In Minnesota, leaders of an Old Apostolic Lutheran Church community enabled a child abuser by telling his victims that once the sins were “washed away in the blood of reconciliation,” they could never speak of them again.
  • Protecting an Abuser: Leaders of a Minnesota church didn’t report a parishioner to police though they knew he’d sexually abused girls for years and had been told reporting it was their duty.
  • Forgive and Forget: Church leaders held meetings where children were told to forgive the man who sexually abused them and forget the abuse. If they spoke of it, the sin would be theirs.
  • Missed Opportunities: Prosecutors had at least one opportunity to intervene but hoped educating church leaders about their duties would encourage them to cooperate with authorities.
    • theherk@lemmy.world
      1·
      16 days ago

      And then force the child into quiet in the name of atheism? That “if” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. It isn’t a religious problem that people harm others; that’s an animal problem. But it very is a religious problem that the faith is used to silence accountability, and for that fuck religion.