African children with donated school supplies from Develop Africa, Author DevAfrica (CC BY-SA 4.0 International).
According to Save the Children, one billion children worldwide are currently out of school because of coronavirus lockdowns [1A]. Roughly half these do not have access to distance learning.
Children kept home from school are likely to lose learning and fall behind. They are, also, more vulnerable to abuse, as there is no one to intervene on their behalf.
Expenditures on the coronavirus (and increasing poverty as a result of the lockdowns) are expected to create a $77 billion gap in education funding for the world’s poorest children, over the next 18 months [2A]. Those living in overcrowded migrant camps and conflict zones will be the hardest hit [1B].
As many as ten million children will not return to school at all, forced into the labor market or early marriage [2B]. These will be mostly girls, further deepening the educational divide which already exists along wealth and gender lines.
Teen pregnancy and child marriage are both predicted to increase. Continue reading →
Gentian blossoms, André Karwath a/k/a Aka (CC BY-SA 2.5 Generic)
We continue our examination of God’s relationship to fate, justice, and abuse.
Justice
God created human beings in His image. That is the reason we have a sense of justice at all. Our sense of justice cannot be greater than God’s, since it derives from His.
Yet, because ours is a fallen world, we do not always see justice done. The innocent suffer, as abuse victims can attest. That is deeply disturbing to us…and it should be. The question is whether we can trust a God who allows innocent suffering.
The answer to that rests with the character of God. God is love personified. He is holy beyond all measure, entirely incapable of evil. And God is all powerful. He is not, therefore, overcome by evil.
If we trust in Him, God is capable of sustaining us, despite our suffering. God’s justice, however, plays out on a grand scale, against the backdrop of eternity. We may not see justice done in our lifetime. The Jeffrey Epsteins of this world may triumph for awhile. But, in the long run, they do not escape justice (Gal. 6: 7).
Knowing these things about God, we can fully place our trust in Him.
We abuse victims often rage at God for our circumstances. Given the pain we endured, that is only natural. Is it, however, appropriate? Is God responsible for fate and justice, by inference, for innocent suffering?
Blind Fate
“The Three Fates” by Alexander Rothaug (c. 1910), Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH (PD)
The Fates are a common feature in polytheism. They are often depicted as a group of mythological goddesses weaving the destiny of mortals on a loom. The ancient Greeks called them the Moirai. The Norse called them the Norns. They controlled the thread of life for every mortal from birth to death.
A belief in fate or blind chance can give rise to resignation, a stoic submission to events which largely removes free will from the equation. This is a way of coping with the gross injustice of abuse. It eases the pain, but reinforces a hopeless victim mentality.
What such a belief does not do is place responsibility where it truly belongs, i.e. on the predator. That can be appealing, since we need not confront the excruciating truth that we were not loved as we deserved. Continue reading →
From his photo, Fr. Robert McWilliams, 40, would appear jovial and harmless. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Ohio priest has been indicted for child pornography, child exploitation, and juvenile sex trafficking [1]. McWilliams had been on administrative leave following a 2019 arrest for possession of child pornography.
McWilliams posed as a woman on social media to entice young boys into providing explicit photos/videos of themselves. He then threatened to share the embarrassing material with their family and friends, if victims did not provide him additional material.
Some of McWilliams’ victims were known to him from his work as a parish priest.
Cleveland’s Bishop Nelson Perez has expressed the willingness of the Diocese to cooperate with law enforcement.
“Beware of false prophets,who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves” (Matt. 7; 15).
Neon signs in Kabukicho, a “red light” district in Shinjuko, Tokyo, Author Basile Morin (CC BY-SA 4.0 International)
Domestic violence is not solely a Western phenomenon. As of June 2017, there were 72,455 cases reported in Japan [1A]. That set a new record. However, only 2.2% of the victims of spousal abuse there actually contact police.
A Private Matter
Japanese law does allow courts to issue restraining orders [2]. However, domestic violence is largely viewed as a private matter.
In one survey, 58.2% of the 650 victims injured did not feel their problem warranted police help [1B]. Another 34.3% did not seek police intervention because they believed themselves partly at fault, while 22.3% felt police intervention would be pointless. Many did not recognize that they had been victimized. Continue reading →
As we mature into adulthood, we gain not only physical and emotional strength, but power over our lives. This opens up new opportunities, and options never available to us before.
Distinguishing between the feeling of vulnerability and actual vulnerability becomes crucial.
“…Do I need to better protect myself from a danger in the environment? Or do I need to muster the courage to face something that isn’t going to kill me and that can help me grow stronger and more confident? Often we can conflate the two…Once we determine what our vulnerable feelings are about, we can thus make a decision to protect ourselves from real danger, or face an opportunity for personal growth by facing real feelings, emotions and needs…”
In an effort to protect ourselves, we may be tempted to erect emotional barriers, barricades against further abuse. This is only natural. To the extent that we re-establish safe boundaries, it is all to the good.
But we must remember that barricades can become traps for those inside. Inadvertently, we may cut ourselves off from the opportunities now accessible to us, and the very relationships which might help us to heal. Continue reading →
Poverty in Chicago, IL (1974), Author/Source Danny Lyon for National Archive and Records Administration (NARA Record 1709309; NAID 555950), Original Source Environmental Protection Agency (PD as work product of federal govt.)
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Prov. 31: 8-9 NIV).
Poverty and abuse have much in common.
The traumatic and repetitive nature of child abuse, and the huge imbalance of power between adult and child, can leave profound psychological scars on victims – scars that may include PTSD, depression, and anxiety to name a few.
Often, victims are left with a fear of authority as adults. The impact of poverty is surprisingly similar.
Fear of Authority
Their hopes chronically dashed and their pleas for justice routinely ignored, the poor frequently assume further effort on their part will be futile.
People who have been repeatedly downtrodden – deprived of basic necessities, cheated of their rights by abusive landlords and the host of other scam artists who prey on the poor – will forget that they have a voice, and throw in the towel (already exhausted). Continue reading →
Etan Patz, Author Stanley K. Patz (CC BY- SA 3.0 Unported)
In April of last year, Operation Empty Nest (an undertaking by the U.S. Marshals Service, Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and National Center for Missing & Exploited Children) achieved a small miracle [1][2].
Led by Gerald “Jerry” Dysart of the US Marshals Service/Missing Child Unit, this joint federal, state, and local law enforcement operation succeeded in rescuing 16 child victims of physical and sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and exploitation. Victims were between the ages of 4 and 17.
In addition to the 16 who had been reported missing, another 11 were found alive. Continue reading →
“Well, I was there and I saw what you did.
I saw it with my own two eyes.
So you can wipe off the grin. I know where you’ve been.
It’s all been a pack of lies…
Well, I remember. I remember, don’t worry.
How could I ever forget?…
The hurt doesn’t show; but the pain still grows.
It’s no stranger to you or me.”
– In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins
Justice demands that predators – those who harm children for their own pleasure – be punished for their crimes, and prevented from harming additional victims. But the justice system necessarily has limitations.
Proof can be difficult to come by. A child may not survive the abuse or may not be able to speak of a violation for years. Parents may choose that their child not undergo the rigors of a trial. Predators may be institutionally shielded (as by the Roman Catholic Church), may relocate, assume a new identity, or even pass away, in the intervening years. Supportive evidence can be lost.
This does NOT warrant vigilantism. Whatever the temptation, we cannot ally with evil. The end does not justify the means.
What then is the fate of pedophiles? Recidivism is a grave concern. There are predators whose conscience is seared to such an extent that it no longer functions. One study, however, found that suicide among non-violent child sex offenders is 183 times more common than in the general public [1]. There are, of course, victims who commit suicide, as well.
In the end, our fate is not dependent on the fate of the predator. That bears repeating. Justice matters. But our fate is not dependent on the fate of the predator.
Whatever the outcome in a particular case, we can trust that there will be perfect justice in the next world, if not in this. “He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice…” (Deut. 32: 4).
—
[1] National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, “Differential suicide rates in typologies of child sex offenders in a 6-year consecutive cohort of male suicides” by C. Pritchard and E. King, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16040578.
Originally posted 3/2/14
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