Posted On: June 18, 2007, 1:42 pm CDT

Posted By: Charles

I agree, there is no number of safeguards that you can put in place that will completely prevent any situation, but there are certainly steps that we can take reduce the likelihood.

My point in all of it is that the Catholic church took a lot of flack a few years ago about this, and now, church insurers are showing that Protestant churches seem to be just as susceptible to the same issues as the Catholic church, yet we don't hear the same outcry, perhaps because of the in fact decentralization of these churches. When these people are identified, there needs to be action taken immediately, and our children told we are not going to blame them for the actions of those that molested them.

Also, I would agree, no amount of background checks are going to stop someone determined to offend. Look at the BTK killer- he committed his crimes 25 years ago, then receded into quietness, was a scout and church leader, and then finally was exposed, essentially after he outed himself.

So, I think it unreasonable for any faith, or denomination thereof, to hold themselves out as "holier than thou" because they've "never" had anyone do anything like that. You can't verify that, though I pray its true.