Taiwan Church News
3478 Edition
October 22 – 28, 2018
Church Ministry

Taiwan Seminar Urging Filing Lawsuit To Help #ChurchToo Survivor

Reported by Lin Yi-yin

Following the #MeToo movement became virally from last year, a related yet more contentious #ChurchToo movement targeting to expose the sexual harassment and sexual assault cases within the church also started to be concerned by some church groups and civil rights activists.

A seminar, entitled as “Speak Out The Truth Of Sexual Violence Within The Church”, is therefore held at Chi-Nan Presbyterian Church on October 22. Most speakers, invited to deliver their thoughts, agree that the church is too conservative and even reluctant to deal these sexual crimes and harassment occurred at their surroundings. The passive attitude of the church to fight against those sexual scandals brings people further away from the values of faith and trust, the speakers say.

Ms Chi Hui-jung, CEO of the Garden of Hope Charity Foundation, questions why in the past years there is almost zero sexual harassment case reported from the church while there are annually more than 8,000 cases of sexual abuses reported in Taiwan.

Instead of asking the sexual predator in the church to apologize publicly or filing a legal lawsuit, the church leaders are used to forcing the survivors to consider the church’s reputation, keep silent or accept a private apology with financial compensation, according to Ms Chi.

To eliminate the tragedies of sexual abuse case repeatedly occurred within the church, the speakers participated in the seminar suggest that, once there is sexual harassment happened, people should not allow this event to be covered up and swept under the rug. The church should seek help or consultancy from professional social welfare institute, or alternatively call the police, preserve the crime evidence and file the lawsuit when the more serious sexual assault is unfortunately happened.

Translated by Peter Wolfe