Protestant Sex Abuse Equals or Exceeds Catholic Clergy Abuse
What’s the problem?
Despite headlines focusing on the problem in the Roman Catholic Church, most American churches being hit with child sexual-abuse allegations are Protestant, and most of the alleged abusers are not clergy or staff, but church volunteers.
These are findings from national surveys by Christian Ministry Resources (CMR), a tax and legal-advice publisher serving more than 75,000 congregations and 1,000 denominational agencies nationwide. CMR's annual surveys of about 1,000 churches nationwide have asked about sexual abuse since 1993.
They're a remarkable window on a problem that lurked largely in the shadows of public awareness until the Catholic scandals arose.
There is no shortage of Protestant sex abuse scandals, yet somehow these stories rarely make national news the way Catholic abuse cases seem to. In 2007, the Associated Press reported that three insurance companies receive upward of 260 reports each year of young people under 18 being sexually abused by Protestant clergy, challenging the assumption that clergy sexual abuse is an exclusively Catholic problem that does not take place in other churches.
That is a higher number than the annual average of 228 “credible accusations” brought against Catholic clerics in records reported by the Catholic Church in response to media scrutiny.
Related articles:
- Ban Urged on NDA Agreements in Sexual Harassment Suits
- Nationwide Protestant Sexual Molestation Suit
See all sexual misconduct suits we've covered.
Do I have a Protestant Sexual Abuse Lawsuit?
The Sexual Abuse Litigation Group at our law firm is an experienced team of trial lawyers that focus on the representation of plaintiffs in religious clergy sex abuse & molestation lawsuits. We are handling individual litigation nationwide and currently accepting new cases in all 50 states.
Free Protestant Church Clergy Sexual Abuse Case Evaluation: If you or a loved one has been abused, molested, or in any way mistreated by a member of the Protestant church clergy, you should contact our law firm immediately. You may be entitled to compensation by filing a lawsuit and we can help.
