Sexual Abuse and Spiritual Violence in the Adventist Environment
There is too much silence within the Seventh-day Adventist church when it comes to sexual harassment. This is especially prevalent in countries where women are seen as objects to be possessed like Eastern Europe and the African continent.
Over the last month, a case of sexual abuse has stirred strong emotions within the Inter-European Division and Adventists in Romania. Several neo-Protestant religious media platforms have recently launched appeals for testimonies to expose the abuse allegedly committed by Daniel Țecu in Spain and Romania. He is a controversial figure in both the political and religious Adventist environment in Romania. Țecu was a former candidate of Popular Movement Party (PMP) for the Romanian Senate in the Diaspora.
As a former Romanian consul in Uruguay and leader of a diasporic association in Spain, the Federation of Associations of Romanians in Europe is a controversial character. The mainstream press in Romania and the diaspora have reported on him in the past, but primarily in relation to suspicious business dealings involving public funds, minor frauds, and political “alliances.” Daniel Țecu is a “jack-of-all-trades,” close to former Romanian President Traian Băsescu, to whom he once promised, among other things, the votes of Seventh-day Adventists. The neo-Protestant denomination has a significantly active diaspora that forms what Traian Băsescu himself recently referred to as the “Adventist voting block” in his explanation of the electoral voting mechanism. After his political failures with the PMP, Daniel Țecu became a classic political opportunist, without ever having a professional career or a specific job. Opportunism and imposture are his only platform and political creed. After securing a consul position in Uruguay, under the Romanian government led by Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă, Țecu became a regular beneficiary of funds from the Department for Romanians Abroad (DPRP).
He is, in fact, an organizer of mediocre events, religious converts, music and poetry camps, and bas étage (low level) political gospel supported by the Seventh-day Adventist churches in the Spanish diaspora and Romanian religious communities affiliated with the Spanish Seventh-day Adventist church. He constantly invites current politicians to attend electoral campaign tours. These same politicians, from the PNL-PSD Romanian current government alliance, are also “presented” in Adventist churches in Romania by the leadership of the denomination.
However, the current issue concerning Daniel Țecu is not just his mediocre political career, but also his involvement in recurrent sexual abuse scandals against girls and women who participated in events organized in the Spanish diaspora in the Adventist church. It is, in fact, the boomerang effect in the neo-Protestant religious environment following recent public denunciations of sexual harassment at National School of Political and Administrative Studies, a state university in Romania that trains the country’s future politicians. Various independent neo-Protestant religious media platforms have documented the existence of a series of legal actions in Spain, filed by victims who were abused at these religious events organized by Daniel Țecu. The DPRP has been notified recently by the victims regarding criminal complaints for sexual assault during events organized by Daniel Țecu with public funds from DPRP’s financing programs. These were filed under Articles 178, 180.5, 172, and 277 of the Spanish Penal Code. Romanian state institutions have also been informed by the victims of Daniel Țecu’s past concerning the embezzlement of public funds received for social and cultural activities. For example, the Madrid City Hall demanded the full return of the money it had granted to Daniel Țecu after discovering that the sums (500,000 euros) had been used for personal interests in the 2009 campaign of the party he was affiliated with. Finally, there are suspicions that certain sexually suggestive behaviors may have been directed towards minors during the same events organized in Spain, particularly between 2023 and 2024.
Beyond this specific case, the problem of sexual violence in the religious environment is a true Achilles’ heel for victims. It is also a Pandora’s box for aggressors and church leaders, especially when they are caught between political activism and facile spiritual imposture. There are three major vulnerabilities both in relation to the victims and the aggressors that can explain the differences from the secular, lay, and worldly environment. First, while abuses have been abundantly denounced by the Catholic Church for many years, this is not the case for neo-Protestant and Orthodox churches. Despite the fact that more people know someone in their family or close circle who has suffered sexual violence, publicly speaking out about it is still taboo. Research on Protestant and neo-Protestant churches show that, in most cases, the attack is committed by someone known to the victim in the religious environment who takes advantage of their trust to gain power over them. This is exactly the profile of the case at hand. A well-known member of the Adventist faith with “good appearances,” considered a man of “power.”
Secondly, spiritual violence is closely related to sexual violence. The same reports from ethics committees of various Christian neo-Protestant churches document this fact. For example, they cite cases of women abused by their pastors after the pastors first exerted spiritual violence. In one of the German examples in the report, a woman abused by her pastor says: “He preaches wonderfully, explains the Bible to me, and makes God feel close to me.” This is not only the case with pastors but also with lay people who, in neo-Protestant churches, hold a symbolic power in the community equivalent to a pastor. And their spiritual influence degenerates into sexual abuse. The Țecu case corresponds exactly to this pattern.
Finally, the functioning of neo-Protestant (including Adventist) religious communities is based on the principle of “handle in-house.” Public denunciation has immediate negative effects on the victim, who is marginalized by the community. The victim’s trust is withdrawn and in most cases, the abuser is “rehabilitated” for the sake of “community peace.” This systemic functioning is also valid in the cited case. Public denunciation on neo-Protestant media platforms sanctions the victims, with many believers favoring resolving issues within the semi-closed space of the faith.
These aspects, among others, make it nearly impossible for whistleblowers to raise public awareness about this scourge and for victims to testify publicly about the sexual violence they have suffered. Therefore, such a public denunciation of sexual abuse in a religious community following the investigations at the Romanian university can be both an exemplary case study and a symbol of lustration that gives victims the confidence to break free from spiritual violence. Additionally, such a case could be revealing for the need of Seventh-day Adventist churches to establish ethics and society committees capable of assuming roles like moral and legal mediators, securing the religious environment and practicing healthy individual and collective spirituality. Otherwise, Adventist communities will remain only a preferred shelter for aggressors with leaders and believers complicit in crime. All in the name of divine forgiveness distributed by man.
