Imagine you steal more than $80,000 from your employer by selling a property and then pocketing the cash. How much time should you be in jail for? A few years maybe? Well, if you’re a religious figure, that number can be brought down to the low low price of only 8 months.

That’s how much time Erin Gullickson, who was the former pastor for the Our Savior Lutheran Church, got: an 8 months in prison handed down by an Illinois court. She’s also been ordered to pay back the 82 grand she stole, with the judge demanding that it be paid back in a year’s time. Unless she joins another church and starts stealing from them, I doubt she’ll be able to make good on it. So far, she’s only agreed to pay back 1000 bucks a month. At this rate, it will take her roughly 7 years to square things off.

Prosecutors were obviously upset that she got the equivalent of a slap on the wrist. A few months in jail and some probation sends a pretty clear message to other would-be scammers: Do the crime, do only a small portion of the time. You see, this is a class B felony, which usually carries a maximum prison sentence of around 10 years. She got less than 10 months.

Feland also disagreed with the notion that Gullickson, who has been in custody since her conviction, should not be subject to further imprisonment. The judge sentenced Gullickson to 10 years in prison but suspended all but time already served and an additional seven months, in addition to three years of supervised probation.

Why is it that the law works differently for religious people? Do they just have to promise that they will do better and are instantly believed? She abused the trust of the people that she ministered to, and literally stole from them. What was the reason for such leniency? If this person had embezzled this money while working at a bank, would she have been given such mercy on her sentence? I highly doubt it.

This shit stinks to high heaven of religious privilege. When will we be free of this special treatment that the faithful get? My guess is never.