More Protestant abuse than Catholic - Jesse Romero



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|260 reports of abuse yearly in Protestant churches Sun-Times News Group |

|SEX SCANDALS | Long-sought number surfaces |

|June 15, 2007 |

|BY ROSE FRENCH |

|NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- 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 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 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 -- |

|228 a year. |

|Protestant numbers have been harder to come by because the denominations are less centralized than the Catholic Church. Some of |

|the only numbers come from three insurance companies -- Church Mutual Insurance Co., Guide One Insurance Co. and Brotherhood |

|Mutual Insurance Co. Together, they represent a large chunk of all U.S. Protestant churches. |

|Abuse reports don't always mean the accused was guilty. |

|Even with hundreds of cases a year ''that's a very small number. That probably doesn't even constitute half,'' said Gary |

|Schoener of the Walk-In Counseling Center in Minneapolis. ''Sex abuse in any domain, including the church, is reported seldom.''|

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|Insurance officials said churches are working harder to prevent child sex abuse by conducting background checks, installing |

|windows in play areas and requiring at least two adults in a room. |

|Patrick Moreland of Church Mutual said churches are particularly susceptible to abusers. |

|''By their nature, congregations are the most trusting of organizations, so that makes them attractive targets for predators,'' |

|he said. |

|AP |

|Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or |

|redistributed. |

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|Book: Double Standard: Abuse Scandals and the Attack on the Catholic Church by David F. Pierre, Jr. |

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