What's happening at Penn State is crushing. It's a lose-lose. These
children have already been abused and the way the university is handling
the situation and the way the students are reacting only appear to be
heaping shame upon shame. It's a time for all of us to grieve for these
children and cry out to God for justice.
However, there is a much larger
question at stake: how should what happened at Penn State affect the way we handle reports of abuse in the church? I've seen two solutions so far:
- we should immediately change our policies whether church or otherwise so that all abuse is immediately reported to the police and then reported to the proper higher ups
- we should use diligence before proceeding to protect the reputation of those who may be falsely accused.
Justin Taylor offers both perspectives in his article How the Penn State Scandal Changes Our World.
I'm sensitive to both for two reasons. I'm sensitive to the first
because I am a father of two daughters in a culture where over 66% of
people are sexually abused in some fashion. However, I'm sensitive to
the second because we live in our culture of lawsuits and revenge and I
personally know of someone who is listed on the sexual predator list
because he (over 18) gave someone (under 18) a wedgie. The parents were
out for blood because of their sons hurt pride. We must protect our
children from sexual abuse and we must protect innocent people from
being branded as sexual predators who are not. Both scenarios are
grievous offense. Keep Reading >>>
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