That same day when Jesus was condemned to die, Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies. - Luke 23:12
This weekend football begins again at Penn State University. In an offseason unlike any other, their legendary coach, Joe Paterno, was fired and subsequently passed away. A former assistant was convicted of horrible crimes of abuse against children and will justifiably spend the rest of his life in prison. Finally, their football program and school were turned upside down by the crimes themselves and the harsh penalties imposed by the NCAA.
Following this story in the news for the past year, there was a familiar problem, one that is examplified by the first paragraph of this blog. The story totally centered around Joe Paterno, Penn State football and what the NCAA did to punish them. Jerry Sandusky abused and violated nearly 20 known victims over a long period of time. Yet Sandusky and his victims have been pushed out of the limelight. In addition, almost nothing has been said about how Penn State or other major football programs or any university will or can do to work to prevent child abuse on their campuses. All the attention, all the hatred, all the righteous indignation is directed at Penn State and Paterno. They were scapegoats for the media and because of the attention they received, nothing was really done to protect children at Penn State or any other major university and a great opportunity was missed for us to have a real discussion about how to best prevent sexual abuse. This is why scapgoating doesn't work.
Scaptegoating draws all our energy away from the sin, from the broken world which we live in and places all of it on one person, one "sinner." It allows us to beat up on someone so we feel better about ourselves but prevents us from actually dealing with the real sinful issues facing the community and the world. Jesus was a scape goat for Pilate, for Herod, and for the Jewish leadership. His crucifixtion quieted rebels, reinforced Rome's authority and for awhile kept the peace in the temple and city. However, it did not address the underlying problems of Rome's oppression, the illegitimacy of Herod and other rulers and most importantly did not address the broken relationship between God and God's people. So then, it is perhaps no surprise, that God rejects this act of scapegoating in the most radical way: by raising Jesus from the dead. God will not allow the innocent savior to remain slain, nor will God allow his people to ignore their own sinfulness by using a scapegoat to blame their collective evil on.
Now Paterno and other Penn State leaders are not inoccent. They certainly deserve their share of blame and they deserve punishment what they did and failed to do. But we cannot pretend that by keeping them out of bowl games or tearing down the legacy of one famous coach we will solve the issue of child abuse on college campus. We need to avoid this worthless habit of scapegoating and instead look with hearts of justice and grace and ask some serious quetsions.
How do we care for the victims? How do we justly deal with the offenders? How do we rethink our power structures in college football programs and universities so that a coach or administrator cannot perpetrate or cover up abuses like these? How do each of us as Chrsitian work in our own communities so that children are protected and no one has to suffer the pain and humilation of being violated by those in power? When we ask those questions about caring for the powerless, seeking justice and preventing future suffering, then we really start to make a difference in the world and truly help do the work of the kingdom of God. So don't think poorly of Penn State and their players, they have been and will be punished as needed. Instead look around your own home, your own school and your own church and see what you can do to make them safer places for all of God's children.
P.S: If you are interested in ways you can help prevent child abuse in an a church or school or even how you can help protect your own kids, check out: http://catawbacountycac.org/site/ . This isa local organization dedicated to training parents and leaders and preventing abuse before it ever happens.
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