Thursday, October 27, 2011

Youth pastor Travis Bransetter arrested

TravisBransetterLet me paint a picture of abuse for you. Take a man between the age of 21 and 35 and mix him in with girls who are just starting to enter puberty. Allow the man to have unmonitored direct access to the girls and the ability to spend private one-on-one time away from church and other adults. The picture had better be one of air raid klaxons going off with people scurrying for shelter. This scenario is a classic setting for abuse. The Sr. Pastor and church leaders who allowed this to happen should be fired and held accountable for what happened.
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Youth Pastor Travis Bransetter faces charges that he raped and molested a 13-year-old girl in his youth group. Branstetter allegedly took the victim out for private hunting lessons where they engaged in various sex acts. Did members of the church crack the case? No, it was the rumor mill within the small city of Logan that did it. Where were the preventative and predictive controls Logan Church of the Nazarene? How did you miss this? More importantly, how did you allow this to happen?

I’ve read a separate report where the victim is reported to be 15-years-old.

True to form, Logan Church of the Nazarene does not mention the arrest on their website. Nor does it in anyway acknowledge Bransetter. This too is a bad practice. The church should acknowledge the arrest and make a statement for the benefit of the press, members, and the victim (or victims). I don’t understand why churches choose to bury the story. How does that help anyone? I thought churches were all about healing. I guess not.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The idea that "any" normal male surrounded by little girls who are either entering puberty or pre-pubescent is a recipe for sex is both ignorant and suspect. Pedophilia is not an acquired disorder or something that would transpire out of a situation as mentioned above. In fact, female predators are just as common and could just as easily prey on any sex. It is a problem however that "faith" is often enough to overlook deep seated personality disorders and sexual disorders such as pedophilia. It is a tragedy that 1 children are exposed to these predators due to the untrained, naive pastors that hire them and 2 that these predators are not dealt with swift and severe punishment. Any experience with the DSM and forensic psychology will tell you that there is NO way to cure a pedophile and castration might turn the individual with the sexual disorder into an even more violent threat to any potential victim. At least no one seemed to read or respond to your misguided attempt at saying what I have succinctly written. Cheers

Anonymous said...

Both of you got it wrong. The victim was the SR PASTOR'S daughter.