Another evangelical institution has been accused of sexual misconduct. Yesterday it was reported that Christianity Today underwent a third-party investigation, which determined that under prior leadership sexual harassment was an issue. 12 women came forward during the investigation to testify that former editor-in-chief Mark Galli and former advertising director Olatokunbo Olawoye were the two culprits. The current President and CEO of CT Timothy Dalrymple explains here
Christianity Today Handled things (almost) Perfectly
I have been reporting on sexual misconduct within evangelicalism for the better part of a year now. In every case, the institution perpetuated the abuse by either turning a blind eye or minimizing the problem. I am happy to report that although this should have never happened, to begin with, all indications are that CT went to great lengths to make this right. They should serve as an example for other evangelical institutions, including churches, on how organizations should deal with situations of misconduct.
Although it appeared as if CT took the initial claims seriously they failed in one major way. They didn’t put any policy in place to deal with sexual misconduct in 2019 when they first learned about the problem. Despite this, there were many positive steps that CT took to deal with this situation. Below are the steps that CT went through to ensure that this situation was handled correctly.
- They had a third-party consulting firm survey the misconduct.
- They didn’t try to silence or minimize the problem but took it seriously from the outset.
- They didn’t try to hide the problem.
- They didn’t fire the women who came forward.
- They published the report so the public could see it.
- They didn’t censor their columnists from writing about it.
- They had the victims help create new sexual harassment policies to ensure comprehensive reform.
Dealing with Sexual (and Spiritual) Misconduct
Getting out in front is the key to helping address sexual (as well as spiritual) misconduct within religious institutions. Too many institutions wait until there is a problem before the issue is addressed. This is probably because most institutions either don’t believe that they could have a problem, or they know they have a problem and they don’t want to know the extent. The fact that many of these women are coming forward years after the said act was committed demonstrates that most institutions don’t have policies in place to protect their employees or ministry leaders.
Every religious organization should have a misconduct policy in place that creates mechanisms for people to come forward and safely report incidents. Below are just a few of the parameters that should be included in every policy.
First, every policy should be created by a board that includes the appropriate amount of women to contribute to the policy.
Second, I recognize that men can also be sexually and spiritually abused by both other men and women. The fact remains that the majority of all reports are based on male misconduct. Regardless, the suggestions below are female-centric but can apply to both men and women.
Definitions: Sexual (and spiritual if you wish to include it) must be specifically defined. What constitutes sexual harassment and what doesn’t? The more specific the better.
Reporting: There must be a safe and easy way to report misconduct. It is recommended that there be a point woman (Elder or leader in the Church). This individual must be educated on how to properly handle the situation. It should also be understood that depending on the nature of the misconduct it may need to be reported to law enforcement.
Resources: There must be resources available for the individual who is reporting the abuse. This should include third-party counseling services. It is not recommended that the Pastor be the counselor in these situations. These resources should be paid for by the organization and not the individual.
Prevention: There should be some method for protecting the organized body or employee. This might include rules about men and women being alone (especially when the man is a leader). Training must be an essential part of prevention. If leaders know at the outset that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated, they are less likely to offend. Background checks should also be run on all individuals who have leadership over other people.
Privacy: There must be a mechanism in place that protects the privacy of the victim. In some cases, it may be necessary to report the incident to law enforcement. The victim should be aware of this.
Consequences: There should be a clear process for dealing with misconduct including possible consequences.
Rights: The rights of both individuals should be clear. Both the victim as well as the accused have rights, those should be preserved.
Investigations: A proper investigation should be conducted when any situation of misconduct arises. Depending on the depth of the misconduct the organization is encouraged to use third-party consultants to do the investigation. Most denominations should have someone available who can conduct the investigation.
You may not think anything could happen within your organization. This is true of most organizations and yet it happens – way too frequently. Taking some time to draft a policy that protects your employees/parishioners is worth the investment.
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