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In light of recent events I am compelled to speak on the Church & sexual harassment, having been asked questions relating to the topic & after years of personal study/examination regarding areas of necessary improvement in ecclesiastical administration.
In summary: 1) not every “believer” is a believer; 2) the Church is not responsible for sinful individual choices; 3) to permit inauthentic & unrepentant Christians to remain within the Church is to scandalize Christ & endanger the community of believers.
Sexual harassment is a human problem. Men of all cultures & religions engage in heinous sexual abuses against women, & women, while at a disproportionately low percentage, do likewise engage in similar behavior.
The issue, therefore, is not a “Coptic” issue. It is a human issue. And to so much as suggest that the Coptic Orthodox Church is somehow complicit in some members’ committing such acts betrays an utterly misguided scapegoating that flies in the face of all available data.
To put it plainly, not every “believer” is a believer. There are many churchgoers, many self-proclaimed “Coptic Orthodox Christians,” many church servants, many prominent community members, many men & women, whose manner of life in no way corresponds to the Faith they profess.
There are many who attend the Coptic Orthodox Church’s services, and who “worship” along with the community, for social convenience rather than personal conviction. These serve themselves, and cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered Coptic Orthodox Christians.
They neither live according to the calling of Christ, nor hold the Tradition delivered by Christ, preached by the apostles, and kept by the Church. Thus, in the words of the great Athanasius, they can “no longer be [Christians], and should no longer be so called.”
This leads to an essential point — the Church has always denounced both doctrinal AND ethical heresies. A non-Christian manner of life is on par with doctrinal heresy, and in both cases, excommunication following attempts at correction is the prescribed remedy.
Nonetheless, many Church leaders today prefer the conscience-friendly approach of lenience & tolerance of sin & deviant morality among their parishioners, & excommunication is rarely if ever practiced with respect to those who clearly lead unchristian lives.
The argument in support of this position invariably involves the notion of the Church being a “hospital,” while failing to recognize that a hospital can only treat those patients who express the desire to be treated & voluntarily cooperate with the treatment recommended.
This predominant, modern approach has permitted churches to become filled with individuals who use the Church for its resources, social perks, & community, while simultaneously causing within the community moral decay, behavioral deviance, & a dangerous infiltration of heresy.
The solution, while dismissed as impractical & controversial, is the return to the rule of law. Any institution that is not ruled by a universally applicable, binding legal code with immediate, clear, & significant consequences for violation, is bound to devolve into anarchy.
It is within this milieu of anarchy that behavioral deviance thrives. In this context, individuals who have no claim to the title of “Christian,” such as sexual abusers, adulterers, & other deviants, are permitted to remain, scandalizing the entire community as was recently seen.
In fact, the teaching of Christ and the inspired scriptures, & the system that has been handed down through the apostles to the Church universal, is to abide by canonical law to ensure that the Church remains pure & undefiled, as the Body of Christ.
That is in no way at variance with the fact that every believer sins, & falls short of the glory of God. Rather, the struggle of the believer towards perfection is manifest in deed, not merely in word. To struggle is to exert effort against sin, not to embrace it as a lifestyle.
To permit those who embrace & identify with sinfulness of life to remain within the sheepfold is to endanger the sheep by the presence of wolves among them.
This is true for all sin, including sexual misbehavior of all kinds. How many so-called believers & churchgoers engage in premarital sexual intercourse, have affairs, abuse spouses, and yet are not met with unapologetic and forceful excommunication in the face of their obstinacy?
Silence by the clergy in the face of unrepentant individuals’ publicly lived sinful activity, whether sexual misconduct, drunkenness, or any other sin, permits the community to become compromised under the guise of pastoral care & various administrative philosophies of service
The issue is therefore not merely about sexual assault. It is about preferring our own convenience & being complacent with sin rather than taking our Christian calling seriously.
How is it that raping a woman engenders such an outcry, while consuming pornography is not denounced in the same breath? How is sexual violence so decried, while dressing inappropriately is condoned? Is Scripture to be applied or ignored according to our personal preferences?
These we ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Either we all take up our Christian calling with the utmost sincerity and uncompromising conviction, or we tacitly consent to the existence of endemic sin among us, and worse, within ourselves.
The Church community — clergy & laity alike — must begin to proactively address these concerns in a theologically-founded, educated manner. Only then can there be a remedy for the issues so many are vocally expressing now.
Gender segregation of children in Sunday School contributes to sexual immaturity that leads to sexual misconduct. Immodest attire and pornography consumption contribute to the notions of objectification that lead to sexual violence against women.
To baptize a child without verifying the parents’ manner of life, the sincerity of their Christian Faith, the soundness of their doctrine, or the health of their marriage & family life, is to potentially compromise the salvation of that child & stunt their Christian growth.
To permit a couple to marry in the Church, based merely upon their completion of a course on marriage, if even that, is to jeopardize their own future marriage, their salvation, the salvation of their children, & the integrity of the believing community itself.
The believer’s first discipleship is to the home, & the saintly family produces saints to the Kingdom of God.
Robust prophylactic measures in the Church are necessary so that this hospital, for those who seek healing for their spiritual illnesses, does not become instead a morgue full of dead men’s bones & all uncleanness.
It must be clear that the Church is NOT responsible for the actions of morally deviant community-members. The Church is not complicit in such an individual’s sinful choices. That person simply cannot be considered a Christian at all due to their ethically heretical manner of life
Only by returning to the system practiced by the early Church in accordance to what has been delivered by the apostles & given by Christ can the Church eradicate from its midst those ravenous wolves who destroy the flock & scandalize Christ by their unapologetically sinful lives.
May God give the Church holiness, wisdom, & grace, & may we abide in purity & righteousness, as a witness to the world of the power of the resurrection & the beauty of the Christian life. Amen.
