Pedophilia has no religion

By Vicki Polin
Rocky Mountain News
Wednesday, March 5, 2008


RE: Targeting the church By Vincent Carroll


I find it outrageous that the Catholic church has been attempting to take away potential civil rights of every adult survivor of child sexual abuse. We all need to remember that the problem of sexual predators is NOT limited to those who are Catholic. Pedophilia has no religion. There are child molesters within every ethnic and community group — religious and non-religious.


What I find interesting is the fact that with all the interest groups out there, the only opponent of this bill is the Catholic Church. Do they really believe that opposing this bill will help their image and assets? Their actions make me wonder what else they are hiding. If the church really wanted to correct their image the only solution is through transparency.


With the passage of HB 1011, survivors of child sexual abuse will finally have the opportunity to have their day in court. This bill would make those who commit sex crimes against children and those who cover up the crimes to be held accountable for their actions. This also means that alleged sex offenders will be exposed — meaning they will no longer be able to continue on with their molesting careers. Each time this happens it means one less child will be come the next victim of a sex crime.

I personally feel it is cruel and unusual punishment to even considering placing a statutes of limitations on filing civil suit in cases involving survivors of childhood sexual abuse. There are many reasons why I say this. One major reason is that it takes most survivors many years to be in a place where they are ready and willing to enter into counseling and begin to deal with the horror of their childhood.


Vicki Polin, MA, NCC, LCPC, ATR-BC Founder, Executive Director -The Awareness Center, Inc.
(the international Jewish Coalition Against Sex