The Amish community is a horrible place to be a rape victim...

[Green_Lantern]

And in the case of how seriously they take sex crimes they are worse than the Catholic Church. They think lying is worse than rape.

This is documented by the case of Chester Mast, an Amish man accused of multiple sex crimes, some against young Amish girls.

Mr. Mast, who is married with two children and another on the way, stands accused in Wisconsin of incest and the repeated sexual assault of a minor. Meanwhile, officials here have charged him with two counts each of statutory rape and sodomy and one count of sexual misconduct involving a child. Investigators claim that Mr. Mast has victimized at least six girls, ages 5 to 15 — including some outside the Amish community — over the last 10 years.

Community members say that in an effort to cure Mr. Mast of his affliction, they excommunicated him on three occasions: in 2004 when he returned from Wisconsin amid accusations that he had raped his cousin; and again in 2009, when new revelations surfaced of his alleged sexual misconduct. The third excommunication came this year, when after a tortuous internal debate, the community appealed to law enforcement.

“I felt he was never really converted and born again,” said David Eicher, echoing the sentiment of many here. “Maybe that was the base of his problems. But anyone would welcome him back to the church if he would repent and be honest.”

“Chester is lying, and that’s worse than the sex crimes, because no sin is so bad that you can’t recognize it and take total responsibility,” said Mr. Schwartz, 60, as he traveled by horse-and-buggy to buy milk from a neighbor.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/us/03amish.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print



To be fair at this time the Amish are alright with him being locked up but that could be because they weren't able to sweep it under the rug any more.

[mzteris]

1. then the Amish community elders - or whoever was "in charge"

are guilty of aiding and abetting in the rape and abuse of every girl that occurred after they knew about it in 2004. They should be charged and held accountable as well. They don't get a "pass" because of their religious view.

[drmeow]

3. agree!

[Grey]

15. I want to recommend your reply.

They should all stand accused and held accountable.

[ThomCat]

17. Yes. They could have prevented every rape and every

instance of abuse that has happened since then simply by taking him seriously as a thread and a criminal who can't be allowed near any other potential victims.

Instead they viewed this as a simply spiritual matter that he needed to confess to and repent. :wtf:

That definitely makes them responsible for every crime he has committed since then, and everyone he has hurt. :(

[arcane1]

2. Gotta give them "credit" for one thing:

Their half-assed multiple "excommunications" are more punishment than any Catholic priest ever received.

Like Bill Maher said: "Whenever you combine a secretive compound, religion, and weirdos in pioneer outfits, there's gonna be some child fucking going on."

[Green_Lantern]

8. Catholic priests have been punished...

With prison

more punishment than any Catholic priest ever received.

Priests have been defrocked for sex abuse so there goes that.

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/top_stories/x2001473709/Former-MetroWest-priest-defrocked

[arcane1]

10. Glad to hear that, despite the fact that it was voluntary

following a letter of resignation. Better than nothing, I suppose

[Bluerthanblue]

11. defrocked 15yrs after the incident-

11yrs after the priest 'resigned'- The Holy See chose to let him remain a Priest for those 11yrs.

The Catholic Church's handling of sexual abuse has been "horrible"-

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08/12/pope-rejects-resignations-of-irish-bishops-accused-in-sex-abuse/

[Green_Lantern]

13. oh I agree with you...their dealings with it has been horrible..

But the Catholic community haven't turned a blind eye to it unlike Amish.

The church isn't dominating our lives or preventing us us from having a social structure outside of t.

[comtec]

4. Unlike the roman church, they did (albeit eventually) turn him in

as opposed to moving him around to assorted parishes for decades.

It's not as though they did nothing, or rewarded him (with say... the pope-ship).

He was punished in their way. when that failed (as it obviously would) they then sought professionals.

Ideal? Hardly, those poor girls will never be treated properly again!

better than the roman church? by miles!

[Green_Lantern]

5. the Pope wasn't accused of sexual abuse..

Criticize the Church all you want but that's inaccurate.

[mzteris]

6. but he certainly aided and abetted those priests who did! n/t

[comtec]

7. He was never accused... but he helped many priests and bishops avoid persecution

that IS documented.

A does not = B, of course, but given his propensity for help;ing accused priests, it should raise questions to his "innocence" is my point.

[Green_Lantern]

12. no actually that's not correct...

For one there's no documentation or even accusations Ratzinger(the Pope) aided and abetted child molestation.

Ratzinger only signed off on moving the priest to Munich for psychiatric treatment and the priest resumed pastoral duty against Archbishop Ratzinger's orders.

Following a report in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, the diocese of Munich and Freising confirmed earlier this week that then-Archbishop Ratzinger had let the priest, known only as H, stay at a vicarage in Munich for "therapy".


The repeated employment of H in priestly spiritual duties was a bad mistake
Gerhard Gruber, former vicar-general in Munich and Freising

H had been suspected of forcing an 11-year-old boy to perform a sex act upon him in the northern city of Essen.

While he was in Munich, between February 1980 and August 1982, no wrongdoing was reported.

He was then transferred to the town of Grafing, where he was relieved of his duties in 1985 after allegations of child sex abuse, the diocese said.

In 1986, he was given an 18-month suspended jail sentence and a fine for sexually abusing minors, details of which were not given by the diocese.

Archbishop Ratzinger's former deputy, Gerhard Gruber, has taken responsibility for initially allowing H to remain within the Church, saying this had been "a bad mistake".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8565986.stm

[mzteris]

18. ah - Herr Gruber "took responsibility" . . .

is that like "falling on his sword" maybe?

[Bluerthanblue]

9. there is no "good" place to be a rape victim.

:shrug:

As for being "worse than the Catholic Church"- The Catholic church often bought the silence of victims with money, and allowed the rapists to continue to offend.

As for the claim that they see lying as worse than rape- I don't get that out of anything said by the community.

What has them so disturbed is that they see the public defenders advising him plead "innocent" to something he admitted to doing not ONCE but on several occasions as being evidence that he isn't taking responsibility for what he has done.

Sorry, I can't disagree with them. Guilty people ARE acquitted because of legal skill and technicalities. And innocent people are imprisoned and sometimes executed because of less than adequate representation.

I personally am grateful that this community understood that they couldn't continue to try and handle this themselves any longer and had the guts to finally turn him in to the authorities.

[comtec]

14. IMHO you just won the thread - there is no good place to be raped

Everything else is just details.

[Green_Lantern]

20. well I didn't say it wasn't a good place to be raped as if there are

good places. I said it wasn't a good place for rape victims. Yes there are good places for rape victims, in places where it's taken seriously.

[DevonRex]

16. They want him to plead guilty. That's where the lying part comes in.

In their view he has admitted his guilt to them and therefore he must admit it to the court as well. Not to do so is lying, which is an additional sin on top of the ones he has already committed. And you cannot be forgiven of those sins without first admitting your guilt. They don't like the defense attorney talking him into pleading not guilty:

"Her decision has rankled many Amish, who say that by persuading Mr. Mast to plead not guilty, Ms. Morrow is endangering him.

“The public defender is no help to him,” said Mr. Wagler, 38, while taking a break from baling hay in his barn. “She’s keeping him from being honest. If he’s going to act like this and not admit it in court, he’s still going to have to answer to God.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/us/03amish.html?pagewanted=2

[Matariki]

21. Thanks for posting that. Some people have reading comprehension problems.

Or see what they want to see.

[mzteris]

19. evidently a good place to be a rapist, though

if you only do it a few times and then really really repent. Until you do it again and again. And then you can repent again. . .

[Liberal_in_LA]

22. I'm just glad the non-religious authorities are involved now