Saturday, February 06, 2010

The price of silence

What would you expect a Christian in a leadership position in your local church to do when he learns of the sexual abuse of a minor?

A. Report it to the proper authorities

B. Pray about it.

C. Do nothing

Well, the question is hardly fair since answers B and C are essentially the same thing. I would expect any reasonable adult in a position of authority to act in the best interest of the child. Did that happen in a real life case of abuse in New Hampshire? No! 4 church leaders charged with not reporting abuse.

Police said they are investigating the abuse of a 12-year-old girl in September. Investigators said they discovered that four leaders at the Valley Christian Church knew about the abuse and never said anything.

Police said because the four people are leaders of their church, they have an obligation to report any abuse they hear about.

Investigators said the Rev. Timothy Dillmuth learned that a girl was being sexually abused by one of his parishioners but didn't notify authorities. Police said three elders -- Richard Eland, Robert Gagnon and Michael Wedge -- also knew of the abuse.

What is the price of silence?  Why continued abuse of course. The men face a year each in prison. I hope they serve the time.

The church involved, Valley Christian Center, suddenly pulled their website. Here is a Google cache. Nothing to see here people. Move along.

Being a Baptist pastor is such hard work. You have to remember not to molest the children, and you must report abuse by others too. I wonder if they teach that in seminary?

Final instructions to new Baptists pastors:

If confronted with an allegation of sexual abuse, first pray about it, then do nothing, then blame the victim (especially if the abuser is a donor). Above all else, do nothing to embarrass the church.  When all else fails, take the website down and hide from the press. When the media attention dies down, move to another state and start over.

Meanwhile back at the Valley Christian Center, the committee for rebranding has a meeting Tuesday evening.

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BruceW's avatar

BruceW · 792 weeks ago

Let's hear it for the moral high ground that religion confers on its believers. It's unfortunate for the child that a teacher didn't know of this abuse...they have a legal obligation to report any abuse as soon as they hear of it.
1 reply · active 792 weeks ago
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No2Religion 85p · 792 weeks ago

Not only do teachers but all school employees, at least in California. I am non-teaching staff at a California K12 institution and I am a mandatory reporter.
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Bob's avatar

Bob · 776 weeks ago

There is a little more to the story which will be forthcoming. Seems the chief of police's father was kicked out of the church, so being a "good son" he rustled up some accusations to make the "church pay." Now thats its been a few months people are realizing that there has been no arrest for sexual abuse and the chief of police had a personal ax to grind. So, what happens next? Well, either you try to plea deal and save face so you can stick the church with some (any?) crime or acknowledge the chief of police might have gone a bit overboard and dismiss the charges. I'm guess the latter will happen. This is what goes on in hillbilly towns and has nothing to do with the church as it does the abuse of power by local law enforcement.
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Mojoey 107p · 776 weeks ago

<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The crime I wrote about has nothing to do with the child sexual abuse case. The four people involved are charged with failure to report. As far as I know they go to trial June 11 and will most likely be found guilty. The facts are pretty clear. They knew about the allegation of abuse by a senior member of the church and did not report the crime. It does not matter if the allegation was true or not, the fact that they did not report is the issue. The allegation happened, they did not report it as required by law, therefore they get convicted.
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">�
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">If I were the prosecutor, I would delay bringing charges in the child sexual abuse case so facts from the case cannot be used against the failure to report prosecution. �Filing charges can backfire on a case at trial. The prosecutor can simply say the case is pending. The trial can proceed without the need to bring in additional facts from the case. It�s called strategy.
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kate's avatar

kate · 728 weeks ago

Bob, tell me in what world a grown man goes and makes accusations posing as a 12 year old girl?

As for your dismissal of Conway as a "hillbilly town" I'm sure most of the Conway residents would resent that claim, many of whom are decent, moral and educated people. Don't get mad at everybody simply because your fav dude got outed as a pedo.

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