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Rick Warren says he's "angry and disgusted" about Robert Morris' abuse of a girl which started when she was just 12 years old.
In mid-June Morris, who is a well-known megachurch pastor in Texas, confessed that he was involved "in inappropriate sexual behaviour with a young lady" in the 1980s while he was in his twenties and married. Morris stressed that there was no sexual intercourse involved, however, he failed to mention that the "young lady" was, in fact, a 12-year-old girl when the abuse started.
The victim, Cindy Clemishire, now a 54-year-old grandmother, shared details of what happened with the Wartburg Watch. Clemishire explained that the first incident occurred on Christmas day in 1982 and sporadically continued when Morris stayed with the family for four more years.
"I’m angry and disgusted to hear of Robert Morris’ sexual abuse of a child and heartbroken for Cindy Clemishire," Warren recently wrote on X.
"To sexually use a 12-year-old child, then continue it for years, is not merely an 'inappropriate relationship.' It’s a crime. Sexual child abuse is an evil punishable by law. One can’t just confess when caught and move on with no consequences."
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The Church in North America has seen several scandals over recent years involving well-known preachers and evangelists and allegations of sexual abuse. Warren says that stronger action is needed from the Church when confronting these scandals, and points to Scripture.
Morris resigned from Gateway Church in Southlake, Tex., on June 18, and the church accepted his resignation. Warren believes that accepting his resignation instead of firing Morris was a failure on the church's part. "For the integrity of Christ’s Body, God insists 'Expel the wicked person out of your church' (1 Cor. 5:13). Perpetrators are to be publicly fired, not allowed to resign," Warren says in the post.
"Child abuse STILL enrages Jesus: 'If anyone offends one of these little ones, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and drowned in the sea' (Matt.18:6). Until the Church realizes the soul-destroying trauma of sexual abuse, the pattern will continue."
Warren says that his wife, Kay, "still remembers the horror of being molested in church as a little girl (Prov. 31:8)."