Religious leaders keep raping women

THE story of a pastor who was arrested for allegedly raping a congregant sounds a bit like a broken record.

The accused pastor reportedly raped a pregnant member of his flock who had approached him seeking marital advice.

Earlier in the week, we carried a story of a woman who was allegedly raped by a traditional healer who used his manhood to “push herbs into her private parts”.

Stories of prophets, pastors, reverends and other men of the cloth or traditional healers who sexually abuse followers and congregants are sprouting too fast.

Something must be done to bring the issue of sexual abuse by men of the cloth to a close.

Sexual abuse is a heinous and deplorable crime that should be condemned from all angles. The crime becomes worse when committed by people who are in positions of trust or power.

These persons can be teachers, religious leaders, traditional healers or superiors at work.

However, positions of trust and influence go a level deeper when the person is a religious leader.

Many current religious leaders are treated like demi gods, respected even more than parents and or marriage mates and feared more than God Himself.

These people can easily influence people to do anything and using their power and influence to sexually abuse their followers – a sick way to treat people who look up to you – is one of the evil things religion has been used to foster.

Many religious or traditional leaders are taking advantage of their power and influence over people to sexually abuse their followers or clients.

People who do that do not deserve the titles healer, pastor, reverend etc. They are in fact the opposite of what those titles imply. You are not a healer if you destroy women and girls by sexually abusing them. You are no evangelist or man of the cloth when you maim the very people you are supposed to minister to, going against the very dictates of the God you claim to worship.

Too many times now, prophets have duped or abused well-meaning clients using religion to propagate selfish interests.

Plenty of people are using religion and practice in traditional medicine to sexually abuse innocent women and girls.

Throwing such men behind bars is the best way to protect women, children and vulnerable members of our society from crimes like sexual abuse and or rape.

It is shocking that in this era, the number of people committing crimes as barbaric as rape and sexual abuse is actually increasing.

It is shocking that with all the publicity of stories against sexual abuse and lessons that are being made of rapists, there are still people who find rape or sexual abuse as an option.