Say what you want....I can't quite get my mind around a 20 year old man being a victim.
I understand your statement as it is one that many people would make. Allow me to challenge your thinking, if you will and if I am able to do so:
My 85 year-old mother-in-law is a resident of a nursing home and lacks the mental capacity to understand and to make certain decisions about her life. If she were to enter into a sexual relationship with a male employee of the nursing home would she be a victim?
I immagine that you would agree with me that she would likely be a victim due to her lack of capacity to understand and make decisions about her life. You would then likely state that the 20 year-old male you referenced has never been claimed to have lacked the mental capacity to give consent. O.K. I am just attepting to illustrate that one can not make an automatic judgement that one is not a victim based upon chronological age.
Professional societies have some very clear rules as to the relationships that are proper for their members and clients. Physicians are not allowed to enter into a sexual relationship with their patients. Counselors are not allowed to have sexual relationships with theri clients. Lawyers are restricted from sexual relationships with the peple whom they represent. I could go on and on.
The general understanding for all of these prohibitions comes from the knowledge of the dynamics of the relationshlips that often are formed between a client who is in trouble/pain/distress/etc. and the individual who is the saviour who attempts to relieve them from that trouble/pain/distress/etc. Those dynamics are often considered to be such that the individual is thought to be unable to freely give consent. When the law is based upon that understanding, the law is called statutory rape. As an example, a teacher may be convicted of statutory rape of a 14 year-old. In this case the teacher will not be allowed to defend with a claim that the 14 YO consented. To expand futher, under the law a professional may be convicted of statutory rape of a 35 year-old. In such cases, age in not the question.
Unfortunately, clergypersons are not as clearly defined in State laws in regard to statutory rape as are other professionals. In other words,while in some cases a clergyperson might be prosecuted for a criminal violation in regard to sexual contact with as congregational member, in other places no such criminal violation would have occured.
But, in my thinking, the law is not the central issue to me. The central issue is not in my mind whether or not a clergyperson could be charged and convicted of statutory rape. To me the central issue is that of the dynamics that take palce between a clergyperson and the congregational member. Those dynamics are powerful enough that I can well think of a manipulative clergyperson (I believe that pastors have their share of manipulative people.) could manipulate a troubled congregational member to enter into a sexual relationship that the person would never enter into if they were in fully aware of what was going on in the dynamics of the relationship.
In other words, I can consider a 20/30/35/40/50 year-old to be a victim of a predator clergyperson.