German Protestant Churches Investigate Abuse Claims

By Stephen Brown
Religion News Service

GENEVA (RNS/ENInews) In the wake of sexual abuse allegations in Germany's Catholic Church, two regional Protestant churches say they are investigating abuse allegations filed against pastors or church workers.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover reported five new cases of the sexual abuse of minors dating back several decades, the German Protestant news agency EPD reported on May 19.

"We want to deal with this as openly and as transparently as possible," acting Hanover Bishop Hans-Hermann Jantzen said, according to ENInews. "Any case is one too many."

The North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church said it is investigating allegations of sexual abuse by a pastor, who is now retired. The man is alleged to have sexually abused several young people in a congregation in Ahrensburg.

The allegations come during a scandal of sexual abuse by clergy that has hit the Catholic Church in Germany. A recent ecumenical church convention in Munich heard calls for reform and greater transparency in the Catholic Church to deal with what has been called a crisis of confidence.

Protestant leaders, however, have acknowledged their churches are also caught up in the scandal.

"The credibility that we as churches owe other people, and which is rightly expected of us, has for the time being evaporated," Protestant Bishop Martin Hein of Kassel told the conference. "What was done to people within the Church is gradually coming to light. Gradually, often after decades, the curtain behind which everything was hidden is being pulled away."

With almost 3 million members, the Hanover church is the largest regional Protestant church in Germany. The North Elbian church has about 2 million members. Germany's Catholics and Protestants each make up about 30 percent of the country's population of 82 million.

Comments

[JaCar]

12:28 AM on 05/26/2010

What was God doing during all this abuse in his houses of worship? How many "believers" go on about how blessed they are? They give thanks for blessings God supposedly has showered on them. Kids do well in school? "We're blessed." Great weather on our vacation? "We were soooo blessed?". Whatever it is that goes well, they're fre aking blessed.

Now I've heard people of religion argue that in the molested childrens' cases, it's a matter of the perpetrator's freewill and therefore God is not responsible. Huh?! In God's own house, his own servants abuse innocent children and he shouldn't share the blame, yet he should be thanked and praised for supposedly allowing other believers to win the World Cup, SuperBowl or provide good weather on a vacation?! Maybe God needs to get his priorities a little straight and save just a few of the "blessings" he's showered on others to prevent these perversions! A little less mystery and a little more morality from God would be appreciated.”

[MNKen]

01:49 PM on 05/26/2010

Excellent points. Thank you for pointing out one of the oxymoronic positions of religion.

[Yeshua the myth]

09:02 PM on 05/25/2010

Let me save your investigation some time. Guilty.

[Grada3784]

09:22 AM on 05/25/2010

The floodgates are opening.

Abuse will do more to damage churches than all the Middle Ages religious wars put together.