Sunday, January 21, 2007

Ministers in the news.

It’s been a while since we’ve run our column on ministers under arrest. Here’s a bit of the recent arrests in the news.

Rev. John Graier, youth minister at the First Christian Church in Moffat County, Colorado was arrested for sexual assault on two teenage girls. He posted bail, went home and apparently killed himself.

In Port Richey, Florida police have arrested Rev. Ronald Smart of the Union Missionary Baptist Church. One male member of the church says he came to see the minister after working a night long shift. He was sitting on the couch and fell asleep but woke up to find that the minister had pulled down his pants and was sitting on top of him. The minister was arrested for sexual assault.

Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus was actually arrested but he deserves an honorable mention. The Polish archbishop was recently exposed as having been a willing informer for the secret police of the previous Communist dictatorship. A new book to be published claims that 39 priests in the Krakow area were police informers.

Bishop Margaret Wanjiru of Jesus is Alive Ministries called a press conference. Then, in what is described as a stage-managed power blackout, her bodyguards attacked and beat a journalist. A bodyguard of the minister was arrested.

Joshua Allen was a minister at the Tyler Street Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Texas. He is now going to federal prison after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography including sadistic images.

Rev. Tyrone Moore of Full Word Ministries in North Charleston, South Carolina was arrested for molesting 7 underaged male members of his church. In a previous incident he pled guilty to molesting two young girls from a church where he was choir director. One girl, age nine, was given a venereal disease by the minister. He also admitted to a previous incident where he molested three girls.

Dennis Bowling is a high school drop out but that was no draw back when it came to being a minister. He has led the Kingdom Harvest Church, a Baptist congregation in Riverside, Ohio, for 19 years. He will probably serve a long period of time in prison for sexual assault on up to a dozen underage female members of his congregation.

Keith Brooks was a bishop at the Power of Deliverance Temple, Lebanon, Ohio, was arrested. He is facing charges for helping a cocaine dealer launder his income. In one incident the drug dealer purchased a car with income from his sales and the car was then registered as being owned by the church.

In Australia a senior elder of the Exclusive Brethren sect was arrested for sexual assault of two young girls. Church leaders pressured the parents of the victim to hide the incident and forced the girl to issue a letter of apology to her attacker. After the assault was reported church members began harassing the family of the victim in retribution.

In northern Kentucky a Catholic priest, Thomas Gaeke, was arrested for possession of illegal drugs. In Virginia Father Rodney Lee Rodis was arrested for embezzling something like $600,000 from the church. In San Paulo Brazil Father Aparecido Bianchi was arrested for drunk driving after driving his car into a crowd. He taunted police who arrested him, made obscene gestures and tried to offer them a bribe.

In Deltona, Florida two Catholic priests were implicated in a scandal. It is alleged that the two priests invited a 35-year-old man for dinner and then plied him with alcohol. It is then claimed that the one priest physically restrained the man while the other priest performed oral sex on him.

In Chicago Father Mark Sorvillo is facing charges for stealing close to $200,000 in funds from the St. Margaret Mary Church.

8 Comments:

Blogger Ethereal said...

I followed the story about Rodney Lee Rodis embezzling $600,000 from the church. It's just another form of christianty.

What I don't get is, why do people keep on flocking back to christianty when their "leaders" are dishonest?

Robert

January 22, 2007

 
Blogger blog owner said...

Why do people keep flocking back? I wish I knew. Why do they keep voting for Republicans and Democrats? Same problem, same question.

January 22, 2007

 
Blogger luggage79 said...

I guess there is black sheep everywhere, and I also guess that a list like the above for priests could be made for any profession. The thing that makes it sad is that these people think that they are somehow better and more moral than other people. It certainly does not show in their behaviour. In Europe we have the same problem. Quite outrageously, priests who have molested and abused kids (it's mostly kids) just get transferred to another congregation where they have a clean state and some new victims. Makes you wanna puke.

January 22, 2007

 
Blogger Ethereal said...

Indeed it does luggage 79. I do not vote for either repulican or democrat became they are the same.

I just truly think that most christians show some form of dishonesty and hatred. I come to this site a lot because I agree with NGZ about many of the topics that are in discussion.

Robert

January 23, 2007

 
Blogger GodlessZone said...

luggage 79 -- you are correct. You could make a list like this for any profession or any group. And that is my point. They are no different than other groups no matter how much they pretend to be in touch with a deity. There is this claim that the religious make regularly that one needs a deity to be moral. If true then we shouldn't be able to do compile a list like this. And remember that these are only stories that were in the news in the last couple of weeks. I don't go back for months or years. All of these took place very recently or were in the news recently due to a court trial, sentencing, etc.

January 23, 2007

 
Blogger Joe said...

If any of you are members of the Freedom From Religon Foundation (www.ffrf.com) the monthly publication has a column on this very subject. My favorite part of the paper.

January 23, 2007

 
Blogger Charles N. Steele said...

With the horrible things these preachers have done, I can only say, thank God they're saved!

January 27, 2007

 
Blogger Unknown said...

Like every other profession, there are always some bad apples that make it bad for everyone. Don't give up, because there are truly some God sent individuals who come to help us direct our lives. I am one of them, a former drug addict, now studying psychology, who honors God and His Word for changing my life. I love God because He is as real to me as you, that are reading this.


May you come to know Him like I do.

September 24, 2010

 

Post a Comment

<< Home

 

Web Counters Religion Blog Top Sites