Why is there so much CSA in 2x2ism? Some will say that there is no more or less than any other organization. Well, that's wrong. Sure there is CSA in nearly every organization, but the rate of it in 2x2ism is vastly higher than even the Roman Catholic Church. It's estimated that 2x2ism has a CSA rate that is at least 5 times higher than the RCC. And that estimate was made before the explosion of disclosures of CSA following the Dean Bruer revelations. Preliminary investigations have the number of CSA perpetrators at vastly over 250 perps (edit: as of Sept 2023 there has been over 650 perps reported to AFTT). The number of victims is in the thousands (as of Sept 2023 there is more than 3500 reported victims). How is this possible? 2x2ism is a very small community - less than 75,000 laity, and less than 2000 ministers (only 35% of which are male) worldwide. There are only 420 2x2 ministers in the USA in 2023. By looking at minister USA convention photos from the mid-1990s, between 15-25% of all male ministers in those photos have been credibly accused of CSA. For perspective, the CSA rate among RCC priests is about 1%. Truly horrifying. Back of the envelope calculations have it that about 50% of the male 2x2 ministers have been involved in sexual interactions with children or adults.
So what is causing these extreme rates of CSA among 2x2s? There are various factors, some not unique to 2x2ism, and some very unique to 2x2ism. In many ways, 2x2ism has created all of the components for maximal CSA. So let's get started with the analysis. Organizational Structure is the over-arching facilitator of all of the corruption (CSA, abuse, financial malfeasance, etc). There is much more detail about organizational structure problems discussed on another blog post, but the short of it is that 2x2ism lacks: 1) no clearly defined roles, 2) no formal redress process, 3) no financial transparency, 4) no oversight board of directors chosen from both clergy and laity, 5) no constitution, 6) no clear admittance process to ministry, 7) no formal training of ministry. Nearly everything we know about bad organizational structures and the perverse outcomes they will create, exist in 2x2ism. The unnatural working conditions of the ministers is a large driver of the CSA problem. Ministers are not trained in a formal institution, they are expected to learn 'on the job' while living full-time with their assigned same-sex partner - sometimes sleeping in the same bed! This assigned 'mentor' has essentially full control over the new minister, open for all sorts of abuse of power. These ministers are expected to be celibate, but are not trained in how to be celibate (how to avoid being in tempting situations, how to find other ways to release pent up sexual energy, etc), nor are young ministers encouraged to have healthy same-sex relationship with other people their age. The life of a minister is truly a life of boredom with no outlets - they are expected to spend all of their days chitchatting with laity - there are no actual ministries for them to engage in. Furthermore, by living in the homes of the laity, the ministers are exposed to all sorts of temptations out of their control, while at the same time the laity pretends that the ministers are asexual beings. An additional issue related to lack of training of the ministers, is how the process of becoming a minister happens. A person, usually 18-23 y/o, will tell the existing minister that he/she would like to become a minister. A short interview is conducted (the contents of which are limited to inquiry that the candidate understands the theology of the group), and then unless clearly obvious red flags exist, the person is 'ordained' a minister on the spot. Obviously whatever character flaws this person had prior to the 'ordination' still exist, but strangely the congregants view this new minister as 'unable to sin' - Jesus-like. The 2x2 doctrine says that a person can only be 'saved' if they verbally hear the doctrine in person from one of the 2x2 ministers - so this magical power bestowed on the 2x2 ministers creates a 'divinity-like' aura on them among the laity. By the laity treating the ministers as if the ministers are sinless and omniscient, this creates a power imbalance which the minister may take advantage of (knowingly or unknowingly). In many ways, the laity views the 2x2 ministers as 'angels' here on Earth, and thus are extremely compliant to the ministers and desiring to please the ministers. 2x2ism has a long history of exclusivity, frowning on fraternization with outsiders, which creates an extreme form of group-think and tribalism. This causes 2x2s to see no value in outside experts or authorities, and that all issues can be handled internally by the 2x2 leadership. Hence it is no surprise that so much CSA and other malfeasance was never reported to outside authorities, that perpetrators were moved around, that 2x2 leadership had little understanding of the recidivism of CSA perps, etc. Over a century, this has created a vast number of 2x2s who have not only been victims of CSA themselves, but have later as adults repeated CSA onto other children - the cycle repeats. This applies also to the high prevalence of lesbianism among the female ministers - they are doing to the younger ministers what was done to them when they were young. In many ways, CSA and homosexuality has become normalized within 2x2ism - generational grooming. The lack of a formal legal organization or legal entity for 2x2ism (church with no name, etc), makes it impossible for victims of CSA by 2x2 leadership to sue the 2x2 church (since no church actually exists - this is the argument a high ranking overseer used in a court case). This in turn means that there is no financial downside to 2x2ism of 2x2 ministers committing CSA, and thus there is no incentive for 2x2 leadership to actually try to avoid having CSA happen. As it stands right now, leadership has zero incentive to be pro-active, and instead are being re-active - removing 'bad apples' only after much evidence has accumulated. Nothing motivates changes in internal policy more than the fear of financial ruin. So until 2x2ism is organized as a legal church, with non-profit status and financial transparency accounting practices, there will be no incentive for 2x2 leadership to do anything more than reactive 'bad apple removal'. In recent decades, 2x2ism has had vastly dwindling numbers of not only congregants, but also ministers. In the USA, the 2x2 ministry has declined from a high of about 800 ministers in 1980, to about 420 ministers in 2023. Thus, the loss of a minister due to CSA or otherwise is a major problem for 2x2 leadership - they are short on ministers. It also causes 2x2 leadership to have little incentive to do any sort of screening of potential ministers of any kind (other than those who show any form of disobedience to 2x2 leadership!). Most mainline churches (Anglican, Roman Catholic, etc) do extensive psychological screening examinations of candidates who desire to enter seminary (training to be a minister), and many are weeded out. 2x2ism has no screening process other than avoiding the most obviously mentally ill. Why would 2x2ism allow anyone with homosexual urges to be a minister? It's going to be hell for them and for their same-sex live-in 2x2 minister partner. When you are short on ministers and minister-candidates, the standards of behavior are essentially zero. The lack of ecumenical relations (interacting with Christians from other churches) is a major problem for 2x2ism because it blinds 2x2s from seeing better ways of doing things or from avoiding problems that other churches might have gotten into. Again, this prideful ignorance is part of the exclusivity of 2x2ism. However, it also causes a sentiment that 2x2s are a big extended family, and thus more loose ways of doing things (such as in a family) are permissible within 2x2ism. 2x2s pride themselves on the 'extended-family' environment of 2x2ism, and it is this familial closeness which is a major facilitator of CSA. It's well known that perpetrators of CSA are most likely family members or close friends of the family, so by creating the sentiment of a large extended-family composed yet in reality of near-strangers, is extremely dangerous. Contrasting the 2x2 CSA with the CSA in the RCC (almost all committed by homosexual priests on pubescent boys) or the CSA in the Boy Scouts (almost all committed by homosexual scout leaders on pubescent boys) demonstrates why 2x2 CSA is unique (almost all heterosexual male perpetrators on pubescent girls). Thus it is this contrived extended-family is a major part of the problem - many 2x2 children are instructed by their parents to refer to the 2x2 ministers as 'uncles' or 'aunties'! In other words, the parents have created contrived familiarity of their own children with strangers, and those strangers have then taken advantage of the children. The high-control aspect of the 2x2 doctrine over a century has created a population of very docile congregants - anyone with the courage to disagree was excommunicated or made unwelcome. These are congregants who are 'easy pickins' for abusers, CSA or otherwise. Conversely, the near divine status which the congregants hold the 2x2 ministers in, makes the occupation of 2x2 minister extremely attractive for power-hungry, narcissistic, etc types of personalities. Really, being a 2x2 minister is an awful lifestyle, so it is only the power that comes with the job that can be an allure for new candidates - some of which have little hesitation to use that power for sex with of-age and under-age congregants. These are all just basic things that nearly every existing church already has dealt with and found ways to avoid. Unfortunately, because the 2x2ism is not operating as a legal church, it has not built the organizational apparatus that significantly lowers the probability of corruption and other perverse outcomes. It has inadvertently built a system that is near utopia for a CSA perpetrator: no ministerial entrance screening, high-control conditioning of members, no character-formation training, submissive congregants, unnatural celibacy environment, no oversight controls, no financial accountability, no legal accountability, open-access homes and contrived familial expectations, no ministerial training of any kind including pastoral, no redress systems for injustices, etc. 2x2ism is essentially a community ruled by leaders who no one knows how they became rulers and no one knows where the money is. Money goes in, orders come out. It's like being a member of an abusive family, and not knowing that you can actually leave. It has created an entire sub-culture within it of child sexual abuse which is higher than any other religious group in the country.
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