David Samarzia Author and Advocate
So many sex-abuse scandals have surfaced, and countless stories have been written about them.
This one is different.
BLINDSIDED: A MEMOIR OF LOVE, LOSS, AND LEGAL ABUSE
After twenty-five years of confusion and silent self-blame, David Samarzia discovered that children were being sent on a church-sponsored mission trip to the pastor who’d abused him in childhood. He had to find the courage
to tell the church. He had to save the kids—how many lives might be lost
if he didn’t? No other child should have to live hiding in shame,
or even try to commit suicide.
With their new sex-abuse policy in hand, David told local church leaders what their minister had done. He didn’t ask them for a dime—just keep that pedophile away from children. In a bewildering turn of events that made national news before spreading around the globe, Lutheran officials and their lawyers defended a self-admitted child molester
and went after David instead.
He had trusted his pastor. Trusted his church. Trusted the "system." But none of them were acting in accordance to the values he’d learned from his loving parents. If the church and the law wouldn’t protect kids, he had to do it.
As written up in Newsweek, The London Times, Christianity Today, and WORLD magazine, and seen on KBJR-TV
David:
“I never would have initiated a lawsuit, and the healing for ALL the molester's victims could have started a whole lot sooner—IF the church hadn’t gotten lawyers involved. Countless frivolous motions and appeals were filed to wear me down and shut me up. This tactic has a name: Legal Abuse. Most people believe we have safeguards in place, so things like this can’t happen. But it can and does. The justice system ought to be a shield for those who are already hurting. Instead, it’s too often weaponized against victims to protect abusers and the institutions that shield them. Understanding how widespread this problem is, is the first step toward working together to solve it.”
“This book clearly shows the painful legal process and
how it can create a secondary victimization. I’m sure
it will be very helpful to readers, victims, their families,
lawyers, the media, clergy, and therapists.”
Dr. Mic Hunter, specialist in male sexual abuse and author
of Abused Boys: The Neglected Victims of Sexual Abuse
and Honor Betrayed: Sexual Abuse in America’s Military