User:Iman2010/Clergy sexual misconduct

Clergy Sexual Misconduct (CSM) has reached alarming proportions. The largest national study on CSA/CSM, conducted by Baylor University , indicates that 1 in 33 American adult women who attend church regularly has been the victim of a sexual advance by her religious leader. This means that in the average American congregation of 400 adult members, 7 women have been victimized at some point in their adult lives. Joe E. Trull and James E. Carter, in their work Ministerial Ethics: Being a Good Minister in a Not-So-Good World , discovered that 10-12 percent of pastors have had sexual intercourse with members of their congregation, and as many as 25-35 percent have admitted to sexually inappropriate behavior with their parishioners. At its core, CSA/CSM is a power issue. The pastor is seen as God's agent to lead the congregation; when that sacred trust is broken, the inner soul is injured. CSA/CSM is a violation of the role of the pastor who is called upon to exercise integrity, sensitivity and care. It is NOT an affair! Affair is a term used to describe a sexual liaison between peers, or equals. Where an imbalance of power exists, there can be no authentic consensual relationship. When a pastor acts out a sexual relationship with a congregant, it is never an affair -- it is an ABUSIVE act that exploits the powerless victim. Because clergy carry moral and spiritual authority as well as professional power, it is always the pastor's responsibility to set and maintain boundaries. The victim is not to be blamed for violating boundaries, even if he/she initiated the contact.

CSA/CSM is seldom an isolated action.

Professional sexual misconduct occurs when any person with ministerial authority engages in:

- sexual activity with congregants or employees - sexualized behavior with congregants or employees (sex talk, jokes and innuendos, suggestive comments, tales of sexual exploits or    experiences, flirting, inappropriate gift giving, pornography, hugs, kisses, inappropriate touching)

92% of these sexual advances had been made in secret, not in open dating relationships; and 67% of the offenders were married to someone else at the time of the advance.

he study makes it clear that due to the imbalance of power between a pastor or priest and his congregation that a consensual relationship is impossible. These are never "affairs" - they are abuse. We would never accept a therapist manipulating a patient to have sex with her, so we should not accept a pastor abusing his power to manipulate a member of his congregation or staff.

These predators leverage their trusted positions, lack of supervision, and secrecy to abuse victims for years without detection and often are able to abuse multiple victims at the same time. They follow a well-developed pattern to abuse their victims and to cover their tracks:

1) They intentionally target vulnerable women and children (those who most need and will most readily respond to caring and attention, and those who would be least likely to "tell", or if they did tell, would be the least likely to be believed) 2) They carefully "groom" their victims and often their families (making their victims very dependent on them and their families very trusting), 3) They de-sensitize them to sexual advances through inappropriate touching and comments (for example, using physical play with children or hugs that are too close or last too long with women) 4) They isolate their victims from their family and friends through excessive church activities, committee assignments, extra counseling, excessive reading assignments, etc. 5) They give gifts and start sharing inappropriate personal information to make the victim feel that they have a unique special relationship with the pastor (saying things like "I wish my wife supported my ministry like you do" or "I have never been able to tell anyone this - not even my wife") 6) They use their power as religious authorities to twist religion to justify their "special" relationship. 7) Then when they cross the final boundary and sexually abuse their victim, their victim is so confused that they will usually not resist and may think that it is okay. 8) Finally, these predators will leverage their victims' loyalty to keep them from "telling" or to blame themselves if they do tell. Either way, he remains free to abuse others.

The only way to stop this is to keep educating congregations and the public, remove these predator pastors, and put safeguards in place for all remaining pastors to keep them from being tempted.

Chaves, Mark, and Garland, Diana. "The Prevalence of Clergy Sexual Advances towards Adults in Their Congregations." Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion(48)4, 817-824.

Garland, D., and Argueta, C. "How clergy sexual misconduct happens: A qualitative study of first-hand accounts." Social Work and Christianity

Garland, D. R. (2006). Wolves in shepherds' clothing: Helping women survive clergy sexual abuse. Social Work and Christianity, 33(1), 1-35.

Garland, Diana R., and Argueta, Christen A. (forthcoming). Unholy touch: When church leaders commit acts of sexual misconduct with adults. In The church leader's resource book for mental health and social problems. New York: Oxford University Press.