“Fifth, the fact that outsiders who vilify Steven believe him to be automatically guilty of anything that is alleged of him, as soon as it is alleged, creates a temptation for us to simply go in the opposite direction. We are aware of this temptation and are deliberately guarding against it. We do not believe that the temptations that earlier led Steven to molest children are out of his life, and we do believe that he, his wife, his chaperons, his ministers and elders, his fellow church members, his probation officers, and the state of Idaho, have reason and cause to be wary. . .” Douglas Wilson
The Open Letter published by Pastor Douglas Wilson of Christ Church, Moscow, is noteworthy for what it says as well as what it doesn’t say. For example, the document consists of 1,872 words, and of them Mr. Wilson uses the word “we” 23 times; the word “I” 18 times; the word “my” 5 times; “us” 3 times, which totals to 49 references to self. However, he uses the word “victims” only once. Anyone can do the math.
Another word stands out as well, not because Mr. Wilson uses it but because he does not use it — “pedophile.” This omission is all the more remarkable when you consider the title of the correspondence: “An Open Letter from Christ Church on Steven Sitler.” People know the name Sitler for only one reason: he is a serial pedophile. He confessed to multiple grievous acts of child rape. Idaho and Washington have marked him as a dangerous sex offender. A life sentence hangs over his head. Only one word comes to mind when you mention his name. To exclude the word pedophile in a communique about Sitler is tantamount to excluding the word murderer in an open letter about Charles Manson Dennis Rader, the B.T.K. serial murderer. Some facts do matter.
Mr. Wilson does know how to use the word pedophile and he understands its basic definition, because elsewhere he wrote,
“The medical definition of a pedophile is (1) someone who is aroused by, has intense, recurring fantasies, or is involved in sexual behaviors with prepubescent children (13 or younger), (2) someone who is aroused by, has sexual fantasies, or is involved with a child for at least 6 months, (3) someone who is at least 16 years old, and (4)1 at least 5 years older than the child(ren) he or she is attracted to.” (“Sex Offenders in the Church”)
Therefore, we cannot attribute the absence of this term to ignorance, which brings us to the word Mr. Wilson used in its place.
Lead Us Not Into Temptation
Notice how Mr. Wilson cascades his use of the word “temptation,” in three sentences, one after another:
“. . . the fact that outsiders who vilify Steven believe him to be automatically guilty of anything that is alleged of him . . . creates a temptation for us to simply go in the opposite direction. We are aware of this temptation and are deliberately guarding against it. We do not believe that the temptations that earlier led Steven to molest children are out of his life. . .” (emphasis added)
In the first two instances, Mr. Wilson uses the word “temptation” in a normal context with the correct definition. The Kirk elders feel a temptation to act and they resist the temptation. That is, they don’t act.
However, in his third use of “temptation,” Mr. Wilson sneaks in an entirely new meaning. He writes, “We do not believe that the temptations that earlier led Steven to molest. . .” Mr. Wilson assigns autonomous volition to temptation and he ascribes action to it — “the temptations that earlier led Steven to molest. . .” Note the verb “led.” The temptations led. The temptations acted.
Pastor Doug Wilson of Christ Church, Moscow, knows that temptation is not a free agent. He understands it does not possess autonomous power of will. He has read James: “every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed” (James 1:14). Despite these things, he divorced temptation from Sitler’s natural lust to give it a unique identity. And this shift away from the word’s correct use enabled him to achieve six objectives:
- He avoids the radioactive term “pedophilia.”
- He depicts Sitler as the passive agent in his crimes.
- He depicts “the temptations” as the active agents in Sitler’s crimes — they “led.”
- He recasts Sitler as an acquiescent victim of temptation instead of an aggressive sexual predator.
- He denies the core nature of Sitler’s condition.
- He minimizes, if not normalizes, the nature of pedophilia by placing Sitler’s so-called temptations in the same context and on the same level as other temptations.
And this was not the first time Mr. Wilson passed Sitler’s pedophilia off as temptation.
A Pattern
Mr. Wilson promotes himself as a wordsmith. He knows that grammar, syntax, and definitions matter. He did not write, “We do not believe that Sitler’s clinical condition of pedophilia is out of his life.” He wrote, “We do not believe that the temptations that earlier led Steven. . .” His use of “the temptations” instead of “pedophilia” in the Open Letter is not an accident. It is part of a pattern.
In his letter to Judge Stegner, Mr. Wilson does not refer to Sitler’s pedophilia; instead he uses the same language as the Open Letter: “I believe Steven understands the importance of his need to resist these temptations over the long haul.”
Mr. Wilson also attributes Sitler’s crimes to discontentment: “The assignments I have given him have included the reading of books on everything from the obvious issues of sex and sexuality, to the underlying issues of his discontent.”
Educated adults know that pedophilia is a clinically diagnosed mental disorder for which no cure exists. Steven Sitler rapes children. He cannot alter or mortify his perversion. Worse, he cannot stop himself. And Mr. Wilson attributes Sitler’s condition — his pedophilia — to “the underlying issues of his discontent,” as though Sitler’s lust to molest infants stems from dissatisfaction.
Finally, Mr. Wilson closes his letter to Judge Stegner by referring to an undefined “this.” He writes, “I have a good hope that . . . he will continue to deal with this to become a productive and contributing member of society.” As with the Open Letter, he eschews the word “pedophilia.” He calls it “this.”
No one can know with certainty if Mr. Wilson believes that such a condition as pedophilia exists and no one can know if he understands that Steven Sitler is an aggressive sexual predator. But if we believe the two documents that he placed in the public record to specifically address this subject, then we may safely conclude he believes pedophilia is one of many ordinary “temptations,” and he believes that serial pedophile Steven Sitler is a victim of “these temptations.” And if Mr. Wilson really believes what he has written about Sitler’s temptations, then he is arguably Sitler’s chief enabler as well as the worst possible influence on his life.
1 Presumably Mr. Wilson accidently inserted this “(4)”; because with it “(3)” is incomplete but without it “(3)” is correct.
What is wrong with the State of Idaho that their laws and punishments are SO WEAK for felony crimes that this is even a topic of discussion: That Steven Sitler is even permitted to walk the streets and get married? He should be in prison! He was supposed to serve a long prison sentence. He made a 2-year old girl kiss his erect penis? (The child of the Christian family he was living with.)
Idaho Legislature…kick it in gear and change your laws!!!
Perhaps Truth in Moscow can shed more light on this subject, but Sitler was sentenced to life in prison. Most states have both minimum and maximum sentencing guidelines so many would argue that even allowing a life sentence for a first offense (non-murder) is too harsh. It is typically the Department (Board) of Corrections that makes the call as to when a prisoner is released on parole. That is a policy issue not a statutory issue. Any unhappy parties need to appeal directly to the Governor of Idaho who appoints this three member board. Only the Governor, through his appointees, can change this internal policy. I am guessing that Sitler’s high quality lawyer had some influence on this as Sitler appears to have done no time in an actual prison – rather he seems to have served his 20 months in a county jail then a treatment center. Perhaps an actual prison stay could have provided a larger deterrent to Sitler.
Mandatory sentencing is really difficult to lobby for and achieve. It takes judicial discretion away, which isn’t always good. Lax judges can always be removed via elections. I think the more productive and fair potential legislative change might be to lobby for “day for day sentencing” on sex crimes. This means if you are sentenced to five years, you do 1,825 days. No more, no less. Many states have this. It is done for the good of the victims and society.
It is heart breaking when victims hear a sentence like “life” to only find out “life” is defined as 20 months – none of it in prison. Under “day for day” a first time offender like Sitler would have received a far shorter sentence – probably 5 years or less – but the victims would have comfort in knowing there is no general emergency release (generally cost cutting) or prison over-crowding early release and no time off for good behavior or an unexplained release after 20 months. (Truth – can you explain the state’s justification for the 20 month release? It is not clear from the documents posted).
It will take local victims lobbying their legislature to achieve this. Even then it will be an uphill battle as defense attorneys are major contributors to political campaigns and they staunchly oppose all “truth in sentencing” measures. However, many states have obtained day for day sentencing for sex crimes, and capitalizing on cases like this with unfair, untruthful sentences are precisely how they did it.
Sitler didn’t spend the whole 20 months in county jail, I think it was around 6 to 8. The other time he spent in Cottonwood, which is the state-prison equivalent of the Ramada Inn.
The 20-months total was the arbitrary decision of Judge Stegner. I think Sitler’s lawyer argued for the early release so he could get into therapy and Stegner bought it (I can’t find the link; but I’m pretty sure I read it). Now, after ten years of therapy with two different therapists (plus a half-dozen sessions with Wilson), Sitler is no better than before. Just more clever.
Thanks for the response. That is a fairly standard move where wealthy sex offenders are involved. They offer to foot the bill for the sex therapy and submit to house arrest or strictly supervised probation, thus saving the state money, while trying to assure the judge that the community will be safe-ish. The reality is that the state must supervise the therapy so they are often stuck paying the bill. Also, once the sex offender is out, no matter how strict the original PRS (Post Release Supervision) order is, PO’s tend to start ratcheting down the supervision, often after only a few months. It is the nature of the industry. Once the offender has 6 months under his belt with no violations, some offenders will even successfully petition to have the supervision removed. They must still submit monthly reports and payments and are subject to random inspections, but for the most part they are unsupervised.
This creates somewhat of a cycle. The less supervision an offender has, the less likely they are to be caught violating that supervision. Then the PO can justify further reductions in supervision. Over time the offender, or pastor, starts to argue “see they’ve gone X years with no offenses – they must be cured”. Most pedophile assaults and probation violations in general, are not discovered by law enforcement. This does not mean that offenses and violations are not occurring.
Holding judges accountable is the only way to ensure the wealthy amongst us do not enjoy a separate standard of justice, which is really not justice, is it?
As a child who was abused and grew up in Idaho…the laws there suck. Nevada doesn’t mess around. It’s life in prison. Period. Minimum.
By the way here are excellent resources readers about child sexual abuse.
1. Dr. Anna Salter’s Predators, Pedophiles, Rapists, & Other Sex Offenders book. (She is an expert on sex offenders.)
2. Interview with Dr. Anna Salter
3. Interviews with Dr. Anna Salter on Corrections One about sex offenders (this is broken in to 5-parts)
3. Pastor Jimmy Hinton’s 2 1/2 hour training video on child sexual abuse in the church. Jimmy turned in his pastor/father to police for sexually abusing children in the church they have both pastored. Jimmy’s father is serving a life sentence in prison for sexually abusing some 23 known victims. (Jimmy has become a tireless advocate for sexually abused children and their families, and training churches in their Church of Christ denomination, as well as other churches)
4. Jimmy’s mom Clara Hinton has the Finding a Healing Place blog.
5. Jimmy Hinton’s organization is called Church Protect
6. Les Ferguson’s blog. He is a pastor. His disabled son was sexually abused by a senior citizen member in their church, who later murdered Les’s wife and disabled son. http://lesfergusonjr.com/
7. Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (G.R.A.C.E.)
8. Boz’s (Billy Graham’s grandson who is a former sex crimes prosecutor and is the founder of GRACE, above) and his articles.
9. Church Mutual, the largest insurer of churches in the U.S. on sexual abuse in the church and its prevention
10. Top 5 reasons that churches get sued every year from attorney Richard Hammer at Church Law & Tax. The Sexual Abuse of Minors is the No. 1 reason that churches are sued every single year and have been for years according to Mr. Hammer (who studies 12,000 lawsuits a year against churches).
There is an EPIDEMIC of child sexual abuse in the conservative evangelical church that rivals or exceeds that of the Catholic Church according to insurance companies and attorneys. The Catholic Church has been sued for decades, faced arrests, prosecutions, and convictions and has had to *change its ways*.
11. Here is good news (August 2015) for Idaho’s child sexual abuse victims from the Idaho Supreme Court which has permitted victims to sue organizations where they got sexually abused.
12. I hope that the FBI can get involved in the Sitler case, since he has sexually abused children in multiple states. The feds would be much tougher than Idaho.
By the way, for anyone in an abusive church who is reading this you can also look up “spiritual abuse” on the internet and find very good blogs that help people and books too. If you go to a major online bookseller and use the search term “spiritual abuse” there are very good books on that topic as well.
Another excellent post! Thank you. May I offer one suggestion? Charles Manson never physically murdered anyone. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and murder under the CA joint-responsibility rule. He is also generally considered, by the public, to be stark raving insane.
Sitler committed these horrible crimes. He is not insane. He knew what he was doing when he molested child after child after child. Maybe Dennis Rader the BTK (Bind Torture Kill) serial murderer might be a more appropriate comparison. Rader was a college graduate who was married. He was a regular church goer and was even elected president of his local church council. He meticulously and methodically stalked his victims prior to torturing and killing them. Sitler is not a murderer, but in terms of making comparisons I think it may be more appropriate to pick someone who is not insane, knew what he was doing, personally committed a series of crimes and used the church as a cover so people would not suspect him of sinister and abominable behavior. Some criminals use churches for this very purpose.
Thank you for the correction and the excellent suggestion.
@Jen: Look at this link. Wilson defines what true repentance would look like for the BTK killer. And if we apply that standard to Sitler, then Sitler did not repent and should be excommunicated. Now look at the date of the post. Wilson wrote it about a week before he learned about Sitler.
OMG! What is the probability of that? I originally started to write about Ted Bundy because he had more paraphilias, but changed to BTK because of the church issue. I don’t want to overact, but it seems that Wilson just doesn’t get it. Dennis Rader acted with supreme premeditation. He hunted his victims down in the most predacious manner all while attending church and presiding as president of his church council. He is the ultimate wolf in sheep’s clothing. Rader, despite being a depraved sadist that killed animals for fun between human killings, took a wife, had two children and attended church to both mock these institutions and to use them as beards to deflect suspicion and better conceal his horrible crimes. He did this because it works. People were not really that surprised about Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer. They were agnostic/atheist loners. Rader’s arrest shocked the community precisely because of the deliberate misdirection.
Pedophiles use the church as hunting grounds because they are ensured a nearly limitless supply of trusting and forgiving people. The one person who must understand this is the shepherd who has a responsibility to the flock as a whole and an extra responsibility to the most vulnerable of the flock, which are the children, the disabled and the elderly. Their safety and well-being must always come first before accommodating a young, single, able-bodied reportedly saved pedophile.
We know for a fact that Dennis Rader was a wholly unrepentant man because of the extraordinary circumstances of the crimes. When he pled guilty he calmly described the crimes in grisly detail and made NO apology. Rader’s lack of remorse was very well publicized so it is likely Wilson understood that at the time he wrote that blog post. Had Wilson been defending Dahmer, his argument would have been more valid. I saw a documentary about the Prison Chaplain who baptized Dahmer shortly before his death. He took a lot of grief but explained that Dahmer had never had any religious training and really didn’t know Jesus or anything about Jesus. He also said that Dahmer felt horrible about his crimes and he wanted to die for them. I also think that Dahmer was seriously mentally ill while Rader was thoroughly evaluated and found to be perfectly sane – just hideously evil.
I realize pastors don’t want to admit that there are some sons of perdition out there. But there are. And as shepherds they need to commend the care of those tormented souls to people with expertise and added layers of protection for dealing with this. If Sitler seeks community, let him find it in a prison ministry where no children are allowed. Or let him attend the sex addicts portion of a Celebrate Recovery service. Those guys understand what depraved sin and, more importantly, what hard core manipulation looks like. I don’t have words to describe how out of touch a man is that thinks there is something safe and redeemable in a man who uses the holy church to help conceal the most heinous crimes imaginable. Wolves are not sheep. They cannot morph into a different species. The Presbyterian Church got this one right.
One thing I appreciate about this summary is referring to Wilson as “Mr. ” not “Rev.”
No one, including Wilson himself, seems to be able and willing to state who, where, and when Wilson was ordained as a pastor.
I’ll bet a Franklin he never was. His entire “ministry” is a fraud from the get-go.
He is not ordained. No one has ever laid hands on him. He is self-appointed.