Last Sunday, I stood in the cold with three other women outside the First Baptist Church of Atlanta. It's a flagship Baptist church with pastor Charles Stanley at the helm. He's a two-term president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the country.
We were there to distribute a flyer as people left the morning service. It told about the church's prior children's minister who was reported to have sexually abused a kid in a Dallas church. He then worked at FBC-Atlanta for 19 years, up until about five years ago.
Two things we know by now: Clergy child molesters often have multiple victims, and the victims often stay silent for many years.
In SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests and other Clergy, we have seen this pattern many times. So whenever we know about a perpetrator, we also know the importance of reaching out to other possible victims. We always hope this effort may allow some abuse survivors to get help sooner rather than later.
Despite our good intentions, we were not hospitably received at FBC-Atlanta.
We had scarcely handed out a dozen flyers before several church leaders came out posse-style to direct us off the premises.
They saw the flyer. They saw what it said. But apparently, they didn't want others to see it.
So, the four of us trekked across this mega-church's mega-parking lot and planted ourselves on a public sidewalk at the exit.
Only a few minutes went by before another guy came striding toward us.
Something about his black bomber, shaved head, and tough-guy stance made me wonder whether he might be part of a church goon-squad. But of course, in any other context, he would surely have been a nice enough guy. The mood had already been set by the prior encounter.
"Are we clear?" he asked.
I wasn't entirely sure what he meant, but I pointed out that we were on a public sidewalk.
He reiterated with a slow emphasis on each word. "Are - we - clear - that you are not to be on church property?"
For a moment, I just looked at him and pondered whether he might be a seventh-grade detention hall monitor in his weekday job.
"Oh yes, we're very clear on that," I eventually replied. It was, after all, more than apparent that we weren't welcome.
So the four of us stayed on the sidewalk and handed flyers to the few cars we could whenever the light was red.
Christa Brown is the national outreach director for SNAP-Baptist and maintains the StopBaptistPredators.org website. She is a wife, mother, attorney, jazz-lover, slow-runner, and a Southern Baptist abuse survivor.
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Christa, thank you for writing this.
What terrifies organized religion the lost are middle aged ladies who want the truth... Congratulations!
Keep us the good work! We survivors appreciate you, and all that you stand for.
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Kay Goodnow (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 3 comments) on Wednesday, Feb 7, 2007 at 6:40:17 PM
Christa, thank you for "... Are We Clear?" As a supporter in SNAP, many of us here in California and others throughout the U.S. have met with resistance, ridicule and denial in public education outreach efforts. It is hard to understand why the faithful in the pews prefer to play the ostrich than confront the horrific sex abuse crisis head-on.
As founder of www.catholics4justice.com, I have sent numerous e-mails to Catholic and non-Catholic school teachers, administrators and Superintendents... NOT ONCE has anyone responded to the communications and each time a news update is sent, I find that many religious and non-religious educators are now BLOCKING the e-mails -- as if they were criminal or defaming.
I am not a victim of clergy sex abuse but have children who were placed in the trusted care of sexual predators in schools and churches, year after year, without disclosure. And, how embarassing and shameful it is to witness denials from others who still believe denial will make the sex abuse crisis disappear!! Sadly, the denials of truth run very deep... and stretch to government, political, legal and law enforcement leaders who have the duty to protect and investigate sex crimes -- AND REFUSE -- based on fear of political consequences.
Children's rights have suffered because children don't vote and don't contribute to political campaigns... It is not a pretty picture when those elected to protect the laws of the land and God's most precious gifts, children and families, play the ostrich and run scared based on self-serving agendas.
Society needs to witness government, political, religious and legal leaders take responsibility for failures to protect those who cannot protect themselves. When this happens, maybe the faithful in the pews will open their eyes and ears to the personal stories that have destroyed lives.
God bless you and those who continue to reach out to victims of sex abuse crimes.... we can only pray that someday, Society Will Get It Right!
by
Debby Bodkin (47 articles, 0 quicklinks, 18 diaries, 47 comments) on Thursday, Feb 8, 2007 at 8:57:29 AM
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