T he story of Ex-Beaumont (Texas, not California!) Baptist pastor Herman Lewis is almost unbelievable. This pastor attempted to kidnap a woman, assaulted a man who tried to intervene, rammed a police car, assaulted two police officers, injuring one, and tried to escape via a car chase. No mention of drugs were made in the arrest report, but hey, what else explains this kind of reckless behavior - a mental breakdown? Did I mention he was yelling "I am God, you can't do anything to me."
Lewis appears to be a nice guy. His background press and story are uplifting. Lewis is the pastor at Morning Star Baptist Church in Washington state city, a story about his efforts to revitalize his church can be found here.
This is just a loose observation, so don't give me any more tickets when I next visit Texas, but it seems to me that Texas produces a prodigious amount of crazy Baptist pastors. it must be something in the water.
btw - Beaumont California is famous for its speed freaks, not crazy pastors. I was worried for a moment.
*** Update ***
So much for playing nice. It seems Pastor Herman Lewis is your typical hypocrite. He led a double life, one that involved a crack pipe. You can watch a video about the arrest here and another video about his admission that he used drugs and prostitutes, all using church funds.
2 comments:
As story after story comes out detailing the criminal activity of Christian pastors, one has to wonder how many more just haven't been caught yet. Given that a law-abiding pastor seems to be little more than a con-man, spreading delusion and extorting money with promises of salvation, I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that they tend to break the law.
As a Texan, I can tell you we produce more crazies per capita than anywhere else. It's the schizoidal religious mania coupled with that sense of free entitlement. More evangelical and other fundie churches here than anywhere else too. A hotbed of religious fanaticism and hypocrisy, think Branch Davidians, Walker Railey, former Father Rudy Kost, Tom Delay, Kenneth Starr, etc., ad nauseum.
On the bright side, we have the pleasure of calling Molly Ivans, John Henry Faulk, Ann Richards and a few sundry others, as Texans.
Why the flag waving patriotism to Texas? It's that same childhood indoctrination to form a sense of entitlement that lets us carry on the fantasy that Texas is a nation unto itself; Texan first - American second.
Post a Comment