Christianity Today

For those of us who know the former CTI employee you reference in the first 4 paragraphs of this editorial, your article rings hollow. It is disingenuous to use his case lumped in with other "Monsters" to make your point about protecting the innocent. What about protecting the innocent who are wrongly accused, refuse to be coerced into a confession and have not been found guilty in a court of law? Would Jesus have any kinder words for that kind of behavior? Since the original posting of this editorial, you added the sentence at the end of paragraph 3. I was at the same court hearing.. What the "journalists" didn't report is that after the state made the assertion he had "confessed," the defense told the judge that there was no written confession and no video or audio recording. The "confession" consisted of hand written notes by detectives during a grueling interrogation. The judge believed the defense, cut bail so he can face the 2-3 year wait until his day in court, out of jail. :-(

Sorry to comment twice, but as an addendum, I think the issue of scapegoating should be especially poignant in light of Chuck Colson's passing.

Thank-you for this article and for everyone's comments. God has blessed us, allowing us to discuss the workings of salvation together. Of course I agree with the stated goals here- prevention of abuse and protection of victims. But something feels off. It's telling we elevate sex offenses even over murder. "...that you don't touch children—even murderers in prison get it" The orthodox scholar Rene Girard has spent his life in exegesis of the Gospel, and has developed the notion of scapegoating. A summary: In His death, Christ accepted the role of man's ultimate scapegoat. In His resurrection, He revealed scapegoating to man. This is part, not exhaustive of what Christ accomplished. There is a paper by the religion dept. of Emory university that explicates this topic. I heartily recommend it to the editors here. You can easily find it by Googling "Emory religion scapegoat sex offender". It should be the first result. I feel it terrifies the conscience like the Gospel ought.

This is an excellent article, thank you for publishing it. Too many Christians are in denial about the abuse that is harming so many people. 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 6 boys are raped or molested by the time they are 18 years old. God warned the church a long time ago that sexual predictors were creeping into the church unnoticed. The book of Jude talks about this evil. In verse three Jude warns about the need to contend for the faith and in verse four says that men were creeping in unnoticed and that they were using the grace of God as a 'license to sin'(NIV) 'Lewdness'(KJV). They were using the cover of being a 'Christian' to commit sexual immorality. This is premeditated or planned out sexual assault. Those well meaning but misguided and ignorant Christians who are still in denial of the truth had better start reading all of their Bibles. God tells us to 'Expose' the works of darkness. His words not mine. To try and suppress the truth about this evil, is doing Satan's work not God's.

I applaud you for acknowledging that child abuse is a problem that exists, not only in the Christian community, but in your own ranks. And some of the solutions you propose are important. However, as an author who has researched religious child maltreatment, real change will not occur until people of faith also come to grips with the need to report suspected perpetrators to secular authorities. While congregants are frequently advised to go to their spiritual leaders with information about child molesters, they are not trained or skilled in this area. You are not serving child victims by failing to stress the need to report cases of suspected abuse, just as many religious institutions have failed child victims by failing, or refusing, to tell congregants to report abuses. Secondly, while many Christians see the importance of, as you say, "extending the gospel" to those who abuse children, we cannot forget about the victims who often need counseling.