Wasson: Protect the children

There have been a couple of prominent pastors who have stepped away from their ministries recently. Tony Evans has stepped down due to an unnamed sin from his past. While we do not know what it was, it would have to be significant since no one is perfect, and everyone is sinful on some level. Disqualifying sins usually involve sexual immorality, infidelity, or a question of integrity. Evans claims that his sin was nothing involving a crime. Hopefully, he can be restored to the ministry after he works through a process of counseling and recovery.

Robert Morris, on the other hand, has stepped down from Gateway Church in Texas due to having molested a child. Cindy Clemishire was 12 when her family hosted Morris, his wife, and his infant son in their home. Morris lured her into his bedroom, according to her, touched her inappropriately, and threatened her not to tell. This continued over a period of time. Biblically, Morris was disqualified from pastoral ministry and should have been permanently removed in 1982. But like most sexual predators, he evaded consequences.

Most religions have moral standards on who is eligible to serve as clergy, although a few have dropped their standards to gain approval from the secular world. God, however, has not changed the biblical requirements for spiritual leadership. The man who would lead a church is to be above reproach. Pedophiles need not apply.

The SBC was in the news last year due to allegations that cases of abuse were not handled properly. Like with gun violence, every solution is considered except holding the offending party accountable. The person who pulls the trigger unlawfully is the only one who should lose his or her rights. The molester is the one who should face the consequences for his or her actions, but instead, we punish everyone but the offender. Even so, once a group decides to normalize pedophilia or cover up sexual abuse, they have opened themselves up for scrutiny.

How do we prevent evil from happening? When it comes to child predators, there are many steps we can take to make it difficult for them to victimize children. The first step we can take is to disallow adults to sexualize children. There is no excuse to have adults flaunting their hyper-sexuality in front of children and minors. Standards for modesty need to be revived, and public decency ought to be enforced.

Our church, association and denomination require background checks for anyone who wants to work with or around children. That is a first step since many sexual predators have not been convicted. Statistics tell us that one in four girls will be molested before they turn 18, and that number is one in six boys, but it is possible that boys underreport victimization.

We have learned over the years that women, as well as men, can be sexually abusive to children. With the government’s passivity to stop human trafficking efforts, you have to wonder how many pedophiles are in positions of power, not just clergy but judges and politicians.

Another measure to help prevent abuse is never to allow an adult, other than a parent, to be alone with a child. Also, since some offenders begin molesting while they are under the age of 18, it is good to have adult supervision among children. The idea is that there will be eyewitnesses who can report what happened in the event of an accusation.

I know from experience that it is not always a popular decision to remove a sex offender from a church, but it would be much worse to have someone like Cindy Clemishire ask why no one did anything to stop her abuser.

If you have trouble with the doctrine of hell, just think about the kind of people who would victimize an innocent child. God is just, and this sin will not go unpunished. Anyone capable of such behavior is never to be trusted. Victims should never have to silence themselves because a predator said, “Sorry.”

In Matthew 18:6, Jesus suggests capital punishment for those who would harm a child. Surely, God will punish the church, organization, or society that favors sexual predators over their victims.

Shawn Wasson, D.Min., is the pastor of Bethany Baptist Church.