Blogs Feb 4, 2013 at 8:25 am

Comments

1
Also, Straight Rights Watch.
2
Funny thing is, we worry so much about the safety of children in schools, where statisitcally speaking, a child is much safer in school than anywhere else, especially a church. Yet, we never worry about church safety for kids.

I can not find the stats now, but I remember reading a pretty solid statistical report claiming that the most unsafe place for children is in a church or with a religious leader, based upon victimization rates.
3
Their shortcomings should be published far and wide.
4
You're pretty much preaching to the choir here. But if you must. Straight Watch Rights is missed, but please retire those "every child deserves a mother and father" stories--they make me cry and give me nightmares.
5
I think YPW serves a couple of very important public goods. One, is it warns people about leaving their children with nominal authority figures who may turn out to be child molesters. And two, it's a reminder that merely claiming to have moral authority does not mean you do, or that a church does. In fact, it's a poignant example of the worst kind of hypocrisy. A church wishing to present itself as a paragon of public virtue and morality should take every means necessary to assure that every adult or child will be safe under its aegis. Words, trappings, and Bibles mean absolutely nothing in this regard. Only actions matter.

But, personally speaking, I already know that horrible people exist, who do horrible things, in great quantity. I'm sort of already inured to the horror. So, publish away, but I'm not sure I'll really notice anymore. Hypocrisy is funny, but the same old jokes lose their edge over time.
6
@5 I'd add that YPW is a reminder that organizations that deal with children need to conduct background checks and have procedures in place that reduce the possibility of harm to children. It's just too easy for predators to take advantage of poor oversight and no guidelines.
7
I voted in favor of YPW, but like @4 said, all of us loyal Slog readers already know about the horrifying predator-filled church programs. You need to find a way to expose YPW a greater, unenlightened audience.
8
The only effective way to get rid of Youth Pastor Watch is -- for these situations not to happen. Keep your control issues and your parts to yourselves, youth pastors.
9
Dan's from Chicago so remember: vote early, vote often.
10
How about an epic reflection on youth pastors for the newspaper version of Slog that you don't even have time to write? "Youth Pastor Watch: A Decade Of Molestation" or some such thing?
11
Indecent liberties? crimes against nature? are these real, legally coded things? Seem very vague & wishy washy.
12
I thought Youth Pastor Watch stopped because it worked, and the kids were all safe. You mean all this time, those youth pastors have been out there. Doing things. With nobody watching?
13
I was always shocked at youth pastor watch, and I think it's useful to highlight the link certain aspects of religion with dangerous activities, but I am against restarting this feature if it means anyone has to do research on youth pastor crimes for an extended period of time.
14
@6 Yeah, what you said. I was thinking that when I wrote "take every means necessary," but it doesn't hurt to be more explicit. Good work.
15
While I get what you are trying to do, you should refrain from posting pictures about those who have no been convicted. Especially given the family quoted saying: "we are just trying to figure out what's going on with the case." If he isn't convicted of a crime, you have just played the vigilante-media-justice roll made popular by Nancy Grace. What if he's not the guy, what if there was no relationship, what if the abuse is a fabrication or vendetta? There are plenty of scenarios that could play out, and you linking his picture and speculative crimes could help ruin his future. Perhaps practice Youth Pastor Watch with some discretion, and if you want to post, at least stick to those actually convicted.
16
This news writes itself.
17
I like it because it shows that it's not just the Catholics who have creepy clergy.
18
@15 - Excellent thought, but one possible issue: there could easily be a decent number who are guilty but not convicted due to reasons such as plea bargain or dropping of charges from pressure from the churches, etc. In which case, all the more important that these cases get some level of attention. But that's a tough one, to be sure.
19
@18 - If you plea, you've agreed to plea to a charge. You will have some sort of record. It may be a lesser charge, but that's proof that the prosecutor did not have the evidence to prove that the crime, as filed, was committed. As for dropping of the charges from church pressure, I can't think of one prosecutor that would ever want to appear soft on sex crimes, so I don't think that's a likely scenario. If charges are dropped, it's more likely that police and prosecutors were in a hurry to try and account for a crime, and they fixated on one person to take the fall. There's a great NY Times piece from this weekend about why police lie under oath. It happens. A lot. If people aren't convicted, they shouldn't be linked by photo to crimes that no one could prove they committed. Especially sex crimes. It could, and likely will, ruin any prospect they have at trying to move on with their lives.

If the tables were turned and someone claimed that you had sexually assaulted them as an act of revenge, or any plethora of reasons, I'm sure you wouldn't want you picture with the term "rapist" plastered all over the internet without your chance to prove your innocence in court.
20
Ugh, I liked it better without faces.
21
Couldn't the churches have screened out these guys from youth pastor duty based on their frightening child molester faces?
22
I approve of YPW because of the sanctimonious self-importance of all too many members of the religion biz. Like that douche who made a point of writing "Pastor" by her signature on the bill where she refused to tip the waitress (whom she later had fired), and like those who drive around with "Clergy" stickers on their cars, as if it meant "9-11 First Responder" or something...

A friend of mine who has a counseling practice (and whose fellow counselor is a former minister) will not take on clergypeople as clients because they are so rotten about paying their bills!

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