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News & ArtsThursday, February 25, 2010
Religion Youth Pastor Watch
Posted by Dan Savage on Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 8:31 AM
Disturbing details are coming to light in the case of a Granite City man charged with child pornography production. The suspect and his victim attended the same church in Collinsville. 29 year old Joseph Emil Klug is the former leader of a youth group involving young boys at the First Assembly of God church. A church spokeswoman says that Klug is no longer attending the church. The church's web site says one of the children's ministries is Royal Rangers. Boys from kindergarten through 12th grade can join. One of the activities involves camping. The federal indictment says that Klug hid a video camera inside a tent and taped a boy touching himself. The feds have charged Klug in a two count indictment charging him with production and possession of child pornography. If convicted he could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison.
In the report that was broadcast on KTVI we learn that leaders of the Royal Rangers "must be Christians who are above reproach":
On Tuesday, Virginia Beach Circuit Court Judge Patricia West sentenced former Bayside High School baseball coach Dennis Ray Collins, to 20 years in prison, with ten years suspended. Collins, 53, pled guilty to one count of sexual penetration with an object, and one count of indecent liberties while in a custodial role. Virginia Beach Commonwealth Attorney Harvey Bryant said that the abuse took place in Collins’ home. The molestations occurred between 1986 and 1988. During the period in question, Collins was also a youth minister at Thalia Lynn Baptist Church in Virginia Beach.
A youth leader at an Ocean Springs church has been arrested on multiple counts of possession of child pornography, Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd said. Stephen Brown, 37, and a youth leader at Grace Independent Baptist Church on U.S. 90, was arrested Tuesday at his home on Glacier Avenue in Ocean Springs. He is charged with four counts of child pornography.... If convicted of all the charges, Brown faces a maximum prison sentence of 80 years.
Klug, Collins, and Brown are all making their first appearance in "Youth Pastor Watch."
3
i think that at this point in the whole 'youth pastor watch' thing it's time for some perspective. for example, how many cases of youth ministers and pastors doing horrible stuff has there been, and how does that compare with other professions that work with kids. dan has made a very strong point bringing all these cases to attention, but some measure of analysis would take that point into the realm of an actual argument. or at least shed some light on why this seems to be such a consistent phenomenon. i'm at least curious to know what percentage of child porn peddlers/consumers hold positions within a church.
4
"Klug" is German for "smart." Shouldn't he be mounting a defense claiming that a) the video monitoring was to detect "inappropriate behavior," and b) they had planned a stop at Lowe's on the way home to procure lengths of quarter-inch plumbing supply line?
5
It seems like it would be a good idea to have homosexual men as Boy Scout Masters so they could take teenageers camping.
7
@6: Yes, and "rightsizing" is not getting fired. It's a slightly different term for a very similar meaning. Big whoop.
8
@3
You raise an excellent point that this information is presented with no context.
Additionally the "standards' have grown lax to the point that pretty much any adult who attends a church who involves themself with a teenager makes the "Watch".
Most on the "Watch" are not Youth Pastors but youth leaders, volunteers who help out with the youth programs in their congregation. Unpaid, without specialized training or education. (sometimes janitors make the "Watch")
Also the victims are usually not kids the person relates to relative to their church activity- often they are just family acquaintances. (One person listed on the "Watch" was a 17 year old kid who molested some children his parents were baby sitting at their home- clearly a case of Clergy Gone Wild...)
Also the "Watched" often are not currently affiliated with a church, but if the googled write-up mentions that they once were a youth leader they get listed.
There are about 335,000 congregations in the US. if each has an actual Youth Pastor and 3-4 youth 'leaders' who help out that would be 1.2-1.6 million "Youth Pastors". If Dan averages one a day that would mean in a given year one of every four or five thousand "Youth Pastors" make the "Watch"; in other words 0.02%....
But also Pastors (not "Youth", the regular pastor for the whole congregation) make the watch when they abuse kids and if you include all clergy (Pastors, Asst. Pastors) in the pool that increases the number to over 3 million and the offender rate to about 0.01%.
A kid probably has a better chance of being killed by a terrorist. Or a pit bull.
Over 200 Million Americans attend church. If any of them are involved with an underage kid and their church attendence is mentioned in any context in any googleable source expect to see them on the "Watch"...
More...
You raise an excellent point that this information is presented with no context.
Additionally the "standards' have grown lax to the point that pretty much any adult who attends a church who involves themself with a teenager makes the "Watch".
Most on the "Watch" are not Youth Pastors but youth leaders, volunteers who help out with the youth programs in their congregation. Unpaid, without specialized training or education. (sometimes janitors make the "Watch")
Also the victims are usually not kids the person relates to relative to their church activity- often they are just family acquaintances. (One person listed on the "Watch" was a 17 year old kid who molested some children his parents were baby sitting at their home- clearly a case of Clergy Gone Wild...)
Also the "Watched" often are not currently affiliated with a church, but if the googled write-up mentions that they once were a youth leader they get listed.
There are about 335,000 congregations in the US. if each has an actual Youth Pastor and 3-4 youth 'leaders' who help out that would be 1.2-1.6 million "Youth Pastors". If Dan averages one a day that would mean in a given year one of every four or five thousand "Youth Pastors" make the "Watch"; in other words 0.02%....
But also Pastors (not "Youth", the regular pastor for the whole congregation) make the watch when they abuse kids and if you include all clergy (Pastors, Asst. Pastors) in the pool that increases the number to over 3 million and the offender rate to about 0.01%.
A kid probably has a better chance of being killed by a terrorist. Or a pit bull.
Over 200 Million Americans attend church. If any of them are involved with an underage kid and their church attendence is mentioned in any context in any googleable source expect to see them on the "Watch"...
11
Where's the compassion, Dan? Like you said, it's impossible for Mr. Brown here to fully extinguish his fetish for children.
12
Why is pedophilia any less legitimate an orientation that homosexuality?
If homosexuality were still illegal would Dan be posting everyone that got busted?
Would he have been at Stonewall taking names to post?
If homosexuality were still illegal would Dan be posting everyone that got busted?
Would he have been at Stonewall taking names to post?
13
@12 Pedophilia is a less legitimate orientation than homosexuality because it causes harm. See "Gold Star Pedophiles" in a recent Savage Love.
14
The article indicates no murder, no kidnapping, no physical/sexual assault, nor even production/distribution of pornography. This schlub is facing EIGHTY YEARS for simply possessing it?
I don't like Mr. Brown a whole lot but this is insane.
I don't like Mr. Brown a whole lot but this is insane.
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