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Some decades ago, I was involved in a church that had a destructive conflict.  Congregational and regional officials mismanaged the conflict in a way that escalated it.  The conflict went through an ecclesiastical court system. (Few members even knew such courts existed, much less that individual members could file accusations against other  members).  There were formal accusations, and counter-accusations.  Ultimately the conflict ended up in the civil courts.  The damage was deep and serious. 

Let me repeat something reported in the podcast:  Even though gender issues were central to this case, there was not a single report of any exchange of fluids.  In a sense, that makes the case even more interesting.  Sexual misconduct without physical sexual contact.  

The story of this project is interesting. I am by nature a pack rat so every time some document appeared I threw it into a folder.  This included even monthly newsletters or an annual report but also policy documents and official rulings.   When the formal processes had exhausted themselves and the pastor was gone, I decided to write a Briefing Document to send to the national headquarters to describe what had happened.  I thought that might do some good. That initial report was 40+ pages long, single spaced.  But something unexpected occurred. 

My friend John, a fellow political science professor in another college, had a heart attack.  As he was recovering, I went by to see him.  When I walked in, I said, “John, how are you doing?”  John was delightfully blunt in his manner and so was his response:  “I am doing fine.  What the hell is going on in your church?’  It turned out that someone in the congregation who was his friend had stopped by and told him everything she knew.  John and I  sat for two hours discussing the details.  Then he said, “This deserves a book, and you would be able to write it.”  

With John as my advisor, I set out on the project.  The more I wrote, the more I realized I needed additional information.  I read extensively about Presbyterian polity,  sexual misconduct policy (including federal court cases),  feminist writings, Presbyterian political history and governance issues (a branch of law), and quite a bit of administrative law (how policy is implemented in local institutions). After three years, I produced a book, “Decent and in Order:  Conflict, Christianity and Polity in a Presbyterian Congregation.” 

This was a time when sexual misconduct issues in the Catholic Church were exploding and the Church was paying  hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements.  On one point, there is a fundamental difference between Catholic and Protestant cases.  Catholic misconduct typically involves a priest and a  same sex minor. Protestant cases typically involve a male pastor and an adult female.  However, patterns of cover up and denominational malfunction are similar. As the distinguished Catholic scholar Father Andrew Greeley noted in his introduction to the book Bad Pastors, “I want to thank Professor Stockton for showing me that another denomination can mishandle a problem as badly as my own.” 

I think some observations in this analysis  go beyond religious bodies.  As someone who has followed sexual misconduct issues in universities for decades, the same malfunctions are there – redefine the problem, blame the victim, guilt-trip and try to buy off those harmed.  And focus upon the good things the institution achieves, things that might be damaged if these stories got out, and payments were extracted.  Mona Hanna-Attisha’s superb book on the Flint Water Crisis (What the Eyes Don't See) notes the same patterns.  It is as if there is a shared mindset