given the choice, would churches protect or expose molesting clergy members? why?

They should be exposed.

Which "churches" might you be talking about there?

Your broad generalisation is "the language of a fool".

Do you actually think more than 2 BILLION people all

think and act as one ~ like clones or "the Borg" ???

"CHURCHES" - you say. How many different groups

and forms and denominations and sub-groups and

biblical adherents and non-biblical sects and cults...

are you referring to there? Pretenders and genuine,

Spirit-led and man-made groups following whims??

Like your idiotic question follows a stereotype whim.

People with conscience and integrity, people not so

upright - disciplined and undisciplined - trustworthy

and not trustworthy - regular, known attenders or a

wandering unknown ?? There's so many differences.

You need to think it out & phrase a sensible question.

They probably don't have a choice within their own church and it might be that their own senior, to whom they'd have to report this, is a perpetrator so would not pass the information any higher. The only way the priests can be caught is by the person who has ABSOLUTE evidence going straight to the police about it - not via another priest who might suppress it.

The person being abused must report it and any other clergy member who witnessed it should do the same and then keep totally away from the situation until it has been handled by the police.

There needs to be a safe place for such people to be able to go after reporting this so that no pressure can ever be put on an individual to change their story. This should apply to situations in churches, schools, hospitals and other work places where sexual abuse (hetersexual and homosexual) happen. Victims have the right to heard and then protected.

Good question...The Church DID have a choice and they choose NOT to report it.......This went on for centuries, but it was never documented.

They hid it to "save face". The church was above the law.

The Church's reputation came ahead of the well being of young children.

The Church was a bunch sick bastards... Still is...

I think these days, they would expose them. We are better at facing our problems now.

There have been endless cases of the church covering up abuse cases, paying off people to be quiet, and even outright refusing to cooperate with investigating authorities. But I am not aware of single case where it was the church that turned in the pedo. So your question makes no sense, they have the choice and they have made it, they protect the molesters.

Why? Money. It has already cost them $ 4 billion dollars in America, with them doing everything they can to avoid responsibility, one can only imagine how much coming clean would cost them. Yes, coming clean would be the morally correct thing to do, but we are not talking about moral people.

History shows that churches protect them as long as possible...

I forbid you, agnostic, doubting thoughts, to destroy the house of my faith.

...... Los Angeles Times, 13 October 1990, that church had already paid out between $100,000,000 and $300,000,000 to quiet parents whose children were victims of libidinous priests, and had just settled for $22,000,000 claims arising from the libido of a priest who had be. .....

http://www.renegadetribune.com/christian-brotherho...