pimping death

I do not normally write about the smaller crimes of our nation's Christian pastors. There are so many minor crimes reported that my blog would be bloated with mundane stories of common betrayal. I read every one though, culling the best.

Acen Phillips, pastor of New Birth Temple of Praise Community Baptist Church, was charged with seven counts of theft and five counts of forgery. Phillips is alleged to have defrauded AIG Life Insurance Co. of $575,000 by altering beneficiary claims when members of his church passed away.

Prosecutors allege that beneficiary documents were altered to the "substantial monetary benefit" to ACU, to New Birth church or to Mount Gilead Baptist Youth Job Mart. Prosecutors claim Phillips had access to the organizations' accounts and is the CEO of ACU.

According to an affidavit from an attorney general investigator, Phillips gave a eulogy at the funeral of the Rev. Kenneth Davis, who died in an auto accident in Oklahoma, and mentioned ACU and its benefits during the speech. The next day, Davis' widow said she had signed a document that said she would receive 80 percent of the payout but the form submitted to AIG said she would only get 40 percent with 40 percent going to New Birth church and 20 percent to ACU.

The violation of trust here is staggering. Phillips is alleged to have profited from the death of others through stealing money from widows and grief stricken parents. I am sure he acted in the name of Jeebus.

Technorati tags: Acen Phillips, theft, forgery, Pastoral abuse, Baptists, hypocrisy, Denver

Evangelism in the Military

I am a veteran. I remember the subtle evangelism experienced during boot camp. If a recruit wanted to escape the tedium of cleaning the barracks, all that was required was a trip to the chapel on Sunday morning. Two hours of blissful escape was the reward. I never attended, but just about everyone else did. Conditions have deteriorated since my days in the service. Evangelism is sponsored by the highest ranking members of our military.

A report released publicly on Thursday by the Defense Departments (DOD) inspector general has found high-ranking Army and Air Force personnel violated long-standing military regulations when they participated in a promotional video for an evangelical Christian organization while in uniform and on active duty.

Bush has promoted military leaders based on their loyalty and religious affiliation. The purge of professional military leaders is sickening. It will take years for our military to recover. Until then, we have high ranking military officials appearing in Christian propaganda videos as if it were officially endorsed by the United States Government. Does anyone think these anti-American activists will be prosecuted for what is a clear violation of the Uniform code of Military justice? I'll hold my breath.

Technorati tags: Separation of Church and State, Military Evangelism, Theocracy

Only in Texas: A moment of silence and under God too

Two articles out of the fundie state of Texas caught my attention today. Both demonstrate how religion creeps into our secular schools and why it is important to speak up to protect our children from unwanted religious indoctrination.

In Carrollton, Texas, David Wallace Croft (Blog) is fighting to protect his children from religion at Rosemead Elementary school. He makes frequent visits and files complaints when needed to make sure his children receive a secular education.

He complained about Boy Scout rallies held during school, fliers sent home about Good News Bible Club meetings and the inclusion of "Silent Night" and a Hanukkah song in holiday concerts.

The rallies and fliers stopped, and in some cases the songs were removed or altered, angering other parents.

Mr. Croft, 39, often stopped by the campus looking for violations. He took photos as evidence of "In God We Trust" posters hanging on the wall and complained about a teacher wearing an Abilene Christian University shirt.

Wallace is an Atheist, an "optihumanist" (I don't have any idea what that is), and a fellow libertarian. His biggest issue is the moment of silence each child must observe after the pledge of allegiance to the US Flag, and the Texas State Flag. The moment of silence was added in 2003. Wallace faces an uphill battle, the law was carefully crafted to avoid being an endorsement of prayer.

I am sure Croft is aware of the latest fundie attack on our secular schools. The Texas State pledge of allegiance was modified to include the words "One state under God" by the state legislature.  State Rep. Debbie Riddle sponsored the bill.

"Personally, I felt like the Texas pledge had a big old hole in it, and it occurred to me, 'You know what? We need to fix that,' " said Riddle, R-Tomball. "Our Texas pledge is perfectly OK like it is with the exception of acknowledging that just as we are one nation under God, we are one state under God as well."

Let's give this a little sniff test. First you say "under God" to the US Flag, and then you say "under God" to the state flag, and then you take a moment of silence to pray. It's  the triple whammy for Christians. Who do they think they are fooling?

Of course, Texas protects atheist children. All they need do is bring a note from home objecting to the pledge. They can opt out, which is the same as placing a big Atheist "A" on their foreheads. Nothing to fear here.

I like California much better thank you.

Technorati tags: Atheism, Texas, Christians, Fundies, Separation of Church and State, Under God, Pledge of allegiance, 1st Amendment

Black churches protect predators while neglecting victims

In a scenario I've seen demonstrated many times, the pastor of a black church is accused of some sexual crime. Instead of outrage and action, the church stands behind the while at the same time accusing the victim of making it all up... or worse.

Marian Hubbard Jefferson, an investigative reporter with The Dallas Examiner, offers an interesting article titled Black churches protect predators while neglecting victims.

And after the abuse, many victims become even more disillusioned at the response of the church as some churches place greater emphasis on blind forgiveness and restoration of the perpetrator, rather than the healing and support of the victim, as in the cases of Sherman Allen, Terry Hornbuckle and Ruben Thankful, ministers convicted of sexual assault against women in their congregations. Countless victims suffer silently in the pews of Black churches for years, with feelings of shame, guilt, fear of reprisal and disbelief from those meant to guide and protect them. Meanwhile the Black Church consistently fails to lift their voices with a collective moral outcry against this devastating act of betrayal

Read more...

The story profiles three notorious sexual abuse cases, each an example of a type of thinking that makes the church a fort against the forces of evil represented by outside society. It is a sad commentary on Christian morality.

Note: Corrected source for story

Technorati tags: Sexual Abuse, clergy sexual abuse, Hypocrisy Watch

Youth Minister Accused of Molesting Teen Boys

The weeks alleged pedophile pastor is a Philadelphia youth pastor named James Wilkerson. He is alleged to have molested five young boys in his care.

One of Wilkerson's alleged victims flagged down a bike cop Wednesday night to share anguished details of the assaults, prompting four other victims to come forward, police Sgt. Brian King, of the special victims unit said yesterday.

The alleged victims are all boys, ages 13 to 16. They told investigators that the assaults occurred inside the church, on Dauphin Street near Tulip, where Wilkerson sometimes taught a kung-fu class, and at his home a block away, King said.

Summerfield-Siloam United Methodist Church acted to protect their children by insuring Wilkerson no longer has access to children, and by confronting his crimes in an open meeting.

Technorati tags: Pedophilia, pedophile pastor, James Wilkerson, Philiadelphia, child sexual abuse, clergy sexual abuse, molestation

Pastor punches autistic child

Edward Uyesugi, a pastor in training,is alleged to have repeatedly punched a 14-year old autistic boy in the face while performing an exorcism.

According to court documents filed July 20, Uyesugi told the boy's mother he could cure her son's autism by "casting the demons out of him" and insisted the boy be brought home from the group home in which he was living so Uyesugi could perform the ritual. She was under the impression Cherry Hill Church knew about the "exorcism" and consented to it, the affidavit said.

Uyesugi's church, Cherry Hill Ministries, asked for his resignation and have publicly backed away from his "unauthorized" exorcism.

"We emphatically denounce the method, manner and mentality of this unauthorized and unsupervised exorcism attempted by this young man.

They denounce... yet they still perform exorcisms?

Note to the Paoli, Indiana police department: Arrest the mother too.

Technorati tags: Child Abuse, Autism, Edward Uyesugi, exorcism

Fundie "adopt-a-school" programs

Natalie Garcia of the Visalia Times-Delta asks the question, Do church-run "adopt-a-school" programs cross the line?

Five churches have informally "adopted" Visalia Unified School District elementary schools, donating time, money, energy — and Christian values.

Congregations help out by donating backpacks filled with school supplies, assisting at school carnivals, holding Character Counts! award breakfasts and offering free summer and after-school programs.

Some of these activities include Bible study.

I have a simple method to combat fundie attempts to ensnare my child. I screen his activities. No after school bible studies disguised as basketball camp for my boy. Nope, he gets to come home and play Crackdown on X-Box Live until his eyes bleed.

The issue here is not so much a Separation of Church and State matter as it is opportunistic evangelizing. Providing gifts with one hand and a Bible with the other is a sound strategy for injecting Christian moral values into our school systems. What they are doing is not against the law. They donate needed school supplies, they rent unused school property, and they provide needed supervised recreation to children. It comes with a price, but everyone understands that. And that is the problem...

Fundies are hunting for converts among innocent children. They happen to be the children of other religions. It is ironic - Mormons, Jews, Catholics, and Muslims - they are the ones who are pissed about this opportunistic bottom feeding. And they should be.

Technorati tags: Separation of Church and State, 1st Amendment, evangelizing, proselytizing. fundies

When in drought, pray for more rain

James L. Evans writes an interesting opinion piece on Alabama Gov. Bob Riley call to pray for rain.  

"Throughout our history, Alabamians have turned in prayer to God to humbly ask for his blessings and to hold us steady during times of difficulty," Riley said. "This drought is without question a time of great difficulty."

As an atheist, I know a call for pray is futile. The question is, am I offended by Evan's words? The answer - not really.

We hear calls for intercessory prayer any time there is a disaster, kidnapping or a prolonged drought. It is part of the American fabric. When I hear a call for prayer, my mind decodes it as "hope for the best". I don't have any problem processing a call for prayer because I am not told to "pray in Jesus name", I am instead just asked to pray. Evan's call to prayer can be interpreted by Native American's as a call for a rain dance, by Muslims as a prayer to Allah, by Catholics as a prayer to Agricola of Avignon, or for Atheists to hope for the best.

James Evans writes:

But Riley did what other leaders have done during times of crisis. For example, folks forget that our observance of Thanksgiving was a result of the Civil War. Lincoln called for a national day of prayer and thanksgiving as the conflict drew to a close. After 9/11, President Bush also called the nation to prayer.

Calling on the public to pray during times of distress or peril is perfectly understandable. That is, so long as the leader calling for prayer recognizes not everyone prays in the same way.

Not everyone prays in the same way - some do not pray at all, and I am ok with that. I like to hope. It makes me feel good.

Technorati tags: Prayer, Atheism, James Evans, Bob Riley, Alabama

No Porn Pledge

Feel like a laugh this Sunday morning. Visit the No Porn Pledge. I checked it out last last night and found dozens of joke pledges, they have since been removed.

The No Porn Pledge FAQ is hilarious:

What if I want to sign bu my current partner/spouse/lover is already a porn user?

Isn't if good enough that I'm antiporn? Why does my partner have to be also?

What if I sign the pledge, but change my mind later?

Since the No Porn Pledge does not define porn, how is it possible to know what one is supposed to avoid? Is porn pictures of people having sex or does it include nude modeling? Is it porn if certain body parts are shown and others are not? Do I hide my eyes if breast flash in a movie? This is just too much pressure. Mojoey opts out.

This is simply another faith based approach to a non-problem. I do not understand why people think this is effective.

Geez - can this stuff get any weirder? Where is the website for the No Masturbation pledge? I know of a few inmates in Florida who need to sign up.

Technorati tags: Porn, masturbation, Florida, antiporn

Permission to reincarnate please

You've got to love China, they think nothing of tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate. Have you ever heard anything so absurd?

My wife asked me "What's the purpose of that?" - I honestly did not know. This article gives some insight.

It is the latest in a series of measures by the Communist authorities to tighten their grip over Tibet. Reincarnate lamas, known as tulkus, often lead religious communities and oversee the training of monks, giving them enormous influence over religious life in the Himalayan region. Anyone outside China is banned from taking part in the process of seeking and recognising a living Buddha, effectively excluding the Dalai Lama, who traditionally can play an important role in giving recognition to candidate reincarnates.

China is seeking to  eliminate a religion through legislation. I cannot imagine a more bizarre approach to controlling what people believe. Maybe its my American sense of libertarian self determination, or maybe it is my strongly held believe that religion (or lack thereof) is a personal matter, but China is dead wrong here.

Technorati tags: China, Buddhism, Tibet, religion

Faith based science fails again

It's official, George Bush's faith based abstanace program is a failure.

Researchers found none of the abstinence-only programmes had an impact on the age at which individuals lost their virginity, whether they had unprotected sex, the number of sexual partners, the rates of sexually transmitted diseases or the number of pregnancies.

As if anyone ever thought abstinence was an effective way to reduce AIDS infections, battle unplanned pregnancies, reduce abortions, or even help make sure kids have safe sex. Abstinence does not work alone.  Only a fundie would think otherwise.

Technorati tags: George Bush, Fundamentalism, abstinence, science, politics, sex education

Pedophile Pastor to serve two years

Via Atheist Blogroll member Nicest Girl and Destroyer of planets, Loving Children for the Lord - Totally slacking.

The little photoshop thing that the news station used (up top there) is pretty lame so I thought I would include it for shits and giggles.  This pastor was arrested in September of last year but he was just convicted and sentenced in July of this year and ... well, let's just say he will be free to rape again very soon, for all of you out there who were worried about that.

Nicest Girl is complaining about the hypocrisy inherent in a Judges decision to sentence pedophile pastor Herbert "Herby" Powers to only two years of prison instead of the recommended 12. Powers was convicted of statutory rape of a 16-year-old boy in his congregation.

Before his conviction, Power was the pastor of Macedonia Free Will Baptist church, which makes him a card carrying member of the Baptist Pedophile club.

Technorati tags: Child abuse, pedophilia, Baptist Pedophile, sexual abuse, clergy sexual abuse, Herbert Powers

Hitchens vrs CAIR

Christopher Hitches takes on CAIR over the Pace Koran flushing incident. Kitchen hits the mark - Flushing a Koran is not a hate crime.

Via Hot Air

...arguably the world’s foremost atheist butting heads with CAIR tool extraordinaire Ibrahim Hooper over how, in a world where Ayaan Hirsi Ali needs 24/7 protection and American news bureaus censor their own coverage of the Danish cartoons for fear of stirring up jihad, Hooper can dare suggest that putting a Koran in a toilet is an “act of intimidation.” As you’ll see, his logic is nonsensical on its own terms: he hones in on the difference between destroying one’s own Koran and destroying someone else’s, but that has no bearing on the intimidation factor, particularly where, as here, the Korans in question didn’t belong to Muslims.

What is a "hate crime"?

In New York: "Hate crimes do more than threaten the safety and welfare of all citizens. They inflect on victims incalculable physical and emotional damage and tear at the very fabric of free society".

Ibrahim Hooper makes an attempt to show how flushing a Koran is a hate crime, but his example fails miserably. There was no physical harm done, and who exactly suffered emotional harm? Flushing a Koran/bible or other holy book is an expression of  free speech. Hooper does not understand the concept.

Previous posts on the Koran flushing incident

Technorati tags: Islam, Koran, Stanislav Shmulevich, 1st Amendment, free speech, Ibrahim Hooper, Christopher Hitchens

and still they support him

Youth Pastor Troy Deal stands accused of some serious crimes.

Deal now faces 11 counts of using a computer to solicit a minor for sex and accosting a child for immoral purposes. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

In what I now recognize as a symptom of the problem, Deal's church is standing behind him when they should be skeptical.

"Through all of this, I hope everybody gets a chance to see the good Troy has done," said church member and friend Thomas Reed, 34, whose wife worked with Deal in the youth ministry. "My daughter attended a trip with him recently, and I'd let her do it again."

The normal presumption of innocence is expected in a criminal case. Troy Deal might be innocent. The government makes mistakes. I can all end as suddenly as it started - or not. Deal could spend 20 years of his life in prison. What should his church do? Why they should be skeptical of course. They should examine every aspect of their relationship with Deal to determine if the charges represent the Troy Deal they know. They should do the same with the evidence of his guilt. They may or may not come to a conclusion they like, but that is what being skeptical is all about. What they should not do is stand by their pastor with the assumption of his innocence. It smells like hypocrisy and minimized the serious nature of the crimes he is alleged to have committed.

I have a question. If a pastor like Troy Deal is charged with a crime against children and is found guilty, will his church think less of him for failing to admit his crime and accepting responsibility for his actions?

Previous posts: on Troy Deal

Technorati tags: Hypocrisy, Troy Deal, Child Molestation, Clergy Sexual Abuse, pedophilia

A quick poll

Tina, of misterjebsblog, asked me a question via email this morning. Apparently her local news paper asked this same question in a poll.

Would you be offended if a copy of the Holy Bible arrived at your door with your newspaper?

My opinion is remarkably similar to Tina's. If I want a bible, I will buy one. Ironically, I own several bibles already. My original New American Standard Bible with my chicken scratch from way back in the 70s. My family bible from when I was too dumb to say no to a traveling salesman in 1981. And, a bible with crucifix from my former secretary who gave it to me because she was a genuinely nice person who I cared for. Oh, and a Book of Mormon from the 1870's - it's kind of like a bible.

so... What do you think? Would you be offended if a copy of the Holy Bible arrived at your door with your newspaper? And, do you own any already?

Technorati tags: Bibles, Surveys