Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
More than 100 Southern Baptist youth pastors convicted or charged in sex crimes
Attention is shifting now from child sexual abuse by Catholic priests to pastors of other denominations. Apparently, there has been an epidemic of such abuse across the board by ordained Protestant ministers too. It almost beggars description that people with the trust of others, due to their supposed faith, would take advantage in that way of those over which they wield religious power. Where will this end, when all of the abuse is exposed? These are supposedly "men of God." Why does not their deity strike them down for their actions to harm children?
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/article/All-too-often-Southern-Baptist-youth-pastors-13588292.php
Preying on teens
Chad Foster, a former firefighter from Missouri, arrived in Texas soon after his divorce and with his 30th birthday fast approaching. He described himself as a fairly new Christian with a history of hard drinking.
He was hired and later ordained as a youth pastor by Houston's Second Baptist Church, one of the largest Southern Baptist congregations in the country.
"When I took the job," Foster later said, "I didn't know anything about it."
Foster preached abstinence and urged teens to sign a contract to save themselves for marriage. But he soon targeted underaged girls at the church's Cypress campus for intimate text messages and physical contact. His brief career as a youth pastor ended in 2013 with guilty pleas to three counts of sexual assault of a child and two of online solicitation of a minor.
Chad Foster, a former firefighter from Missouri, arrived in Texas soon after his divorce and with his 30th birthday fast approaching. He described himself as a fairly new Christian with a history of hard drinking.
He was hired and later ordained as a youth pastor by Houston's Second Baptist Church, one of the largest Southern Baptist congregations in the country.
"When I took the job," Foster later said, "I didn't know anything about it."
Foster preached abstinence and urged teens to sign a contract to save themselves for marriage. But he soon targeted underaged girls at the church's Cypress campus for intimate text messages and physical contact. His brief career as a youth pastor ended in 2013 with guilty pleas to three counts of sexual assault of a child and two of online solicitation of a minor.
Much more, many pages more, with far more information, at link...
Note: This is Part 3 of a three-part investigative report. Links to Part 1 and Part 2 are shown below in a reply.
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
