A reading from the book of Haggard, chapter 2, verse 1...

CBS:

Victims' advocates who dogged the Roman Catholic Church over sex abuse by its clergy have now turned their attention to Southern Baptists.

The group is accusing America's largest Protestant denomination of also failing to root out molesters.

The Chicago-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests — or SNAP — has started a campaign to call attention to alleged sex abuse committed by Southern Baptist ministers and concealed by churches.

Examples?

One such incident occurred this week in Columbia, S.C., where police said a pastor [42-year-old Kevin Ogle of Northgate Colonial Baptist Church] sent pornographic messages and obscene pictures of himself over the Web to a police officer posing as a 14-year-old girl.

The Southern Baptists, doubtless in terror of losing an awful lot of their loot in lawsuits, are stonewalling:

he group presented a letter Monday to Southern Baptist Convention executive committee members in Nashville, Tenn., asking the group to adopt a zero-tolerance policy on sex abuse and to create an independent review board to investigate molestation reports.

Church leaders concede there have been some incidents of abuse in Southern Baptist congregations, but say their hands are tied when it comes to investigating complaints across the denomination.

Meanwhile, Ogle's gonna skate, at least with his congregation:

[Deacon] Clifton said there's no question the church's congregation will forgive its pastor.

"We can't expect God to forgive us when we ask him for forgiveness, and not forgive our pastor, or any fellow man, when they do wrong."

Anything for the leader! Fucking authoritarians.

And from Abominations, a site which, though it thinks gay marriage is an abomination, at least has the courage of its Biblical convictions and calls clergy sex abuse an abomination too, I culled following examples from February alone:

1. First Baptist Church of Atlanta

2. Bellevue Baptist Church

3. Safe Harbor Church

4. Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church

5. El Sendero Assembly of God Church

6. Church of Jesus Christ of the Latterday Saints

And hey, Abominations links to a site called Stop Baptist Predators. Who knew? And there's another twenty or so examples, there.

Say, maybe when Abu Gonzales is talking to the Southern Baptist Convention about religious discrimination, he could get them to stop abusing their kids?

Not that this is likely: Authoritarian sexuality is, by definition, about the abuse of power. They just can't help themselves.

NOTE CBS story from a gnostic at Kos.