{"id":49115,"date":"2020-07-15T11:50:26","date_gmt":"2020-07-15T15:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=49115"},"modified":"2020-07-15T11:50:26","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T15:50:26","slug":"child-protection-must-include-a-theology-that-empowers-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2020\/07\/child-protection-must-include-a-theology-that-empowers-children.html","title":{"rendered":"Child Protection Must Include a Theology that Empowers Children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The scandal at Menlo Church continues<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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The leaders of a California evangelical megachurch are under fire for bungling the church\u2019s response to a youth ministry volunteer\u2019s confession that he was attracted to minors.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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The Menlo Church volunteer in question first told Senior Pastor John Ortberg about his feelings two years ago, though congregants weren\u2019t officially notified about the situation until January.\u00a0That the volunteer was the pastor\u2019s younger son,\u00a0John \u201cJohnny\u201d Ortberg III, was kept secret until a whistleblower leaked the news late last month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The younger Ortberg denies acting inappropriately towards children and to date, no one has come forward with allegations claiming otherwise. But the revelation of his identity has heightened scrutiny of the church\u2019s response and raised questions about whether John Ortberg \u2015 who allowed his son to continue volunteering with children for over a year after hearing about the disordered attractions \u2015 should remain the church\u2019s senior pastor.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some parishioners are pointing out\u2014and rightly so\u2014that the board of elders seems to have been more interested in protecting John Ortberg\u2019s reputation than in protecting the safety children.<\/p>\n

I knew the board had hired someone to conduct an \u201cinvestigation,\u201d and that Daniel Lavery, the whistleblower, found the investigation wholly inadequate. I hadn\u2019t realized that the investigator they hired, Fred Alverez,\u00a0was an employment lawyer.\u00a0<\/em>Why would you hire an employment lawyer to investigate allegations of potential sexual abuse of children in church youth groups?<\/p>\n

Marci Hamilton, CEO of the child abuse prevention think tank Child USA, laid out some of the substantial inadequacies of Alvarez\u2019 investigation in the article I quoted from above. In reading her comments\u2014which I\u2019ll quote here\u2014one particular statement struck me as being incredibly, deeply important:<\/p>\n

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Hamilton said she found it \u201crather shocking\u201d that the investigator failed to interview Johnny Ortberg and parents whose children had been with the volunteer. She also found it surprising that Johnny Ortberg wasn\u2019t identified by name to the congregation and his sports team.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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Adults sexually attracted to children often operate in ways that are under the radar, Hamilton said, which means the interview process needed to be expanded. The investigator needed to learn if Johnny Ortberg was allowed to be alone with children, if he engaged in grooming behavior, and if his computer was searched for child sex abuse images and direct contact with children. Investigators also need to examine the extent to which children at the church are taught to \u201cobey\u201d adults, which could contribute to kids\u2019 hesitation to report abuse, Hamilton said.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cThe \u2018investigation\u2019 fell so far below the minimum efforts needed to ensure children haven\u2019t been abused that I wouldn\u2019t call it an investigation,\u201d Hamilton wrote in an email.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Hamilton is right about all of these factors, of course, but note this particular aspect\u2014to what extent are children at the church taught to \u201cobey\u201d adults? Hamilton asks.<\/p>\n

I grew up in an evangelical megachurch, and \u201cchildren obey your parents\u201d was held up as the single most important thing children needed to know. And it wasn\u2019t just parents. Children were taught to obey adults and to not question authority figures. Obedience was central, and usually unqualified.<\/p>\n

Hamilton\u2019s comment struck me because it\u2019s not something I\u2019ve seen much discussed, in the response to the situation at Menlo Church. Evangelical communities frequently do seemingly everything possible\u00a0<\/em>to put\u00a0children in danger of abuse, while claiming simultaneously to care deeply about children. I\u2019m reminded of fundamentalist child rearing guru Debi Pearl, who wrote a a children\u2019s book about preventing child sexual abuse and who who at the same time teaches parents to whip their children until they break their children\u2019s wills, to ensure that their children will obey them without question and never, ever<\/em> question them.<\/p>\n

Keeping children safe\u00a0must\u00a0<\/em>go hand in hand with empowering children to speak up when something goes wrong, to advocate for themselves, to believe themselves worth<\/em> advocating for. If children\u2019s history of speaking up for themselves is paired with punishment for \u201cback talk,\u201d they will learn that they not only cannot speak out, but also that the adults in their lives are not interested in listening to them and will not hear them even if they try<\/em> to speak out.<\/p>\n

These are bad and dangerous messages to send children,\u00a0but they are nevertheless extremely common<\/em> messages, in evangelical churches.<\/p>\n

For instance, have a look at this article<\/a>, on an evangelical website John Ortberg also writes for:<\/p>\n

Note that Paul does not say that children should obey their parents because their parents provide good reasons. Rather, children should obey \u201cin everything\u201d simply because that\u2019s the way God wants it.<\/p>\n

Children who experience the joy of obedience to their parents are taking a huge first step toward experiencing the joy of obedience to God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Child sexual abuse is almost always perpetrated by a family member or close family friend, and not by a stranger. Teaching children that the first and most important thing they owe their parents is immediate, unthinking, unquestioning obedience is not a good thing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I have yet to see many evangelicals fully aware of the connection between teaching children that their duty to God includes unquestioning obedience to parents and other adult authority figures, and leaving children vulnerable to sexual abuse. I am glad Hamilton brought up this connection, and I hope her comments spur Menlo Church to think about the impacts of its theology on its ability to protect the church\u2019s children.<\/p>\n

I have a <\/b>Patreon<\/b><\/a>! Please support my writing!\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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