Sexual harassment rife in Hong Kong churches, survey suggests
Religious group finds claims of 55 more incidents, half of them allegedly committed by pastors, after firing of church leader who admitted inappropriate behaviour
A survey of Hong Kong Christians has thrown up at least another 55 sexual harassment cases in churches, half of them allegedly committed by pastors or church leaders.
The survey, released on Sunday by the Hong Kong Christian Council, came after pastor Ngai Lap-yin was accused of taking sexual advantage of women with whom he had built paternal relationships.
Between August last year and April, the council received responses to its online survey – which did not ask which church respondents were from – from 55 local church-goers. Of those, 35 claimed to have fallen victim to sexual misdemeanours and 20 said their friends or fellow church members were the victims.
One in five of the reported cases involved rape or attempted rape. Others involved things like unwelcome touching, emails or messages with sexual implications, and unwelcome sexual gestures.
