Places of religion, such as temples, churches, synagogues or mosques, are normally considered a safe haven for people - somewhere to confide in to a nonjudgmental being. In recent years, secrets have been slowly spilling out of the cracks from these places, allowing the public to hear about confidential information. Some of this confidential knowledge revolves around the leaders of these places of worship. Recently, an Indiana church pastor, David James Brown, was caught by the local Jefferson police for looking for sex with underage children. These acts raise a serious question: how safe are churches and those who are running them to their young attendees and the public?

For many years, sex scandals have been common in Catholic churches throughout the nation. The morality of those who run the churches put into question due to the fact they continue to do these acts, victim after victim. Priests, some of the people who children are taught to trust, are not only breaking those values but committing acts that would be the most sinful in the eyes of the deity they devoted their life to.

Even though there have been movies, press coverage, and many other ways of bringing attention to this epidemic of priests abusing their power, the churches continue to protect their abusers.

“There is no incentive for them [the leaders of the church] to reform. It’s not even in their self-interest to reform," David Clohessy, the director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) stated.

Church leaders often remain in their positions of power and influence, only furthering the problem. Although, the Vatican provided figures, that from 2011 to 2012, around 400 priests were unfrocked. This small number does not help the many victims who are afraid to come forward, knowing that it may be past their Statute of Limitation.

In addition, these unlawful acts are starting to be seen as both a crisis and an epidemic. Brown, the Indiana priest, ended up going to Georgia for reasons that are unknown, then he committed suicide. Only a small group of priests are serving time for their crimes, while other priests who committed these crimes are living their day-to-day lives unpunished. It is often forgotten, that no one is above the law, if you commit a crime like this you will pay for doing these acts.