Sex offenders- prison for volunteering in church?

[OneAccord]

[QUOTE=cneasttx;516000]I agree with you Daniel, with the way that law is worded. And I don't believe the state should be able to police churches. But I do believe leadership should.[/QUOTE]

Thats it right there. "Leadership should..." Leadership must. I know, I know.... sounds like I am advocating the much dreaded "pastoral authority" thingy... but, its not about authority, rather than safeguarding the sheep. Its about being a watchman on the wall. Its kind of odd how we go to great lengths to protect our doctrinal views, but we leave the door of the henhouse wide open to dangers we don't think about because we just don't want to think about them. . Not one is saying anyone is doin' that here... but... just sayin'.....

[Cindy]

I find the viewpoints of men and women on this subject to be so far apart. And of course those that have never been victims of these kinds of crimes know so much better how we are to treat the offenders. And sad to say a lot of victims find this mentality just another slap in the face from ignorant people.

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by cneasttx

I find the viewpoints of men and women on this subject to be so far apart. And of course those that have never been victims of these kinds of crimes know so much better how we are to treat the offenders. And sad to say a lot of victims find this mentality just another slap in the face from ignorant people.

cneasttx, I understand what you're saying. I'm just asking two things:

1. What about those whose offenses are not severe or particularly heinous, (referring to a database that doesn't differentiate the pedophile from the 18 year old boy who had consensual sex with the 17 year old girl), and,

2. Should the church react to offenders the same way the state does?

I do NOT believe we should be lax in our protection of our children or that pastors should be unconcerned with the safety of the church's congregants.

Also, it bothers me when the state meddles too much with the autonomy of the church government.

[Cindy]

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

cneasttx, I understand what you're saying. I'm just asking two things:

1. What about those whose offenses are not severe or particularly heinous, (referring to a database that doesn't differentiate the pedophile from the 18 year old boy who had consensual sex with the 17 year old girl), and,

2. Should the church react to offenders the same way the state does?

I do NOT believe we should be lax in our protection of our children or that pastors should be unconcerned with the safety of the church's congregants.

Also, it bothers me when the state meddles too much with the autonomy of the church government.

The wording of this law they passed in Georgia is ridiculous. Teenagers that are convicted of statutory rape in my opinion are most often charged because the parents found out their daughter is having sex. (Not always, but more often than not). I don't know if that is so widespread anymore. It should be noted that not all registered sex offenders are hardened criminals or child predators. It should be judged on a case by case basis.

No the church should not react the same way as the state. There should be compassion but the leaders MUST have very strict safeguards in place if these were violent or repeat offenders. Being left on the side of the road or in a field somewhere, or even in your home after an assault does not foster forgiveness. The church should be in the business of helpin people, including victims and offenders. But I don't think a lot of churches have counselors that are trained in this area.

Separation of church and state should apply across the board.

[James Griffin]

My my my my my

It’s about time for Big Daddy to step up to the pulpit, pull out his Bible and get his preach on up in here.

The text for tonight is 1 Cor. Chapter 6. We are fixin to exigent on the Blood of Christ.
Come on now, the devil is a lie.

But first let me take a deep breath step away from the podium over to the lectern and explain a little bit of phraseology which although alluded to does not seem to have sunk in.

If necessary I will post actual case after case complete with names of totally ridiculous instances of people being registered as sex offenders.

In nearly a third of the states someone caught urinating in public (WITHOUT EXPOSURE) is charged with lewd conduct and forced to register as a sex offender.

Scenario- 20 year old female, too much iced tea, stops car, not a rest room in sight, steps around the corner to relieve herself, police officer happens around the corner figures out what is going on gives her a citation. Sex offender. Now eight years later she’s married, mother of two, and a pastor’s wife. Moves to Georgia and discovers that if she sings in the choir, or helps in the kitchen she could get 30 years in prison?

Scenario- 14 year old gives birth after having child. Father was 15 year old, mother has to register as sex offender. Actual case.

Scenario- 19 year old still in high school has oral sex with 17 year old girlfriend he is charged with statutory rape, convicted, spends one and half years in prison while legislature changes the law. He is released finally but still has to register as sex offender. Actual Case.

Scenario- 8 year old boy taken into the juvenile system because he won’t stop patting girl’s on the butt while walking down the hall at school. TWO YEAR debate on whether he should register as sex offender. Fortunately cooler heads prevail and he doesn’t but still close call. Actual case.

Is the message starting to sink in?

Sex offender does NOT AUTOMATICALLY EQUATE TO CHILD MOLESTER

Sex offender does NOT AUTOMATICALLY EQUATE TO PREDITOR.

Now that terminology 101 is over still fighting the urge to step back to the pulpit….

The law far exceeds the common sense requirements to keep a reasonable barrier between an offender and young children. It is saying that a sex offender, molester or not, cannot serve in a church in ANY capacity EVER, they by the grace of the state shall be allowed to come in sit down and not participate in any manner.

“Brother, we are short handed tonight, you’ve been coming here for ten years could you please help us take up the offering?” “ Love to, but that might be considered “volunteering” and I could face 30 years in prison.”

Doesn’t take a lot of common decency, mere common sense should set off alarm bells !!!!!!

[Kay B]

Originally Posted by OneAccord

Thats it right there. "Leadership should..." Leadership must. I know, I know.... sounds like I am advocating the much dreaded "pastoral authority" thingy... but, its not about authority, rather than safeguarding the sheep. Its about being a watchman on the wall. Its kind of odd how we go to great lengths to protect our doctrinal views, but we leave the door of the henhouse wide open to dangers we don't think about because we just don't want to think about them. . Not one is saying anyone is doin' that here... but... just sayin'.....

There was a situation in a church we attended before moving here to AK. To many details so I'll shorten it to. A sex offender who was waiting for court attended same church as us. On prayer meeting night this person was running around the SS rooms playing with children.there was no way we could get our thoughts, minds on praying during this time.
Parents are also responsible as well as leadership.

A few years ago I saw on the internet of a released sex offender who killed a girl shortly after being released. He was the nephew of my friend here. I recognized the name and called to see if he was related.
We cannot be to cautious about this type of offense.

http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.co...roduction.html

I want to first start off with saying I am NOT pro-pedophile or pro-sex offender but pro-Constitution. I am totally against any form of abuse to any animal or human being. Anybody who commits any crime should be punished. But, once that person has done the time they were convicted under, via contract, and is off parole and/or probation, they should be able to get on with their lives without all the rules and regulations. No other criminal has to live by such draconian laws, so why sex offenders? If we must do this for sex offenders, then I think, to be fair, all criminals must be under similar rules and regulations.

When an ex-offender is forced to move from his/her home, thus having to sell it, cannot find another home within the law due to the residency "buffer" zones, get fired from their jobs due to being on the registry, cannot find a new job due to being on the registry, their husband/wife lose their jobs due to a significant other being on the registry, their children lose their friends and are harassed and bullied in school due to a family member being on the registry, thus destroying the children's lives, ex-offenders are forced into homelessness and to live under bridges, harassed by police, neighbors and probation/parole officers, have to wear "I'm a sex offender T-shirt" or have a neon green license plate on ALL their cars, have "sex offender" on their drivers license and forced to renew their licenses every year, forced from shelters during tornadoes or hurricanes, cannot give blood at some places due to being discriminated against for being on the sex offender registry, denied housing due to being on the registry, signs placed in their yards inviting harassment and ridicule from the neighbors, forced to move when the neighbors start picketing outside the ex-offenders home, the list is endless.

I THINK THIS IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT, BEYOND THE EXTREME!

This is only a portion of this blog item, click the next link to view the entire thing.

http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.co...nd-making.html

Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt. - book reviews

View the article here | Book | Day Care Sexual Abuse Hysteria

I highly recommend you read this book. It explains basically everything and more of what I have said and others have said for years, and explains how this sex hysteria has gotten started in the first place. Remember the old "Satanic Ritual Abuse" news articles and the show Geraldo Riviera did? Well, it's because of feminists and some people mentioned in this book.

PLEASE READ THIS BOOK, IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE!!

Also see this and this video series.

Also check out these wikipedia articles: MASS HYSTERIA, MORAL PANIC

Anyone fortunate enough to discover and read Debbie Nathan and Michael Snedeker's Satan's Silence will quickly realize this is the best book yet written about the current American tragedy of childhood sexual molestation. Not specifically the sexual molestation of children - which is indeed a serious problem - but the persecution, prosecution, and conviction of innocent adults wrongly accused of ritual sexual crimes against children they did not commit.

To believe for a moment that the Salem witch-trial horror of 1692 could ever be repeated even once in an enlightened and civilized society seems unthinkable, but to realize that it has happened here in the United States more than a dozen times within the past decade borders on the bizarre and unbelievable. How can a supposedly educated and informed populace allow such flagrant miscarriages of justice to occur and, then, once the truth is known, fail to take swift and firm action to free and exonerate the innocent?

Nathan and Snedeker's work covers each sordid instance of satanic panic: from the Bakersfield (Kern County), California, fiasco in 1980, in which four innocent adults were sentenced to a total of more than 240 years of imprisonment for crimes they did not commit based on the testimony of Mary Ann Barbour, who was known to be suffering from a schizoaffective disorder; to the 1992 Little Rascals Day Care Center horror in Edentown, North Carolina; and the 1995 outrages - in East Wenatchee, Washington.

The Kern County tragedy was but a precursor to the much better-known witch-hunt involving Judy Johnson and the McMartin Preschool case in Manhattan Beach, California. This stain on American jurisprudence lasted from 1983 to 1990.

In the McMartin case, the accused, Peggy and Ray Buckey, spent five years in jail before being released on $1.5 million bail, then underwent a trial lasting 28 months - the longest criminal proceeding in American history - before all charges were finally dismissed. Judy Johnson, who said she believed she had divine powers, and who the courts described as a psychotic alcoholic, triggered the case by accusing Ray Buckey of sodomizing her son. This accusation launched a veritable fear-storm of social panic and paranoia that not only infected much of Los Angeles County but quickly spread across the country.

In regard to the McMartin case, Nathan and Snedeker note, "The social hysteria that McMartin incited upped ritual abuse cases to another level. While at first they were products of delusional individuals by 1984 whole social systems had been set up to justify and develop accusations and prosecutions" (p. 93).

By 1984 the media were promoting the idea that ritual sex-abuse was common and pervasive. In January 1984, 60 million people watched the ABC-TV drama "Something About Amelia," dealing with a handsome, affluent father who sexually abused his teenaged daughter. The movie implied such cases were common.

. . . . . removed to shorten article . . . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RAyrbQrNBs

[Praxeas]

I think the problem is is that many people don't even think a lot of these crimes should be anything less than life. The saying has been pretty accurate so far but once a sex offender always a sex offender. There is something messed up psychologically with them.

I think they should be under constant psychiatric care and evaluation

Originally Posted by Praxeas

I think the problem is is that many people don't even think a lot of these crimes should be anything less than life. The saying has been pretty accurate so far but once a sex offender always a sex offender. There is something messed up psychologically with them.

I think they should be under constant psychiatric care and evaluation

You are wrong, that is the problem people have. I am a RSO who was charged in 1988 after getting out of the shower in a new apartment I lived in for 1 day, in the morning, and while still nude, walked back to the back sliding glass door, opened it and peered outside. I was not aware there was a play ground out back, and a young girl (11) saw me and ran and told her mother.

Yes, I was wrong for what I did, I do not deny that, and I have NEVER raped or had sex with ANY child, yet here it is 2008 and I am still being punished over and over and over again.... I've even taken tests, and they said I passed them with flying colors, but simply because the "victim" was 11, someone I did not know, and female, that made me a risk..

That is wrong... I've not committed any other crime like this, nor have any plans on doing so, and if I would've went to this lady 50 years from now, it would be the same thing.

So tell me, how is that fair???

You have been watching too much TV.

Yes, there is some sick people out there, but the statement you said, is wrong....

There is TONS of studies out there, which show that sex offenders are LESS LIKELY than any other offender, except murderers, to reoffend.

Here is some info for you, from reliable sources:

http://sexoffenderissues.pbwiki.com/#Recidivism
http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.co.../%2BRecidivism
http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.co...BFactsAndMyths

What about all these young kids? As young as 4 years old? Do you think they are "sick" for life???

http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.co...offenders.html

I also have tons of videos at my YouTube site:

http://www.youtube.com/ZMan6919

Stop watching so much TV, and learn the facts for yourself... PLEASE!!!

And just because I have started a blog, back in 2006, I cannot tell you the number of hateful emails, defamatory comments and threats I have received. I had it all on my blog, but I removed it, because I was getting tons more. They post stuff all over the web that I raped a child, which is FALSE. My record proves that is a lie. Yet they continue to post lies all over the place, simply because I am speaking up.

They even reported my blog to Perverted-Justice, who has now place me on their Wikisposure site, with more lies. See here:

http://www.wikisposure.com/ZMan6919

Also see this law suit, which I know this lady, from emails:

http://www.corrupted-justice.com/article28.html

So are you a Christian? Doesn't sound like it from your statements. Just ask yourself, what would Jesus do?

PEACE & GOD BLESS!