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The Devil You Know

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DB Roy
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The Devil You Know

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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/i ... GlyeZqfQv0

Published Feb. 12, 2019

Second of three parts

Doug Myers was suspected of preying on children at a church in Alabama — but he went on to work at Southern Baptist churches in Florida before police arrested him.

Timothy Reddin was convicted of possessing child pornography, yet he was still able to serve as pastor of a Baptist church in Arkansas.

Charles Adcock faced 29 counts of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Alabama. Then he volunteered as a worship pastor at a Baptist church in Texas.

The sordid backgrounds of these Southern Baptist ministers didn't stop them from finding new jobs at churches and working in positions of trust.

They're among at least 35 Southern Baptist pastors, youth ministers and volunteers who were convicted of sex crimes or accused of sexual misconduct but still were allowed to work at churches during the past two decades, an investigation by the San Antonio Express-News and the Houston Chronicle reveals.

Some were suspected of misconduct but were allowed to leave quietly and work elsewhere. Others had been arrested, had criminal records or even had to register as sex offenders but later found jobs at Baptist churches.

All the men worked at times for churches in the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest coalition of Baptist churches in the United States.

The SBC has rejected efforts to establish a registry to track sexual abuse cases and prevent churches from hiring predatory pastors. In some cases, churches knew of a pastor's past and allowed him to work anyway. In others, the SBC's inaction might have allowed offenders to move from community to community, ruining lives as they slipped through background checks and found jobs at unsuspecting churches.

"There's no other group that does pass the buck better," said Dee Ann Miller, a longtime victims' rights activist in Kansas who speaks out against sexual abuse by Baptist ministers and clergy in other faiths.
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Robert Tulip

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Re: The Devil You Know

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Churches are highly vulnerable to evil predators who exploit the culture of trust to gain access to innocent victims, and then further exploit the shame of their acts to maintain secrecy. Historically, churches and other voluntary organisations working with children have supported the predators and not their victims, in a misguided effort to protect their reputation. The sexual assault epidemic is a major factor in the current collapse of faith.

Australia has a Safe Church program, arising from the recent Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. This is relevant for other nations interested in learning from a concerted national effort to address this major social problem.
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DB Roy
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Re: The Devil You Know

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But it's hard to understand how one can KNOW that the person applying for the job has a conviction of pederasty or child porn and still hires him. I can understand trying to cover it up after finding out a person did these things but hiring them knowing full well that they did these things?? You would think that by itself is a criminal act and the person prosecuted accordingly but it's probably not illegal.
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Robert Tulip

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Re: The Devil You Know

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Australian states and territories have legislation requiring police checks to gain employment in areas that work with vulnerable people. Here is an example: https://www.legislation.act.gov.au/a/20 ... efault.asp
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DB Roy
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Re: The Devil You Know

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Evidently, we don't have that here in the States. At least not in the South.
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