Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Things I don't understand

A girl under the age of 12 was violated by an adult male named James Patten. In this case, Patten is just a regular guy, a custodian in fact. The girl tells her mother about the abuse right after it happened. This is a good thing. It is what I would expect my children to do given the same circumstances. What happens next is what I do not understand. The girl's mother goes to her pastor for advice.  The pastor is a decent man and does the right thing; he advised her to report the abuse. What I don't understand is why the mother went to a pastor before reporting the crime and seeking medical attention for her child? If the pastor had said "pray about it", what then? My assumption is that James Patten would not be in jail awaiting trail on sexual battery charges.

Can somebody tell me how a pastor figures into this?

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Candace · 862 weeks ago

I imagine it's because as a theist, she's abdicated her right to think for herself to the Church. Obviously, she's an extreme case, but religions do tend to give out this message. She sounds like a very needy person who's not used to make decisions of any kind on her own.

I'm glad the Pastor did the right thing. I suspect that many times that isn't the case. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, is not generally supportive of women in abusive marriages because, you know, divorce is a sin.

Oh, and I would hope that the Pastor called the police himself, or was there when she did, rather than sending her home, thus delaying getting treatment for the daughter.
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Mojoey 107p · 862 weeks ago

I could not live like that. My child would be at the hospital before the words were out of her mouth.
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Candace · 862 weeks ago

Yep, me too. And then I'd hunt that bastard down.
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Prashanth 21p · 862 weeks ago

If the paster tell the mother, that it is all normal and it is said so in the Bible, then mother 'd believe it and then she wont be going to report this crime.

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