A Time to Mourn

Recently I was saddened to read accounts in a federal grand jury report of the sex-
ual abuse of eight boys by a former assistant coach of the Penn State football team.
It was especially disturbing to me that there were several witnesses connected to
the university's athletic program who observed various acts of rape and sodomy of
the boys by the assistant coach. Even though a witness did report what he saw to
university authorities, they took no action. The grand jury found that university ath-
letic officials had first-hand and other credible knowledge of the sexual abuse of
boys by the coach, but failed to put a stop to what he was doing. Nor did they re-
port him to the police. Thus Penn State University was found to have been harbor-
ing and enabling a serial child sex abuser for over ten years.

As a result, the former assistant football coach was arrested by the police and
charged with forty counts of sexual abuse involving young boys. Since the ear-
ly 1980s, he had directed and raised funds for a non-profit organization for boys
from troubled families. He had frequently brought boys to the university campus
to use the athletic facilities. The university's board of trustees fired the university's
legendary and beloved head football coach and the university's president for fail-
ure to contact police, even though they were aware of the tragic situation. Two
other university officials were arrested and charged with failure to report the abuse
and for perjury.  The students and staff of Penn State and many people throughout
the USA are stunned by what has been revealed to have taken place on the cam-
pus. It is a time to mourn, especially for the young boys who were abused. Sever-
al of them are now in their mid-20s.

I think of the Roman Catholic Church, both here and abroad, that has been devas-
tated by cases of sexual abuse by clergy. I observe that Christian churches have
been seriously engaging with issues of sexual misconduct, especially the sexual
abuse of children. The consequences of such acts on children are devastating. It
is a serious concern in both the Presbyterian (USA) and the Church of Scotland.
Unfortunately, sexual abuse is at the forefront of issues confronting the Church
in our times, and well it should be. I have read about Christian leaders rightly call-
ing churches to be on guard against sexual abuse taking place in the Church. I
agree with that.

But still I am disturbed. The assistant coach's sexual abuse of boys is sin. Period.
I would contend that based on Scripture, any sexual activity outside the bounds
of the marital relationship between husband and wife is sin. Period. But that is
not why the assistant coach is being charged with the sexual abuse of boys; he
is charged with abuse of power. He is accused of misusing his power as a privi-
leged adult over powerless boys. This abuse of power is wrong; but from my per-
spective, it is much more than that. What he did is sinful. But sin does not enter in-
to the conversation of our society. It is all about power and the abuse of power.

When I was 17, I committed myself to celibate chastity until I married, and then
I would commit myself to marital chastity. It is woven into my identity as a disci-
ple of Christ. When I was 17, there was more support for that position in the
Church and in society. But now there is no social support from society and even
from parts of the Church. The support that used to be there has eroded away.
Casual sex, hooking up, living together, pornography, homosexuality, and gay
marriage are now the accepted norm, or at least on their way to being so. But in
the not-too-recent-past, all of those were shunned and considered sin. All of
this has come about since the Sexual Revolution in the late 1960s. Recently
both the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Church of Scotland (the two
Churches I am involved with) made ordination to ministry more accessible to
practicing gays and lesbians. The PC (USA) even did away with the vow that
ministers be faithful in marriage between a man and a woman and celibate in
singleness. I still uphold that vow, but many of my ministerial colleague are of-
fended by such a vow.

In view of the rapid deterioration of long-held biblical norms of morality, even in
parts of the Christian Church, how long will it be before sexual acts of adult men
with boys are accepted as a normal option by society? How long will it be before
what was once referred to as sexual abuse of boys will merely be referred to as
 pederasty? How long will it be before those of us who see this as sin are called
pederastiphobs and marginalized by society? It must be ten years ago now that I
read about groups demanding civil rights for men who seek the normalizing of
sexual relations with boys. US society still seems solidly against such behavior,
as evidenced by the Penn State situation. But with the rapid decline of biblically-
based morals, what is to prevent our society from regressing back to the times of
the ancient Greeks and Romans and a few contemporary societies in which rela-
tions between men and boys were deemed acceptable by a society? I fear that it is
only a matter of time before anything goes and everyone does what is right in his
or her own eyes.

Blessings to you and yours,