Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Ministry to sex offenders

I was stunned to see this story:
here or here: a pastor tried to set up a ministry to sex offenders with a shelter for them. The state said no.

I gather he strongly believes in ministering to the rejected, and in the healing power of God. Yes, but… Maybe I’m missing something, but this doesn’t seem to be in line with the injunction to be “as wise as serpents.” I didn’t see anything in these stories (or a third story I can’t find the link to) that suggested that he had collared experienced people to guide his planning.

I have no experience in this field, but my “prior” in predicting the results is that people with problems this deep will reinforce each other—and probably cover for each other. (The reports mention some abusers—I don’t think this is talking about guys nailed with “sex offender” for public urination.)

There were no reports of problems over several years, which is good. I hope.

Is this as crazy as I think it is?

2 comments:

Texan99 said...

The original meaning of "insane asylum" was a place people could go who couldn't control themselves enough for protection against the predictable retaliation of their neighbors. Quickly, though, such a place becomes a simpler matter of protecting the neighbors from the crazy people.

There's a science fiction story by Ursula LeGuin ("The Dispossessed") about a planet colonized by anarchists. They don't have prisons (or even laws, for the most part), but they do have places for people to go who have outraged their neighbors to the point of making life unsafe for themselves. The story scrupulously avoids thinking about what happens when you encourage a congregation of that sort. Great yarn, though.

james said...

I'd forgotten that detail from the story. A good yarn, yes, but I remember putting it down at the end and thinking "nope, can't work like that." I liked Earthsea better.