#156 (11/28) - A Christian Look At the Penn State Scandal

by Steve Rempe| November 11, 2011 - http://www.prisonfellowship.org/blog/entry/6/15553
"Lessons from State College"

By now, everyone is no doubt aware of the horrific events surrounding Penn State University and former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Over a period of at least two decades, Sandusky is alleged to have sexually assaulted a number of young boys on the Penn State campus while serving as a mentor for underprivileged children through his Second Mile organization. University employees and officials, from janitors up to the president of the university, have been found through their inaction (or at least insufficient action) to have been complicit in the propagation of these unspeakable acts. In the wake of a federal instigation into the charges, a number of prominent university officials have been fired, including Penn State’s legendary football coach of 45 years, Joe Paterno.

That something very evil has taken place in this instance is beyond debate, and condemnations for those involved have come fast and furious. While most, if not all, of those denunciations are wholly justified, we do ourselves a disservice if we are content with assigning blame, and don’t take the opportunity to reflect upon what happened in State College and apply it personally. There are lessons to be learned here for all of us, and learning them well might help to prevent situations that arise in our own lives.

Lesson #1: Wishing Something Will Go Away Won’t Make it Happen. As a general rule, human beings dislike conflict, and will go out of their way to avoid it. And when that conflict is with someone we genuinely like, admire, or look up to, the desire to flee from the situation can become oppressive.

Surely, this was some of what Paterno was feeling when confronted with an eyewitness account of a rape of a young boy by Sandusky – a man who had worked closely with Paterno for 32 years as a key member of his football staff. This can’t be true! I can’t believe it! It is easy to conclude that Paterno chose to get the disturbing image out of his mind as soon as possible by passing the message to his superiors, then committing to never thinking about it again.

Unfortunately, this also seemed to be the same response of everyone involved—from the janitors witnessing a previous assault, to the graduate assistant who – after witnessing Sandusky assaulting a young boy (yet failing to stop it) – informed Paterno of the event a day after it occurred, to the school officials who buried news of the event for fear of bringing disrepute to the school. No one involved was willing to act decisively to end the abuse, and as a result, the despicable acts were allowed to continue, as those in power chose to put them out of their mind.

Alas, the victims of the assaults did not have “putting it out of their mind” as an option.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” The quote, usually attributed to philosopher Edmund Burke, seems particularly a propos in this instance. Joe Paterno had built a reputation over four decades of being an honorable leader of men. Yet, by failing to act on behalf of those who suffered in this instance, evil was allowed to triumph, and a lifetime of service is forever clouded by a severe lack of moral action.

We all would like to believe that in similar circumstances, we would have acted more decisively, but candidly, we can also probably think of moments where we failed to stand against injustice and cruelty, favoring our own comfort and safety to that of others. In my own life, I have allowed evil to triumph far too often. Perhaps not on this level, but significantly, allowing others to suffer unnecessarily. May God grant us the strength to act according to his will when called, and not rely on others to act properly in our stead.

Lesson #2: “There but for the Grace of God Go I.” Along with the understandable outrage that has continues to be expressed over the actions and inactions in this case, there exists a certain undercurrent of righteous indignation – a feeling that those involved are beneath contempt and beyond understanding.

I would submit that if we don’t see at least a little of ourselves in one or more of the parties involved, we aren’t being completely honest with ourselves. The root of the sins committed in State College – selfishness, pride, arrogance – is very much present in all of us. When we turn Paul’s encouragement to the church in Phillipi to “consider others more significant than ourselves” on its head, looking first to our own interests, we open the door to all sorts of malfeasance.

Sin tends to gather compound interest – one lie begets another, one dirty deed to cover up the one before. Soon, we are trapped in a web of our own making, unable to undo what has been done, and unwilling to admit our transgressions.

History is replete with individuals who, in seeking to maintain their own power, position, or reputation, sacrificed their moral principles. Perhaps a small sacrifice, but one that ultimately led to another, and then another. We fool only ourselves if we think we are exempt from such temptation – we share the same sinful, depraved nature as all the principals in this tragic story. That we have not failed to stop such evil as evidenced in this case is wholly attributable to God’s protection and mercy – not any kind of moral superiority on our part.

This is not to in any way excuse the actions of Sandusky, Paterno, university president Graham Spanier, or anyone else. Insofar as they are guilty for the acts done, they are fully deserving of severe punishment. We need to understand, though, that the same law – the law written on our hearts – condemns us, too. Which leads to . . .

Lesson #3: God’s Grace and Redemption Are Available to All. Christians are comforted by the knowledge that God offers us forgiveness, unwarranted and unearned by our own personal pieties. Less comfortable is the understanding that such forgiveness is extended to all – even those who have committed atrocities like the ones on display in this instance.

Truth be known, despite all our doctrinal confessions to the contrary, we Christians like to think that – perhaps even on the tiniest of scales – we have earned at least part of our justification through right living. However, God does not grade on such a sliding scale. The standard is Jesus. We either stand with Him as perfect, or with the rest of humanity as something less. There are no intermediate stages.

Thankfully, God is generous with His grace. To the victims of abuse, He offers healing, peace, and restoration. To those who failed to stop sin from occurring, He offers absolution. And even to those who have committed the evilest and vilest of acts, God offers forgiveness and mercy. To deny this to anyone would be to deny it to everyone.

It is because of this unmerited grace that Prison Fellowship exists – to proclaim the Good News of God’s forgiveness to those who need it. (That would be all of us.) We proclaim the justifying act of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, and rejoice in the changed lives that come through sanctification by the Holy Spirit. Prison Fellowship succeeds because prisoners are acutely aware of their need for mercy in a way that many of the rest of us are not. But the truth is, we are all enslaved by sin and in need of God's justification.

Again, this is not to absolve the guilty from punishment. God has ordained human authorities to establish rules of conduct and appropriate punishments when those rules are broken. The dismissals of Paterno, Spanier, and others seem wholly appropriate in this instance. Should Sandusky be convicted of the charges against him, he is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison, which would also seem entirely fitting. (Perhaps not completely sufficient, but fitting nonetheless.) But praise God that his mercy endures forever, and extends beyond what we as mere mortals would be willing or able to offer.

As this abysmally dark chapter closes, it is vitally important that we not forget what happened in State College. It should serve as a reminder of what we must do to prevent future abuses from occurring. It should also remind us what God has done on our behalf because of what we couldn’t do. [bold and italics emphasis mine]

RELATED ARTICLE

Should Joe Paterno Have Been Fired? - November 18, 2011 - by Chip Wood; Personal Liberty Digest -
http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/should-joe-paterno-have-been-fired/?eiid=&rmid=2011_11_18_PLA_[P11666179]&rrid=394974641

Comstock Christian, of Erie, Penn., gets her photo taken with the Joe Paterno statue on the Penn State campus in State College, Penn., on Nov. 10. The 84-year-old Paterno, who coached the Nittany Lions for 46 years, was fired on Nov. 9 for not doing enough to report allegations of sexual abuse by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.If you read the grand jury report, you would probably say hanging would be too good for Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno’s longtime assistant football coach at Penn State. I suspect you would want him drawn and quartered, with salt poured over the body parts.

The thought of a trusted adult taking advantage of his position to sexually molest young boys is absolutely sickening. The grand jury report said that Sandusky abused at least eight boys over a 15-year period. Since the scandal erupted, more young men have accused the former coach of equally heinous behavior.

If the news reports are to be believed, Sandusky was a serial pedophile whose perversions were known to head coach Paterno and his staff, as well as top university officials. There had even been some sort of investigation back in 1998. Yet nothing was done to stop him.

Can there be any possible excuse for such willful blindness on the part of so many supposedly responsible people?

Yet several things about this whole horrible story give me pause. First, whatever happened to the presumption of innocence? Isn’t one of the bedrock principles of our justice system that you’re innocent until proven guilty?

Try telling that to Sandusky or to all of the people who have been affected by this terrible story, including the students, coaches, players, alumni, teachers and administrators at Penn State.

As I write this, Sandusky maintains he is innocent. He has admitted to nothing more than “horsing around” with the boys. “I enjoy being around children,” he explained. “I enjoy their enthusiasm. I just have a good time with them.” Finally, reluctantly, he admitted, “I shouldn’t have showered with those kids.”

Sandusky no doubt will get his day in court. He will have an opportunity to face his accusers, present a defense and learn his fate from a jury of his peers. Of course, it will be too late to salvage his reputation, restore his career or protect the foundation he founded.

But what about Paterno? If “innocent until proven guilty” were true, he would still have his job. Hundreds of college students (who clearly have their priorities screwed up) wouldn’t have gone on a rampage when he was fired.

Please note that these young people — among the best and brightest in the country, from some of our finest families — weren’t furious because a longtime assistant coach at Penn State had repeatedly raped little boys. They weren’t indignant because all of the proper authorities, including Paterno, had behaved in a very improper manner. No, they didn’t take to the streets to protect the innocent or to protest on the children’s behalf. They were behaving like spoiled brats because their football coach had been canned.

Sure, I feel sorry for JoePa, as he is affectionately known. One of the most amazing athletic records of all time will be sullied forever. This is a guy who spent 62 years of his life doing the one thing he wanted most to do: coach football at Penn State. Since becoming head coach 46 years ago, his teams won a record 409 victories, including two national championships and all five major bowl games: Rose, Orange, Cotton, Sugar and Fiesta. He was the first college football coach named “Sportsman of the Year” by Sports Illustrated magazine. Four years ago, at the age of 80, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Now, the Big Ten has announced that his name will be removed from its championship football trophy. There will be no more Paterno Championship Trophy. Effective immediately, it is the Stagg Championship Trophy. The choice is a bit of a head-scratcher. Do you know Stagg’s full name? And when and where he coached? (The answer: Amos Alonzo Stagg, the University of Chicago, 1892-1932.)

By the way, Nike says it is standing by Paterno and has no plans to rename the building it named in his honor at its Beaverton, Ore., headquarters. But I’ll bet Nike executives wish they had chosen something other than the Joe Paterno Child Development Center to salute him.

There have been a ton of suggestions about what should happen next. Two of the craziest appeared in a column by Joe Nocera in The New York Times. One of Nocera’s ideas was that Penn State should show how sorry it is for what happened by canceling all of next season’s football games. How would that help anyone? And Nocera wants Penn State to take all the money it makes from football (about $50 million a year) and use it to create a compensation fund for anyone who was hurt by Sandusky’s abusive behavior. The claimants would line up for miles. I shudder to think about the depraved stories some people would concoct — and the media would gladly publicize — to get their hands on some of that loot.

It is ironic that so many officials tried to protect an institution (and a football program) they say they loved by ignoring a pedophile in their midst. Their willful blindness (and, some allege, deliberate perjury) got their college president and revered football coach fired. How much worse will the damage be? Only time will tell.

Did Paterno deserve to be fired? Yes. As the man himself said, “I wish I had done more.” I wish he had, too...

[bold and italics emphasis mine]