A Political Rant

I try to avoid politics in my journal posts for the most part. I am no expert in policy, and my calling is not to governance. That doesn’t mean that I ignore politics. I don’t. It doesn’t mean that I don’t have political opinions. I do. I am careful, however, in my public statements to be inclusive of many different perspectives and I believe that it is important for the church to have room for those who disagree. My position in the church is one of power and I choose not to use that power to unduly influence those I serve.

But today’s journal entry is political. So, if you don’t like that kind of thing, you might want to just skip this one and come back tomorrow.

Yesterday, by one vote, the South Dakota House of Representatives defeated HB 1230, which would have added clergy to the list of mandatory reporters of child abuse. It is already the law in South Dakota that teachers, doctors and social workers are required to report to authorities if they suspect or know that child abuse is taking place. The bill would have added clergy and comparable spiritual leaders of religions other than Christianity to the list of mandatory reporters.

I wasn’t present for the debate. I read that the opponents of the bill used a “slippery slope” argument. One representative said he once met a Chinese foreign exchange student who said churches in China have cameras and microphones so the state can monitor activities in the churches. It seemed scant evidence. A rumor at best. But even if it is true, that is a far cry from saying that people in leadership of churches and other religious institutions have a responsibility to society to protect children.

It is nearly impossible for members of the legislature to be unaware of the crisis in contemporary churches caused by the abuse of children and the coverup of that abuse by church leaders. Have they no concept of the pain and suffering that abuse has already caused? Is there any excuse for not doing everything in their power to protect children?

The First Amendment to the US Constitution guaranteers freedom of religion. It does not give churches or religious leaders the right to commit crimes. The state clearly has the right to protect our members by requiring that our buildings meet minimum safety codes. We have safe wiring, emergency exit signs, fireproof glass, and many other systems in place to assure the safety of those who enter our buildings. Our congregation will be undertaking the expensive step of adding fire suppression sprinklers in our building in the next two years to bring our building up to code. These are not seen as a restriction of the freedom of religion.

For the record, our church policy requires all church leaders, lay or clergy, to report any abuse or suspected abuse to the Child Protection Services of the South Dakota Department of Social Services. We explicitly require outside investigation of all allegations. Our pastors carry the title of pastor and teacher and I have made it clear that it is my expectation that they treat the teacher side of their title as requiring them to be mandatory reporters. We have a preschool in our building and all of the adults working in that program are mandatory reporters. I do not consider this to be debatable. We are under obligation to protect every child who comes into our building, and there will be no coverups of any kind.

The bill defeated in the South Dakota House yesterday would have made an exception for the seal of the confessional. It is a long standing tradition in the Roman Catholic church that it is the absolute duty of priests not to disclose anything learned from penitents during the sacrament of penance. In protestant churches, including the denomination I serve, maintaining confidence is an essential element in the code of professional ethics. It is not, however, in our tradition, considered to be absolute. I inform people with whom I counsel that the threat or report of violence against self or another person is too great a burden to be kept confidential. If I discover such a threat, I consider it my professional responsibility to protect an individual from violence. I have maintained that practice when working with individuals who were at risk of dying from suicide. I have never encountered direct evidence of child abuse in my work as a pastor, but when suspicion has existed, I have made report to Child Protective Services. It has been many years since I have encountered a report, but I know exactly what I would do should another report occur.

No abuser is helped by keeping the abuse secret. And there are predatory abusers who will continue to abuse until outside authorities stop the behavior.

Just last week Pope Francis convened an unprecedented summit in Rome of senior bishops and church figures to call for an absolute end to the victimization of children. The Pope has acknowledged that sexual abuse of children and adults has occurred repeatedly in the church and that the church has shielded predators who have had multiple victims. Videos of testimony by victims were shown to church leaders to inspire compassion and to signal a change in behavior. But the summit was not and will not be the end of scandal in the Catholic Church. Yesterday Australian Cardinal George Pell, until recently the third most senior figure at the Vatican, was convicted and faces a prison term for the sexual abuse of minors in the 1990’s. Pell was defrocked by the Pope just a few days ago. There is an active trial going on in France in which Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of Lyon, is caused with five others of covering up sexual abuse. The scandal continues and it is clear that some of the highest authorities in the church have been guilty. The use of a tradition of sanctity of the confession as a tool to cover up abuse cannot be tolerated. And not all knowledge of abuse within the church came from the Sacrament of Penance in the first place.

A future legislature of South Dakota will one day pass a bill requiring clergy to report sexual abuse of children. And when it comes to pass there will be many who will ask, “why did it take so long?” 34 members of this year’s South Dakota House of Representatives owe them an answer.

Copyright (c) 2019 by Ted E. Huffman. I wrote this. If you would like to share it, please direct your friends to my web site. If you'd like permission to copy, please send me an email. Thanks!