The Robert Morris Abuse Scandal Exposes the Idolatry of Ministry

What if, when he had been credibly accused of molesting a 12-year-old girl, he had just ... left the church?

Last week, a woman named Cindy Clemshire came forward with allegations that Texas megachurch pastor Robert Morris began molesting her when she was 12 years old. According to her account, in 1982, Morris, then a newly married 20-year-old, began staying at the Clemshire house on trips to guest preach at their church. He would abuse her on these visits, and it persisted on and off for four years.

Image: Jametlene ReskpUnsplash

According to Clemshire, when she told her parents what was happening, her father angrily confronted him and urged him to leave ministry. Instead, Morris was asked to step down from his church position for two years so that he could begin a restoration process and receive “counseling and freedom ministry.” In a statement this weekend, Morris described what happened as “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady.” An official church statement described the molestation as a “moral failure” and a “35-year-old matter.”

After Morris returned to ministry, he eventually…