In the course of 20/20‘s exhaustive investigation last week into abuses and coverups within the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church (IFB), there is some penitence. Well, just a little. But not with Jack Schaap, who was shown excoriating women for being fat and not having any scriptural authority.
Over the course of the five parts, young women describe heartbreaking physical and sexual abuse that they say was covered up by pastors in the church. Tina Anderson was forced to “confess” her “adultery” — in fact, her rape at 15 by an adult man — before the congregation before being banished, pregnant, to Colorado, which her brother says was a tactic to avoid local law enforcement jurisdiction. (Minus points, Elizabeth Vargas, for asking a girl describing being raped at 15, who was already molested by her stepfather, if she “fought back” against her adult rapist. Overall, the segments could do with about 25 percent less schlockiness, but that’s TV news for you.)