美國三大保險公司報導不僅天主教神父性侵信徒嚴重，基督新教的牧師情況也幾乎一樣！

報告： 新教教會保險公司每年處理260宗性侵案件

作者：Rose French | 2007年6月18日

三家為美國大多數新教教會提供保險的公司表示，他們每年通常會收到多達260宗18歲以下青少年遭受神職人員、教會職員、義工或會眾性侵犯的報告。

美聯社獲悉的數字，讓我們得以一窺長久以來極難釐清的現象──新教教會中性侵事件的頻繁程度。

自從五年前羅馬天主教性侵危機爆發以來，宗教團體和受害者的支持者一直對這個數字非常感興趣。教會透露，自 1950 年以來，已有 13,000 宗針對天主教神職人員的可信指控。

新教的數字較難取得，也較為粗略，因為教派不如天主教會集中；事實上，許多教會都是獨立的，這使得報告更加困難。

一些僅有的數字來自三間保險公司 - Church Mutual Insurance Co.、GuideOne Insurance Co.

三家公司共為165,495間教會和崇拜中心投保兒童性虐待和其他性行為不當責任保險，其中大部分是新教會眾，但也有少數其他信仰。這些公司也為超過 5,500 所宗教學校、營地及其他組織投保。

這些公司代表了美國所有新教教會中的一大部分。根據美國宗教團體統計協會 (Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies) 的資料，全美約有 224,000 間教會，但這個數字並不包括大多數歷史性的黑人教派及一些其他團體，這些教派佔了數千間教會。

Church Mutual、GuideOne 和 Brotherhood Mutual 各向美聯社提供了有關性虐待索賠的統計資料，但他們並未提供證明文件，也沒有提供判斷報告是否可信的方法。

最大的公司 Church Mutual 在過去十年中平均每年報告約 100 宗涉及未成年人的性虐待案件。GuideOne 的客戶人數約為 Church Mutual 的一半，該公司表示，過去二十年來，平均每年收到 160 宗涉及未成年人的性虐待報告。

Brotherhood Mutual 表示，過去 15 年來，該公司平均每年都會收到 73 份關於兒童性虐待和其他性行為不當的報告。然而，Brotherhood 並未指明哪些受害者年齡小於 18 歲，因此無法準確地將其加到案件總數中。

這些公司表示，虐待報告並不總是代表被告有罪，也不一定會導致財務賠償或和解。這些報告包括對神職人員、教會職員和志工的指控。

即使每年有數百件案件，「這只是很小的數目。明尼阿波里斯市隨身輔導中心 (Walk-In Counseling Center) 主任 Gary Schoener 表示：「這可能連一半都不到，他是數百個新教和天主教神職人員行為不當案件的顧問。「包括教會在內的任何領域的性虐待案件都很少被舉報。我們知道真正站出來的人不多"。

總部設在愛荷華州西得梅因的GuideOne公司的總法律顧問兼理賠高級副總裁Tom Farr表示，大多數的性虐待案件都是在法院命令的調解下私下解決的。他說，賠償金額從數百萬美元到支付受害者的諮詢費用不等。

德州前路德會牧師 Gerald Patrick Thomas Jr. 的案件，幾年前陪審團判給該牧師的受害者將近3,700萬美元（2,800萬歐元）。Thomas早前的個別和解還涉及3,200萬美元。近二十年前，保險公司剛開始接到教會的虐待報告時，案件通常涉及多年前發生的虐待事件。保險公司表示，但在過去幾年中，所指控的虐待事件都是最近發生的，這可能反映了人們對舉報虐待事件的意識提高了。

保險公司官員表示，過去二十年來，性虐待案件的數量一直保持穩定，但他們也表示，教會正更加努力地防止兒童遭受性虐待，包括進行背景調查、在育兒室和遊戲區安裝窗戶，以及要求與兒童共處一室時至少要有兩名成人。

一個受害者權益團體表示，全美最大的新教教派南方浸信會（Southern Baptists）可以建立一份公眾和教會都可以查閱的被指控神職人員名單，從而在防止虐待方面做得更多。

Christa Brown 是「受神父虐待者倖存者網絡」（Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests）的成員，她表示自己在童年時曾遭受一位美南浸信會牧師的性虐待。「防止這種罪行的唯一方法就是打破沉默的規範，在提出指控時要有絕對的透明度」。

在本週於聖安東尼奧舉行的美南浸信會年會中，Wade Burleson 牧師提議進行一項可行性研究，以建立一個全國性的資料庫，收錄「被可信地指控、親自承認或在法律上被判定有性骚扰或性虐待行為」的美南浸信會牧師。

一個公會委員會將 Burleson 的議案轉交美南浸信會執行委員會，該委員會將在明年的印第安納波利斯會議上匯報研究結果並提出建議。

美南浸信會會長Frank Page表示，領袖們正在考慮幾個方案，以幫助教會保護兒童免受虐待。

「我們相信聖經教導教會應該是一個自主、獨立的組織，」佩奇說。「我們鼓勵教會在地方層面追究那些可能濫用寶貴兒童和青少年信任的人的責任」。

幾年前，德州浸信會總會（Baptist General Convention of Texas，代表與保守派領導的美南浸信會日漸疏離的溫和人士）開始為教會編製一份被指控的神職人員名單，但不對公眾公開。在受害者權益維護者的壓力下，德州團體剛公布了一些被定罪的性犯罪者的名字，這些人可能曾是當地教會的牧師。

Joe Trull是《今日基督教倫理》（Christian Ethics Today）的編輯，也是新奧爾良浸信會神學院（New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary）的退休倫理學教授。

但他相信這些只是「冰山一角」，因為教會不必向註冊處報告虐待案件，而且也不可能這樣做。

「Trull說：「我們遇到的問題是，教會沒有將名字寄出來。「在正常情況下，他們只是試圖保密。我們必須更主動地讓他們知道，如果他們不挺身而出，就是在幫助延續這個問題。在網路上：

美南浸信會：http://www.sbc.net/

受牧師虐待者的倖存者網路：

http://www.snapnetwork.org/

制止浸信會掠食者之聲：

http://www.stopbaptistpredators.org/

Report: Protestant Church Insurers Handle 260 Sex Abuse Cases a Year
By Rose French | June 18, 2007
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The three companies that insure the majority of Protestant churches in America say they typically receive upward of 260 reports each year of young people under 18 being sexually abused by clergy, church staff, volunteers or congregation members.

The figures released to The Associated Press offer a glimpse into what has long been an extremely difficult phenomenon to pin down — the frequency of sex abuse in Protestant congregations.

Religious groups and victims’ supporters have been keenly interested in the figure ever since the Roman Catholic sex abuse crisis hit five years ago. The church has revealed that there have been 13,000 credible accusations against Catholic clerics since 1950.

Protestant numbers have been harder to come by and are sketchier because the denominations are less centralized than the Catholic church; indeed, many congregations are independent, which makes reporting even more difficult.

Some of the only numbers come from three insurance companies — Church Mutual Insurance Co., GuideOne Insurance Co. and Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Co.

Together, they insure 165,495 churches and worship centers for liability against child sex abuse and other sexual misconduct, mostly Protestant congregations but a few other faiths as well. They also insure more than 5,500 religious schools, camps and other organizations.

The companies represent a large chunk of all U.S. Protestant churches. There are about 224,000 in the U.S., according to the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, although that number excludes most historically black denominations and some other groups, which account for several thousand congregations.

Church Mutual, GuideOne and Brotherhood Mutual each provided statistics on sex abuse claims to The Associated Press, although they did not produce supporting documentation or a way to determine whether the reports were credible.

The largest company, Church Mutual, reported an average of about 100 sex abuse cases a year involving minors over the past decade. GuideOne, which has about half the clients of Church Mutual, said it has received an average of 160 reports of sex abuse against minors every year for the past two decades.

Brotherhood Mutual said it has received an average of 73 reports of child sex abuse and other sexual misconduct every year for the past 15 years. However, Brotherhood does not specify which victims are younger than 18 so it is impossible to accurately add that to the total cases.

Abuse reports do not always mean the accused was guilty, and they do not necessarily result in financial awards or settlements, the companies said. The reports include accusations against clergy, church staff and volunteers.

Even with hundreds of cases a year “that’s a very small number. That probably doesn’t even constitute half,” said Gary Schoener, director of the Walk-In Counseling Center in Minneapolis, a consultant on hundreds of Protestant and Catholic clergy misconduct cases. “Sex abuse in any domain, including the church, is reported seldom. We know a small amount actually come forward.”

Tom Farr, general counsel and senior vice president of claims for GuideOne, based in West Des Moines, Iowa, said most abuse cases are resolved privately in court-ordered mediation. Awards can range from millions of dollars down to paying for counseling for victims, he said.

One of the largest settlements to date in Protestant churches involved the case of former Lutheran minister Gerald Patrick Thomas Jr. in Texas, where a jury several years ago awarded the minister’s victims nearly $37 million (euro28 million). Separate earlier settlements involving Thomas cost an additional $32 million.

When insurance companies first started getting reports of abuse from churches nearly two decades ago, the cases usually involved abuse that happened many years earlier. But over the past several years, the alleged abuse is more recent, which could reflect a greater awareness about reporting abuse, insurance companies said.

Insurance officials said the number of sex abuse cases has remained steady over the past two decades, but they also said churches are working harder to prevent child sex abuse by conducting background checks, installing windows in nurseries and play areas and requiring at least two adults in a room with a child.

A victims’ advocacy group has said the Southern Baptists, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, could do more to prevent abuse by creating a list of accused clergy the public and churches could access.

“These are things people are entitled to know,” said Christa Brown, a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, who says she was sexually abused as a child by a Southern Baptist minister. “The only way to prevent this crime is to break the code of silence and to have absolute transparency when allegations are raised.”

At the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in San Antonio this week, the Rev. Wade Burleson proposed a feasibility study into developing a national database of Southern Baptist ministers who have been “credibly accused of, personally confessed to, or legally been convicted of sexual harassment or abuse.”

A convention committee referred Burleson’s motion to the SBC executive committee, which will report back with findings and a recommendation at next year’s meeting in Indianapolis.

Southern Baptist President Frank Page said leaders are considering several options to help churches protect children against abuse.

“We believe that the Scripture teaches that the church should be an autonomous, independent organization,” Page said. “We encourage churches to hold accountable at the local level those who may have misused the trust of precious children and youth.”

Several years ago, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, which represents moderates who have increasingly distanced themselves from the conservative-led Southern Baptists, started a list of accused clergy for churches, but not the public. Under pressure from victim advocates, the Texas group just released the names of some convicted sex offenders who may have been ministers in local congregations.

Joe Trull, editor of Christian Ethics Today and retired ethics professor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, helped the Texas convention create its registry and says there are now about 11 cases involving clergy abuse with minors.

But he believes these are just the “tip of the iceberg” because churches don’t have to report abuse cases to the registry and aren’t likely to.

“The problem we’re having is that churches just weren’t sending the names,” Trull said. “In the normal scenario, they just try to keep it secret. We’re going to have to be more proactive and let them know if they don’t come forward, they’re helping to perpetuate this problem.”

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