70 y.o. would be good.

Not all religions or denominations of religions prey on its membership. Many people find hope, comfort and assistance from their religious affiliations, without feeling condemned, fearful, or manipulated.

But yes, there is ample opportunity for obscene and grotesque abuse if people don't use a little common sense in monitoring those "in charge."

Or just a blanket hit on ALL of them?

The real sick part is he will be forgiven by the faithful. Unless he had raped a boy then he would be a sodimite and cast into hell.

In local law enforcement and particularly look at the County Attorney(s) in the 80's and 90's and follow the money, political
climbing from there.Believe me the mayor(s) knew about this.The town knew about this. This "preacher" is some one's precious white boy connected to higher ups. This is Duggar on steroids and allowed. Enabled. Protected.

This is common in ALL religions, all cultures all over the world. Always has been. Yesterday it was about the little boys in Afghanistan and the culture there of destroying the young by males in power. Jmping them into the gang to act out later on other young boys.
Today it is crackers in the American South.

This only stops when law enforcement and local politics is committed to making it stop, not letting the war lords of what ever small town, district or geographic area run the show. The Good Old Boy network world wide is alive and well. And also is in our Congress, Military, Political Parties.It is in all our institution. And male power protects perps.

By pointing to one religion or culture we avoid the core issue here.
Children are a commodity for adult males to broker in until they are indicted. Unfortunately if those adult males have political, economic or lobbying power in their culture this goes on and on and on.

It ISN'T religious. It is universal male privilege. The dregs of an ancient system that has been allowed because it is "bad for business" to address it.
Of all the outrages and problems we face this one gets the least attention nationally in the MSM. The culture of silence and fear surround because almost everyone has a Funny Uncle or
someone in their family social history network the family always keeps hidden.

The closet with this one is institutionalized in every "religion", political party and family through out history. It is a planetary practice.
Women can stop this. This is the reason why there is a "War on Women". This is the most explosive thing that can be outed about all our institutions and. "leaders". For now it is still Profits before People. That is core rot.

Religion is the ONLY instuition where rape is tegu rally allowed and people turn a blind eye to it

How else does this get ground into culture so well?

Religion's function is to make us more ethical, more mindful, more compassionate, more forgiving, and more tolerant of others. Don't blame all the ills and evils of sociopaths on the religion that they PRETEND to practice. Unfortunately, religion, like politics, is a human institution that can get corrupted by greed, ignorance, and hatred. But mostly, it's greed/desire that is the root of the corruption.

I hope they lock the creep up for life and throw away the key. Guess I'll have to read the story to learn how they finally caught him.

...then it has been out of order since the beginning of recorded human history.

Someone should hang up a sign or something to let people know...

The part where it breaks down is where the teachings actually make people more moral.


In all of my observations there have always been two primary types of religious people, of any religion.

1. People who were already good and decent, and adopted religion and used it in their good and decent way but had no need of it to do anything they were doing.

2. People who are pricks, and remain pricks when they put on the trappings of religion, sometimes as cover for their being a prick or to enable even greater prickishness they wouldn't have gotten away with otherwise.


You can point to isolated counterexamples that defy those two major trends, but not in significant numbers. Generally religion doesn't make people more moral. It just takes credit whenever they act morally and denies all responsibility when they don't.

It assumes that humans cannot change. Although I agree that the Christian Church has done a piss-poor job of teaching ethics. Ethics that are imposed from "above" and "outside" aren't all that successful. Virtue has to be chosen and nurtured from within, not imposed from outside. Someone has to recognize the value of self-control and self-discipline and actually cultivate those qualities and skills from within. Usually, someone has to get a severe shock to the system, for example a great wrong, a great loss, deep remorse, a serious health issue to begin to realize that the law of karma is like gravity. It never stops working. Good decisions tend to lead to good outcomes, and bad decisions tend to lead to suffering and bad outcomes.

In our American society, there is not much education on how to deal with negative, afflictive emotions like greed, anger, envy, pride, hatred, etc. Religion is SUPPOSED to help us learn to deal with and control these emotions. Even non-religious people can lead happier, more meaningful lives when they learn how the mind works and how to not get hi-jacked by negative emotions.

I've seen plenty of people change. I just don't see them change because of religion.

In the instances I know of where people were said to have been "bad" then turned to being good they turned to being good *then* went and pursued religion because they thought that's what people trying to turn their lives around did. Got religious. That's what they had been taught all their lives.

They usually don't seem to realize that the decision to turn their life around is what changed the trajectory of their life, and that decision predated their going off in search of religion. Religion didn't make them start trying to be better, THEY made THEMSELVES start trying to be better. Which of course didn't slow religion's rush to take credit for any positive changes they then made in their lives down one little bit... and they happily ceded that credit because they didn't realize what they were doing.

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

it is something a person may pursue on his or her own without the direction of a pastor or priest.

There are people who use their religion as an excuse to do good and people like this man who use it to molest little children.

He did something vile, therefore he can't be a REAL Christian. Thought you guys weren't keen on metaphorical hand-washing?

I said that some people use their religion as a reason to do good and some people use it to molest children.

Hint - it's neither. All he has to do is believe it and he's as much a Christian as any.

He could call himself a Christian or a unicorn for all I care. At the end of the day he's still a perverted pedophile who used religion to molest children.

when I believe them to come from a sincere desire to enlighten one's self.

Painting all religious persons with a broad brush of disdain is counterproductive, IMHO.

I respect them but do not respect their religion. We don't talk about religion with each other.

Because you're so offensive and rude, I'm putting you on Forever Ignored. I can't take disrespectful people like you who accuse me of not respecting other people. Who raised you?

In the meantime they'll continue to scam people for money better used for food, shelter, and other necessities. And fly jets, live in mansions, and do nothing as people suffer...except to tell those people to give them more money!!!

Once you have the suckers reeled in, you can control everything they do "in the name of Gawduh." But victimizing little children? He needs to spend some serious time in prison out in the General Population.

For their own protection. Why do you specify general population?

I'm a liberal pacifist UNTIL it comes to cruelty to children or animals, then not so much. And if you think he'll be safe in PC, think again.

You're promoting extrajudicial punishment for a particular class of offenders. Torture, is it? Physical beatings? Sexual abuse? Just trying to be clear on your penal policy position here.

by participating in a message board. Pretty much just like everyone else on DU.

not those living Social Gospel

Pedophilia is about pedophilia. Sometimes it's found in "religious" personages. Sometimes it's found in sports, or in schools, or in within families or in countries, but none of the above mentioned things is ALL about pedophilia or rape

Take away their tax exemptions and most of these hucksters will move on to other scams

Mack Andrews

What a monster.

It sounds like some kind of bad movie. . . . Ugh.

I moved on.

sick f*** alert

Biblethumper, in the South, women should be seen not heard, little girls . . . what could possibly go wrong?

When can we stop these monsters? Religion does not shield these victims. Ugh. I hope this poor girl and the other victims can find some healing and peace.

They are in denial of the horror of it all.

Many churches don't have a strict method, or any practice, of background checking and it's easy for someone playing the system to rise up in the ranks.

They groom kids by promising them all kinds of things spiritual and material and threatening them with exposure and damnation if they don't go along. The parents don't have a problem leaving their little ones alone with the pervert because he's an "elder" or "pastor" and as a man of god must be trusted.

If the kid ever comes out and accuses the scumbag the congregation and often even their own family turn on the kid instead of the rapist again because the scumbag is a man of god.

I hope the Alabama DOC accidentally forgets that this piece of shit is in protective custody and leaves him without supervision in the laundry with a work crew for a couple of hours.

...but WHAT. THE. EVER. LOVING. F**K. IS. WRONG. WITH. THESE. RELIGIOUS. IMBECILES??!?!?!?

creation and growth of the entire rw bullshit they call Christianity. In the 70s they infiltrated all the other church bodies and tried to sell their line. It worked in many churches but was not as successful in others.

I remember being in a church college of a very traditional church. This group sent students to attend our school and then pulled in some of our students and one of the ministers in town. Speaking in tongues, use of the spiritual gifts etc. was the line they used to tell students that those of us who did not follow their line were not Christians.

We took them on. Used seminars to educate students what was going on and why we wanted nothing to do with it. Shaming their group for the nonsense they were teaching. And finally we went to the church where their preacher was implementing their tripe. The church fired him.

Just a little history on this church.

If you look at your church and they are now preaching politics instead of gospel this where it came from. The churches that did not get them out are now probably rw.

I have never totally understood how it works or what the motive is.

the lefty churches it means speaking in modern languages. I saw a post today describing the Pope as speaking in tongues when he spoke different modern languages. Nothing wrong with that a lot of us do it even if we do not belong to the church.

But for the Pentecostal church it did not refer to that. They would be in the middle of a service and suddenly someone in the audience would break out in speech - a speech that no one could translate or even recognize.

They insisted that it was an ancient language that was lost to the world. The speech would be full of emotion and often would encourage others to follow along or create their own. (A miracle you know.) Sometimes the speech was accompanied by strange body actions. (My daughter has seizures and their movements were very similar to hers.) And unfortunately there are Bible verses if taken out of context can support this idea.

As to the motive they were meant to convince our students that they had seen a miracle and become followers ready to listen to the next step in converting them to the ways of the Pentecostals.

As far as I know that practice has kind of died out in most of the churches today. Not sure about all.

No exceptions...

Victims lives ruined. Rapist free for decades. Way to go justice system.

They had no one to whom they could turn, and they were too young to understand how empty the preacher's threats were regarding what would happen to them if they disobeyed him.

They were absolutely helpless, and alone in their fear throughout their imprisonment in their own minds.

He was "with" them, mentally, emotionally, every moment after he made his first attacks. He was present in their minds from the moment they awakened, and hovering over them as they tried to sleep. These little children lived with the specter of unfathomable agony ahead if they stepped out of line, serving a hideous, heartless, evil, crude monster who could never be placated, since their lives were taken away by psychological force.

They will never be at ease without luck, love, and hard work with the right therapists.

If ever anyone ever needed divine intervention, it has to be the little newcomers, helpless in the world, who are overtaken by relentless ghouls like this "man."

but,I would not be opposed to a live burying of this piece of filth,maybe a tube to breathe thru.

this would repay him for the living hell he gave those girls.

The deflecting, "he wasn't a 'real' Christian." which one is the real one? Who is the real god? The one that destroyed every living thing on earth but a chosen few? The one that tried to force Abraham to kill his own son for him? The one that let Satan torture a guy and his family to test his faith? The one that killed all the babies in Egypt? The God of Moses? The Moses who told his followers, who didn't have enough women and young girls in the villiage they just killed for sex slaves for everyone, so he told them to go to a nearby village and take all the women and young girls they wanted there to rape?
The god that destroyed a whole town and it's citizens because they didn't obey him?
The god that said you could sell your kids as slaves to pay your debts?

Must be nice to pick and choose which parts you will or will not pay attention and follow.

What this guy did was not any different than many stories in the old testement.

The 10 commandments were OT.

The cherries are few, the shit is deep, evil prevails because conditioning makes them sheep.

Righteous rant, angrychair!

all these assholes are REAL CHRISTIANS if they claim jesus is the son of god and their lord and savior. end of fucking story.

I bet he was a faithful republican "conservative congregation", yup.

so many stories like these that the media dam they have created is going to overflow. Sexual abuse of children will be of the downfall of Fundamentalist Christianism.