- Protecting an Abuser: Leaders of a Minnesota church didn’t report a parishioner to police though they knew he’d sexually abused girls for years and had been told reporting it was their duty.
- Forgive and Forget: Church leaders held meetings where children were told to forgive the man who sexually abused them and forget the abuse. If they spoke of it, the sin would be theirs.
- Missed Opportunities: Prosecutors had at least one opportunity to intervene but hoped educating church leaders about their duties would encourage them to cooperate with authorities.
I’ll preface this with that I’m not a believing Christian, I don’t even believe in God. But I grew up with religious grand-parents and also had religious education since childhood from talking to our town priest at various summer camps that were organized and supervised by the church. I was that weird kid that always asked too many questions.
It’s one of those attempts at bible-thumping that is just abhorrent and completely wrong.
In Christian belief (more strongly held to by catholic branches of Christianity), Jesus endured torture, insults and death and in return, he only wished for salvation for everyone (including the people insulting, torturing and killing him). Jesus did this because he knew that the only entity that is allowed to judge you is God and God will judge you when you die and by enduring the atrocities committed against him, he showed faith in God’s fair judgement.
Technically, that means that seeking revenge or justice for a crime committed against you is equal to not trusting in God to judge your perpetrator(s) fairly in afterlife and as such is not living the example that Jesus gave. Instead, you should forgive and pray and hope that your abuser will understand and repent his wrongdoings.
It does however not transfer their sin onto you, you are committing a different sin in doing so, so they keep their sin of being a childfucker, so what these kooks are saying is baloney. It’s also entirely unchristian to demand absolution from anyone but God and it’s a sin doing so. As a victim, it’s also allowed to think about and voice your anger and frustration of crimes committed against you, you should just not act upon your anger irrationally. Suing somebody for damages is not irrational, telling them to fuck off and never come near you ever again is not irrational, so they are plainly wrong.
Too that, I would say seek retribution and let God sort them out. If it’s good for the gander, it’s good for the goose.