Kid beaten by minister for *reporting* abuse
dogemperor printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Fri May 12, 2006 at 04:18:09 PM EST
I've written a lot lately on one of the dirty secrets of dominionism--religiously motivated child abuse, which is heavily promoted.  From the literal literal beating of babies, occasionally to death to the deliberate transfer of kids in dominionist homes to other abusive families, it's sadly all too common.

One of the most despicable things about this is that, all too often, it's the dominionist preachers themselves promoting the abuse--and, in the case I'm about to note, sometimes even crossing the line to committing abuse themselves.

The Chicago Tribune reports:
The pastor of an Elgin church has been charged with battery after it was alleged that he repeatedly used a piece of wood to discipline a 12-year-old girl.

Police said the girl's mother took her to the pastor because she doubted the girl's claim that she was being sexually abused by another man.


Now, in many states, this would actually be a violation of law by the minister--not just engaging in "chastening" the kid with a stick, but failing to report abuse.

You see, in 25 states, clergy are required by law to report suspicions of child abuse or reporting of abuse given by a child; several other states have mandatory reporting requirements by anyone who suspects a child is being abused.  Illinois is one of the states in question that does require clergy to report child abuse.

Sadly, this is not what happened:

Elgin police said Thursday they believe the girl's original allegations are true. On Wednesday they charged Daryl Bujak, 30, pastor of First Missionary Baptist Church, with misdemeanor battery. He was released after posting $500 bail. He has a June 16 court appearance in the Elgin branch of Kane County Circuit Court, said police Lt. Mike Turner.

"It's unbelievable," he said. "It's a sad case for this girl."
. . .

Bujak's church, at 385 Silver St. in Elgin, describes itself as a fundamentalist and independent Baptist congregation.

Elgin police said the girl's parents took her to the church after she alleged she was being sexually abused.

Bujak told the parents that she was lying and privately disciplined the girl on Wednesday evenings between March and May of 2005. The girl, now 13, was struck with a 3-foot strip of wood molding, causing welts and bruises on her legs and buttocks, according to police and the girl's mother.

"He took her in the ladies room, across from his office," the mother said in an interview Thursday. "I was downstairs in the Fellowship Hall." Afterward, the mother said, "Her face was red, and I could see that she'd been crying."


Now, doing a bit of searching on Google, I was able to find that the church in question has a website, and apparently not only do they buy airtime on national cable channels (including adverts on ESPN and CNN), but to say they are fundamentalist is quite possibly an understatement.

Among other clear "red flag warnings", the church is apparently King James Only (typically a position only held among dominionist "independent Baptist" and pentecostal churches), are quite explicitly premillenial-dispensationalist (and the statements also seem to indicate they are heavy into "spiritual warfare" theology), have (in their "King James Only" promotion) used explicit codewords which may indicate they are Christian Reconstructionists, and in fact has a lecture series on their website that promotes "Landmarkian" Baptist theology--that is, the idea that they are the only truly saved and the only church that has "gotten it right" in nearly 2000 years of Christendom (the same general theology is held by most pentecostal sects, and in the Assemblies and neopente sects is used as justification for sheep-stealing and infiltration of mainstream Christian churches for purposes of "conversion from within").  The church itself seems to also run a small denomination in and of itself of multiple missionary churches worldwide.

Many of these churches are the same sorts that promote the use of religiously motivated child abuse, particularly "chastening rods", against youth seen as "willful" or "rebellious".  Sadly, the girl reporting she was being raped was seen as one of these "rebellious" kids and "given the rod":

When the daughter raised the allegations in March 2005, the mother was uncertain what to do. She turned for guidance to Bujak, who by then had been the family's pastor for about a year.

Bujak talked to the girl alone for two hours, according to the mother. "He said she recanted," the mother said. "He said, `I know these types of girls. She has a rebellious streak.'"

The mother said she would arrive at the Elgin church more than an hour before 7 p.m. services on Wednesday evenings and discuss the girl's behavior with Bujak.

He'd bring out the stick if he decided discipline was necessary, the mother said.

"It was a long stick," she said. "He had it up on his bookshelf. I never watched."

The mother said she was unaware of Bujak disciplining other youths that way. She estimated about 30 people regularly attend services.

It wasn't until a heart-to-heart talk in October that she realized the girl was telling the truth about sexual abuse, she said.


All too often, parents are told not to trust kids--that children are manipulative, that they lie and scheme to get what they want, and all they need is "discipline" and to have their wills broken.  Even Focus on the Family's founder, whose advise is almost liberal compared to the sorts of things promoted by the Pearls, Tedd Tripp, Roy Lessin et al, has promoted the idea of "tyrant children" being manipulative.

Needless to say, this sort of thing can literally destroy the ability of kids to trust.  I myself have been in therapy for basically being unable to trust and being anxious, a very common symptom of complex post-traumatic stress disorder.  (Complex PTSD is a common consequence of longterm abuse, including longterm child abuse and spiritual abuse.  Many walkaways, like myself, have it from both the original spiritual abuse and religiously motivated child abuse.)  Other experts, and even the poor girl's own mother, have expressed this concern too:

Allegations that the child was disciplined by the pastor after trying to tell her mother about abuse shocked child-welfare advocates.

"The girl probably thinks that if she is being harmed there is no one she can go to and tell safely," said Cook County Public Guardian Robert Harris, whose office deals with child-abuse victims.

"When a kid gets up the courage after being sexually abused to tell a parent, that means that it is a cry for help," Harris said. "They won't say help anymore if they are taught that when you say help you might get punished, you might get beaten for it."

Ronald Davidson, a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Chicago's department of psychiatry, said if the charges are true, the girl was "betrayed three times"--by the adult who abused her, her mother and then the pastor.

"My sense is it will be hard for this child to easily trust another adult for some time," Davidson said.
. . .

The mother, who home-schools the girl, said her daughter is in private counseling and no longer attends the Elgin church. "We're just working on trying to rebuild our relationship," the mother said. "Because our relationship was built on lies and deception."


Ironically, had the child not been in a correspondence-school "homeschool" the abuse might have been caught earlier; schoolteachers, too, are mandatory reporters.  

On a distinctly more disturbing note, and in direct relation to religiously motivated child abuse, dominionist parents are increasingly encouraged to "homeschool" (aka correspondence-school their kids at home) to hide signs of religiously motivated child abuse, and are even expressly coached on how to avoid investigation by child welfare authorities.  

Also, parents are increasingly encouraged to send their kids to doctors and "Christian counselors" belonging to dominionist-run medical and "counseling" organisations--and, again, one of the big selling points is so that a concerned pediatrician or psychiatrist will not report abusive childrearing tactics.

Sadly, this girl's case is probably not isolated.  And, sadly, most kids in such a situation will have their ability to trust that anyone will help them shattered, possibly irrevocably.  (Yes, there's a reason that a lot of us walkaways end up in therapy.  Having abuse aided and abbetted, or met with even more abuse, by pastors and other folks you trust to get you out of a bad situation is a biggie.)




Display:
I just emailed Pastor Bujak and told him that his beating of a child had made me decide to come to Jesus. I'm sure that's what Jesus meant when he said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me."

Praise the Lord and pass the two-by-four!


by Mary Alice on Fri Jun 02, 2006 at 06:25:50 PM EST


Here are the many web users our site for find the best suggestion for get the bank payday loan of pros this is the very need to set up the your business easily so you repayment the low cost monthly.

by Thanos on Sun Sep 09, 2018 at 12:22:32 PM EST

nice work..click here

by zaiyamariya on Tue Nov 19, 2019 at 11:46:17 PM EST

This is one of the most common issues we are facing today. In my opinion, This is due to the violation of law which is to punished. best digital marketing company in india  I am sure that most of the children are suffering to overcome the situation.

by zaiyamariya on Wed Nov 20, 2019 at 06:29:45 AM EST


WWW Talk To Action


Cognitive Dissonance & Dominionism Denial
There is new research on why people are averse to hearing or learning about the views of ideological opponents. Based on evaluation of five......
By Frederick Clarkson (375 comments)
Will the Air Force Do Anything To Rein In Its Dynamic Duo of Gay-Bashing, Misogynistic Bloggers?
"I always get nervous when I see female pastors/chaplains. Here is why everyone should as well: "First, women are not called to be pastors,......
By Chris Rodda (203 comments)
The Legacy of Big Oil
The media is ablaze with the upcoming publication of David Grann's book, Killers of the Flower Moon. The shocking non fiction account of the......
By wilkyjr (111 comments)
Gimme That Old Time Dominionism Denial
Over the years, I have written a great deal here and in other venues about the explicitly theocratic movement called dominionism -- which has......
By Frederick Clarkson (101 comments)
History Advisor to Members of Congress Completely Twists Jefferson's Words to Support Muslim Ban
Pseudo-historian David Barton, best known for his misquoting of our country's founders to promote the notion that America was founded as a Christian nation,......
By Chris Rodda (113 comments)
"Christian Fighter Pilot" Calls First Lesbian Air Force Academy Commandant a Liar
In a new post on his "Christian Fighter Pilot" blog titled "BGen Kristin Goodwin and the USAFA Honor Code," Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan......
By Chris Rodda (144 comments)
Catholic Right Leader Unapologetic about Call for 'Death to Liberal Professors' -- UPDATED
Today, Donald Trump appointed C-FAM Executive Vice President Lisa Correnti to the US Delegation To UN Commission On Status Of Women. (C-FAM is a......
By Frederick Clarkson (126 comments)
Controlling Information
     Yesterday I listened to Russ Limbaugh.  Rush advised listeners it would be best that they not listen to CNN,MSNBC, ABC, CBS and......
By wilkyjr (118 comments)
Is Bannon Fifth-Columning the Pope?
In December 2016 I wrote about how White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who likes to flash his Catholic credentials when it comes to......
By Frank Cocozzelli (251 comments)
Ross Douthat's Hackery on the Seemingly Incongruous Alliance of Bannon & Burke
Conservative Catholic writer Ross Douthat has dissembled again. This time, in a February 15, 2017 New York Times op-ed titled The Trump Era's Catholic......
By Frank Cocozzelli (65 comments)
`So-Called Patriots' Attack The Rule Of Law
Every so often, right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan lurches out of the far-right fever swamp where he has resided for the past 50 years to......
By Rob Boston (161 comments)
Bad Faith from Focus on the Family
Here is one from the archives, Feb 12, 2011, that serves as a reminder of how deeply disingenuous people can be. Appeals to seek......
By Frederick Clarkson (177 comments)
The Legacy of George Wallace
"One need not accept any of those views to agree that they had appealed to real concerns of real people, not to mindless, unreasoning......
By wilkyjr (70 comments)
Betsy DeVos's Mudsill View of Public Education
My Talk to Action colleague Rachel Tabachnick has been doing yeoman's work in explaining Betsy DeVos's long-term strategy for decimating universal public education. If......
By Frank Cocozzelli (80 comments)
Prince and DeVos Families at Intersection of Radical Free Market Privatizers and Religious Right
This post from 2011 surfaces important information about President-Elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. -- FC Erik Prince, Brother of Betsy......
By Rachel Tabachnick (218 comments)

Respect for Others? or Political Correctness?
The term "political correctness" as used by Conservatives and Republicans has often puzzled me: what exactly do they mean by it? After reading Chip Berlin's piece here-- http://www.talk2action.org/story/2016/7/21/04356/9417 I thought about what he explained......
MTOLincoln (253 comments)
Fear
What I'm feeling now is fear.  I swear that it seems my nightmares are coming true with this new "president".  I'm also frustrated because so many people are not connecting all the dots! I've......
ArchaeoBob (109 comments)
"America - love it or LEAVE!"
I've been hearing that and similar sentiments fairly frequently in the last few days - far FAR more often than ever before.  Hearing about "consequences for burning the flag (actions) from Trump is chilling!......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)
"Faked!" Meme
Keep your eyes and ears open for a possible move to try to discredit the people openly opposing Trump and the bigots, especially people who have experienced terrorism from the "Right"  (Christian Terrorism is......
ArchaeoBob (165 comments)
More aggressive proselytizing
My wife told me today of an experience she had this last week, where she was proselytized by a McDonald's employee while in the store. ......
ArchaeoBob (164 comments)
See if you recognize names on this list
This comes from the local newspaper, which was conservative before and took a hard right turn after it was sold. Hint: Sarah Palin's name is on it!  (It's also connected to Trump.) ......
ArchaeoBob (169 comments)
Unions: A Labor Day Discussion
This is a revision of an article which I posted on my personal board and also on Dailykos. I had an interesting discussion on a discussion board concerning Unions. I tried to piece it......
Xulon (180 comments)
Extremely obnoxious protesters at WitchsFest NYC: connected to NAR?
In July of this year, some extremely loud, obnoxious Christian-identified protesters showed up at WitchsFest, an annual Pagan street fair here in NYC.  Here's an account of the protest by Pagan writer Heather Greene......
Diane Vera (130 comments)
Capitalism and the Attack on the Imago Dei
I joined this site today, having been linked here by Crooksandliars' Blog Roundup. I thought I'd put up something I put up previously on my Wordpress blog and also at the DailyKos. As will......
Xulon (331 comments)
History of attitudes towards poverty and the churches.
Jesus is said to have stated that "The Poor will always be with you" and some Christians have used that to refuse to try to help the poor, because "they will always be with......
ArchaeoBob (149 comments)
Alternate economy medical treatment
Dogemperor wrote several times about the alternate economy structure that dominionists have built.  Well, it's actually made the news.  Pretty good article, although it doesn't get into how bad people could be (have been)......
ArchaeoBob (90 comments)
Evidence violence is more common than believed
Think I've been making things up about experiencing Christian Terrorism or exaggerating, or that it was an isolated incident?  I suggest you read this article (linked below in body), which is about our great......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)

More Diaries...




All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments, posts, stories, and all other content are owned by the authors. Everything else © 2005 Talk to Action, LLC.