Bob Jones University Blames Abuse Victims

Last updated on: March 12, 2015 at 5:35 pm by Frank Schaeffer

Bob Jones University Blames Abuse Victims 2015-03-12T17:35:19-06:00 Frank Schaeffer

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Evangelical Wheaton College went to court to stop women at the school getting contraceptive insurance coverage. The Evangelical Gordon College president wrote to President Obama to demand exemption from extending civil employment rights to gays. Now According to the New York Times, Bob Jones University has a long history of blaming victims for their their own sexual abuse. Question what is wrong with evangelicals, their view of women and sexuality and abuse? They go to court to stop women from having rights, to stop gays from having rights but when it comes to RAPE, even CHILD RAPE– Don’t call the cops! “It will hurt the Lord’s work.” Disgusting!

For decades, officials at Bob Jones University told sexual assault victims that they were to blame for their abuse, and to not report it to the police because doing so would damage their families, churches and the university, according to a long-awaited independent report released Thursday.

Bob Jones, an evangelical Christian institution in Greenville, S.C., displayed a “blaming and disparaging” attitude toward abuse victims, according to 56 percent of the 381 current and former students and employees who replied to a confidential survey and said they had knowledge of how the university handled abuse cases. About half the 166 people surveyed who identified themselves as abuse victims said the university actively discouraged them from going to the police.

In interviews with investigators and in written comments, some respondents detailed hurtful, often startling treatment.

“I was abused from the ages of 6 to 14 by my grandfather,” one respondent said. “When I went for counseling I was told: ‘Did you repent for your part of the abuse? Did your body respond favorably?’ ” The person reported being told by a university official that going to the police “tore your family apart, and that’s your fault,” and “you love yourself more than you love God.”

Another person said that at Bob Jones, “abuse victims are considered ‘second-rate Christians.’ ” And another said that university staff consistently told victims “that they bore the sin of bitterness and that they should not report abusers.”

Some people quoted in the report said Bob Jones University had shattered their faith, along with their psyches. The university made God out to be “someone who turns his back when children are harmed and then mocks and shames the child further,” one said, while another said, “by the time I left B.J.U., I didn’t think God loved me at all.”

The investigators’ recommendations included taking unspecified action against the university’s chancellor, Bob Jones III, who was president from 1971 to 2005, a potentially explosive idea at an institution where the founding family’s authority has gone unquestioned.

The criticism of Bob Jones differs from that prompted by the sexual-assault scandals that have erupted at colleges across the country, in that it is not primarily about assaults on or near campus, committed by students or staff members. Rather, the university has been criticized for penalizing victims who reported incidents or sought treatment, and were told not to go to the police, even when the university had a legal obligation to do so.

The investigators requested a meeting with Bob Jones administrators “to review a list of employees identified during the investigation as individuals who have caused hurt to sexual abuse survivors through their teachings, conduct, or overall disposition,” and decide what action to take. It does not say how many names are on that list, but in frank language, it singles out the roles of Bob Jones III and James Berg, an administrator who has headed counseling programs.

Frank Schaeffer is a writer. His latest book —WHY I AM AN ATHEIST WHO BELIEVES IN GOD: How to give love, create beauty and find peace

Please Support My Blogging

I earn my living as a writer. I have a choice write more books and less blogging or ask you for help. If you value my blogging will you please consider helping me sustain myself and my family by making a voluntary payment to support my work? Scroll down and click the “Donate Now” button to make a secure donation using your PayPal account or debit/credit card. My writing has always been about faith not being a set of ridiculous beliefs, but a way of being. Will you help me bring other readers to that place? As writer Angela Hart wrote: “We expect to pay for goods and services that have value, bring us pleasure, enrich our lives. The thoughtful content and reply posts by Frank Schaeffer represent the end product of education, individual experience, synthesis of thought, and the hard work of writing. We’ve grown accustomed to gobbling up others creative endeavor as if it were our entitlement. It is not.” Please help me make room for honesty. For tenderness. For fury. For wonder. For hope. For mistakes. For paradox.

Will you help? For example: $5, $10, $25, $50 or $100 a year means I don’t have to blog less and write less but can concentrate on bringing a message of spirituality rooted in tolerance to thousands of people. Click this “Donate Now” button to make a secure one-time payment using your PayPal account or debit/credit card. Please note: the company that processes these payments is Regina Orthodox Press. Thanks for your consideration and contribution.

Frank Schaeffer is a writer. His latest book —WHY I AM AN ATHEIST WHO BELIEVES IN GOD: How to give love, create beauty and find peace

Available now on Amazon

Follow Frank on Twitter www.twitter.com/frank_schaeffer See Frank’s paintings http://www.frankschaefferart.com/ Follow Frank on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/frank.schaeffer.16 Contact Frank at http://www.frankschaeffer.com/

Previous Post

December 10, 2014

Many religious fundamentalists feel under siege by the secular world and harbor a deeply paranoid sense of victimhood

Next Post

December 13, 2014 Please Stand UP! Black Lives Matter

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art children Christmas family parenting political humor politics religion sex Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz