Immorality in American Christianity

[indy]

I don't know. I think the thing Rod misses is that traditional sorts of religious worship have largely been usurped by something else, at least here in the states. What that something else isn't quite clear to me but it seems to be a generation of self-taught preachers who have not been prepared or bothered to learn the kinds of lessons the that the church has developed over thousands of years of training clergy. They kind of go out into the world and shotgun their personal revelations in a way that isn't really geared towards any sort of longevity, but it is lively and entertaining and draws people away from the more traditional services. Oftentimes--being unprepared, untrained, and never forewarned---they succumb to the outer trappings and it quickly becomes about money and power and sustaining personal fiefdoms rather than laying the groundwork (which is, of course, boring and hard) for the future.

This is, by definition then, not a sustainable model. It's just a string of people performing a kind of theater, often in competition with one another.

Of course, there are those who fall for it, hook, line, and sinker and it's enough people to keep it all going (so far) but if you step back I think what you see is that more and more people have kind of caught on to it all and simply turn away from all religion, especially if you are younger because you may not have been exposed to the more traditional forms at all.

So, bottom line, I think the continuity of the church has been broken, not by atheists or Democrats or Satan, but by the hoards of people who are utterly convinced that God is personally directing them in their pursuits, so no larger considerations of theology, tradition, history, knowledge or training is necessary.

And, to be clear, I think the church has historically provided a very stabilizing presence to the population, rooted in tradition and ritual and a kind of moral center that was unifying in times of crisis. I think that may be gone for good but much of the bad remains.

[goldenvalley]

Nov 22, 2022 12:40:05 GMT indy said:

... They kind of go out into the world and shotgun their personal revelations in a way that isn't really geared towards any sort of longevity, but it is lively and entertaining and draws people away from the more traditional services.

That part drew up a memory of a co-worker who was sort of searching for a church after her first child was born. She was a Protestant of some sort; her husband was Catholic but wasn't too interested in any church.  She went to one of those lively, entertaining churches one Sunday and came back to report "I don't want a performance.  Church is supposed to be sort of boring or it isn't serious or real."

I wonder if American style religion somehow invokes more emotional intensity and focus on the individual than say the Anglican style churches that seemed to me to be more dignified in practice and less interested in emotional intensity.  I'm thinking of the "are you a Christian or are you saved" type questions I was asked when my family moved to the South. I had not encountered that before. My view of religion was God sets out rules and wants us to follow them, not God has an individual plan for you because you're special.

[indy]

If I had to summarize in one sentence what I think the main difference between what I think of as 'traditional' religion and what I see as contemporary American religion it would be that traditional religion illuminates a path to being a better person by following the teachings of the church but that it involves some work on your part, while contemporary American religion seems to teach that through the simple act of faith and acceptance of God you ARE a better person. Not only a better version of yourself but better than other people who don't.

I think one of those appeals to people a whole lot more than the other.

[LFC]

There's a thread on the TPM chat board called Bad Religion/Church of the Poisoned Mind. It seems to be flooded with recent posts of sexual assaults by pastors. And still the drag queens simply refuse to abuse children. Huh. This one isn't too far from home.

The former pastor of a church in Chester issued a tearful apology to his wife, his family, and his former congregants Tuesday as he was sentenced to six years’ probation for having a sexual relationship with an underage girl.

Edward Lilly, 72, said he was “deeply, profoundly sorry” during the brief hearing before Delaware County Judge Richard Cappelli. He said he never intended to harm the victim, and deeply regretted the embarrassment and strife he brought to those closest to him.

“I am fully committed to spending the rest of my life trying to rebuild their trust and faith in me,” he said.

Lilly pleaded guilty in August to one count of knowingly photographing or videotaping a person under the age of 18 engaging in sexual acts. He faced more than 20 additional related charges, including possession of child pornography for videos and pictures of the victim, but they were dropped by prosecutors as part of the negotiated plea.

Yet another "youth pastor", this one from Iowa.

A former Des Moines metro area youth pastor is charged with giving alcohol to minors and sexually assaulting them.

Caleb Toney faces five charges, including assault with intent to commit sexual abuse and supplying alcohol to someone underage.

A criminal complaint says that while Toney was a youth pastor, he gave alcohol to minors on more than one occasion at an apartment in Ankeny and a home in Elkhart.

The complaint also alleges he got into bed with two boys and inappropriately touched one of the boys. The complaint also alleges Toney touched a victim another time in a sexual manner.

Toney's LinkedIn page shows he was a youth pastor for two churches. KCCI reached out to both churches but has not heard back.

The 205 pages of sexual predators finally coughed up by the Southern Baptist Convention showed at least 5 in the Austin area alone. Note that this 200+ pages only covers 20 years between 2000-2019.

At least five Austin-area pastors and teachers were named among the hundreds of Baptist leaders accused or found guilty of sexual abuse of children, according to a 205-page document released by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

The convention released the list last week, which includes cases between 2000 to 2019.

The list was released in response to an independent investigation by Guidepost Solutions LLC, which concluded SBC leaders failed the public and its community by mishandling sexual abuse cases and mistreated victims and survivors, according to their report.

I wonder how close to being bankrupted by lawsuits they had to get before coughing up their existing internal list.

And finally we have some LDS scumbag who was into child polygamy who were also forced to watch him have sex with another man and who were forced to have sex with other men. 

Samuel Bateman, a self-proclaimed “prophet” of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, had 20 wives, many of whom were under the age of 15, according to an FBI investigation. Bateman drank wine and had sex with a male follower, Moroni Johnson, in a motel room in Lincoln, Nebraska, in front of his underage wives, new court documents show, some of whom were Johnson’s own daughters. The FBI said the women and girls were required to stand naked and watch the “binding of brothers.” Bateman also forced his wives to have sex with other male followers, the documents say. He maintained that he was acting under instructions from “Heavenly Father,” and told the girls that had “sacrificed their virtue for the Lord.” Eight underage girls said to be Bateman’s wives were found at a Spokane Air BnB last Thursday, according to the Spokesman-Review. They had previously run away from children’s homes in Arizona where they were placed following Bateman’s arrest in August on charges of child endangerment.

He seems to have been a loony but with followers.

Bateman was a former member of a branch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church) - a breakaway sect of the Mormon church - until he left to start his own splinter group.

The FBI said that Bateman was supported financially by male followers who also gave up their own wives and children to be Bateman's wives.

He punished followers who did not treat him as a prophet, the FBI said.

You must be awfully broken, lacking any internal strength, and totally lacking a moral compass to push your wife or child into the arms of this monster.

[LFC]

The stories are endless. This girl was just 11-years old.

The pastor of a Wichita Falls church was jailed on charges of sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl whose family attended his church, Good Samaritan Outreach Ministries on East Carolina Street.

Paul Coleman was in jail Saturday on charges of sexual assault and indecency with a child.
Local News: OnlyFans revenue could pay lower bond, murder defendant says

According to the arrest warrants, an 11-year-old girl made an outcry at the hospital and Patsy’s House Children’s Advocacy Center. She said Coleman began by kissing her at the church and in his home on Perrigo Street.

She said on Nov. 19 she had gone to the bathroom at the church and came out to find Coleman with his pants down around his ankles. She said he pulled her pants and underwear down and sexually assaulted her. The girl said she pushed him away, pulled her clothes up and left the church. She said he threatened to kill her if he told anyone what happened.

One of the girl’s siblings was also interviewed at Patsy’s House and said he saw his sister against a wall and heard her telling Coleman to get off her.

He said Coleman told him to get out and not tell anyone, or he would do something to him.

This minor made it all the way to 17.

A 36-year-old former pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Sleepy Eye faces three felony 3rd-degree criminal sexual conduct charges filed in Brown County District Court Friday.

Unconditional bail was set at $50,000, or $15,000 with conditions for Nathan Van Alfred Luong of Rochester. A court appearance was set for 11:30 a.m. Dec. 23.

Luong is accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a teenage female church member from about October 2019 through February 2020. Sleepy Eye Police conducted a seven-month investigation with cooperation from Trinity Lutheran Church and the Southeastern/Southwestern Minnesota Synod ELCA.

According to court documents, Sleepy Eye Police Investigator Shawn Bohnen was informed on May 3, 2022 of a child protection summary involving inappropriate interactions between Luong and the girl. One report came from a witness who called Olmsted County Human Services to report Luong confided to a second witness that he had relations with the girl who was 17 at the time, but is now an adult.

Luong was the girl’s pastor at the time and according to the second witness, it was a sexual relationship. The report added that Luong was now a pastor in Dodge Center, Mn.

[LFC]

It's not always about sex. Sometimes it's just about money. These "pastors" were busted for fraud.

Pastors of defunct church plead guilty to car loan and COVID-19 fraud

HOUSTON – Three locals associated with Jesus Survives Ministries have admitted to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery.

William Dexter Lucas aka Bill Lucas, 60, and Deborah Jean Lucas, 64, both of Bryan, pleaded guilty today while Brian Corpian, 45, Houston, entered his plea Dec. 2.

All three have admitted to making false statements and using false documents regarding the church to fraudulently obtain loan proceeds. Jesus Survives Ministries is a defunct church in which all three claimed to be pastors. Bill Lucas claimed to be lead pastor.

For almost the last decade there were no church services or pastoral services through Jesus Survives Ministries. Since 2014, the three made false statements regarding their payroll at the church in submitting car loan applications for purchases of cars on which they had no intent of making payments. Both Bill and Deborah Lucas were able to obtain cars through these false applications.

Within days following the enactment of Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Bill Lucas applied for multiple Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans from numerous banks. In them, he made false statements and provided false documents regarding Jesus Survives Ministries. Bill Lucas falsely claimed that Jesus Survives Ministries had gross revenues of almost a million dollars in 2019. Deborah Lucas and Brian Corpian signed some of the false documents and called bank employees and the Small Business Administration regarding the status of applications.

When Bill Lucas became frustrated with bank employees’ failure to review and fund the loans quickly, he would send accusatory and intimidating text messages and emails; including, “This is war!!!!!” “I curse you, your bank and you[r] whole family,” and “You extremists think I am playing with you. You started a war and I guarantee you that you[‘re] not walking away unscathed.” Bill Lucas also posted a diatribe on the Jesus Survives Ministries website calling one of the banks, “Minions of Satan” and sent a bank employee a photograph of the bank employee’s family, indicating Bill knew the names of the bank employee’s wife and son.

The intended loss amount totals hundreds of thousands of dollars. One of the banks appoved a PPP loan of $50,000 for Jesus Survives Ministries. Once they received the fraudulent proceeds, Deborah Lucas and Bill Lucas moved the money into another bank account and went on vacation to South Carolina using fraud proceeds.

Another shitbag who was stealin' with the help of Jeebus.

A 45-year-old pastor from Ocala has been indicted on six counts of wire fraud related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Earlier today, United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced the return of the indictment charging 45-year-old Henry Troy Wade, of Ocala, with fraud relating to COVID-19 relief funds.

Wade previously served as a senior pastor at a church in northwest Ocala for multiple years.

According to the indictment, between May 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, Wade applied for Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) loans and grants under the CARES Act on behalf of multiple businesses he claimed to own. However, none of Wade’s purported businesses were in operation during the requisite time period and were ineligible for an EIDL loan or grant.

The indictment alleges that Wade electronically submitted applications for the EIDL loans and grants over the internet, made false representations on his applications, and received EIDL loans and grants from the Small Business Association (SBA) through wire transfers over the internet into his bank accounts.

If Wade is convicted, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison on each count.

[goldenvalley]

In reading LFCs last two posts I think two things.  One, this sort of behavior has probably been going on as long as there has been organized religion, particularly in patriarchal based hierarchy style.  Two, it's amazing that organized religion, especially the American version, has lasted as long as it has.

[LFC]

Dec 11, 2022 18:33:13 GMT goldenvalley said:

In reading LFCs last two posts I think two things.  One, this sort of behavior has probably been going on as long as there has been organized religion, particularly in patriarchal based hierarchy style.  Two, it's amazing that organized religion, especially the American version, has lasted as long as it has.

That's because this is the kind of shit that churches and institutional power, especially if members were affiliated with the these churches, covered up. Many people knew it was happening and still did more to protect religion than actual human beings.

[LFC]

More Christian grift!

A Florida pastor and his son were arrested Wednesday on charges of fraudulently obtaining more than $8 million in federal Covid relief funds and attempting to use some of the money to buy a luxury home near Walt Disney World. 

Evan Edwards and his son, Josh, 30, were taken into custody five months after an NBC News report raised questions over why they hadn’t been charged in the alleged scam, which federal prosecutors first identified in court papers in December 2020. 

The case dates back to April 2020 when Josh Edwards applied for a $6 million Paycheck Protection Program loan to cover payroll, rent and utilities for his family’s ministry. In the loan application, he claimed that the organization, ASLAN International Ministry, had 486 employees and a monthly payroll of $2.7 million, according to a federal forfeiture complaint.

ASLAN International was ultimately approved for an $8.4 million loan.

But when federal investigators showed up at the ministry's office in Orlando, the door was locked and workers at the neighboring businesses told them nobody was ever seen inside, the complaint says. A review of the ministry’s website found that the donation links were inactive and sections of text were apparently lifted from other religious sites, according to the complaint. 

There were other red flags. The man who was listed on the loan application as the ministry’s accountant suffered from dementia and hadn’t done any work for the organization since 2017, federal prosecutors said in court papers, citing an interview with the man’s son.

It's actually a relief to see crimes like this rather than crimes against children.

[LFC]

Fraud and theft, true Christian virtues.

A Miami-Dade preacher has been accused of preying on an elderly couple in her congregation, allegedly stealing their life savings and their home.

That woman, 63-year-old Yvonne Hampton-Barley, is already out of jail.

She is accused of befriending the couple and using her position as a church pastor in an deceptive scheme to steal from them.

State records show Barley is the operator of True Spirit of Christ Our Redeemer Ministries, a church that on paper is run out of a home-like structure in Opa-locka, something that came as a surprise to neighbors.

“She’s still renovating it,” said neighbor Chantel Reid. “I’ve been here almost five years now and it’s never been open.”

Part of the fraud allegations involves a piece of property the couple in their late 80s owns, located inside of a gated residential community in northeast Miami-Dade County.

Investigators say Barley illegally transferred ownership of the home from the couple that suffers from dementia to her own name in 2018, making her the sole beneficiary if and when the pair died. They’d known one another for ten years.

Prosecutors say Barley, the so-called church pastor, also made herself power of attorney, listing herself on the victim’s bank accounts and retirement funds that police say would go to Barley’s Miami Gardens address.

[LFC]

Oh, look! Somebody too moral to accept same-sex marriage.

Mark Rivera, a former lay pastor at the center of several sexual abuse allegations in a conservative Anglican denomination, was found guilty of five counts of felony child sexual abuse and assault on Thursday morning.

Judge John Barsanti of Illinois’ 16th Judicial Circuit Court in Kane County found Rivera guilty of two counts of predatory sexual assault of a victim under 13 years old (a Class X felony) and three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim under 13 (a Class 2 felony).

Rivera served in the Anglican Church in North America in Big Rock, Illinois. The Anglican Church in North America formed in 2009 after splitting from the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada over the two denominations’ acceptance of LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage.

[LFC]

The greed and grift just keep pouring out of American Christianity, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of noise being made by those actual Christians about this even though it has ripped the credibility out of their faith.

The New York Post reports:

Ugly legal drama continues to rock Journey as founding band member Neal Schon has sent yet another cease-and-desist letter — this time to keyboardist Jonathan Cain’s wife.

Paula White-Cain — a televangelist who has served as former President Donald Trump’s spiritual adviser and delivered the invocation at his inauguration — is being accused of allegedly giving herself access to the band’s bank accounts without Schon’s knowledge or consent.

But an attorney for White-Cain, 56, warned the public to stop believin’ Schon’s “nonsensical” claim in an exclusive statement to The Post. The letter is one of several disputes Schon, 68, and Cain, 72, are engaged in — including Cain performing Journey music at a recent Mar-a-Lago gala.

Read the full article.

White first appeared on JMG a decade ago when she began selling “resurrection seeds” for the low, low, introductory price of $1144 – a figure arrived at, of course, from a line in the bible about Lazarus allegedly rising from the dead. Jonathan Cain, not incidentally, is White’s fourth husband.

The post then goes on to catalog a litany of Paul's scams and insanity.

[goldenvalley]

Jan 9, 2023 23:13:27 GMT LFC said:

The greed and grift just keep pouring out of American Christianity, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of noise being made by those actual Christians about this even though it has ripped the credibility out of their faith.

The New York Post reports:


Read the full article.

White first appeared on JMG a decade ago when she began selling “resurrection seeds” for the low, low, introductory price of $1144 – a figure arrived at, of course, from a line in the bible about Lazarus allegedly rising from the dead. Jonathan Cain, not incidentally, is White’s fourth husband.

The post then goes on to catalog a litany of Paul's scams and insanity.

Resurrection seeds!  So if you plant them what do you get?  Or do you just eat the seeds? 

[LFC]

For all the (well deserved) bashing of the Catholic Church over its sex scandals it appears that they really weren't behaving much differently than one Protestant pastor/minister after another after another. Here's a recent one who was just sent to prison. This is textbook grooming.

A Jacksonville pastor who was arrested in April on multiple sex crimes chargers has pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted sexual battery of a minor.

Rafael Cuevas will serve 20 years in Florida state prison and have to serve 10 years of probation after his release.

This was part of a negotiated plea deal, meaning the other charges against him will be dropped. He will also be designated as a sexual predator by the state.

According to the arrest report, authorities received reports that Cuevas had been molesting a child for four years with the last incident being in June 2020 and the first being in 2017.

Investigators found that the victim was under 12-years-old during the four years of the alleged abuse. The child told detectives that Cuevas would molest her four to five times a week, the arrest report says.

And another pastor groomer.

A pastor from McLeansboro, Ill., was arrested Jan. 5 on two counts of grooming minors for sexual purposes. Garrett Biggerstaff was charged after a four-month investigation that included the seizure of his electronic devices and collection of evidence at his home. A juvenile first reported the claims to Benton police. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department led the investigation which produced evidence to support a second charge. Biggerstaff was taken into custody and booked at the Jefferson County Jail. His bond was set for $150,000.

Biggerstaff, 28, was employed by the Spring Garden Consolidated Community School District in Ina, Ill., at the time, but he resigned when the investigation became public in November. He was also the pastor of Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Fairfield. The church suspended Biggerstaff immediately and he has not returned to the pulpit. Following his arrest, Biggerstaff offered the church his resignation, which was accepted in a church business meeting on Jan. 8.

[LFC]

Good advice for Christian churches.

[andydp]

Jan 12, 2023 17:49:23 GMT LFC said:

For all the (well deserved) bashing of the Catholic Church over its sex scandals it appears that they really weren't behaving much differently than one Protestant pastor/minister after another after another. Here's a recent one who was just sent to prison. This is textbook grooming.

And another pastor groomer.

No word yet if they were Trans or LGBT...

[LFC]

Jan 12, 2023 17:58:29 GMT andydp said:

No word yet if they were Trans or LGBT...

Or perform in drag. All of these groups are nothing but slackers. They still refuse to groom and sexually abuse children, giving "religious leaders" a huge head start.

[LFC]

The number of horrific stories continue to spew from America's churches. Every person involved in the defense of this monster should flog themselves and beg forgiveness in front of the entire congregation and swear that they will never, ever be involved with any church governance for the rest of their miserable lives. Bold horror mine. The fact that she's go anywhere near that church shows the power of years of grooming.

A lawsuit filed in Dutchess County Supreme Court under the New York State Adult Survivor’s Act (ASA) accuses the Hyde Park Baptist Church of intentional and negligent acts that resulted in the plaintiff, Shielagh Clark, being a victim of sexual abuse carried out by the church’s former pastor, Jonathan Alan Weaver. At the time of the alleged abuse, the alleged victim was known by her birth name Shielagh Thompson.

The plaintiff says that she joined the Hyde Park Baptist Church in 1995 at the age of 10 with her mother and siblings. Clark alleges that in November 2000 Pastor Jonathan Weaver began taking her to his private residence on the church grounds under the guise of “counseling.” Instead, according to Clark, the pastor used the meetings to molest, forcibly touch, and sexually abuse the 15-year-old girl. Plaintiff Clark says that the abuse continued and became more aggressive over the next year, despite her demands for the pastor to stop. The pastor, according to Ms. Clark, used psychological tactics to prevent her from revealing the abuse to anyone.

As the abuse continued, Clark said the church became aware of the misconduct in 2004 when church employees witnessed Weaver and Clark in “private sessions” and confronted him about his behavior. In an attempt to escape the abuse, the plaintiff left to attend Bob Jones University in South Carolina in 2004. Weaver was a graduate of the college and visited the campus in 2005 and Clark claims that Weaver raped her during the visit, resulting in pregnancy. The Hyde Park church congregation learned about the pregnancy and she says the members began a campaign of harassment against her. She alleges that the congregation forced her to read an apology letter aloud in church, asking for forgiveness. The pregnancy resulted in an intrauterine fetal death.

The pastor was arrested in South Carolina in 2020 on assault and battery charges for his contact with Clark. He entered a guilty plea to the charges in Greenville County.

It's far from a "Catholic problem." In fact it seems that being a pastor / minister in a church is best position imaginable for these creeps. They have near unfettered access to an abundance of potential victims, just pick the age, gender, size, hair color, or whatever else you want. If things start to fall apart expect the lay "leadership" of the church to sweep the scandal under the rug or viciously defend you. Ensuring the safety of children from these predators seems to be pretty low on the list of things these churches are doing.

[LFC]

Another major organization that acted as a safe haven for pedophiles.

The International Churches of Christ, a racially diverse, and theologically conservative nondenominational body of co-operating Christian congregations, along with their affiliated organizations, have been accused in a lawsuit filed by five women in California of covering up child sexual abuse and pressuring members so much for money that some left the church and later killed themselves. 

They're big on grifting too.

Church members the lawsuit alleges are forced to tithe 10% of their income to the church and also fund special mission trips twice yearly to the point of suicide and depression.

“If the tithing budget was not satisfied, leaders or ‘disciplers’ were forced to contribute the financial shortfall themselves, or members were required to locate the offending member who failed to tithe and sit on their porch until they arrived home in an attempt to obtain their tithe funds before Sunday evening was over,” the lawsuit says. “The pressure to comply with the church’s rigid demands was a source of anxiety and depression for many members. So much so that several ex-members committed suicide.” 

Church leaders also allegedly placed heavy recruitment demands on followers who were given quotas to convert in a bid to generate more tithing followers for the church.

I'm generally anti-death penalty but I have to admit that in these cases I'd be death-curious.

In discussing their sexual abuse, the sisters Diaz and Perez, along with Ruiz, identified a man who is now a convicted pedophile, David Saracino, as abusing them at the same time. They claim that the church did nothing to protect them from the abuse.

They allege that Saracino would invite children to his house to swim but as soon as they undressed “he told the girls that they needed a bath and he used that opportunity to heavily fondle their naked bodies while they were bathing,” explains the lawsuit.

Ruiz alleged that Saracino performed oral sex on her. When the mother of the sisters eventually reported Saracino’s abuse, leaders allegedly alerted him so he could flee town before police could arrest him. The law finally caught up with him in 2012 when he was sentenced to 40 years in prison for raping a 4-year-old child.

“Even though the sexual abuse happened to me in the ICOC at around age five and robbed me of my childhood, the trauma also followed me into my adulthood, where I feel like I am always in survival mode,” Ruiz told Rolling Stone. “Having some sort of legal closure and acknowledgment about what happened to me as a child will… be tremendously helpful!”

Gonzelez said she was sexually assaulted by a Sunday School teacher for five years starting when she was 4. She was abused again in a rehab program connected to the church at the age of 15 and again when she was 17. The abuses, she said, caused her to try to end her life because the church failed to give her any help.

Peltola alleges that she was raped in 2012 by an ICOC member when she was just 13, while she was on a mission trip to Honduras. She said when she reported the rape, ICOC and Hope Worldwide leaders “victim-blamed her and called her a ‘slut’ for several months” before kicking her out of the church for being “a liability” Rolling Stone said.

“For decades, members of the ICOC/ICC and its affiliates groomed and sexually abused children as young as three years old,” Bobby Samini, an attorney for the plaintiffs told Rolling Stone in a statement. “Instead of reporting the sexual abuse to law enforcement, ‘church’ leaders shamelessly targeted and blamed the survivors, admonishing them that they ‘risked losing their salvation’ unless they forgave their abusers. The lawsuit … will expose the perpetrators at the ICOC/ICC and its affiliates who claim piety, all the while enabling the sexual abuse of children.” 

[andydp]

Immorality doesn't always mean sex.  There's other temptations.

We're familiar with Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme aimed at Jewish investors.  Here' a Ponzi scheme aimed at Mormons (LDS) members.  This one was for less than a Billion, but it destroyed as many lives as Bernie's.  Long article.  Its worth it to me, for a glimpse into the avarice of what we would call well-to-do.  


An alleged $500 million Ponzi scheme preyed on Mormons. It ended with FBI gunfire.

Authorities had long suspected Beasley of running a massive Ponzi scheme with his business partner, Jeffrey Judd, that mainly targeted Mormons, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are often called. The investment was pitched as a nearly risk-free opportunity to earn annual returns of 50 percent by lending money to slip-and-fall victims awaiting checks after the settlement of their lawsuits.

There was just one problem, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged in a civil complaint. None of it was real.


www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/an-alleged-500-million-ponzi-scheme-preyed-on-mormons-it-ended-with-fbi-gunfire/ar-AA16ZvuF?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=88d3407e927743898a38d3b9dc29c660

[LFC]

TPM's chat board has a topic called "Bad Religion/Church of the Poisoned Mind" and all of these are from the past few days. It's not all of them.

Genesee County principal accused of sexually abusing child (yes, it's a "Christian" school)

‘A double life’: Skagit County pastor accused of dealing drugs, money laundering (at least it's not sex this time)

Gravette sober living pastor arrested on sexual assault, weapons charges (Yes, he sexually blackmailed men at their most desperate. "A currently-defunct Facebook page described that facility as a 'faith based sober/transitional living facility to meet the rising need to restore men who are emotionally broken and spiritually lost and who are seeking to change the direction of their life.'")

Jacklin sentenced to 18 years in sexual assault conviction (Another disgusting predator. "Richard E. Jacklin, a Catholic priest, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in Kankakee County court Thursday after being convicted of sexually assaulting a Shapiro Developmental Center resident in 2017." The resident he was caught giving a blowjob to has an IQ of 47.)

 

[LFC]

This piece from 2019 by John Pavlovitz is worth a read. Churches are losing people, even the ones that aren't run by or protecting dirtbags, because they have given up their moral authority as they cower from calling out fellow "Christian" sinners. This is the beginning. It should be required reading for all people working at churches in this country.

Dear Church,

The Exodus has begun and it’s not going to stop.

People are leaving you and they’re probably not coming back.

I’ve been where you are and I know what’s happening within you right now.

I know you’re panicking, scrambling to understand it all, trying to somehow stop the bleeding, to reverse the swift and steady tide out the doors.

I know that you hire consultants and hold emergency meetings and plan bold strategies and brainstorm solutions—all designed to engineer a way to bring all the prodigals home, to “reach the young people,” to grow numerically again.

I know you imagine that if you just tweak the songs or shorten the services or get a new sign or rebrand your logo or set up shop in a strip mall; that if you just find the right aesthetic balance of vintage reverence and hipster chic—that this will all magically change your fortunes.

It won’t.

This attrition is likely irreversible and here’s why:

The departure isn’t about the style of music in your worship services.
It isn’t about the coolness of the coffeeshop facade in the lobby.
It isn’t about the amenities you have or don’t have.
It isn’t about the tricked out tech you’re getting in the sanctuary.
It isn’t about the youthfulness and charisma of your lead pastor.
It isn’t about how many pop culture references you make in your sermons.
It isn’t about the bells and whistles of your new website.
It isn’t about your facilities or your staff or your social media fluency.
It’s isn’t about the sprawling menu of ministries and bible studies you offer.

The people who are gone—aren’t gone because your band wasn’t good enough or because the messages weren’t clever enough or because your production wasn’t tight enough.

They don’t give a damn about such things.

Church, people are leaving you because you are silent right now in ways that matter to them.

You aren’t saying what they need you to say and what you should be saying—and it makes them sick.

[LFC]

More telling it like it is. Non-crazy, non-corrupt churches will either stand up for the soul of their religion or they will fail. If all they can do is punch down and sermonize to their own people then they deserve to fail.

[LFC]

Religion really does attract the grifters, losers, and utter nutters.

Billy Summers had only known Kent Hovind for a couple of days when Hovind told him about the convicted child sex offender who sometimes visited Hovind’s Christian amusement park.

They were in Hovind’s car, picking up supplies for Dinosaur Adventure Land (DAL), the creationist theme park that Hovind operates in a quiet pocket of Alabama. Hovind spoke about a longtime friend who had done time for battery and committing lewd acts on children under the age of 14. Hovind claimed the conviction was a sham, and that the friend was actually being persecuted for his work exposing the New World Order. But Summers was alarmed.

“In my head, I was like, ‘Well, I’m stuck out in the middle of Alabama right now, riding along with him, so I can’t say nothing,’” Summers told The Daily Beast.

In interviews with former workers, and recordings from internal DAL meetings, people close to the theme park expressed concern about Hovind’s cavalier attitude toward crime on the compound.

Hovind is a controversial young-Earth creationist who preaches that Earth is less than 10,000 years old and that dinosaurs rode on Noah’s ark. Behind his literalist interpretation of the Bible is a more creative interpretation of the law. Hovind previously served nine years in prison for tax avoidance. While he was behind bars, feds seized and sold an early iteration of DAL that Hovind operated in Pensacola, Florida. The park featured a zipline, a “fossil dig pit,” a creationist museum, and a tricycle racetrack. Rather than relaunch the Pensacola park after his release from prison in 2015, Hovind opened a new DAL in Alabama.

But DAL’s woes now go far beyond Hovind’s tax troubles, which shuttered the first park.

Since Hovind launched his latest incarnation of DAL in 2016, two wives have left him—one citing financial concerns with the park and the other because he assaulted her. Volunteers and staffers have also quit DAL over a range of grievances. Among their concerns are repeated visits to DAL by Hovind’s sex offender friend, who allegedly molested a child at the park; the death by drowning of a different child in a pond used for baptisms; Hovind’s assault of his now-ex wife; allegations of theft of ministry money by a Hovind colleague; the arrest of that colleague for a drugged-out alleged carjacking; a late-night evidence removal operation by more than a dozen church volunteers; and the fatal shooting of a dog near DAL.

[LFC]

Another youth pastor, another sex crime.

Denver police and prosecutors are pursuing a rape case against a man who served as the music director at St. John's School and church in southeast Denver, according to a CBS News Colorado investigation.

Diego Marroquin, 36, is facing one charge of sexual assault on a child under the age of 15 by a person in a position of trust. He allegedly raped a 13-year-old female student from the school on a balcony overlooking the church in May of 2022.

And once again the church's leadership immediately blamed the victim.

CBS News Colorado is not identifying the alleged victim, but her mother, Jessica Vandam, said, "we're fighting for our daughter."

In an interview, Jessica and Aaron Vandam said after their daughter came forward in mid-August, three months after the alleged incident, church and school leaders said the teen was lying, the accusations amounted to slander and gossip and the parents say administrators warned them not to discuss the accusations with anyone.

"We were treated as guilty," said Aaron Vandam, the girl's father. "We were completely ostracized. We were treated as if we were the bad people."

Within days after the accusations became known in August to the Vandams and to church administrators, the Vandams say church Pastor Andrew Farhat left them multiple voicemails, which they shared with CBS News Colorado. The voicemails preceded any police investigation into the matter.

"Nothing bad happened," Farhat said in one of the messages. "I knew it was a lie so I wanted to squash it right away so that no one would think that the police need to be involved. Now we're protecting victims of slander, don't want that at our school."

The Vandams say when Marroquin was allowed to remain at the school and church after church administrators knew of the alleged incident, they went to Denver police.

I hope this church is driven out of business (yes, intentional choice of words) by the coming lawsuit though I doubt it. The church "leaders" who attack the child victim will probably continue "serving God(tm)" there. If not there then in some other "Christian" shithole.