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<H5 style="PADDING-TOP: 5px" class=details>September 10, 2009 in
Nation/World</H5></DIV>
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<H2>Sexual advances by clergy not rare</H2>
<H5 class=subhead>One in 33 women is target, survey finds</H5>
<DIV class="details nested grid-8"><SPAN>Jacqueline L. Salmon / Washington Post
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<P>WASHINGTON – One in every 33 women who attends worship services regularly has
been the target of sexual advances by a religious leader, according to a survey
released Wednesday.</P>
<P>The study by researchers at Baylor University found that the problem is so
pervasive that it almost certainly involves a wide range of denominations and
religious traditions and a wide range of spiritual leaders.</P>
<P>“Clearly the problem is more than simply a few charismatic leaders preying on
vulnerable followers,” said Diana Garland, dean of the School of Social Work at
Baylor, co-author of the study.</P>
<P>A growing number of denominations have become aware of the problem,
particularly since the Catholic Church’s sex scandal involving its clergy. At
least 36 denominations now have official policies that identify sexual relations
between adult congregants and clergy as misconduct, subject
to discipline.</P>
<P>In Minnesota and Texas, it’s also illegal. The Texas law, for example,
defines clergy sexual behavior as nonconsensual sexual assault if the religious
leader “causes the other person to submit or participate by exploiting the other
person’s emotional dependency on the clergyman in the clergyman’s professional
character as spiritual adviser.”</P>
<P>Baylor used the 2008 General Social Survey, a nationally representative
sample of 3,559 respondents, to estimate the prevalence of clergy sexual
misconduct. Women older than 18 who attended worship services at least once a
month were asked whether they had ever received “sexual advances or
propositions” from a religious leader.</P>
<P>Said Garland: “When you put (misconduct) with a spiritual leader or moral
leader, you’ve really added a power that we typically don’t think about in
secular society – which is that this person speaks for God and interprets God
for people. And that really adds a power.”
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<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Note: Baylor is a Baptist
university.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>