First Unitarian Portland And UUA Child Sex Abuse Cover-Up And Denial - What's The Connection?
How about this comment that I posted in response to this First Unitarian Portland U*UTube video?
Robin Edgar
"Few UU ministers have been accused of sexual misconduct, but enough have to make righteousness impossible to claim. One UU minister was convicted of child sexual abuse just a few years ago. Only one, but still. . ."
Former UUA President Rev. Bill Sinkford
Source: 'The Place Where We Are Right' February 28, 2019
This is a classic example of a prominent Unitarian Universalist minister minimizing the the number of UUA ministers who have been accused of clergy sexual misconduct to "few" when he is well positioned to know that a minimum of 400 UUA congregations have been affected by clergy sexual misconduct of one kind or another. In fact, if we go back to the formation of the UUA in the early 1960s, and apply today's standards of what constitutes clergy sexual misconduct, it is probable that most if not all UUA congregations have had at least one case of clergy sexual misconduct.
Rev. Bill Sinkford is being "less than honest", indeed quite disingenuous. . . about Unitarian Universalist ministers who have been convicted of child sex abuse. A free and responsible search for the truth and meaning (or dearth thereof. . .) of Rev. Sinkford's assertion that only one Unitarian Universalist minister was convicted of child sex abuse "just a few years ago'" will find that, while it is true that Rev. Ronald Eugene Robinson pleaded guilty to child pornography charges that he was arrested on in 2017, other Unitarian Universalist ministers, including the notorious Rev. Mack Wallace Mitchell, Rev. William Alexander "Sandy" McEachern, and Rev. John Harold Hawkins were removed from fellowship in the UUA's aptly named Ministerial Fellowship Committee after being convicted of sex crimes involving minors. It is inconceivable that former UUA President Rev. William G. Sinkford was blissfully unaware of the Rev. Mack Mitchell case in February 2019. In fact, he has probably known about it for decades.
Sadly, Rev. Bill Sinkford is by no means the only prominent Unitarian Universalist minister who has minimized UU clergy sexual misconduct that includes "such despicable crimes as pedophilia and rape", but it's outrageous that Rev. William G. Sinkford thinks he can get away with publishing such misinformation and lies in 2019.
Did I forget to mention that Rev. Bill Sinkford was credibly accused of clergy sexual misconduct himself for an extra-marital affair he had with another married Unitarian Universalist minister before he was elected President of the UUA? Like many if not most clergy sexual misconduct complaints it was swept under the proverbial rug by the UUA. If you have any questions about that, ask Rev. Deborah Pope-Lance.
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