Megachurch Let Volunteer Work With Kids Despite His Attraction to Minors

Mark, here's yet another story of christian hypocrisy for your edification.

friendlyatheist.patheos.com

In short, Pastor John Ortberg [...] of Menlo Church in California allowed a volunteer who admitted an “attraction to minors” to work with children. The volunteer wasn’t just around kids, mind you; he traveled with children during overnight trips. Some of the volunteering opportunities were unsupervised.

There’s no indication of any criminal activity. The bigger problem was that Ortberg knew about the volunteer’s problem… yet still permitted him to be around kids. Ortberg later apologized and took a leave of absence.

Making matters even more complicated, Daniel Lavery, the whistleblower in question and Ortberg’s estranged son, said his warnings were dismissed “in part because both Lavery and his wife are transgender.”

Lavery actually wrote about how, after he informed Ortberg about the problem, he was told…

… (1) that pedophilia was like homosexuality; (2) that the most important thing was maintaining secrecy around this affair; (3) that we lacked standing to offer an alternative form of treatment for sexual obsessions with children because of our transitions.

Lavery’s warnings were legitimate. Ortberg’s inaction was undeniably disturbing.