Female Bloggers Led The Push Against Sexual Abuse In Protestant Churches
Download mp3 (12.92 MB)The sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church is still having ripple effects around the world, but only recently have revelations about abuses within Protestant churches come to light.
Earlier this year, a joint investigation by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News uncovered a disturbing number of Southern Baptist leaders who had engaged in sexual misconduct, and the more than 700 victims they left behind.
But long before that news broke, a circle of bloggers discovered a pattern of systemic abuse in several churches all over the country. They worked like investigative journalists, uncovering court records, police reports, sermons and emails to bolster their stories.
Sarah Stankorb profiled some of them for the Washington Post recently.
But they were not investigative journalists. They were simply women who came from church communities that often taught women to submit, but knew something had to change, and have faced a lot of opposition for speaking out.
One of those bloggers was Darlene “Dee” Parsons show started the Wartburg Watch, which gives a voice to survivors of abuse in Evangelical churches.
As Stankorb describes her, she’s very Southern with a conservative bob haircut and a tidy cardigan. She offered Stankorb a plate of cookies when they met. But online, Parsons is fearless, often attacked as “the Wartburg Witch” or “a feminist heretic.”
The Show spoke with Parsons about her work and why she started it in the first place.
