"Could have been the motto at Penn State ... 'everyone did what was right in his own eyes'"
Why is the article about Schamburg Christian School closed to comments, but this one is not? I don’t understand your criteria and it comes across as a bit hypocritical, especially with the headline that you have posted.
[Doug Flynn] Why is the article about Schamburg Christian School closed to comments, but this one is not? I don’t understand your criteria and it comes across as a bit hypocritical, especially with the headline that you have posted.DITTO! I am sickened by 2 things: 1) the accusations made against Sandusky and 2) that people who don’t live around State College know only what the national media is reporting about this. This guy is accused of molesting many children. There is only one witness able to testify that one of these took place at Penn State. Yet it has become “The Penn State scandal” or “The Joe Paterno scandal” and not what it should be: “The Jerry Sandusky scandal.”
Why are believers free to speculate at will about the transgressions of those who might not be believers (Paterno), but when it comes to commenting on the behavior of a believer who has confessed, conversation is cut off?
[Doug Flynn] Why is the article about Schamburg Christian School closed to comments, but this one is not? I don’t understand your criteria and it comes across as a bit hypocritical, especially with the headline that you have posted.
Some things that are different.
1. Cal Thomas is a well known and respected nationally syndicated columnist. Unless you want to count Huffington Post, we really don’t have anything like that kind of commentary on the Schaumburg case.
2. Lots of folks in the Penn State case have been talking to the media. So there is at least some info there to talk about.
3. Penn State and its football team have graduates and fans all over the country… it kind of has national importance.
4. The Penn State matter has not inspired anywhere near the kind of frenzied, speculative and highly personal discussion here that fundamentalist scandals (and alleged scandals) have in the past.
What would happen if we had discussion of the Schaumburg case is pretty predictable.
5. Important also: when we post a Filings link we are not expressing agreement with it. Discussion is open on this one so you can disagree with Cal if you like. There isn’t really anything to disagree with in the Schaumburg news item. (As far as I know the facts reported are not in dispute.)
(For what it’s worth, I have little interest in the Penn State case and don’t see much point in discussing it either. But there doesn’t seem to be any good reason to prevent it… yet.)
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
No massive institutional coverup at Schaumburg Christian School.
Authorities dealt with the problem swiftly and legally.
Schaumburg C/S is no Penn State!
Authorities dealt with the problem swiftly and legally.
Schaumburg C/S is no Penn State!
Thanks for the reply, but the reason given for the Schamburg incident having no comment was the sensitive nature of the event. The Penn State incident is no less so. I’m not attempting to equate the handling of the incident at Schamburg with the way Penn State mishandled the incident there. Perhaps it would be best to discuss neither rather than giving the impression that it is perfectly fine to examine and comment on what takes place among the world, but we’ll batten down the hatches when something happens within fundamentalism. I have no problem with the comments being closed whenever you feel it is appropriate. I also have no interest in discussing either case. My only point is that an impression is being given that it is ok to be hush-hush about sin within our own circles, but those outside our circles are fair game. It’s a double standard no matter how you attempt to justify it.
Everyone wants to talk about it, I guess. Since we don’t have all the facts, perhaps we should indeed give the PSU thing a rest.
But the comparison to Schaumburg is crazy. That is the very sad failings of one old man who may be suffering from dementia, according to his lawyer, and who has apparently confessed. He also never touched or hurt a child, so the perpetrator is also the primary victim. Obviously, it will be distressing to his students, past and present, but there is no need to discuss the matter at length. At this point, the only charitable thing to do is acknowledge it has happened (it’s right there on the front page of SI), pray for the man and the school, and move on. If a brother be overtaken in a fault, we don’t ignore it, but we don’t blather on about it incessantly, either.
If PSU had taken the kind of action Schaumburg took, there would be no real story. One man committed evil deeds, he got caught, the school removed him immediately (the very day it happened) and notified the police, and it is over.
Doug, your initial comment highlighted the difference. You said, “The article about Schaumburg Christian School.” There is no article about the school, it’s an article about the tragedy of one man’s sin. The PSU discussion is primarily about PSU.
If it comes out that Schaumburg had any idea this was going on previously and took no action, then we’ll undoubtedly see (and should) some pretty serious discussion of the matter. To characterize this as “battening down the hatches within fundamentalism” is far from a legitimate comparison.
But the comparison to Schaumburg is crazy. That is the very sad failings of one old man who may be suffering from dementia, according to his lawyer, and who has apparently confessed. He also never touched or hurt a child, so the perpetrator is also the primary victim. Obviously, it will be distressing to his students, past and present, but there is no need to discuss the matter at length. At this point, the only charitable thing to do is acknowledge it has happened (it’s right there on the front page of SI), pray for the man and the school, and move on. If a brother be overtaken in a fault, we don’t ignore it, but we don’t blather on about it incessantly, either.
If PSU had taken the kind of action Schaumburg took, there would be no real story. One man committed evil deeds, he got caught, the school removed him immediately (the very day it happened) and notified the police, and it is over.
Doug, your initial comment highlighted the difference. You said, “The article about Schaumburg Christian School.” There is no article about the school, it’s an article about the tragedy of one man’s sin. The PSU discussion is primarily about PSU.
If it comes out that Schaumburg had any idea this was going on previously and took no action, then we’ll undoubtedly see (and should) some pretty serious discussion of the matter. To characterize this as “battening down the hatches within fundamentalism” is far from a legitimate comparison.
We’ve pointed out the differences. “Sensitive” was an intentionally broad term. It didn’t seem necessary to elaborate. When you add sensitive to the other factors I’ve already mentioned (chiefly that we know how these discussions tend to go when the topic is sex scandal at an “IFB” institution and there is almost no factual information available.)
In previous threads, and even front page articles a bit I think, we’ve talked a lot about how we try to handle these things. I probably shouldn’t have assumed all of that was well known.
In previous threads, and even front page articles a bit I think, we’ve talked a lot about how we try to handle these things. I probably shouldn’t have assumed all of that was well known.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
The media loves a feeding frenzy over issues such as the one at the State Penn, I mean, Penn State (just joking Lions’ fans!). Yet, the media seldom examines carefully its own constant contribution to the breaking down of moral barriers in society. I thought Cal Thomas did some excellent work in pointing out the downgrade of our culture.
I commend the leadership at Schaumburg for dismissing the teacher immediately, substantiating that there was reasonable suspicion that a crime had been committed, and then turning the issue over to the proper authority in a timely fashion.
I commend the leadership at Schaumburg for dismissing the teacher immediately, substantiating that there was reasonable suspicion that a crime had been committed, and then turning the issue over to the proper authority in a timely fashion.
Pastor Mike Harding
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