Quote
I can see
I think there's an element of looney tunes in most churches especially of the pentecostal variety.
I've been reading some of the reports about abuse in the churches recently, Link
here, UK link
here [trigger warning]. Reading "victims were frequently blamed as being responsible for their own sexual abuse;" is just awful. "the impact of child sexual abuse, often lifelong, is such that everyone should do all they can to protect children;" - this has not been done. Also a hard truth that "those who are religious believers find it difficult to contemplate that fellow members of a congregation or religious leaders could perpetrate abuse. This can lead to victims being belittled, ignored or blamed, which may in turn make disclosures of abuse less likely." (From the
full report).
Different churches have different structures but they all pull from the same scripture. If we look at the Biblical guidance for handling abuse (mostly in the Pauline epistles) we see that its set up to help in the abuse.
• Obey authority. Women obey men; children obey adults; slaves obey masters, church members obey church elders. (Romans 13:1-5, Colossians 3:18-22, Ephesians 5:22-24, Ephesians 6:1-5, Hebrews 13:17, Proverbs 13:24.) When a revered man of God tells you to do something, you do it. When he explains why it's your fault, you accept it. If you tell your parents, they give you a Biblical beating for telling lies about a revered man of God.
• Don't go to court; resolve your disputes inside the church so that unbelievers won't see you fighting. (1 Corinthians 6:1-11) Based on this scripture, churches create internal investigation mechanisms which are almost always more concerned with protecting the reputation of the church and its leaders than with justice for past victims or prevention of future victimization. Victims are told that if they go to the press or to court, they'll be harming the mission of the church and thereby dooming innocent people to hell who would've otherwise been saved. This is a heavy burden for many victims who are believers, and is effective in keeping them silent and allowing abuse to continue.
• Forgive others; focus on your sins, not theirs, for we are all equally wretched before God. (Jesus' Sermon on the Mount comes into play here: Matthew 5:21-30, Matthew 6:12-15, Matthew 7:1-5, plus: John 8:7, Romans 3:9-23.) This is virtually always part of the script that abusive leaders and their supporters use to downplay the harm done to victims and to allow abusive leaders to remain in their positions. Victims are put under tremendous pressure to forgive and stay silent. If some rumor does make its way to the congregation, abusive leaders can get standing ovations from their congregations for tearfully confessing to vaguely-described sins and asking for forgiveness. Instead of focusing on the harm to victims, abusive leaders quickly pivot their congregations to the Biblical idea that we are all equal sinners in front of God. You should be thinking about the time you got mad and yelled at someone in traffic, since that's your sin. You should not be thinking about whatever it is that your leader is describing so vaguely, since that's his sin. Don't cast the first stone, fellow sinner. And don't ask too many questions.
• Sexual "impurity" is the main problem. (Romans 1:24-27, 1 Corinthians 6:18-20, 1 Corinthians 7:2, 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 1 Timothy 1:10, Hebrews 13:4, Ephesians 5:3, Galatians 5:16-19.) Another common tactic of church abusers is to use scripture to convince their victims that they are both - victim and abuser - tied up in the impurity of what happened. Many abusers will take it further and tell the victim that they are totally at fault, even if they are a child, since they are the source of temptation. Congregations accept this logic shockingly often, shunning victims as mentally ill, unstable, seductive, demonic forces who led their wonderful man of God astray. Victims are shunned and rejected by church members, while abusive leaders go through "restorative" processes.
It's the perfect framework for protecting perpetrators.