Rape Victim Apologizes to Church?
That’s right. In 1997, a fifteen-year-old girl was raped (allegedly) by Ernest Willis, an adult church member. As a result, she became pregnant. She was instructed by her pastor, Chuck Phelps, to come before the church, confess, and apologize for getting pregnant, and then she was kicked out of Trinity Baptist Church in Concord, NH.
That’s right. In 1997, a fifteen-year-old girl was raped (allegedly) by Ernest Willis, an adult church member. As a result, she became pregnant. She was instructed by her pastor, Chuck Phelps, to come before the church, confess, and apologize for getting pregnant, and then she was kicked out of Trinity Baptist Church in Concord, NH. The rapist came before the church and apologized for being unfaithful to his wife.
Just when I think that I have heard it all, I am once again astonished by the stupidity and cruelty of a church’s treatment of a victim. And while I am tempted to file this under “no comment,” I hope this can be yet another teachable moment for faith leaders.
After she was kicked out of the church, she was sent to another state to have her baby. Even though a report was made to the police at the time, they did not pursue an investigation because they didn’t know where the victim was. Some people knew where the victim was. Some people also knew that the rape had been reported to police as a consensual act between a man and a woman although the victim was a juvenile. Why didn’t they tell the police the full story?
Now at age 28, this rape survivor has come forward after reading about other similar cases; realizing for the first time it wasn't her fault that she had been raped, she told the police. Charges have been filed against Willis for rape and having sex with a minor. Fortunately, the statute of limitations has not run out. He will be prosecuted. I applaud the victim’s courage in coming forward. But again, I wonder if the church that kicked her out will now support her and offer her an apology?
A pregnant child victim of statutory, forcible rape is brought before her church to be “disciplined.” She asked for help and support; she got humiliation and punishment. When Jesus said, “Let the little ones come to me and forbid them not, for to these belong the kingdom of heaven,” I don’t think this was what he had in mind.
Her whole church should have been her advocate, her support. They should have made sure that her assailant was brought to justice in the criminal justice system. They should have reassured her that she was not to blame and that they would support her choice of dealing with the pregnancy.
Their pastor’s confusion and fear about the nature of the “sin” in this situation instead took them in a direction that revictimized this young woman, avoided dealing with the perpetrator, and magnified the injustice she had already experienced.
Jeremiah would have said this: “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored? . . . O that my eyes were a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain daughter of my people! O that I had a shelter in the desert that I might leave my people and go away from them.”
Rev. Dr. Marie M. Fortune
Founder and Senior Analyst, FaithTrust Institute
Author of Sexual Violence: The Sin Revisited
www.faithtrustinstitute.org
Apology to the church?
With appreciation, Marvin Eckfeldt