WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:03.560 When it comes to child predators, many often think of the Catholic Church, 2 00:00:03.640 --> 00:00:09.640 given their worldwide epidemic of child sexual assault that spans centuries. Likewise, Christian 3 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:14.400 religious organizations in the United States are no stranger to abuses against children. And 4 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:18.199 that's not the only thing they're strangers too, because, despite insisting that reforms 5 00:00:18.199 --> 00:00:22.879 are underway, the Southern Baptist Convention has failed to guarantee the safety of children 6 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:28.839 after pledging long term protections and safety measures. Strangely, they are also strangers 7 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:32.719 to fixing the internal threat that they pose to innocent children. To put it 8 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:37.479 bluntly, this is yet another example of how religion is unsafe for the youth. 9 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:42.240 This story is entitled how many churches use background checks? It's from Baptist's 10 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:47.000 Standard by Bob Smeatana on May twentieth, twenty twenty four. Eli. You 11 00:00:47.079 --> 00:00:54.439 know, given the challenges that have the Southern Baptist Convention not complying with their 12 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:59.640 own safeguards, what kind of challenges actually are there for them to do so? 13 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:03.119 So, so, what it seems like is that this Southern Baptist Convention 14 00:01:03.399 --> 00:01:07.319 is is kind of what's uh, the body that is kind of preventing the 15 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:12.640 progress, so to speak. So there was established a secondary nonprofit called the 16 00:01:12.680 --> 00:01:19.359 Abuse Response Committee and that's tend to oversee the website ministry check dot org. 17 00:01:19.400 --> 00:01:22.680 I believe it might have been dot com and that was intended basically to be 18 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:26.680 a database of like when you can search like clergymen, pastors, and and 19 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:30.239 to see their background information and have they ever been convicted of anything? And 20 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:34.680 the ARC has. They claim to have one hundred names vetted and ready to 21 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:41.799 publish, with more ready to vet once the website is successfully launched, but 22 00:01:41.959 --> 00:01:46.000 they are being halted by the Southern Baptist Convention. They have concerns with like 23 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:49.319 liabilities and UH and and it seems as if they also have concerns with like 24 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:53.159 just keeping money. They don't want to lose support or they there was even 25 00:01:53.200 --> 00:02:00.000 some mention of not wanting to have to pay out UH damages or have an 26 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:02.879 having to pay out lawsuits or settlements because of things that might have might arise 27 00:02:02.920 --> 00:02:07.719 as a result of the information people will. So it seems like the SBC 28 00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:10.840 themselves are what's stopping it. They've contributed zero funding to the task The task 29 00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:17.639 force raised seventy five thousand by themselves and They even the SBC actually pledged nearly 30 00:02:17.719 --> 00:02:23.479 four million dollars to assist churches with abuse reform, but they said that none 31 00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:28.240 of that money can be given to the Abuse Response Committee, that the committee 32 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:30.120 that's running that website. So I think that's where it looks like they're sitting 33 00:02:30.199 --> 00:02:34.080 right now. Yeah, so it looks like, you know, they've come 34 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:37.759 out and said, hey, we need to do these things to fix the 35 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:43.120 internal threat to children, but then they're not doing those things because it would 36 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:46.599 just make life difficult for that church, wouldn't it. Yeah, insurance reasons 37 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:52.159 were cited. Not only do they have to pay pay out to abuse victims, 38 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:54.080 but maybe even have to pay high premiums. I mean, who's going 39 00:02:54.120 --> 00:03:00.960 to ensure a church that would have a record of abuse in their church? 40 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:04.599 Siddy, I want to ask you, you know, when it comes to 41 00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:08.479 submitting to background chess, because this this article largely centered on our church is 42 00:03:08.599 --> 00:03:12.919 using background checks like they say they're going to do in the SBC. But 43 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:15.479 if they were to do that, is this an admission of guilt in anyway? 44 00:03:15.479 --> 00:03:20.319 I mean, if not individually, you know, then in representing the 45 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:24.240 faith itself, so is saying yeah, you can check us out an admission 46 00:03:24.280 --> 00:03:29.120 that maybe there's something wrong, if anything, what they should do. If 47 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:32.520 they were smart, even if they even if let's just say they're this you 48 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:37.120 know, dark dark entity, if they were smart, they would say, 49 00:03:37.319 --> 00:03:43.439 come in and background check everybody, because that would show we're not afraid. 50 00:03:43.639 --> 00:03:46.719 We stand with God if somebody comes up. You know, we're praying that 51 00:03:46.759 --> 00:03:51.000 if somebody comes up on this list, God showed us for a reason, 52 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:53.319 and we're gonna do what we need to do with that person, you know, 53 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:57.599 which probably means just like paid administrative leave until they like forget what their 54 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:00.199 face looks like, and then they can come back. But if they were 55 00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:03.120 smart, if they really wanted to keep things going the way they were going 56 00:04:03.159 --> 00:04:06.639 and not ruffle feathers, they would agree to it. They would say, 57 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:10.879 come in, run a thousand background checks, do what you gotta do, 58 00:04:10.919 --> 00:04:15.439 because one the likelihood that everyone's going to get their background checked is probably pretty 59 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:17.759 slim. All people need to see is that they're doing it. They're doing 60 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:20.920 what they say. If they were smart, they would cut a check to 61 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:24.600 this other organization. They would say, wow, thank you so much for 62 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:28.439 everything you're doing. We care about children, We care about their safety, 63 00:04:29.319 --> 00:04:33.279 and also by submitting to a background check, whether or not it actually happens, 64 00:04:33.560 --> 00:04:38.720 by coming out and publicly saying before being too busy to actually go through 65 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:41.720 with it, Hey, you know what, go for it, Come run 66 00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:44.759 my background you know what, take a hair sample if you need to take 67 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:47.040 my thumbprint. People would be like, see, that's an organization we can 68 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:53.839 get behind without ever following up on what they're doing afterward. That would say 69 00:04:53.879 --> 00:04:58.920 to everybody that they're worried about losing you know, wow, this is a 70 00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:02.399 godly organization. This is a godly word. And then if somebody does come 71 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:06.519 up, they have the opportunity to be like to take one of two stances. 72 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:10.600 They have the opportunity to say, do you know what, We're going 73 00:05:10.680 --> 00:05:14.519 to pray about this and see what God says for our next Our next move 74 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:16.839 to be, do we let him go? Do we like make peace with 75 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:19.360 the fact that this gentleman. Do we pray over him at the altar? 76 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:25.800 They have so many other opportunities to then decide what they're going to publicly do 77 00:05:26.040 --> 00:05:30.120 about that. I honestly think it would be a good thing. And anyone 78 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:33.959 who comes up on that list or comes up with any kind of bad background. 79 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:40.519 They can transfer any negative attention they get to that name. They've got 80 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:45.720 a name now that they can blame. So I think by being cagey about 81 00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:48.800 the whole thing, they're actually doing so much more harm to their organization than 82 00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:53.199 good when all they need to do is say, you know, come on 83 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:56.000 in, do what you gotta do. Yeah, like bless you Yeah. 84 00:05:56.040 --> 00:05:59.839 And it sounds to me like you're saying that perception is important, right, 85 00:06:00.279 --> 00:06:05.079 the perception of compliance, but also the perception of taking care of business when 86 00:06:05.240 --> 00:06:12.800 something arises. What was interesting to me is that this article centered on somebody 87 00:06:12.839 --> 00:06:15.000 an interview with somebody last named Beninger, and forgive me, I don't remember 88 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:20.000 her first name, but somebody who came on to an organization under the SBC, 89 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:25.920 who was going to administer background checks and then was told, don't check 90 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:28.639 up on the pastors. Don't worry, they don't work with kids, they 91 00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:32.519 don't need background checks. Let's talk about the perception inside the church. Should 92 00:06:32.600 --> 00:06:36.199 that have not been a red flag for her? Right? Does she not 93 00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:42.480 bear some responsibility now for turning a blind eye? Right? And is she 94 00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:45.560 now not part of the problem? Eli. I want to get your take 95 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:49.720 on that you know, how should Benager have responded when being told don't worry 96 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:55.000 about the pastors? And does that speak to maybe a larger issue on how 97 00:06:55.199 --> 00:07:00.800 Benager has been affected by her religion. I think, yeah, absolutely, 98 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:02.879 I'm both counts. So I for me, if someone's like, hey, 99 00:07:02.920 --> 00:07:05.040 you know what, like this group of people that I'm a part of, 100 00:07:05.240 --> 00:07:09.480 we're good, we don't need you can trust us, that's the person that 101 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:12.439 I'm going to background check first, Like that's the one I'm like, yeah, 102 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:15.639 right, I'm looking at you. Yeah, because nobody else has come 103 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:17.319 up to me and been like, hey, like I really really don't want 104 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:23.319 you to, you know, learn about my past that hasn't done anything you 105 00:07:23.399 --> 00:07:27.480 know that I would not like. So that definitely seems strange to me. 106 00:07:27.480 --> 00:07:30.360 And I think, like you said, Jimmy, the idea that clergy are 107 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:33.959 like above reproach, they're above question, which was it was touched on in 108 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:39.079 the article as well and all the time on this show. The idea that 109 00:07:39.319 --> 00:07:45.120 they are inherently trustworthy just because they went to like they got this particular degree 110 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:47.639 and have this particular like profession is what it is, you know, now, 111 00:07:47.639 --> 00:07:50.040 like we can automatically trust them and I just don't think that's the case 112 00:07:50.600 --> 00:07:55.800 this honestly. So this is the first I've ever heard of like churches actually 113 00:07:55.839 --> 00:08:00.519 doing things to prevent child abuse. So it makes sense that it probably has 114 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:01.839 been happening once. I'm like, yeah, obviously, people, but I 115 00:08:01.879 --> 00:08:03.800 just had never heard of it before. I'm like, okay, cool, 116 00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:09.480 like actually like something's happening. And the I liked, I really like the 117 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:13.199 one church that they talked about that had like this six month period, there 118 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:15.279 was somebody that came in on like their first son. They was like, 119 00:08:15.319 --> 00:08:16.879 I want to work with the kids, and the church was like, absolutely 120 00:08:16.920 --> 00:08:20.160 not, because we have no idea who you are. And I think the 121 00:08:20.199 --> 00:08:24.680 idea of letting the parents get comfortable knowing who that person the kids is obviously 122 00:08:24.680 --> 00:08:28.439 absolutely idea. And I think that church said they also do the background checks 123 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:33.960 and like extensive training before they before they even let somebody alone with the kids. 124 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.600 And they're never even alone. There's always you know, two adults with 125 00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:39.960 a door open, is what they said. So yeah, and let's talk 126 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:43.039 about Well, first of all, actually before I pivot, Sidney, did 127 00:08:43.080 --> 00:08:45.440 you have anything that you wanted to add? Go ahead? I did, 128 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:50.679 so I was thinking about this, and sadly, the statistics on child abuse 129 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:54.919 that has actually reported and prosecuted is very low. So my question is, 130 00:08:56.159 --> 00:08:58.480 if you run a background check on somebody, the likelihood that child abuse is 131 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:03.480 going to show up is actually very small because you can abuse one hundred kids 132 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:07.399 and statistically maybe two will say something and maybe one will be believed. Right, 133 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:13.720 So my question is what else is going to show up that's worse than 134 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:18.799 child abuse? That's my question because child abuse is very likely not going to 135 00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:22.639 show up, unfortunately because of the lack of reporting in general. And then 136 00:09:22.679 --> 00:09:26.799 once it is reported, especially within the church, the parents probably go to 137 00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:30.879 the pastor first right to talk about it if it's a clergyman. So if 138 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:35.399 you know that going in that that's probably not going to be what shows up. 139 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:39.519 And you're still arguing that you don't want background checks to be run even 140 00:09:39.559 --> 00:09:43.159 though it probably won't make much of the difference when it comes to child abuse, 141 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:48.639 why we should be extra concerned. Yeah, and that speaks to the 142 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:56.840 larger issue I think where religion kind of self perpetuates to well, it protects 143 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:01.799 itself essentially, you know, by keeping these pastors keep their clergy in a 144 00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:05.159 domain where they are beyond approach, right and when they're not, they're the 145 00:10:05.159 --> 00:10:09.919 first ones that go to So they can do damage control on the front line 146 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:15.039 right there, and they can move around, they can disappear, or they 147 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:20.159 can you know, convince parents or children that there's absolutely nothing wrong when there 148 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:24.919 is. You know, what does this say about the level of indoctrination that 149 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:30.759 people people fall victim to, and how does that kind of lend itself to 150 00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:35.399 people to become further victimized. Sydney. I think what it does is, 151 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:41.639 I think it has less to do with well, I guess it still is 152 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:46.759 in doctrination. I think what it does is it doesn't make people believe less 153 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:50.639 that these things are happening. It just it brings to the surface what all 154 00:10:50.840 --> 00:10:56.720 somebody has at stake when they leave the church, or when they stand up 155 00:10:56.759 --> 00:11:00.559 against the church, or when they reprimand the church. For men many people, 156 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:05.240 the church is your social your familial, your neighborhood, your town, 157 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:07.279 like your church is everything. I live in Tennessee, and when you meet 158 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:11.679 somebody new, the first question is what church do you go to? What 159 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:16.000 a loaded question, by the way, right right, I always say I 160 00:11:16.039 --> 00:11:20.600 don't and then I slave it, but so it what it does is it 161 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:26.039 says, what is worse something that we don't know is even happening. We 162 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:30.679 don't even know if it's happening. It's just an accusation from the Satan or 163 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:35.639 this other church who doesn't like us, or the liberal media. Is that 164 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:41.159 worth losing everything? You know, without saying we're going to punish you, 165 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:45.679 they say, is it worth everything that you've built here and everything that you 166 00:11:45.799 --> 00:11:50.120 have here? And is it worth your salvation? Which is really messed up. 167 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:54.919 Yeah, Eli Cydny's talking about what church is like in Tennessee, and 168 00:11:54.960 --> 00:11:58.960 there were some reports about how things were a little bit different, you know, 169 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:03.240 in this article across the country. Can you talk to the regional differences 170 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:07.519 in addressing reform and you know how they were different from each other, how 171 00:12:07.559 --> 00:12:13.799 the different regions are different. Yeah. Absolutely. So it looks like out 172 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:16.759 of there are forty one distinct Southern Baptist state conventions, and out of those 173 00:12:16.759 --> 00:12:20.840 forty one, only twenty nine of them collected any data on child abuse prevention 174 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:28.399 in the in the churches within their convention. But the questions weren't mandatory, 175 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:31.200 So that is like it wasn't mandatory to answer the questions when they I guess 176 00:12:31.240 --> 00:12:35.440 whatever survey they did that collected that data, So that is a concern to 177 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:37.080 me. That's something that I would want to know more about. But what 178 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:43.879 they found was that churches in the Northeast are the most likely to provide training 179 00:12:43.879 --> 00:12:50.240 on how to report abuse, and then Northeastern churches along with Western churches, 180 00:12:50.279 --> 00:12:54.399 are more likely to give training on and I didn't finish it up, but 181 00:12:54.440 --> 00:13:01.159 training on the appropriate care of children, how to essentially the ways to prevent 182 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:05.159 abuse and recognize it, and the proper care for the children while they're there. 183 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:09.279 So the churches in the South, surprising nobody, were the least likely 184 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:15.799 to do either of those things. I am, yeah, yeah, they 185 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:20.960 And they found that the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the Pennsylvania South Jersey 186 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:26.360 Convention, and the Minnesota and Wisconsin Convention all had the highest occurrence of background 187 00:13:26.440 --> 00:13:33.919 checks for their for people working with the children within their churches. So northern 188 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:37.559 it seems like. So part of the study, part of this research that 189 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:43.600 we did included a report or a study that was done by the SBC and 190 00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:50.240 it's the ar IF and I am looking for the exact the abuse reform implementation 191 00:13:50.440 --> 00:13:56.159 task for some twenty twenty four did a study on what factors, what risks 192 00:13:56.200 --> 00:14:01.759 were being medicated, and what actions were being taken. But while the very 193 00:14:01.799 --> 00:14:09.759 biased and Christian leaning report stated that the SBC actually is doing something, what 194 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:13.759 it came to find is that it really had done nothing, and it admitted 195 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:18.559 that, and it cited a lack of resources, a lack of ability to 196 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:24.840 obtain buy in. But Sidney, do you think that church leaders would want 197 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:28.720 to avoid action? And we touched on this a little bit, but here's 198 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:31.919 an opportunity for us to kind of dive into that a little bit and maybe 199 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:37.240 talk about why they would merely want to give the illusion of compliance instead of 200 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:41.480 actually doing anything. I think there's a few factors there. One. I 201 00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:43.919 think, like anything else, church is a business. As much as people 202 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:46.679 who are super duper religious want to believe that it's not, it is. 203 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:50.320 It's just a business. It doesn't get taxed, like that's why you have 204 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:58.159 so many millionaire and billionaire television evangelists. So there's like the business aspect, 205 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:01.480 right, their money comes from certain things that they can't they can't harm, 206 00:15:01.559 --> 00:15:05.399 or they can't negate, or they can't bring into question, otherwise that money 207 00:15:05.399 --> 00:15:09.759 disappears. I also think there's that idea, especially here in the South, 208 00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:13.320 where it's like, do I really want to get my buddy in trouble? 209 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:16.080 You know, I'm friends with this person. We've been in the same ministry 210 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:18.799 for fifteen years or And I think this has a lot more to do with 211 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:24.679 it personally. I think it's if I allow background checks to happen, and 212 00:15:24.759 --> 00:15:28.919 I know, brother Bob is gonna get in trouble. He's gonna tell what 213 00:15:28.039 --> 00:15:31.919 he knows about me. And I think it's a bunch of like I don't 214 00:15:31.960 --> 00:15:35.240 know if I'm allowed to say shit, but it's a bunch of shitty people 215 00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:39.960 who all do wrong stuff. Some of them it makes onto their records, 216 00:15:39.960 --> 00:15:43.320 some of them it doesn't. In fact, I would say most of them 217 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:45.480 get away with stuff that doesn't show up on the record, and it's just 218 00:15:45.639 --> 00:15:50.759 lore that you hear about, you know. And then they also they recognize, 219 00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:54.360 you know, if I do anything that this guy thinks turned him in, 220 00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:58.440 he's gonna do whatever it takes to bring as many of us down with 221 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:02.559 him. In my opinion, that's what it's about. Yeah, this is 222 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:07.399 certainly a power structure and It's as if the people that are all doing something 223 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:11.200 wrong need each other to stay in power, and even the ones that aren't 224 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:15.600 doing anything wrong, well, they become accomplices by not doing anything because they 225 00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:18.960 also want to stay in power. They want to have this influence over their 226 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:22.159 society, over their community. They want to keep getting money, the free 227 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:26.759 house, whatever it is that they get from doing what they're doing. Maybe 228 00:16:26.759 --> 00:16:30.240 there's some people that genuinely think they're doing some good, but I would say 229 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:36.799 that once you become an accomplice, you have negated your entire purpose. So 230 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:41.879 I want to kind of talk about how that plays into the Christian message overall. 231 00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:45.679 I mean, for me, that is like one of the big the 232 00:16:45.720 --> 00:16:49.000 best ways, the most concrete ways to say this religion's bullshit. And yes, 233 00:16:49.159 --> 00:16:52.600 Sydney, you can't say shit, Eli, what say you on that 234 00:16:52.679 --> 00:17:00.559 relationship? This stain on Christianity? How is trying to manage this crisis affecting 235 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:06.279 the state of affairs in Christianity and in these SBC churches now, well, 236 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:10.599 so you'll see and especially based on like the churches talked about in the auto 237 00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:12.720 collect the one I mentioned earlier, and like the people that are actually taking 238 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:19.160 real substantive steps toward like preventing and investigating abuse. You can see that there 239 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:22.759 are those people within, like the churches, that want to make sure the 240 00:17:22.759 --> 00:17:26.039 abuse isn't happening. But those aren't the people that are like in power because 241 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:30.519 like you can't, like there needs to be some power dynamic for there to 242 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:33.559 be abuse, right, So the ones in power are the ones that want 243 00:17:33.559 --> 00:17:36.680 to keep it under wraps. And that's what the way that it's I mean 244 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:40.599 as far as how it's affecting Christianity internally, I mean I'm on the outside. 245 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:45.359 I don't know, but sure it's it's I think it's going to reveal 246 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:48.640 hopefully going to reveal that, you know, to the people going to these 247 00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:52.400 churches, like we may not be able to trust these people the way we 248 00:17:52.440 --> 00:17:56.000 thought we could. There might be something going on here or they're going to 249 00:17:56.119 --> 00:17:59.880 keep turning a blind eye and they're going to keep you know, not that 250 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:07.440 deify, but idolizing I guess there, or exalting their clergy to this unquestionable 251 00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:11.440 status, and kids are going to keep getting harm. Yeah, yeah, 252 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:14.319 you know, Sidney, I want to give you the chance to kind of 253 00:18:14.359 --> 00:18:18.000 close us out, and in doing so, I want to leave you with 254 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:22.240 this finding from this study that we looked over, and it says that ther 255 00:18:22.599 --> 00:18:29.480 the ar IF report says churches need help in times of crisis, someone to 256 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:33.359 walk alongside them. And that report was given as a justification as why these 257 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:40.079 churches are unable to implement these reforms that they have pledged. What's going on? 258 00:18:40.279 --> 00:18:42.039 I mean, is that not ironic? Or what? I thought? 259 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:47.200 The whole point was that they already had somebody walking beside them and guiding them, 260 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:48.880 right, Like, isn't that the whole thing? Isn't that like the 261 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:52.400 whole brand? I thought? I'm confused. That's like, yeah, that's 262 00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:57.359 the whole That's more confusing to me than the study done by the company who 263 00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:02.359 benefits from the study showing that they did a study that in fact shows them 264 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:06.000 innocent. You know, but yeah, my whole thing is like, y'all 265 00:19:06.039 --> 00:19:08.720 do have somebody walking beside you? Like y'all literally say in your hymns that 266 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:12.160 he's walking beside you? So what else? Like do you want to cop 267 00:19:12.359 --> 00:19:15.160 Like what else do you need? I'm confused? Like who, like, 268 00:19:15.319 --> 00:19:19.440 who else should be walking beside you? Yeah? Yeah, they can't get 269 00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:23.039 the support from their God that they're set up to worship, and then they 270 00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:29.279 can't get the support from each other, and so they continue to enable each 271 00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:33.720 other to do the wrong thing. You know, it really is troubling to 272 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:38.960 me to have to sit here and categorize everybody in the Christian Church, whatever 273 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:42.839 church as the bad person. But like the person that was covered in this 274 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:48.319 article, when given the opportunity to speak up, she did nothing and waited 275 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:52.920 a really long time. So for those of you out there that really don't 276 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:56.440 like what we have to say about the Christian Church, you need to do 277 00:19:56.480 --> 00:20:00.279 something about it. You need to be the ones to fix your our own 278 00:20:00.279 --> 00:20:03.400 problems. Otherwise we're going to stand here and point out what all those problems are.