Why is the Church and Christianity synonymous with child abuse, sexual assaults and sexual misconduct.

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In 2023, 89 cases of sexual harassment and misconduct by a Pastor or senior Church principle were filed in the US alone.

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A controversial report claims that the answer lies with God and Gods pattern to use rape and the plundering of women and children as a way to punish "enemies" and those He deemed as evil in His sight.

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If we are to believe in the words and acts of the Bible, then we must assume that if God told his people the Israelites to rape and plunder women and children, then He is capable of doing it today.

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Read the full article in our January report

Available in January 2025

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Four months ago, an expose landed in my inbox that made me stop what I was doing and call three of my journalist friends

“We’ve found the smoking gun.”

Was all I said.

After the death of Sinead O' Connor which coincided with the release of the fiery documentary "Nothing Compares" something began to stir in the industry.

Statements like "Enough is enough" were being made.

And I was one of the many making them.

The unsettling depiction of O' Connors abusive childhood within a religious setting, struck a chord that many could no longer ignore and left us with united feelings of disgust for the Church.

For years many of us in the journalistic world had been asking the same question;

“Why is child abuse so rife in the Church?

And not just child abuse but the same re-occurring crimes of sexual misconduct, fraud, swindling and religious abuse.

The expose that landed in my inbox appeared to answer the question.

With evidence.

Written by a former Christian, their evidence lay in over 50 audio recordings of private meetings with pastors, church leaders and ministers.

With permission we showed the expose to victims, former church goers and Christians and found to our surprise that over 70% of them agreed and said they had or knew of others with similar experience.

 

What stood out in these personal accounts, became the reason we decided to take a more in-depth look at the accusations, the allegations and criminal convictions against the Church.

So what were the factors that stood out?

The re-occurring commentary from all the victims:

“Church people don’t apologise when they are wrong."

“Church people are hateful when challenged about their behaviour."

“Church people are difficult to deal with."

“Church people never say I am sorry.”

One victim told us:

“Don’t call a Christian out for their misconduct, they’ll pray to God and His Angels to strike you and God does it for them. He's the reason their so entitled and indecent. They think they are above the law – so why will they ever say "we’re sorry?”

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From the evidence we had, it became clear that the Christian denomination do not like to take responsibility for their actions and refuse correction repeatedly. They also seem to conduct themselves as if they are above the law.

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We ask:

Is this Christianity and is it fair?

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We found these Christian "abusers" to be unjust individuals with a victim attitude when they were dealt the very blow they had inflicted.

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We found they used the “we're the persecuted Church” often and continually expressed a helpless pious attitude of  "the devil made me do it."

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What we also found was a disturbing and alarming repeat of irrational responses, intense hate and aggression from Christians to their victims if they tried to seek justice against them.

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We found there was also an abject refusal to acknowledge or even understand that their offensive behaviour and wrongdoing to their victims had made the victims angry. And rightly so.

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We found a disturbing inability in Christians to see that an apology or rectification would stop further action and go a long way to calm the waters.

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In our May news reports, perpetrators of a sexual offence act, Nyarai and Jaimie Garande former pastors at El-Shaddai International Christian Centre, chose to report the victim they wronged to the police for harassment when the victim tried to contact them to ask them to right their wrong.

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We are told that even the attending Police tried to intervene by asking the Garande's to make a gesture of rectification.

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We are told that the Garande's have refused this and to this day continue to follow a vehement rhetoric to bring defamation, lawsuits and court injunctions against the victim to stop them from speaking out against them.

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These people call themselves "born again Holy Spirit filled" Christians.

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In our May news cycle, the individual reporting paediatric Doctor and senior Church consultant Toyin Lythe recalled several incidences where Mrs Lythe, a self proclaimed born again Christian would say "I'm going to pray to God that something bad happens to them so they don't attend." She apparently made this statement again about a family friend she didn't want at her wedding.

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What we found were very volatile, hostile, self- entitled adult "brats" with more hate than love to give.

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We began to ask, what is behind these hate-filled responses if they believe in a loving God?

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And it is this question that led us to the most worrying thought of all:

Are they unloving because their God is unloving?

Are they abusers because their God is the abuser?

Do they act above and against the law, because their God is against the law?

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The True Nature of God?
 

A former Christian who claims they have now renounced God, reports that they sought out Satanists and Freemasons and was "stunned" to find a more loving, kind and generous community.

This person now claims that they are more happier away from Church and Christian people but most importantly they are happier because they are away from God.

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We found that they were not the only ones who held this view. We found that a silent migration from Christianity to other supernatural spiritual practices was quietly being made by Christians who were exploring other options.

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One whistle-blower insisted:

"God is cruel. That's where his people get it from. That was our experience. Eventually you should see the love right?. Its just not there in Christianity."

Another victim of church abuse said this:

"God is a blaggard and a Father of blaggards. Period."

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This seemed to be the general consensus of former Christians coming forward.

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Shockingly many of them also profess that they have come to believe that God enables child abuse and sexual assault. A former Christian also confirmed they left God because they could no longer deny that God was the author of heinous crimes against women.

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If the doctrine of Christ is that "the world hates God":​​

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Then we must ask the question:

Is it because the world is progressive and taking on a firmer stance against inhumane practices, abuse and barbaric behaviour?

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Is it because the world has progressive legal systems in place that condemn the abuse of the vulnerable and enforce rectification for loss and damages?

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But if we are to believe this doctrine, then the world is the evil party that unjustly hates a meek and gentle Saviour.

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Yet we have failed to see meekness and gentleness from those who claim to be His followers.

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Perhaps the world hates God because His Church makes up 60% of child abuse, fraud and sexual misconduct claims and shows no signs of change or remorse.

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What we have witnessed, is that God and his spawn are against this "worlds" fervent practices to do good and protect others.

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If this is the case, then should the world continue to allow Christian pastors and leaders to hold positions of authority over those who are vulnerable?

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If the World has learned anything from #MeToo these are important questions and issues that we must look into.

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Extract taken from 

The Persecuted Church?

by J Knox, E Horner, L Poeler

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The Persecuted Church? 

comes out in December 2024

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The exploratory thesis coming soon 

December 2025

Read our report 

Coming our report coming out in December 2024

We ask if the #MeToo movement needs to hit the Church in more ways than one

The full report comes out in December 2024