If you are on Twitter, perhaps you have seen the hashtag that asks, How Old Were You? Professor Karen Swallow Prior created it to highlight the problem of child sexual abuse and sexual predators. She was on my radio program to explain its origin and surprising response.
She believes the church must deal more honestly with sexual temptation. She was also overwhelmed and saddened by the number who posted the age when they were first sexually pursued by an adult authority figure.
Mary DeMuth has written about childhood sexual abuse and also joined us on the program. I would recommend her memoir Thin Places and her latest book, Not Marked. She confirmed that as many a one in four women have been sexually abused in some way.
Karen Prior started the Twitter campaign because of a post in Leadership Journal written by a former youth pastor that sexually abused someone under his care. The outcry from readers led to the post being removed from the website. She wanted to do something more and started the #HowOldWereYou hashtag campaign.
She was amazed at the naiveté and blindness of people in leadership. She wrote that: “it’s time for the church to stop being shocked and face reality with open eyes.” She also wanted acknowledge her “disappointment at the overwhelming (although not total) silence from the leaders on my side of the church aisle, leaders for whom I have the deepest respect.”
I raised the question of how this can affect churches. One expert estimates that between 1% and 5% of the population molest children. Even if we use the lower percentage estimate, that still means that at least ten people in a church of 1,000 are potential problems. We would certainly hope none of them are working in the nursery or youth ministry.
She argues that we should not “adopt a culture of fear, suspecting anyone whose hand we shake at Sunday morning worship is a thief.” But she also concludes, “we don’t leave our wallets unattended in the robe room either.” We need to pay more attention to sexual abuse in the culture and even in our churches.