If you’re a veteran of the site, you know that child abusers run rampant in religious communities. Here is yet another example in South Carolina. Pawley’s Island Community Church in Georgetown has come under fire when parents discovered that one of their volunteers was a registered sex offender. The parish had failed to notify parents, who are now livid at the fact that their children were so dangerously close to the predator.

Like most churches, this is not the first time that they were caught in the wrong:

Court records show the church was the subject of a civil lawsuit nearly 20 years ago that alleged leaders ignored warning signs about a former youth director, Kenneth “Tripp” Atkinson, who was later accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.

Part of the problem is that religious folks have way too much faith in the power of the Bible and their God. They believe that immoral behavior can be fought using the pointless incantations and benediction that they think is given to them by a higher authority. They believe that a few prayers and church service is enough to stop patterns of abuse that are deeply embedded in disturbed individuals. The need to redeem the unredeemable is considered more important than the safety of children.

So long as people put their trust in these types of institution, these kinds of preventable tragedies will continue to occur.