Selective Ignorance And Unitarian Universalist Clergy Sexual Misconduct aka Clergy Sex Abuse - What's The Connection?
How about this post about the selective ignorance of U*Us that I posted somewhere on the internet earlier today?
The "selective ignorance" of Unitarian Universalists, including prominent UUA clergy and top-level UUA leaders, about sexual abuse committed by Unitarian Universalist clergy and UUA Religious Educators etc. is truly astounding. I can provide example after example of not only willful ignorance, but knowing and willful spreading of highly misleading half-truths and even brazen outright lies.
Here is the most recent example of Unitarian Universalist "selective ignorance" about clergy sexual misconduct that includes cases of child sex abuse which came to my attention earlier this year. These are the "less than honest" words of the former senior minister of First Unitarian Portland, and former UUA President, Rev. Bill Sinkford that he posted to the website of First Unitarian Portland in February 2019:
"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…"
I have been reliably informed that hundreds of UU ministers have been accused of sexual misconduct of one kind or another, including Rev. Bill Sinkford himself. . . and he is well positioned to know that more than "only one" UU minister has been convicted of child sexual abuse. In fact, his own UUA administration publicly admitted to two cases of UU ministers who were convicted of egregious child sex abuse in the early 2000s. Did Rev. Bill Sinkford "forget" about those cases that were officially acknowledge by a UUA spokesperson in the Boston Globe?
end quote
Well, well, well. . . as a result of looking for the Boston Globe Spotlight article in which I believed UUA spokesperson John Hurley had acknowledged two cases of child sex abuse committed by UUA clergy I find that he only acknowledged one case.
Only one. . .
The Boston Globe report says:
"The Boston-based Unitarian Universalist Association has had just one minister accused of child sexual abuse over the last 50 years in Massachusetts, and he too was defrocked by the denomination and eventually convicted, according to John Hurley, the denomination's spokesman."
Please note that the Boston Globe Spotlight report specifically says "in Massachusetts". In other words, it limits the geographic area covered by the report to the state of Massachusetts alone. There was another Unitarian Universalist convicted of child sex abuse in the mid-1980s, namely Rev. William Alexander (Sandy) McEachern,but he was the minister of an Indianapolis area UUA "church". Another misleading aspect of this Spotlight report is that it claims that the U*U minister in question, apparently Rev. Mack Wallace Mitchell, was "eventually convicted" after being "defrocked" by the UUA, when the truth is that Rev. Mack Mitchell was not removed from fellowship until about nine months after his conviction for child rape if my memory serves me well.
This is yet another example of how calculated "selective ignorance" aka DIM Thinking is knowingly and willfully (mis)used by top-level UUA leadership to deny, ignore, and minimize clergy sexual misconduct in general, and child sex abuse committed by UUA clergy in particular.
I have been reliably informed that hundreds of UU ministers have been accused of sexual misconduct of one kind or another, including Rev. Bill Sinkford himself. . . and he is well positioned to know that more than "only one" UU minister has been convicted of child sexual abuse. In fact, his own UUA administration publicly admitted to two cases of UU ministers who were convicted of egregious child sex abuse in the early 2000s. Did Rev. Bill Sinkford "forget" about those cases that were officially acknowledge by a UUA spokesperson in the Boston Globe?
end quote
Well, well, well. . . as a result of looking for the Boston Globe Spotlight article in which I believed UUA spokesperson John Hurley had acknowledged two cases of child sex abuse committed by UUA clergy I find that he only acknowledged one case.
Only one. . .
The Boston Globe report says:
"The Boston-based Unitarian Universalist Association has had just one minister accused of child sexual abuse over the last 50 years in Massachusetts, and he too was defrocked by the denomination and eventually convicted, according to John Hurley, the denomination's spokesman."
Please note that the Boston Globe Spotlight report specifically says "in Massachusetts". In other words, it limits the geographic area covered by the report to the state of Massachusetts alone. There was another Unitarian Universalist convicted of child sex abuse in the mid-1980s, namely Rev. William Alexander (Sandy) McEachern,but he was the minister of an Indianapolis area UUA "church". Another misleading aspect of this Spotlight report is that it claims that the U*U minister in question, apparently Rev. Mack Wallace Mitchell, was "eventually convicted" after being "defrocked" by the UUA, when the truth is that Rev. Mack Mitchell was not removed from fellowship until about nine months after his conviction for child rape if my memory serves me well.
This is yet another example of how calculated "selective ignorance" aka DIM Thinking is knowingly and willfully (mis)used by top-level UUA leadership to deny, ignore, and minimize clergy sexual misconduct in general, and child sex abuse committed by UUA clergy in particular.
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