"I considered church people easy to fool... they seem to want to believe in the good that exists in all
people... And because of that, you can easily convince with or without convincing words." - Imprisoned Pedophile
Child sexual abuse is one of the fastest growing forms of child abuse. In 2003, there were over 90,000 known reported cases of child sexual abuse in the United States.
Sadly, the Christian community is far from immune. In the last 10 years,
there have been an average of 70 child abuse allegations against American
churches every week. And those who survive child abuse face a lifetime of spiritual, emotional, and physical challenges.
The financial costs of child abuse are staggering. Child abuse costs this country
more than $94 billion each year. That translates to $258 million per day or $1,462 annually for every household in the United States. Within the Christian community, law suits were a result of 21% of the allegations made against Christian churches. Child abuse has been both spiritually and financially devastating to the Christian community.
Today, over 60 million survivors of child abuse are living in the United States. This translates into 45 out of every 1,000
American children, many of whom are sitting in our churches and attending our Christian schools.