Sad. Really liked his music and was a big part of my formative years. Prayers for the victim.

From Christian Post: Well-known contemporary Christian music singer and songwriter Chris Rice is now facing "credible" allegations of sexually assaulting a former male student, Tates Creek Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, announced Thursday.

Robert H. Cunningham, the church's senior pastor, said the allegations against Rice, who is known for hits such as "Smile," comes in the wake of a 2019 investigation of one of their former pastors, Brad Waller, that proved he had abused "multiple students in our youth ministry."

Although Rice was not an employee of the church, he was close friends with Waller and had been hired on multiple occasions between 1995 and 2003 "to lead worship at our youth and college retreats," Cunningham said. Through this arrangement, Rice was able to develop close relationships with "multiple students" and one of those students recently came forward with abuse allegations.

"Last week, one of those male students called to inform me of allegations that Mr. Rice had sexually assaulted him on multiple occasions. While these remain allegations at this point, we are treating them as credible because of the source of the allegations and corroborating evidence we have discovered," Cunningham said in a statement on the church's website.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/chris-rice-christian-singer-faces-allegations-of-abuse.html

Clergy are trusted individuals who have access. its' not unlike being a sports coach.

You might see it more in the news because religion is a lightning rod topic for news outlets.

Is that just your policy or the church's policy? That should be mandated by the church, if it isn't.

Any updates on this sad story?

Did Chris Rice make a statement? I couldn't find anything..

Wow. First I'm hearing of this. Very sad.

Any news yet? Has Chris Rice said anything?!

He locked down all his social media as soon as it happened and I havent seen any further statements by any party.

Pro Sandy said:

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He locked down all his social media as soon as it happened and I havent seen any further statements by any party.

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Feels like that is his answer.. didn't even try to defend himself

Only article I've seen since the allegations were announced. Doesn't go into details about what they found, but more about how the church handled it.

https://byfaithonline.com/righteousness-over-reputation/

so is he still in jail? did he admit it?

Is it higher or are people more willing to discussing it openly. Maybe in the past it was considered too taboo, and/or embarrassing to say anything.

dermdoc said:

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So sad. Is it just me or is the amount of sexual abuse/harassment higher in clergy of all denominations?

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I have a theory, and I'm a nonbeliever so take it for what it's worth.

This is not meant as a cheap shot at religion, but I do think there is cause and effect to the suppression of something natural like human sexuality. Sexuality is as natural as breathing air, but it's been treated as dirty and taboo for hundreds of years by religion so I think it causes some folks great difficulty in how it is expressed (or not expressed, for that matter).

And as a by-product, I think there are some people that run towards religion to help them 'chase away demons', so to speak. There are some folks that, for whatever reason, have a difficult time dealing with sexuality and what it all means, and they run to the church hoping that will 'cure' them.

Macarthur said:

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dermdoc said:

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So sad. Is it just me or is the amount of sexual abuse/harassment higher in clergy of all denominations?

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I have a theory, and I'm a nonbeliever so take it for what it's worth.

This is not meant as a cheap shot at religion, but I do think there is cause and effect to the suppression of something natural like human sexuality. Sexuality is as natural as breathing air, but it's been treated as dirty and taboo for hundreds of years by religion so I think it causes some folks great difficulty in how it is expressed (or not expressed, for that matter).

And as a by-product, I think there are some people that run towards religion to help them 'chase away demons', so to speak. There are some folks that, for whatever reason, have a difficult time dealing with sexuality and what it all means, and they run to the church hoping that will 'cure' them.

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1) a nonbeliever with the name of one of the great evangelical preachers of our time - John MacArthur!!! oh man - if you don't know who he is, be sure to YouTube him.

2) the church has a bad rap on sex that is their own fault and the general media's fault. Sex is great and God created it - but there are boundaries that Christianity established.

3) Your by-product comment - you have a point and some have used 'religion' in this way. sad deal.

but thank your for your perspective

dermdoc said:

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So sad. Is it just me or is the amount of sexual abuse/harassment higher in clergy of all denominations?

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This is typical reaction by a Protestant to when a Protestant person is found to have acted in this manner.

If he were Roman Catholic it would have been a damnation of the entire Roman Catholic faith in the mind of a Protestant.

CrackerJackAg said:

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dermdoc said:

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So sad. Is it just me or is the amount of sexual abuse/harassment higher in clergy of all denominations?

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This is typical reaction by a Protestant to when a Protestant person is found to have acted in this manner.

If he were Roman Catholic it would have been a damnation of the entire Roman Catholic faith in the mind of a Protestant.

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Not this Protestant.

Not you in particular. Just in general.

Macarthur said:

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dermdoc said:

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So sad. Is it just me or is the amount of sexual abuse/harassment higher in clergy of all denominations?

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I have a theory, and I'm a nonbeliever so take it for what it's worth.

This is not meant as a cheap shot at religion, but I do think there is cause and effect to the suppression of something natural like human sexuality. Sexuality is as natural as breathing air, but it's been treated as dirty and taboo for hundreds of years by religion so I think it causes some folks great difficulty in how it is expressed (or not expressed, for that matter).

And as a by-product, I think there are some people that run towards religion to help them 'chase away demons', so to speak. There are some folks that, for whatever reason, have a difficult time dealing with sexuality and what it all means, and they run to the church hoping that will 'cure' them.

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I'm not sure I agree with this. It really depends on you are claiming as "natural human sexuality?"

Is having sex taboo? No I don't think so.

Is having 3somes or affairs or open marriages taboo? Sure, but I don't consider that to be "natural human sexuality." We also know now that things such as porn are extremely harmful to humans, and frankly it's not even considered taboo anymore..just a normal part of life.

Being married to a single person isn't repressive or anything.

Fair points. I think I'm more referencing the extreme taboo many religious folks take that all sex is dirty and subversive. Should never be discussed. I think that causes great harm to developing people.

Macarthur said:

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Fair points. I think I'm more referencing the extreme taboo many religious folks take that all sex is dirty and subversive. Should never be discussed. I think that causes great harm to developing people.

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As a strong Christian, I completely agree with you 100%

I also think that most Christians agree with you too

There is a repressive perspective coming from the media that pushes extreme versions of Christianity that aren't true - thankfully it's being addressed more directly these days

Macarthur said:

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Fair points. I think I'm more referencing the extreme taboo many religious folks take that all sex is dirty and subversive. Should never be discussed. I think that causes great harm to developing people.

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Maybe?

I'm sure there are certain religious groups that take the stance you mentioned, but likewise, I would suspect there are non-religious who take sex too far and in directions that most of society would be uncomfortable with. So I suspect that on both ends of the spectrum are groups that treat sex in an outlier manner

I suspect that there's a pretty large "middle ground" that's relatively homogenous around religious and non-religious.