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Troublesh00ter's avatar

The very fact that ANY church would have to carry sexual liability insurance is phenomenally telling of the current state of evangelical Christianity and the predilection for church leaders to be caught in such compromising situations. I will admit, this is the first I've heard of the need for such insurance, and I would wonder whether it is required in the US as it apparently is in Canada. In any case, it is one more indicator of the devolution of decency of such churches and the tagging of such preachers as Bruxy Cavey as sexual predators, presuming that hasn't already been done.

It is the very least to be done.

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Sko Hayes's avatar

Right? Who knew there was such a thing as liability for sexual abuse insurance??

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cdbunch's avatar

And *WHY* is there such a thing? I didn't think it was possible to get insurance for illegal acts.

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ericc's avatar

The insurance is so that a victim gets compensation even if the criminal is poor or the organization decides they'd rather go bankrupt than pay anything.

Same logic as to why most places require car insurance which covers damage to 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑢𝑦. Not the policy holder's car or health.

"You probably think this insurance is about you." :)

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RegularJoe's avatar

Such liability insurance covers the organization from actions by staff/volunteers/etc.

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Sko Hayes's avatar

And why don't American churches have to have it (or do they?)?

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EllenThatEllen's avatar

In all the Catholic churches that I have been too as a parishioner I have never heard of this sexual abuse insurance even when I had to go through training to be a lector. It's all about everybody policing each other and nobody still giving a flying f.

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ericc's avatar

The RCC has tons of money. That usually allows an organization to meet legal insurance requirements via self-insuring. Whether self-insurance is a good strategy or not (both on the government's part, and on the policy holder's part) is entirely another matter.

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cdbunch's avatar

It's not working. The individual Diocese are declaring bankruptcy and the Vatican isn't paying out when that happens.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Maybe not the rcc, since they file for bankruptcy every time they lose in court for rape and abuse.

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AlbertCamus's avatar

the pedophile priest policies (ppp)

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Sko Hayes's avatar

They have enough money they don't need insurance.

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cdbunch's avatar

The *Vatican* has enough money. The shell corporations are always broke.

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Vanity Unfair's avatar

I was surprised to see my local church had a lightning conductor and fire extinguishers, but I was younger then.

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ericc's avatar

Well, you kinda contradicted yourself there. It doesn't tell you anything about any individual Canadian church if all Canadian churches are required by law to have it. I mean, most of us are required by law to have fire and auto insurance. Does that mean you or I are pyromaniacs who barrel down the road trying to hit pedestrians?

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CozmoTheMagician's avatar

Those stories of my cab driving days are purely fictional and intended only to amuse. O_o

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Munchygut's avatar

Out of curiosity, I looked up Leviticus 19:28 which Bruxy Cavey has tattooed on his arm:

"You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord."

Wait, what?

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Sko Hayes's avatar

Leviticus only counts if it's against the same people you hate.

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Stacey's avatar

He's trying to show how edgy he is. The Bible says no tattoos? Watch this!

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Tinker's avatar

Let's keep in mind that "abuse insurance" does not stop abuse. It merely pays out on lawsuits. I know this is obvious but it's telling to me that this church is so afraid of future lawsuits that it can't operate without this insurance.

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Gout Machine's avatar

Hey, it’s the cost of doing business…

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cdbunch's avatar

You can get abuse liability insurance? That's fucking insane. And not in a good way.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

"Money has no smell."

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ericc's avatar

Never heard of it before this, but in hindsight I'd guess it's quite common and I'm now betting most school districts and large corporations have it. Who knows, it may even be required by law in some cases.

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Joe King's avatar

𝐶𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑜𝑜𝑛 𝑔𝑜 𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑠. (𝐻𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒.)

𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑒.

I guess the "Christian" insurers want the abuse policy to require the Public Apology to the Ceiling to happen 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 conviction, not 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳.

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Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz's avatar

"Now things have hit rock bottom."

And out come the excavators.

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RegularJoe's avatar

Let the drilling and blasting commence.

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Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz's avatar

Consult the Book of Armaments

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Chapter 2, Verses 9 to 21.

Make very sure to get the counting right on the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.

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Bagen Onuts's avatar

US Army gave me lots of explosives to play with, Vietnam era. Dynamite, C4, helicopters, machine guns, APCs, night scopes, rappelling.

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RegularJoe's avatar

Yep....I was Desert Storm, same shit, different climate. Welcome Home.

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Jane in NC's avatar

Meeting House Church: "But, but we've made POSITIVE changes. Positive ones!"

Insurers: "Past behavior is the best indicator of future performance. Coverage denied!"

Also, Hemant is absolutely right, this place doesn't deserve an iota of credit. They're not willing to operate without abuse liability insurance because that would put them directly on the hook for damages. This isn't them being responsible; it's them covering their asses.

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xenubarb's avatar

"Positive changes" that make it harder to file complaints.

No complaints, no abuse!

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Jane in NC's avatar

Presto! It's like magic.

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Trevor's avatar

Old Testament quoters, especially of Leviticus, really piss me off.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Especially when Christians claim "The Old Law' doesn't apply to them anymore.

If that's so then stop trying to use it to persecute LGBTQs.

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Joe King's avatar

"But Romans 1:26-27 condemns teh gayz!" Nope, Paul of Tarsus didn't want ANYONE fucking.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

One can wonder if someone couldn't get it up and was jealous.

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Bagen Onuts's avatar

gawd toold kkkatliks one wife and alcohol is good, then told muslims 4 wives and NO alcohol. WTF?

It also told kkkatliks wine and dancing are good, then told baptists they are evil. WTF?

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Lynn Veit's avatar

If I, the Great Apostle Paul can't get any, NOBODY CAN!

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

Micro pee pee.

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Trevor's avatar

Romans 1:26-27

New International Version

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.

27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Paul apparently had an issue with same sex relationships. But I imagine the idea is that they received "due penalty" from God, not mere mortals.

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Bagen Onuts's avatar

Paul had a problem with ALL sex. To him, marriage was a last resort for those who could not control their lusts. Celibacy and even self-castration were best for xtians. Self-castration reached epidemic levels, driving the church to deny "mutilated genitals" entrance to heaven.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

I remember being high school and hearing in detail about Paul's screed against even marriage, unless it was as a last resort. Apparently being in love with someone and wanting a family was counter with God's will for concentrating all one's energy on spreading the word. Human relationships did not mix well with fanatical zealotry, I guess. I remember thinking at the time that "well that's all well and good, but after a while, there won't be anyone left to carry the torch."

It was one of so many things I wanted to ask questions about, but I learned way back in elementary school that questions were not encouraged by most Sunday School teachers.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

I'm assuming FGM is granted an exception.

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Daniel Rotter's avatar

I've never understood exactly what "God gave them over to" means. Is that pretentious Bible-speak for "God gave them free will?"

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Trevor's avatar

I would say so. The Church says that God is omnipotent, sees all, knows all, and knows what you're going to do before you know. But their "get out of jail free" card is that man has free will. So when man sins, it's his fault/choice./weakness/whatever. Thus the "God gave them over to" excuse, and God is off the hook.

Why didn't God put a stop to it? Or strike them down?

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Bagen Onuts's avatar

God, the ultimate know-it-all knew I would be gay and have sex with men. It knew I would end up in hell for eternity because it claims I sinned. Well, goddyboy, your evil means nothing to me until you produce a duly notarized contract signed by both of us, witnesed by 3 angelos and 3 demons and properly notarize. NOW GO FUCK THINE EVIL ASS using an Ebola infected Saguaro cactus at least 100 years old.

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

Philosophically, someone knowing what you are going to do ahead of time – is that actually compatible with free will? Funny, I studied this in a philosophy class about 55 years ago and I can't remember a thing about it.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

It's roughly translated to mean completely abandoning the "unrighteous."

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Bagen Onuts's avatar

God has already abandoned the 2/3 of mankind who do not buy into it. If you consider half of kkkristers don't make it, 80% of mankind fails and ends up in hell.

Seen in "God by the numbers" IIRC.

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Daniel Rotter's avatar

Well, I've definitely heard more compelling Christian apologetics than "God abandons certain people."

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Maltnothops's avatar

I’ve often wondered if the verse about women referred to anal sex, oral sex, homosexual sex or any combo of those three. Paul was rather vague.

ETA: I left off a few. Orgies, hand jobs, tit jobs…. Going to Pornhub to do some research.

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Trevor's avatar

Yep. It's all context-less cherry picking hypocrisy. "Judge not lest ye be judged." " Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" etc etc etc.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

If the OT is narrowed down to just teh gayz, then xtians lose their origin story (both of them) and the Ten Commandments.

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Bagen Onuts's avatar

ASK ME if I give an aeronautical intercourse in a rolling perforated pastry.

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Whitney's avatar

Schrodinger's Testament.

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rc4797's avatar

Glad Day Bookshop in Toronto is the oldest queer bookstore in the world and hosts Canada's longest-running drag brunch. I bet they're insured.

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Bagen Onuts's avatar

I'll GLADLY accept the 10 commandments in schools, the MOMENT they mandate teaching evolution in church.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

"Feed me, Seymour!"

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EllenThatEllen's avatar

Good for the insurers saying enough is enough. And still it's all about working with those insurers than any kind of apology for wrong doing for the abuse. The parishioners still there are permitting the abuse and giving the victims the finger. Just another day in the life of a church fallen from grace.

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Joe King's avatar

It makes me worry about how many parishioners aren't just permitting the abuse and are hoping to move up in the ranks so they can help perpetrate the abuse.

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EllenThatEllen's avatar

In any church the higher up you are the more protection you have. In the last church I went to a very rich older male parishioner laid his hands on a choir boy and all the rich entitled parishioner had to do was redecorate the church. Cost him millions but he had it. And then was allowed to work with the choir boys again. The Pastor knew and he's still the Pastor there. Rich and male in the Catholic Church and you can do anything and get away with it.

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Matri's avatar

And your statement isn’t even hyperbole.

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EllenThatEllen's avatar

Nope no extravagant exagerations. Just what goes on in most Catholic churches these days.

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ericc's avatar

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑎𝑠—𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠—𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚.

Indeed. Or at least the leadership. It should be pretty trivial to come up with a policy that insurers will back. Hire an appropriate legal counsel that has experience fashioning working policies for schools and businesses, and create rules following that person's advice.

The fact that the church leadership is unwilling to do this says a lot. None of it positive. At the very least, it probably means that abuse wasn't limited to the guy who's been caught, but that there are people still in the church leadership who consider an effective policy to be a threat to them.

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Runfastandwin's avatar

My guess is there's hundreds of victims stretching back decades.

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oraxx's avatar

I never knew their was such a thing as abuse insurance, but hallelujah! I hope this church never reopens, and some people go to jail. People who leave churches often realize they never needed church in the first place. I think it is a bad idea, generally, to delegate one's thinking to other people, and especially not to someone who claims to speak for a supernatural deity. Humans are natural born herd animals, and it's one of the things that keeps churches in business. There are better ways to have social interaction and people need to seek them out.

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Maltnothops's avatar

I just noticed that the alleged perp’s Leviticus tattoo has a cross where the t should (yes, yes, a cross is a t but this t is a Cross). Which is an anachronism. No one would have had a reason when Leviticus was being written down to think about crosses.

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