Monday, December 17, 2007

Southern Baptist Seminarian Faces Molestation Charges

Ethics Daily (http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=9842) is reporting that yet two more Southern Baptists youth ministers have been charged with molestation of minors. Like the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptists are obsessed with limiting sex to the marital bed and vent constantly about the dangers of gay sex in particular. Therefore, it is an interesting parallel that the Southern Baptists have a real problem with pastors and parish staff molesting children. So far, the denomination has refused to register of sexual abusers in ministry. Somehow denying the magnitude of the problem is supposed to make it go away, I guess. Perhaps they will pray it away, just as they claim sexual orientation can be prayed away. Do not expect the problem to go away any time soon. Here are some highlights:

A seminarian in North Carolina and a youth minister at a Southern Baptist church in Kentucky were arrested last week on charges of sexual molestation of children. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary suspended a student charged with sexually abusing a 10-year-old child while working after hours with a YMCA program in an elementary school.

Police charged Justin Eugene Taylor, 27, of Wake Forest, N.C., with one count of indecent liberties with a child. He was arrested Thursday and later released on a $40,000 bond.

The arrest warrant, according to the Raleigh
News & Observer, said there was probable cause to believe that Taylor "unlawfully, willfully and feloniously did attempt to take immoral, improper and indecent liberties against (a minor) for the purpose of arousing and gratifying sexual desire."

Interestingly enough:

Justin Taylor is the second student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary named in headlines involving molestation in recent months. In August Brian "Doug" Goodrich was sentenced to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to molesting eight young boys while working as a volunteer youth intern at Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C.

Southeastern isn't the only Southern Baptist seminary marred by connections to sex offenders. A
search of the Kentucky State Police sex offender registry by EthicsDaily.com this spring turned up two campus addresses of students at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Seminary officials declined comment, but said later both students were no longer enrolled.

No comments: