At least 20% of pastors admit to having sexual contact w/a congregant. If doctors did, there would be 20% fewer doctors (loss of license) & a healthcare crisis. If the 20% of pastors who abuse their authority are removed, the church would not die - it would flourish.
If 20% of doctors had sexual contact with their patients, people would be AGHAST & wonder - is the field attracting predators? Is there something wrong with the training that they don't know how wrong this is?
If 20% of doctors had sexual contact with their patients, & this statistic were published & became widely known: what would happen when people go to the doctor? How many would wonder - is my doctor hitting on me? Who would still feel comfortable getting undressed and examined?
If 20% of doctors had sexual contact with their patients - what would happen to the overall image of the profession over time? What if 20% of doctors were discovered to be like Larry Nassar: Secretly sexualizing patients when they are most vulnerable?
The statistics were published in 1984. In 2015, it was published that 25% or more of pastors have all the characteristics of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Why do pastors NOT want these statistics to be widely known? Why do pastors not wish to be licensed/regulated?
Because as long as the image of pastors is maintained - people will not believe it is 20% of pastors. And as long as people do not confront this issue, those 20% know that they can do this: 
A man can physically drag a woman 100 lbs lighter than himself, 14 inches shorter than himself over to the pulpit and physically pull her body to touch him (despite her leaning away) and grope her breast. On camera. At a funeral for the woman who sang R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
This man knows that until people believe that 20% of pastors have had sexual contact with a member of their flock, that 25% are consumed with self and not God - that his title of Man of God will purchase him plausible deniability.
This man knows that until people are willing to have the image of their favorite pastor (Andy Savage, Bill Hybels, Dean Curry, Mark Aderholt, Tom Chantry etc) be shattered for the sake of the truth - HE can keep doing this to other women. Is this a one time thing?
Not if you read this article. This is not talking about women who were groped or ogled at work or a restaurant or a bar. This is women who are seeking Christ, at a church being groped by a pastor - a self proclaimed man of God.
chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/c…
chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/c…
These men know that not only can they do this, and can they deny this - but that those who they didn't assault or have sexual relations with will come to their defense. Despite being "powerful men" of their congregation, the most common approach is to claim they're under attack.
The pastors that do this know that the righteous people in the church can be provoked with an image of the woman being a Jezebel and tempting the "holy man."
The men who do this know that it is just too uncomfortable a thought to imagine that 20% of pastors abuse the trust of a person in their congregation, abuse their authority over the person and have sexual contact with them.
So, let's go back to thinking about doctors. Because it's so clear that doctors have a place of trust with their patients, they have authority... they are trained from the first day of medical school what their duty is to their patients ... they take an oath...
And if they cross the boundary and harm the patient by abusing that trust - people understand that it is immensely damaging and confusing for the patient. So doctors lose their licenses if they do this.
The statistics are that less than 1.6% of doctors are disciplined for having sexual contact with their patients. Ten times less than the 20% of pastors who admit sexual contact with congregants. Does that tell the whole story? No.
You see, doctors, despite being educated about boundaries from the beginning of training, having license requirements & having taken an oath - self reporting surveys show that 9.3% of AMA members in 1996 admit to sexual boundary violations w/patients. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
The article concludes:
Medicine, despite generations (truly 100+ years) of education, boundary training and regulations - still has about 9% of physicians violating the trust of their patients.
Pastors have not even begun to consider that they are capable of this type of abuse of authority.
Pastors have not even begun to consider that they are capable of this type of abuse of authority.
What will it take for people to be willing to accept that 20% of pastors admit to having sexual contact with congregants. This is a problem that the church must address.
Because the number isn't actually 20%. It was between 20% and 50% depending on the type of church.
Because the number isn't actually 20%. It was between 20% and 50% depending on the type of church.
