The Deebs have made their totally inevitable post about Frank Page; former CEO of SBC who has admitted to moral failure and has resigned; as is very appropriate.
Their major assault on Frank focuses on his unwillingness to establish an SBC database of sexual offenders.
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The Deebs muddy the waters. On the one hand they say:
"Perhaps it should come as no surprise that pedophile database has never become a reality in the Southern Baptist Convention." [ keyword being pedophile database ]
But then they write:
" central database with the names of Southern Baptist pastors who have been “credibly accused of, confessed to or been convicted of sexual abuse or harassment.”
Come on Deebs: do you want a data base for pedophiles or do you want a database of pedophiles but also for all pastors who have engaged in "hanky-panky." Which is it?
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THE DEVIL IS [ ALWAYS ] IN THE DETAILS.
1. There is, of course, a national database of sex offenders. If you're a convicted sex offender, you ARE ON THAT DATABASE.
2. Establishing your own database of sinners is a LOSE-LOSE proposition.
3. It absolutely guarantees that you will be sued, sooner or later, and will have to pay out the big bucks. [ Especially if "credibly accused" is your bar to establish guilt. "Credibly accused" is not the same as proved guilty. ]
It is not enough to have a clerical worker and a computer to establish an SBC database. It's gonna take a whole team including investigators, IT personnel and admin types and lawyers. Regardless, being human, mistakes will be made - lawsuits will be filed.
PASTOR DAVID SMITH, who did commit adultery with the soprano section of his church choir will be confused with PASTOR DAVID SMITH who has been faithful to his wife for 35 years.
CAN you spell OOPS?
BUT there is an even bigger problem? Let's say the SBC establishes the database, you're looking to hire a worship team leader, check the database to see if there is anything on prospect "Bruce Mild-mannered." The database doesn't recognize the name - he's clean.
NO DATABASE can guarantee that anybody is "clean." So the church hires Bruce Mild-mannered.
6 months later they get a call from a mother at his last church who says, though she can't prove it, Bruce molested her teenage son and was forced to leave a previous church.
LAWSUIT: Because the database SHOULD HAVE LISTED Bruce Mild-mannered but didn't. You are sued for the sin of omission.
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So what is the real agenda here? I have my ideas.
Dissecting Wartburgwatch and I-Monk which presents themselves as blogs dissecting Christian trends but dissect, mostly, conservative Evangelicals who have an historic orthodox view of Scripture. Not a lot of happy commenters seen on those blogs.
"Two registered sex offenders are suing California for alleged lax management of an online sex offender database, saying a lack of timely information prompted vigilantes to attack them for past crimes.
ReplyDeleteA measure commonly known as Megan’s Law sought to inform people about the presence of sex offenders by having the state publish publicly available information about their offenses and whereabouts. A website managed by the California Department of Justice includes a tool to search for sex offenders by name or location.
While the site warns against vigilantism, stating that “anyone who uses this information to commit a crime or to harass an offender or his or her family is subject to criminal prosecution and civil liability,” plaintiffs in the lawsuit say they have been targeted because of the state’s negligence in updating the website to include their dates of conviction and release as required as of 2010 by a 2006 law."
EXACTLY