Several emotions overwhelmed me upon reading the original “post” in Leadership Journal referred to in the retraction above - curiosity…disbelief… anger… anxiety - ultimately, sadness. Deep, deep sadness!

            Exactly thirty years ago while a student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, I researched sexual abuse in evangelical circles at a time when no religious groups whatsoever were giving it any attention.  According to an article I’d encountered in the Chicago Tribune, incidents of sexual abuse in religious circles were equal to if not greater than that in society at large.

            A seminary classmate advised me of the prevalence of this sinister evil at a prominent evangelical denomination’s school for missionary kids he’d attended while his parents were missionaries in Africa. A survey I conducted of some three hundred evangelical churches across the American mid-west revealed that, while 90% of pastors had encountered some variation of this hideous monster in their careers, a similar percentage had no idea what to do about it.

            Today - three decades later - after listening to countless stories of betrayal in this regard from both women and men, I simply cannot adequately process what I read in the self-professed leading journal of North American evangelicalism! In merely reading the opening paragraphs by the anonymous writer, I detected the telltale signs of the twisted rationale of the sexual abuser/predator.

            While engaged in a prospering youth ministry, his marriage was undergoing challenges and the pressures of ministry were growing - yada, yada - a “texting” relationship with a girl in his youth group eventually evolved into what the author presents at some length as a mutual, consensual affair.

            Several of us vehemently protested the self-deception and naiveté of which the article reeked.

            One would hope Bible-thumping evangelicals might be leading the parade in sniffing out this kind of rot. Evidently we are not. Little more than a year has elapsed since disgraced pastor Jack Schaap of the First Baptist (mega)Church in Hammond, Indiana, was sent to jail for sexual relationships with minors. News reports to date in 2014 include numerous stories of similar allegations, arrests, charges and convictions of fundamentalist pastors across North America. I was nonplussed a month ago in a lengthy conversation with a Canadian pastor whose denomination has yet to implement any policy regarding sexual indiscretions among adults in ministry let alone having anything on the books with respect to dealing with the sexual abuse of children.

            I serve on the board of an international agency committed to educating and advocating those who will listen concerning a heinous evil lurking among us that viscously discredits the gospel of Christ. As much as I applaud the apology and retraction of Leadership Journal, that such an article ever saw the light of day in the first place is intensely troubling.  

            I, for one, am beyond fed-up with the preoccupation of evangelicals with preserving institutional and personal reputations at the expense of protecting minors. Didn’t some philosopher named Millstone once have something to say in that regard?