The world’s largest Pentecostal denomination is the Assemblies of God, with 13,000 churches across the United States and roughly 90 million members globally. And as you’d expect from any large religious organization, they’re experts in covering up leaders who are sexual predators.
In a damning report from NBC News, reporters Mike Hixenbaugh and Elizabeth Chuck found that the rot is everywhere:
NBC News identified nearly 200 Assemblies of God pastors, church employees and volunteer leaders accused of sexual abuse over the past half century, based on a nationwide search of lawsuits, criminal records and news archives. Together, they allegedly abused more than 475 people — the overwhelming majority of them children. The allegations stretch into this year, when a 10-year-old girl said in a lawsuit that her pastor groped her during Bible study.
It’s not like the churches were unaware of these predators. Even when they knew of the allegations, they regularly reinstated them to positions of power. They avoided doing thorough background checks or reporting their own to local law enforcement, fearing it would expose them to legal liability and go against the biblical idea of forgiveness.
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