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Church Pictorial Directories make prime pickings
for Pedophiles, Kidnappers and Sex Molesters.
BY: Chuck Chadwick, President, Gatekeepers
Alliance, LLC.
Let me first say that this article is not meant
to deny income to those companies trying to sell churches on their directory
services or deny parents the pride of having a child in sports activities.
In an age where missing, abused and murdered
children are in the news almost daily it is hard to believe that some churches
and parents just don’t comprehend the dangers of too much personal information
being publicly available.
Church Pictorial Directories - The ads say:
·
Documents your church history
·
Connect your members and enhance
fellowship by putting names with faces.
·
Reactivates inactive members.
·
Reach out to the community and
grow your church.
·
Provide an ample supply of
additional directories for visitors and new members to the community.
·
Your professional directory is a
wonderful tool to introduce your church and its ministry to new families in the
community and can be helpful in new member decisions.
Let’s say you’re a Pedophile, Kidnapper or Sex
Molester; where else can you find the information you need to make your sick
mission much easier to accomplish; where else but in your friendly neighborhood
church pictorial directory.
The typical church pictorial directory gives a
great picture of the parents, the children, their names, ages, addresses, phone
numbers, interest, etc. It’s like a catalog for sex predators. Now they can pick
just the right child for their purposes. The scenarios are endless and the risk
tremendous.
I’ve even heard churches say “Only members can
get a copy.” OK, what does it take to become a member? A class, walk down front
at the end of the service? Do you look up every visitor and member in the
National Sex Offender Registry –
www.nsopr.gov ?
______________________________________________________
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Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales
“The Department
of Justice is committed to working with our state and local partners to keep our
communities safe from sexual predators. As part of this initiative, the
Department has launched a nationwide, Internet-based, searchable Dru Sjodin
National Sex Offender Public Registry website. The silent sex offender can be
just as dangerous as notorious neighborhood gang members, and because of this we
must keep parents and communities informed and engaged.
“The Dru
Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Registry will provide one-stop access to
registries from all 50 states and the District of Columbia by the end of the
year. With this technology, every citizen will be able to search the latest
information for the identity and location of known sex offenders. Sharing
information with concerned citizens and parents is an integral part of our
strategy to protect communities from these predators who wish to harm the
most vulnerable among us.”
As the Director
of Security for one of America’s largest Mega-churches (20K + people per
weekend) I have had numerous occasions where registered sex offenders where
actually pointed out as being there in the church. “That’s the guy who raped my
10 year old niece!” The travesty is that most sex predators are not caught and
go undetected. So even if you did look them up on the internet you would not
find them.
I hope that this
article has given you a little insight and made you think before you “Reach out
to the community” in this way.
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