Should the Church Welcome Child Molesters?

Over at the wonderful Get Religion blog, Mollie Ziegler comments on recent news coverage of churches' struggles over what to do with child molesters in their congregations.  Here's the opening:

It seems to me that the only crime for which there is no forgiveness in our society is child molestation. It is certainly horrible to assault a helpless child, and I’m glad that the practice is shunned. . . . But when I consider the shunning from the perspective of the child molester, I wonder how they’re able to even try to get better. Their picture, name and address are publicly available for all people to investigate. They have limitations on where they can live. They live in a society that tends to think improvement in this area is impossible, or only possible through castration and complete abstention from all contact with children.

Congregations do not turn a blind eye to child molesters in their midst, given the obvious safety concerns.  One of the churches profiled is the United Church of Christ, which prides itself on inclusiveness.  In this case, though, "the sex molesters are not only considered sinful by some congregants — but perpetually and possibly irretrievably so."