Identifying the Molesters
Nothing is more hideous than a child molester. Nothing is more dangerous to the family and community. And yet, identifying a child molester is not very easy. This has led to many terrible arguments between community leaders, leaders of schools, even family members. For instance, a teacher likes to put little children on his lap and caress their cheek. Is this, in itself, sinful? However, such a person may have other ideas. Who knows?
Therefore, the instinct to protect our children comes flaming out, and what of the rights of the teacher? We are only human and cannot know everything. And yet, we have to guess, because we have children. There is no easy answer to this.
What we can do, is to put our first team on the project. We want older people with experience in life. We would like, if possible, the input of professionals, people who understand these issues from years of experience.
One thing to keep in mind is that the people who molest children have terrible problems. Some of them can go to therapy and get better. Of course, if we catch someone molesting children and he goes to therapy, we don't necessarily want him to become a teacher or to deal with children, but still, we want him to get better and go on with his life.
In the secular world, an enormous amount of children are molested by parents and siblings, and even others. A policeman told me of one study where professionals went into a public school and found so much molesting they did not know how to proceed. One boy said, "I was molested, and I will molest my children." In a community where the majority respond like that, what can you do?
A community where children are sexed up from infancy with television, movies, and peers, in classes with mixed genders, we have many problems. In a society where gender interaction increasingly fails, we have a problem in dealing properly with sexual drives that have no proper outlet. Pornography waits in the wings, twisting minds, and producing molesters.
Nonetheless, a school or community, or even a family, must make judgments. It must obtain expertise. It must talk to suspected people, and see if perhaps, on the right day, and the right moment, they may accept help.
There is today an enormous amount of news regarding clergy who molest children. One must never allow a child to be alone with a stranger. Even behavior with siblings must be carefully regulated. Some children have sex with siblings at a young age, and later in life, all of this comes back to haunt them.
We must strive to protect our children. We also owe it to ourselves, and to those suspected of being molesters, to be fair to them, and to achieve the proper balance between the need to protect children, and the need to protect the innocent.