[Vision2020] condemning rape

Tue Apr 22 13:31:03 PDT 2008

Ms. Mix, Thank you for response and benevolent wishes for my days progress. While your post in no way provides an answer to the manner whereby a group of men tolerated and protected sexual predators, (No surprise there. They didn't and you couldn't) it does raise a question or two not the least of which would have to be by what authority do you feel competent to set a minimum standard for a biblical response? That aside, It seems to me the incident WAS dealt with inside your parameters. By the numbers: 

1. No possible disagreement here.

2. Here it seems that it was your PERSONAL standard that was not met. To assert that there was no expression of horror, grief, etc. is simply without merit. That it didn't satisfy your standards is no surprise. In all likelyhood nothing short of group immolation could have, I suspect. (I would ask for a specific example of "scatological" sarcasm from B&M but I imagine that it would arrive in a manner similar to Ms. Hovey's response to my initial question, either not at all or far short of the mark.)

3. Do you really imagine that when the husbands and fathers were informed that any of them thought it too inconsequential to mention to their wives? Anything interesting at the head of household meeting, dear? Gee whiz, honey there was something I was going to tell you about but its slipped my mind. Oh well, what's for supper? I very much doubt that any variation of that conversation took place.

4. It would be most unseemly (to say nothing of potentially illegal prior to trial) for a pastor to hold some sort of a press conference in a situation such as this. The media disseminated the story as is their job. 

5. I can't really speak to this issue since I have no first hand knowledge but, my impression was that when asked it was made clear that the person in question was a student at NSA and while not technically a member of the congregation was most assuredly "one of theirs." Nothing unethical and no pretending that there was no connection to the best of my recollection.

6. Woefully, breathtakingly, unqualified to offer council? Sage advise can come from any number of sources. I very much doubt that his pastor offered up any that was bad. Heck, even I could make a few suggestions that the miscreant wouldn't go wrong by following.        

7. And here we come full circle. Why would anyone feel particularly obligated to heed your "admonishment" with regard to this matter? Clearly you and your particular version of girl power Christianity will never mesh with the Kirk. Trying at every turn to tear it down utilizing innuendo, falsehoods, and misrepresentations doesn't come across as particularly Christ like either.

Thank you for the dialog and a pleasant afternoon to you,
g                                          
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: keely emerinemix 
  To: Sue Hovey ; g. crabtree ; vision2020 at moscow.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 8:54 AM
  Subject: RE: [Vision2020] condemning rape

  Gary, you believe Sue engaged in character assassination and bigotry by asserting that Christ Church consists of a group of patriarchal men willing to tolerate, even protect, males in their congregation who are sexual predators.  These are her words, not mine.  I agree with her general point, but I don't really know how they would tolerate, even protect, another sexual predator.  I only know how they acted when one was revealed.  And so I'll propose a minimum standard for responsibly, Biblically, dealing with active sexual predators who rape children in the congregation and perhaps elsewhere.

  1.  Tell the police, which Wilson did. 
  2.  Express horror, outrage, grief, and humility.  The public face of Christ Church during this was defensive and arrogant; privately, on his blog, Wilson continued the usual scatological, snarky sarcasm that he trades in so richly.  Remember the "youth minister" cartoon?  In context or out, a real knee-slapper, that.
  3.  Then tell the mothers, who are usually the ones who would notice trauma-driven behaviors or odd physical changes in their children, and tell the fathers.  Wilson didn't.  The male heads of households were told; it was up to them whether or not to bring the information home to their subordinate wives.
  4.  Tell the community.  Wilson didn't, even though the  perp lived in Moscow and presumably emerged at some point from the Kirk social network.
  5.  Don't deny that he's "one of yours."  Be honest here -- Wilson took pains to point out that the man was not an official member of Christ Church or Trinity Reformed.  The man studied in the Kirk's New St. Andrews, attended weekly service at CC, lived in a Kirk family's home as a boarder in a program overseen by Kirk elders, came to Moscow to be part of Christ Church, and would have, prior to the crimes, been identified as a Christ Church kind of guy.  I think that's what people mean and not the absence of official enrollment when they say he was "from Christ Church."  I think that honesty about the man's connection to your church fellowship is what people mean by "ethical" and "straightforward."
  6. As the justice system adjudicates the case, which it did here with surprising results, be available to comfort the families and minister grace to the offender.  Wilson believes he did that.  He also counseled the predator, something he is woefully, breathtakingly, unqualified to do.
  7.  Examine if there's anything in the pastor's teachings or beliefs that might encourage bad behavior or misapprehends the Scriptures and doctrines of the Church.  In response to my admonishment that the Kirk elders do so, one of them, our pal Dale, simply responds by making fun of Tom Hansen.  I think that wasn't quite what I meant by "sober reflection," and I'm pretty sure Christ didn't.

  OK, gc . . . have at it, and have a lovely day.

  Keely

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    From: suehovey at moscow.com
    To: jampot at roadrunner.com; kjajmix1 at msn.com; vision2020 at moscow.com
    Subject: Re: [Vision2020] condemning rape
    Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2008 01:26:16 -0700

    A wildly reckless assertion!!!  Character assassination and bigotry?  Coming from you, Gary, I would call it displacement.  

    Sue H.      
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: g. crabtree 
      To: Sue Hovey ; keely emerinemix ; vision2020 at moscow.com 
      Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 3:13 PM
      Subject: Re: [Vision2020] condemning rape

      I defy you to provide even a shred of documentation for the wildly reckless assertion made in the final sentence of your post. It is my understanding that when evidence of misconduct became known within the "congregation" in question it was dealt with promptly and in an absolutely correct manner. To claim anything else is unsupportable character assassination and bigotry. It is also, unfortunately, par for the course with a certain group which prides itself on its unfailing tolerance.

      g
        ----- Original Message ----- 
        From: Sue Hovey 
        To: keely emerinemix ; vision2020 at moscow.com 
        Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 12:14 PM
        Subject: Re: [Vision2020] condemning rape

        Keely,  I appreciate that you read Dale's blog and keep us in the loop.  It's important we are called upon to remember a significant number of people in this community are willing to twist a tragic issue and use it as a bludgeon to attack those of us who define ourselves as liberal.  I think we shouldn't be surprised this would be his issue now.  He's  representative of a group of patriarchial men, willing to tolerate, even protect, males in their congregation who are sexual predators.   

        Sue H.
          ----- Original Message ----- 
          From: keely emerinemix 
          To: vision2020 at moscow.com 
          Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2008 3:16 PM
          Subject: [Vision2020] condemning rape

          Visionaires,

          The Everlasting Blogstalker, Dale Courtney, laments today on his Right-Mind blog that Moscow's liberals are quick to jump on the bandwagon of disapproval of the recent revelations that young girls in the FLDS polygamist cult in West Texas are routinely forced into sexual relationships with older men who believe that these polygamous "celestial marriages" are essential to the practice of their faith, while remaining silent about things like young girls being forced to "marry" older men in some Muslim cultures.  Dale believes that the shameful tolerance his liberal foes exhibit toward the behavior of some Muslims is hypocritical in light of their disgust over offshoot-Mormon group practices, and he, like a good "Christian" libertarian man of chest, must make note of it.  It seems that we liberals just can't muster any disapproval of Islam, so busy are we, I suppose, hating groups that call themselves Christian.  

          Certainly Dale's worldview is energized by the thought that he and his pals are witnesses to the persecution of the Church from their vantage point of those suffering under it.  It's a silly assertion, of course, as is his smug denouncement of feminized, morally bankrupt liberals who pick and choose their objects of outrage from a tortured position of ethical spinelessness.  I am a liberal; I know of no one, liberal or conservative, who isn't disgusted by the reality of adult men who engage in sex with children.  I'm not aware of anyone who thinks that religion excuses the horrors that men visit upon their victims, whether that religion is a perversion of Christianity or a perversion of Islam.  Because most of the people I know are rational, decent people, they are angered by child rape and outraged that it can be, and is, committed as a sort of religious expression.  Atheists and the religious are united in believing that no God would be honored by inflicting horror on the little ones he created.

          I don't know if Muhammed had a sexual relationship with a nine-year-old girl, as Dale asserts, just as I don't know if Joseph Smith slept with underage girls.  My not being Muslim or Mormon, or part of any group that claims to be the "true expression" of either, has nothing to do with the sexual sin of the men each faith reveres as prophets.  I am much more concerned about my own faith and the men who claim it, and who, as Christians, perpetuate patriarchy, hierarchy, power, manipulation and sexism in their homes, churches, and relationships.   If, for example, there were a Christian church in town that had witnessed one or two specific instances of their men preying on young children or teenage girls, I would expect that that church would reflect on any connection between the rape committed by their young students of patriarchy and power, sexism and sexuality, and the practices and teaching that the predators received from their teachers.  I would expect that that church would publicly repent of any gender-based arrogance, hierarchy, or wielding of power it had exhibited.  I would hope that its leaders would examine a theology that has as its origin the reality of a post-Fall seizing of ungodly power and descent into violence, rather than the redemptive, radical justice and equality ushered in by the Savior they claim to worship.  I would pray that such a church would see that its elevation of male power and privilege, its defense of patriarchy, its practice of gender hierarchy and unilateral submission, and its defensive clinging to the ways of the world and not the fruit of the Spirit are sinful, reflecting the depotism of evil and not the gentleness of Christlike love.  I would expect that.  

          I would be disappointed.

          And so I will lead the charge, if that is indeed  what Dale's asking for, by announcing that this middle-aged, progressive, evangelical homemaker, and everyone she knows, thinks men who sleep with girls are evil.  There.  Now that the totality of liberal condemnation of rape and pedophilia has been thusly offered to this erstwhile elder, let's see if he and his other patriarchal heads of household pause and examine if the perpetuation of sexual violence on the weak in the name of religion has more to do with bad theology, teaching, and practice than with the perceived indifference of Moscow's liberals.  It could be the start of an incredible spiritual renewal, revolutionary in scope and profound in effect.  Or, Dale could just write this off as the emotional blather of someone who just doesn't know her place, a position that is probably a lot easier to undertake while enjoying the Sabbath with other puny patriarchs.  

          I guess we'll see . . . 

          Keely

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