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Church Makes Girl Apologize for Being Raped

June 6, 2010 8:12 pm ET

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Church is nothing if not a sanctuary, right? Church leaders promise to be the most trustworthy figures outside of family. Obviously, recent and not so recent allegations in the Catholic Church has been bringing that premise into question. If I was Catholic and a parent, I would certainly think twice about letting my adolescent spend close, alone time with a priest, even one who is completely innocent. A woman recently revealed that problems are not limited to the Catholic Church. In 1997, Tina Anderson of Concord, NH, then 15, was raped. Tina was a babysitter for the children of Ernest Willis, a well known and well liked member of the Trinity Baptist Church in Concord. The first time he raped her, he was supposedly giving her a driving lesson, but when he stopped the car in a parking lot to let her into the driver's seat, he pulled her instead to the back seat. The second time, he forced his way into her house when she was home alone. Like many victims of rape, she felt shame and was afraid she would be blamed. After she realized she was pregnant, she told her rapist, Ernest Willis. Willis offered to drive her out of state for an abortion or to punch her in the stomach to force a miscarriage. At that point, Tina thought she should tell her mother, who advised her to tell her Pastor, Chuck Phelps. It turns out, Tina was right. She was blamed. Phelps reacted by telling her to go before the congregation and apologize for her sins. He said that while Willis might have been 99% responsible, Tina needed to be punished by admitting to her 1%.

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"He told me that I should be happy that I didn't live in Old Testament times because I would have been stoned."

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Fran Earle, the Church's former clerk, witnessed the punishment. She said it was regular for young girls to be humiliated for their "sin" of becoming pregnant. Willis was instructed to apologize to the congregation for being unfaithful to his wife. Then, her family shipped her, against her wishes, to Colorado and instructed her to give up her baby for adoption. She was home schooled and forced to have little contact with the outside world. Phelps did call the police on Willis, but since the police couldn't find Tina, there was little they could do.

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http://www.examiner.com/social-justice-in-national/church-makes-girl-apologize-for-being-raped[6/28/2011 3:45:27 AM]

Church Makes Girl Apologize for Being Raped - National social justice | Examiner.com

It took 13 years, but in February of this year, Tina realized that the rape was not her fault, even by 1%. It's rare for rape victims to publicly come forward, but Anderson did after contacting Jocelyn Zichterman, who runs an online group for victims of church abuse. Willis has finally been arrested. He was released on $100,000 personal recognizance bail and will be arraigned on June 16th.

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By Wendy Gittleson Social Justice Examiner Wendy writes fiction and non-fiction and has been involved in journalism since the age of 14. She makes her home in San Francisco. Contact her.

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Comments
Scott Newhouse

1 year ago

I cant believe what I'm reading, what kind of worthless person is this Pastor, Chuck Phelps, he is just as guilty as Ernest Willis, stone both of them. Pastor Chucky and Ernest if you have the balls, contact me @ snewhouse@msn.com.
Reply

Fast

1 year ago

This obvious hoax story is laughable. NOT THAT YOU CARE. You are provided this because this is what you WANT to see. Obvious fake. OLD TESTAMENT TIMES? Called the Torah, you know JUDAISM. Do you DISLIKE JUDAISM? No, in fact you are among its MOST LOYAL DEFENDERS. Sayings of Jesus are fairly limited. That Jesus PUT AN END TO STONING, is pretty much the FOUNDATION OF HIS RELIGION, even a Christian hater LIKE YOU, knows the quote by heart, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." Lock on to the CRITICAL POINT: this hoax is TREASURE TO YOU, and what you enjoy reading. Down with Christians, down with Muslims, every atheist loves Judaism more than sunshine. (Yeah, I know all your talking points from your godless-religion cult leaders, don't actually NEED YOU to tell me what you think. I already knew what you are commanded to think) What do you call a homosexual who rapes a boy? You call them a CATHOLIC. You COVER UP homosexual child rapes.
Reply

http://www.examiner.com/social-justice-in-national/church-makes-girl-apologize-for-being-raped[6/28/2011 3:45:27 AM]

Church Makes Girl Apologize for Being Raped - National social justice | Examiner.com

Tennessee Jed

1 year ago

This is why all organized religion is a lie! Don't believe the hipe ladies and gentleman, you've been lied to for 1000's of years!
Reply

imp

1 year ago

I was an evangelical christian, and while I never encountered anything this horrible, I did see the mindset. According to Christian theology, you're always guilty of something and the greatest evil is lack of forgiveness. Of course this policy is manipulated by sociopaths, who for that very reason tend to accumulate in churches -- and assume leadership.
Reply

Jiggs

1 year ago

Fast: The only hoax around here is you. You're pretending to be a human being.
Reply

Independent Mind

1 year ago

Personally, I would like to see religious materials treated the same way as porn and made illegal to sell or distribute to people under the legal age. Children are impressionable and too easy to brainwash and should be allowed to develop their full and independent, intellectual reasoning faculties before being exposed to religious propaganda and plagiarized tales of epic proportion stolen from ancient sun worship and fertility cults. It truly is a despicable shame that such ludicrous ideologies are forced upon the innocent and defenseless, before they are even able to walk or tie their shoelaces. Parents, churches and society in general should be ashamed and held accountable for such forms of pernicious abuse.
Reply

Born Again Atheist

1 year ago

Hopefully this article will make people stop and think a bit, which is no doubt the editor's goal; but, the odds of a religious person thinking seems exceedingly remote, if not completely non-existent. All religion is a deadly toxin. No matter the religion, those of monotheistic faiths who see themselves as holy warriors are a danger to humanity. Alas, their delusional end times fantasy could be a self-fulfilling prophecy exacted by their extremist action. I often wonder at times, where would present day society be were it not for the few, the proud, the infidels, who strayed from the herd and dared to think outside the box. Were it not for them, I suspect we would still be living in an environment resembling that of the dark ages with the inquisition, torture, stonings, witch burnings and such.
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http://www.examiner.com/social-justice-in-national/church-makes-girl-apologize-for-being-raped[6/28/2011 3:45:27 AM]