Why we CARE
The CARE Act adds clergy members to the list of mandated reporters of suspected child abuse and maltreatment.
Many people think clergy should be mandated reporters, but the CARE Act is personal for us.
Our lived experiences as parents and children raised in religious groups tell us that American churches don’t do enough to protect children from predators in their congregations. We have experienced harm at church, and our children have experienced harm at church. The CARE Act is a necessary first step toward addressing the moral failure of church leaders who declare that there is no biblical mandate to report a crime.
Child sexual abuse is heinous and tragically common in church settings. Strong evidence suggests that child predators are attracted to churches. Sexual abusers benefit from Christian teachings on repentance and forgiveness; if they’re caught, they can simply performatively express remorse, rely on unwise church practices that grant access to all in the name of grace, and then secretly continue their abuse.
Sexual abusers are more likely to be regular church attendees. One study found that predators who maintained religious involvement from childhood to adulthood had “more sexual offense convictions, more victims, and younger victims, than other groups.”
In her book Predators, Pedophiles, Rapists, and other Sex Offenders, Anna Salter quotes a convicted child molester: “I considered church people easy to fool…they have a trust that comes from being Christians. They tend to be better folks all around and seem to want to believe in the good that exists in people.”
While the desire to rehabilitate people is understandable, the reality is that pastors are not trained or qualified to do this. The lack of training and resources coupled with a naive willingness to offer second chances to people leaves our children vulnerable to continued abuse. Discreetly offering endless chances to abusers serves only to protect the reputations of abusers, when the focus of our efforts should be on immediately protecting victims.
Given the ubiquity of sex offenders in churches, clergy must be essential front-line workers in this crisis. When clergy fail in their duty to report abuse, they leave a gaping hole in critical response efforts.
Reporting abuse is essential for several reasons. First, it establishes a paper trail about the abuser so that other people can take safety measures. The most common method of screening for child sexual abusers is to use criminal background checks. However, as one article notes, “studies have shown that criminal background checks identify less than 1% of candidates as having sexual offense histories against either adults or children.” If abuse isn’t reported, there’s no way for it to get flagged for potential victims.
Reporting abuse can stop a predatory pattern. Multiple studies confirm that child sexual abuse is widely underreported and that child molesters generally have multiple victims. If an abuser is reported and stopped after the first child, they cannot continue to abuse other victims. Not reporting abuse awards abusers the privilege of being able to quietly walk away from the damage that they caused in their victim’s life and move on to new victims.
Noted sexual abuse attorney Boz Tchividjian gives this story as an example:
“As much of the nation was recently celebrating Christmas, a Memphis pastor was arrested for sexually abusing a 16-year-old family member. What makes this heartbreaking story even more repugnant is that church and family members had been informed about the abuse two years earlier, but failed to report the crime to the police. Instead, they decided that the best response was to simply pray for the offender and hope for the best. Tragically, this response to child sexual abuse by those within the church is not uncommon. Equally as tragic is that such responses fuel perpetrators to continue destroying the bodies and souls of untold numbers of children.”
When a pastor reports abuse, it tells predators that this church is not a feeding ground for wolves. A good shepherd protects the sheep and keeps the wolves out of the pasture. Reporting abuse also communicates to the congregation that abuse is not acceptable, part of God’s plan, or something that can be dismissed without consequences.
Some have expressed opposition to the CARE Act on the grounds that abusers will be less likely to confess their sins to a pastor. This scenario is highly unlikely. Sexual offenders rarely want to confess their crimes; they continue until they are caught.
Others have argued that adding clergy to the list of mandated reporters might make victims less inclined to report abuse to their pastors. This argument assumes that the child victims are responsible for reporting their abuse and seeking justice. Child safety is the responsibility of adults. Even if a child expresses that they do not want their abuser reported for molesting them, it is still the pastor’s responsibility as an adult to report the abuse to protect that child and all other children in the congregation.
Many pastors see the health of their congregation as a direct reflection of their own spiritual health and reputation. This can lead pastors to internalize the shame of abuse within the congregation or to cover it up to maintain their own reputations and the reputation of their church. We encourage pastors to see that abuse occurring within your church is not necessarily your fault, but it is your responsibility to act on it and protect all members, no matter how small, in your congregations.
Even one victim of abuse is too many. Report child sexual abuse.
