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Like you said, this is not a uniquely Christian Church problem. Likely we are looking this from the wrong angle: it's not the institution that is the primary is

Like you said, this is not a uniquely Christian Church problem. Likely we are looking this from the wrong angle: it's not the institution that is the primary issue, it's the population of would be abusers that are seeking roles that give them access to children. Given the level of motivated reasoning in this space and the quickly shifting definitions, it is unfortunately very difficult to have a conversation over specifics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_harassment_in_education_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_harassment_in_education...

candiodari 5y ago
In other Western European nations it has become clear that one thing schools, but especially boarding schools, fostering situations and institutions (youth care and mental health) do is provide people with access to easy-to-abuse people. This applies to kids, and vulnerable adults. Even in blended families, which are of course a fact of life if we want to have easy divorces, it happens, though not nearly as much. There are 2 groups of people who abuse this. First there's a number of people who take such jobs planning to abuse kids from the very beginning. These people exist across the spectrum: physical abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse and psychological abuse cases. There are theoretical measures in place to prevent this (essentially demanding criminal history), that, to put it bluntly, don't work. You should include people who have no choice and take a job in, say, child protection. Such people are incredibly destructive because of the number of kids they damage while filling in subsidy forms how they are helping them. The catch is that it doesn't provide them with much financial benefits, so people like to exclude this situation. But the reality is that the same people insisting on fairness when having a $20000 competition, tear others apart for a 20$ reward. Likewise there's people taking a child protection job because of how much power it gives you over others, for example. There are incredibly bad examples of this. They may tell themselves they're in it to "help kids". Help them get something they lacked as a child, for example. So they throw kids into the foster care system because they have to go to school on foot in the rain, which, to put it very mildly, does not improve the lives of these children. The second group is people who have no idea they are abusers. They suddenly discover a lack of self-control once they are put into a situation where abuse is very easy, and these people suddenly find they cannot resist when presented with the opportunity. I think this is partly because people present an entirely evil view of abusers, when in fact abuse usually comes from 2 sides: sex for drugs arrangements for example, where both sides are guilty of inducing the other side to criminal acts. One is much worse than the other, and this should, of course, be reflected in punishments, but people don't expect "victims" in institutions to be looking for such arrangements. People don't expect to suddenly have both sympathy for abuse situations, see the "advantage" it provides both sides, for victims, and especially don't expect what they saw as pure innocent "victims" to not be nearly as pure. All this then happens in a VERY short timeframe, and of course this happens in jobs that are already very stressful, and often happens while the abuser is under pressure, which the victim may be trying to increase. But then there's the problem with punishing such offenders. In reality the government is partly responsible for most/all child abuse. Why? They employ the offenders, and often the kid's choice was very limited, both when getting assigned to this offender (which was done by some government system and not the kid's choice) and, often, when the kid is trying to get away from the offender ("don't tell anyone or I'll refer you to closed youth care"), this was hindered or even made impossible by government-imposed systems. Even when it does come to light, institutions often choose to "protect their reputations".

candiodari 5y ago

In other Western European nations it has become clear that one thing schools, but especially boarding schools, fostering situations and institutions (youth care and mental health) do is provide people with access to easy-to-abuse people. This applies to kids, and vulnerable adults. Even in blended families, which are of course a fact of life if we want to have easy divorces, it happens, though not nearly as much. There are 2 groups of people who abuse this. First there's a number of people who take such jobs planning to abuse kids from the very beginning. These people exist across the spectrum: physical abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse and psychological abuse cases. There are theoretical measures in place to prevent this (essentially demanding criminal history), that, to put it bluntly, don't work. You should include people who have no choice and take a job in, say, child protection. Such people are incredibly destructive because of the number of kids they damage while filling in subsidy forms how they are helping them. The catch is that it doesn't provide them with much financial benefits, so people like to exclude this situation. But the reality is that the same people insisting on fairness when having a $20000 competition, tear others apart for a 20$ reward. Likewise there's people taking a child protection job because of how much power it gives you over others, for example. There are incredibly bad examples of this. They may tell themselves they're in it to "help kids". Help them get something they lacked as a child, for example. So they throw kids into the foster care system because they have to go to school on foot in the rain, which, to put it very mildly, does not improve the lives of these children. The second group is people who have no idea they are abusers. They suddenly discover a lack of self-control once they are put into a situation where abuse is very easy, and these people suddenly find they cannot resist when presented with the opportunity. I think this is partly because people present an entirely evil view of abusers, when in fact abuse usually comes from 2 sides: sex for drugs arrangements for example, where both sides are guilty of inducing the other side to criminal acts. One is much worse than the other, and this should, of course, be reflected in punishments, but people don't expect "victims" in institutions to be looking for such arrangements. People don't expect to suddenly have both sympathy for abuse situations, see the "advantage" it provides both sides, for victims, and especially don't expect what they saw as pure innocent "victims" to not be nearly as pure. All this then happens in a VERY short timeframe, and of course this happens in jobs that are already very stressful, and often happens while the abuser is under pressure, which the victim may be trying to increase. But then there's the problem with punishing such offenders. In reality the government is partly responsible for most/all child abuse. Why? They employ the offenders, and often the kid's choice was very limited, both when getting assigned to this offender (which was done by some government system and not the kid's choice) and, often, when the kid is trying to get away from the offender ("don't tell anyone or I'll refer you to closed youth care"), this was hindered or even made impossible by government-imposed systems. Even when it does come to light, institutions often choose to "protect their reputations".