We have written in past weekly articles about the difficult balance that churches face when it comes to safety for the congregation and having convicted sex offenders attend your church.

This issue of registered sex offenders in the United States population is not going to go away. In fact as our criminal investigation methods get better, victim rights become clearer, and the laws get tougher, we are seeing an increase in their numbers.

Depending what source you use, the estimated number of convicted sex offenders in the U.S. is approximately 704,777 (www.missingkids.com); this is up from about 500,000 in 2003 (www.nationalalertregistry.com).

And once released, many of these convicted offenders are going to attend church.

Over the years there have been a number of court challenges over the restrictions that a state places on registered sex offenders and their rights to attend church or other religious functions. This stems from the fact that many states have ordered sex offenders to stay away from places where children are present for day-care or other activities.

However the problem is that most churches have children's day-care, Sunday school, Awana, or other children events. A registered sex offender, who wishes to attend church, is most likely violating the terms of their release by being present where children are present.

So to break it down, there are three "challenges" with having a registered sex offender attend your church.

The first is the state's problem; can the state violate a person's First Amendment right to freedom to practice religion by ordering them to stay out of churches?

Although this is going to depend on the individual state (because each law's regarding registered sex offenders is different), there have been lawsuits already brought against some states, by the registered sex offenders, claiming violation of the First Amendment.

Take a look at some of the actions that have been taken in recent years:

"Sex Offenders Sue in Georgia for Right to Volunteer in Churches"
Atlanta, GA/By Blane Bachelor/FOX NEWS/June 27, 2008

"Should Sex Offenders Be Barred from Church?"
By BONNIE ROCHMAN/Time Magazine/Oct. 14, 2009

"Sex offenders sue over city's restrictions"
Indianapolis, IN/By Items compiled from Tribune news services/June 01, 2006

"Judge overturns part of state sex offender law"
Pittsboro, NC/by WRAL.COM/December 17, 2009

The results have been mixed but in several states the sex offenders have won their lawsuits resulting in either a change in laws, allowing them to attend church, or the courts ruling there is a violation of the First Amendment, forcing the state not enforce their restrictions.

Today, some 36 states have established where sex offenders are banned; most include churches. So you can probably expect more lawsuits regarding violation of First Amendment rights.

The second challenge is that of the church; do you allow convicted sex offenders to attend your church?

As a private property owner you probably have the right to deny anyone to come onto your property, but it isn't that easy for several reasons. The first is the basic Christian principle in forgiveness and redemption. By not allowing the sex offender to attend your church are you making the statement that you believe people cannot be changed by the Grace of God? This is definitely a "double-edged sword" for the Christian church.

We have spoken before about the high rate of repeat offenses that sex offenders have; some five times greater than your average criminal. So do you take a chance with your church's children? No matter how strictly you monitor someone you can't watch them all the time. The case just this January of a male church worker molesting an 11-year-old girl in a church is a prime example. In this case it doesn't appear that the church did a background check on the offender (and he was a registered convicted sex offender).

So aside from the protection of the congregation and the Christian principle of forgiveness, there may be some constitutional challenges also if you try to ban a convicted sex offender from attending your church. Our rights under the Constitution are valued very highly, as they should be, so there may be a violation of First Amendment rights by the church if it bans a convicted sex offender from attending.

Although we do not know of any cases where this has happened yet, the above cited cases of sex offenders suing, and winning, against the states is already proof enough that the courts take this protection of the First Amendment rights very seriously, even for convicted sex offenders.

The third challenge is what do you do when you make the decision to let the convicted sex offender attend and worship in your church?

Church's reaction to this ranges from doing nothing, to having staff and/or volunteers follow the person around, to directly confronting the individual; but again, you are trying to balance Christian principles of being inviting and welcoming to all and protection of the church.

Our advice in the past has been to directly speak with the individual. They know they are a convicted sex offender and they know all the concerns that go along with their conviction. So we believe by speaking with them, setting up "rules", and coming to some type of understanding is important.

But recently we became aware of a CSN Subscriber church that has come up with a unique and Christian approach to this issue and we will share it with you next week.

In Christ,
Jeff Hawkins
Executive Director