Saturday, June 13, 2009

It's prison for two Baptist pastors

Richard Wimberly Cunningham and Philip Ladd Cunningham both pleaded guilty to grand theft for stealing 3.1 million from Calvary Baptist Yorba Linda Church and School. Both will serve two years in prison. Yay!

Prosecutors said the Cunninghams wrote checks to themselves on eight accounts belonging to the Calvary Baptist Yorba Linda Church and School. They also used church credit cards for personal expenses.

It was a lifestyle thing. One must keep up appearances in ostentatious  Orange County. Not me though, I live in North OC… the poorer cousin so to speak. At least the church sued the pastors to recover some of the lost funds.

I often wonder when I read about this type of crime. How does theft of this scale reconcile with the simple faith and lifestyle of Jesus? I’m not sure being a Christian today has anything to do with what Jesus intended. Of course, I don’t believe in the biblical version of Jesus, but that is a different story.

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SVN's avatar

SVN · 828 weeks ago

Pastors steal 3.1 million and get 2 years of prison. Common man steals from a convenience store (maybe $100?) and get 5-10+ years. The power of clergy.
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David Cass's avatar

David Cass · 828 weeks ago

Back in the 60s, as a 22-year-old newlywed, I rented an apartment from a very nice couple, Polish immigrants. They were lapsed Catholics, and bitter ones. It seems their pastor had collected several hundred thousand dollars for "a new church" and when groundbreaking day arrived, no one could find him or the money. Three weeks later he turned up in a tiny Canadian town, working at the town post office, under an alias. Sounds to me like he had his escape with the funds planned from the beginning. Makes my personal motto even more cogent: You can't trust anybody; and especially people of the cloth. They know damn well that they'll get the sympathy where others would get the axe.

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