Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

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THE Catholic Church has long been regarded as a sanctuary for sexual predators, and Germany has outed hundred of abusive priests, leading to a mass exodus of adherents of the faith.

But the RCC far from the only denomination affected by abuse scandals. It was announced yesterday (Monday) that Annette Kurschus, above, head of Germany’s largest national Protestant church federation, the EKD, abruptly resigned both from her national post and as the most senior cleric for the region of Westphalia over abuse.

Kurschus, according to this report, became the third person to quit the post as the EKD’s top theologian. Famously, the first woman ever to hold the role, Margot Kässmann quit in 2010, just months after taking the job. She was caught running a red light while drunk at the wheel of her company car. 

Kurschus’s reason for leaving was apparently due to the loss of public trust in her. Her resignation came in the wake of recent reports of her knowing about alleged sexual abuse by a church employee, something she denied.

In this matter I am at ease with myself. At every moment I acted to the best of my knowledge and my conscience. 

Kurschus said that the decision had not been easy. She said she decided that the loss of trust meant she could no longer help the church’s work dealing with historical cases of sexual abuse. 

The allegations against Kurschus revolve around an investigation into a local vicar in Siegen, a city in western Germany where she used to work. He’s accused of a pattern of sexually inappropriate conduct toward other men over years. 

The local Siegener Zeitung newspaper reported that Kurschus was informed “in detail” about allegations against the man as early as the 1990s, citing two men who they said had submitted evidence under oath on the matter.

However, Kurschus said that she had at first only become aware of the man’s “homosexuality and unfaithfulness in marriage” in early 2023.

Before that I had no knowledge of acts of sexualized violence by this person.

A spokesman for a victim support group, Detlev Zander, had called for Kurschus to quit, saying her evasive comments on the issue were “damaging” for those in the protestant church who were “serious” in their desire to clear up the issue. 

The church set up a special council and study to investigate its past in recent years. 

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