Rape

“we have access to the love letters/journals that you wrote”

And last, we have access to the love letters/journals that you wrote that the court reviewed and then sealed. . . . As result of a plea bargain, a jury trial for Jamin was avoided, along with a lot of embarrassment for everybody. Part of that agreement meant burying the story, along with a bunch of the evidence. The reason I have been so concerned about your public airing of your perspective on it is that it is not really possible to dig up just half the story. The rest of it is going to want to come up too. One of the official court documents says about some of the sealed evidence, that ‘those documents contain highly intimate and potentially embarrassing facts or statements, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to reasonable persons’ (5/10/06).
Douglas Wilson

“It means ‘statutory rape’ instead of ‘lewd and lascivious’”

And yet, instead of trumpeting my loyalty to this most reasonable cause, Brightbill drags me into the fray, pretending that I think that a parent-approved courtship in a situation like the one in the case she mentions mitigates anything. It mitigates nothing. ‘Mitigates’ would mean that Crime X becomes, as a result of this mitigation, crime x. Rather, my hostility to this kind of thinking meant that I thought that Crime X was actually Crime Y. It means ‘statutory rape’ instead of ‘lewd and lascivious.’
Douglas Wilson

“if they are asked to respond to a certain question or speak to a certain issue . . . and beyond that, say nothing”

“This brings us to a broader point, one we cannot emphasize enough: A pastor is walking into a minefield, and runs a high risk of causing harm to victims, confusion to the public, and doubt about his own ministry, when he ventures into legal questions, especially in criminal cases. Presuming to raise issues as to whether a defendant is a ‘sexual predator,’ or whether he is properly charged with ‘L and L’ is wading into the deep end where it isn’t prudent for pastors to go. The legal system is its own world, it operates according to its own definitions, and it often uses terms quite differently than ordinary citizens would. Weighing in on whether a defendant is a ‘sexual predator’ or whether he is properly charged with a certain crime is almost certain to cause unintended harm. For example, it can easily suggest to victims, even as it did in both the Wight case and the Sitler case, that the crimes against them are being minimized by the church. And to what end? An opinion from a local pastor will typically be accorded no weight at all by the legal system, especially in a criminal case. Moreover, a criminal defendant will be represented by counsel (even if he cannot afford one). In the Wight case, Wight was represented by competent counsel, fully conversant with the criminal law, who was more than capable of ensuring Wight was appropriately charged. By far the best practice for pastors is to refrain from interjecting themselves into the legal system; if they are asked to respond to a certain question or speak to a certain issue, they should stick to the facts, if any are known to them, and beyond that, say nothing.”
Presiding Ministers’ Report, 9

Tuesday, November 14, 2017 |

“you get more of what you subsidize, and less of what you penalize”

One of the fundamental laws of life, and therefore of business, is that you get more of what you subsidize, and less of what you penalize. In every social context, certain behaviors are rewarded (in some way), and other behaviors are not rewarded. Once the calculus of blessings and curses, rewards and disincentives, is done, you will have less of what you chastised, and more of what you blessed.
Douglas Wilson

@BozT

Wednesday, July 5, 2017 |

“a tacit (implicit, in principle, not overt) acceptance of the propriety of rape”

One consequence of rejecting the protection of good men is that you are opening yourself up to the predations of bad men. I fully acknowledge that this is not what such women think they are doing. They think they are rejecting the patriarchy, or some other icky thing, but when they have walked away from the protections of fathers and brothers, what it amounts to is a tacit (implicit, in principle, not overt) acceptance of the propriety of rape.
Douglas Wilson

“I would want to see that rapist punished to the fullest extent of the law. . . I do not justify rape; she does.”

The theology of a slut walk, however, by its outrageous embrace of slutty dress, behavior, and thought, absolutely and definitively rejects any level of moral responsibility for anything. Now lest I be misunderstood at this point — which I understand has happened before! — let me hasten to add that I am not seeking to minimize or excuse violent sexual behavior, or otherwise absolve rapists in any way. If somebody kidnapped and raped the most outrageous organizer of the worst slut pride event ever, I would want to see that rapist punished to the fullest extent of the law. I am not defending the rapist. I am simply pointing out that his victim was a person who had given herself to organizing events built on a theology that, when applied consistently elsewhere, fully justifies rape. I do not justify rape; she does.
Douglas Wilson

“Sex with a woman who is not consenting is rape”

“Sex with a woman who is not consenting is rape whether it happens on a date or the guy hides in the woods (I would say that sex with a woman who is not your wife is a kind of rape as well, but that’s another issue). In both cases it is violent and in both cases it is a sexual act. We can talk about both of these aspects, but we must never separate them.”
Mike Lawyer

Friday, February 24, 2017 |