Are Your Children Safe at Church?

Most people who attend church with children, naturally assume that their kids are completely safe when left in Sunday School classes, or in the church nursery. As in all situations though, parents cannot just blindly trust people that they do not know with their children simply because they are on church grounds. The fact that someone attends church does not miraculously make them people who are safe to leave your child alone with. Just as there are Pediatricians, teachers, and daycare employees who are dangerous to children, there are undoubtedly individuals sprinkled throughout churches in this country who are also dangerous to children. In case there are still parents who exist who have not yet heard the phrase, "Pedophiles go where children congregate", please consider this fact very seriously now. Pedophiles hang out at places like parks, near schools, playgrounds, public swimming pools, Chuck E. Cheese, Golf'N'Stuff, your local skating rink, video arcades, the toy stores, toy departments, and Disneyland. And of course, church. They enter into professions, vocations, and volunteer opportunities in order to be near children, such as teaching, Boy Scouts, sleepaway camp, and any other place where children gather. And whether you believe it or not, in some churches around the country, pedophiles teach Sunday School.

Of course, we have all heard the news stories of adults now coming forward with their personal accounts of having been sexually abused as children by the priests that their families trusted. However, what many people may not realize, is that the Catholic church is not the only one plagued by this awful trend. And if it isn't bad enough that these predators are making their way into positions of authority and leadership in churches around the country, abusing, or planning to abuse, the children of church members, what's worse is that the offending adult is not always turned out by the church when they are caught.