Back in the 1980’s I spoke at an ecumenical clergy meeting about the growing awareness of the Catholic priest pedophile epidemic, and how all Christians needed to work at making sure children were safe in our churches. I was told that it was only a few bad apples committing these atrocities, and that the church would deal with it appropriately. It wasn’t, and they didn’t. Then, in the 1990s, I spoke out about the sickness of greed and sin that pervaded the Evangelical and Fundamentalist TV preacher world; I told another group that these two monstrous trends would do to religion what Nixon had done to politics – future generations would grow up not trusting churches. I was told I was being histrionic; calm down, youngster – these are just aberrations. I was, unfortunately, correct in these assessments, though it brings me no joy to say this.
The truth is that religion, while it has done great good, has also done great harm, and like any huge organization, it has worked harder at covering up its sins than curing them. Religious trauma is so rampant that there are now higher education degrees to train counselors in helping the victims of this destructive behavior. And while allowing priests to marry – and (gasp) – women to be priests – would help the Catholic situation, celibacy is not the reason for pedophilia. Most priests who embrace this life choice do so willingly; they are good men who just want to serve God. What has made this so insidious is the willingness of church leadership to ignore it. And it isn’t a problem of the past; Pope Francis just accepted the resignation of a Polish bishop three days ago for that cleric’s unwillingness to address the problem.
We in the church need to speak up against religious trauma. We need to have a “come to Jesus moment” – literally – and take a stand against any member of the clergy who breaks this trust that removes them from the ministry and gets them the help they need. We need to let the world know that we have zero tolerance for any kind of abuse and are a place of safety for anyone who has been abused. This is not an easy task. Religious Trauma has impacted generations of families, and public trust for the clergy and the church is at an all-time low. A Pew poll this year found that public trust of clergy dropped from 40 to 32% since 2020 – yes – in less than 4 years! It was 67% in 1985. A Lifeway research poll found that only 31% of Americans trust the church (2022), as opposed to 68% in 1975.
While it is true that Americans have lost trust in all institutions over the last 40 years, most of the reasons the church finds itself in this position are self-inflicted. And we are the only ones who can make this better. How? Speak up about the evils that cause religious trauma. Make sure you have a safe church policy and practice that is never broken. Open your doors to groups that support people who have been abused by religion in the past. Seek help for yourself or those you know who are causing trauma. Mostly, make your congregation a place that protects the oppressed instead of hiding the oppressors. Let the teachings of Jesus matter more than dogma, doctrine, or friendship. We caused this problem, and we have a duty to help solve it.
Prayer – Holy God, You have given us a sacred trust. We repent of those times we have not done right by You and Your children. Help us to do better. Amen.
Today’s art is “Broken Heart” by Thomas Saliot.