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Bob Jones University Shut Down Sex Abuse Complaints For Decades To Save Jesus

Sexually assaulted at Bob Jones University? Don't ask, don't tell...because Jesus wouldn't want it.

If you listen to the religious right as much as I do then you know that they feel like all people not conforming to their religious beliefs are heathens who will burn in hell because they are so pure, righteous and right with Jesus and God. But once you start peeling back the layers just a tiny bit, you'd be shocked what you would discover.

This is a real horror show: Christian School Faulted for Halting Abuse Study

For decades, students at Bob Jones University who sought counseling for sexual abuse were told not to report it because turning in an abuser from a fundamentalist Christian community would damage Jesus Christ. Administrators called victims liars and sinners.

All of this happened until recently inside the confines of this insular university, according to former students and staff members who said they had high hopes that the Bob Jones brand of counseling would be exposed and reformed after the university hired a Christian consulting group in 2012 to investigate its handling of sexual assaults, many of which occurred long before the students arrived at the university.

So for decades the students were subjected to horrific circumstances and were told to shut up or you'll damage the good name of Jesus. Jesus had nothing to do with their sex abuse!!! I understand good Catholic guilt, but this is something very different.

It appears that Christian schools are no better at handling sex abuse scandals than the Catholic church, even if they didn't happen on campus. Here's what Billy Graham's grandson said about evangelicals.

The Christian mission field is a “magnet” for sexual abusers, Boz Tchividjian, a Liberty University law professor who investigates abuse said Thursday (Sept. 26) to a room of journalists.

While comparing evangelicals to Catholics on abuse response, ”I think we are worse,” he said at the Religion Newswriters Association conference, saying too many evangelicals had “sacrificed the souls” of young victims.

“Protestants can be very arrogant when pointing to Catholics,” said Tchividjian, a grandson of evangelist Billy Graham and executive director of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), which has investigated sex abuse allegations. Earlier this summer, GRACE spearheaded an online petition decrying the “silence” and “inattention” of evangelical leaders to sexual abuse in their churches.

That was back in October of 2013 and Tchividjian praised Bob Jones University at that time for hiring GRACE to investigate:

Still, he says, he sees some positive movements among some Protestants. Bob Jones University has hired GRACE to investigate abuse allegations, a move that encourages Tchividjian, a former Florida prosecutor. ”That’s like the mothership of fundamentalism,” he said. His grandfather split with Bob Jones in a fundamentalist and evangelical division.

That was before Bob Jones University fired GRACE.

Last week, Bob Jones dealt a blow to those hopes, acknowledging that with the investigation more than a year old and nearing completion, the university had fired the consulting group, Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, or Grace, without warning or explanation. The dismissal has drawn intense criticism from some people with ties to Bob Jones, and prompted some victims and their allies — including many who were interviewed by Grace investigators — to tell their stories publicly for the first time, attracting more attention than ever to the university’s methods.

And listen to the reason BJU gave for the firing:

On Friday, Stephen Jones, president of the university and great-grandson of its founder,addressed students and employees, saying, “We grew concerned that in the process, Grace had begun going beyond the originally outlined intentions,” but he would not elaborate. He said the university had not told Grace what its concerns were and wanted to discuss them with the consultant but could do so only face to face and felt compelled to fire the firm first.

Riiiight. That's some real bulls&t right there. And if you were to ask what type of religious denomination is BJU, the answer would be this:

Bob Jones is no ordinary university. Unaffiliated with any denomination, it is a leading force in promoting a kind of fundamentalism so strict that the university’s founders assailed evangelists like Mr. Graham, Oral Roberts and Jerry Falwell as too accommodating to the larger world.

On the campus here, students are forbidden to listen to popular music or watch television or movies; the student handbook tells them to avoid clothing brands that “glorify the lustful spirit of our age in their advertising”; they face sharp limits on dating and even leaving campus; and they are told which churches in town — usually run by pastors tied to the university — they may attend. Faculty members and other employees are expected to adhere to the university’s literal interpretation of the Bible and are forbidden to drink alcohol.

Apparently the most important element of being a student in BJU is making sure they get excellent PR.

You know now I'm starting to understand where the James Taranto's come up with the horrific garbage about sexual assault they write about in their jobs.

Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto is under fire after his latest piece about rape on college campuses.

In a column on Monday entitled "Drunkenness and Double Standards," Taranto suggested the female college students are as guilty as their aggressors if they are sexually assaulted while intoxicated.

"If two drunk drivers are in a collision, one doesn't determine fault on the basis of demographic details such as each driver's sex," Taranto argued. "But when two drunken college students 'collide,' the male one is almost always presumed to be at fault. His diminished capacity owing to alcohol is not a mitigating factor, but her diminished capacity is an aggravating factor for him."He continued:

As the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education notes, at some campuses the accuser's having had one drink is sufficient to establish the defendant's guilt ... In theory that means, as FIRE notes, that "if both parties are intoxicated during sex, they are both technically guilty of sexually assaulting each other." In practice it means that women, but not men, are absolved of responsibility by virtue of having consumed alcohol.

It should be noted that in most states, laws stipulate that someone who is intoxicated cannot legally consent to sex.

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