Tag Archives: child abuse

Arkansas Pastor Arrested on 100 Counts of Child Pornography

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It’s another day, and yet another religious leader being arrested for the vile crime of possession of child pornography. It’s only the first charges for James Vincent Henry, aged 43, who was recently taken into custody after a special task force, the Arkansas State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, executed a search warrant. After finding a bunch of damning evidence on social media messaging platforms, he was charged with 100 counts of possession, viewing and distribution.

Henry had served as a youth pastor for several churches, which seems like the ideal way for these disgusting perverts to make a living. It’s almost a graduate program in child abuse, offering a PHD in human misery.

While I’m glad he’s in jail, I’m not sure that these are the only charges that will be brought up. It turns out that Henry and his wife had been foster parents of more than 70 kids over the last 6 years to 18-25 year old girls. Although it seems that these young women were not in his “preferred” aged group, I find it hard to believe that there was no funny business going on. Typically, these types of abusers tend to move beyond the realm of fantasy and into the real world. Here’s hoping this wasn’t the case.

 

Pastor Fired From Fort Mills Church After Past Becomes Public

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When you hear churches claim that they vet all of their pastors, you should instantly doubt them. You see, modern churches have a big problem: they are running out of pastors. Every year, there are fewer and fewer candidates to choose from, and so when a congregation finally finds someone to minister, they are so desperate that most of them don’t even bother to do their due diligence to protect their own flock.

Such was the case in Indiana, at a small church called “Fort Mill”. They had hired a 57 year old by the name of Donald Ray Logan, who had been working for the organization for over a decade. It turns out that one of the members of the church found his name in a registered sex offender list for a 1997 conviction. Logan was only recently added to the online sex offender registry, despite the fact that the charges stem from over three decades.

Logan is now fired, and his congregation is still in shock over the accusation. They shouldn’t be. With the increased desperation for qualified pastors, churches are usually forced to hire people with questionable pasts. Logan is but one example of the types of degenerates that seek these positions. Anyone who thinks that churches conduct rigorous background checks is a fool. They will take anyone, so long as they look the part. For all you religious folks, I have a warning for you: this is only going to get worse.

NC Former Church Youth Minister accused of assaulting multiple teens

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Has there ever been a more abused position than “youth pastor”? The amount of times I’ve had to write the phrase “youth pastor rapes children” are too many to count. This job title should just be renamed to “molester-in-chief” since it seems as though it’s the only thing these guys are good for.

The latest sack of crap is a man named James Robert Murphey. The 44 year old man was arrested a few days ago, and is accused of 30 counts of sexual battery. The victims, who’s age range from 16-19, was suspended by the Oak View Baptist Church, where he served from 24 years.

The safety director of Oak View Baptist Church, Chris Martin, said the allegations came to light earlier in the year. The church was told about the claims back in January and Murphey was suspended. One week later, he resigned. Martin said, “Any kind of incident involving any of our members, especially our youth, is going to be taken very seriously.”

Anyone who believes that any church gives a damn about the abuse of children is delusional. How many kids have to be abused before people realize that these institutions actually ATTRACT abusers. How can they take this seriously when they are part of the problem?

With him gone, the Church has found and appointed a new youth minister. How long will it take the new guy to also do something inappropriate and illegal? Only time will tell.

Brazilian Priest Rapes Teens, Forces One to Have Abortion

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If there’s an organization that attracts abusive psychos, it’s the Catholic Church. Tyrants who crave power are always welcome in the church, so long as they mask their intent under the guise of piety. You may think I am being overly hyperbolic, but how else can you explain how their ranks are bursting with serial abusers? Even in a culture of secrecy with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of capital to maintain it, there are still countless stories of victims who have been brave enough to come forward to expose these monsters.

The latest vile excuse for a human being is Father Paulo Araujo da Silva, a priest in the city of Coari. Seems he had a dream of having a harem of underage girls, and so after grooming 4 of them, he began to sexually abuse them. His lust and need for control were insatiable. He would force the girls to bring their friends along, and would film himself engaging in this sick ritual. Da Silva told them that no other men could date them, for they were his and his alone. When one of them became pregnant, she was forced to ingest a mysterious pill which resulted in an abortion.

This abuse continued for years, until finally one of the victims approached police to inform them of what was going on. When the agents busted in his place, he was in bed with another girl that had only recently turned 18, though it was clear that the affair had been going on for quite some time. The police searched his phone, and found 260 videos of his sick escapades.

The Diocese of Coari obviously tried to distance themselves from the whole affair, offering the typical platitudes offered to victims.

The diocese said “all the necessary canonical measures” have been taken. The priest was suspended and can no longer have any activity in the parish. The Church is also available to work with the authorities in the inquiry, concluded the note, signed by the diocese’s chancellor, Father Josinaldo Plácido da Silva.

We’re all so impressed that the Church is working with authorities. It’s literally required by law for them to do so. As for their “canonically punishments”, it’s just a funny way of saying that they stopped paying his bills. They need to save some money anyways; no doubt they are busy getting their lawyers to draft some form of non disclosure agreements,  and lawyers ain’t cheap.

If the church really wanted to stop these men, they would firstly rescind their own rules which stipulate that priests are not allowed to report abuse to the police, and must instead rely upon the church to handle the situation themselves. This “handling” usually takes the form of shuffling priests around when too many kids get raped, giving these predators a new field of victims from which to harvest. That would be a start. They could also stop sheltering countless priests in the Vatican under “house arrest” and let the law get their hands on them. They roam Italy with impunity, since they are technically residents of a city state that claims to be a nation. I doubt if either of these two things will ever come to pass.

Lets not also forget the incredible power and authority that is granted to human beings by simply holding their positions as priests. Instead of holding these men more accountable, the desperation of the Catholic Church to find employees means that they are willing to overlook serious issues with their candidates. Power corrupts, and it seems that the church is in the habit of attracting those that are easily corrupted. It speaks volume to their character, and to that of their employers.

Here’s hoping that this irredeemable bastard faces the harshest punishment. There is no cell filthy enough, and no prison mattress uncomfortable enough for this monster.

Indiana Pastor Arrested for Child Porn

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I’ve said it before, but it bares repeating: how many pastors need to get caught abusing kids before the faithful realize that there is something deeply wrong with their institutions? Can you imagine the outrage in the news if countless child abusers were found operating in any other institution? First, it would be immediately dissolved, and their assets would be divvied up among the survivors. However, because of the special status that we give religions, they can get away with literal murder, and nothing ever changes.

In Indiana, a former pastor and teacher by the name of Claud Greenlee was arrested after police discovered child pornography on his phone. Greenlee was arrested at his place of work, Liberty Christian School. Some of the images were of children as young as 3 years of age. There was also some bestiality in the mix as well.

We are aware of the situation with Mr. Greenlee and saddened by the course of events. We are fully cooperating with authorities and their investigation. Mr. Greenlee was immediately put on leave when the situation was first brought to our attention. He is no longer employed at Liberty Christian School,” Liberty Christian School reportedly said in a statement shared with Fox 59.

If you’re a parent, I find it hard to fathom why you would place your trust in religious institution. These groups are always brimming with sexual predators. It seems they have a knack for attracting these kinds of people. No doubt the culture of secrecy, and its appeal to authority is a potent combination that is a siren song for the worst kind of folks in our society. So long as this remains the case, these kinds of incidents will continue to occur with disturbing frequency.

I’m tired of writing about all these abusive pastors who have gotten away with abuse for way too long. I have to wonder at what point believers will be just as exhausted by this as I am. I won’t hold my breath, that’s for sure.

Iraq Law Would Legalize Child Marriage

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There is a trick that religious institutions like to use to get people to look the other way at their myriad crimes: accuse your enemies of everything you are guilty of in order to throw people off your scent. This is why the LGBT community is often the target of accusations of grooming and child abuse. This is literally what the world’s great monotheistic religions do: they groom kids into their death cult, scar them with threats of damnation for not believing, and force them to be something they are not.

Let’s not forget that a disturbingly high percentage of them will also be sexually abused, something that happens so often that TGA has run out of ways to write “Youth Pastor Abuses Children”. So, despite the fact that children are statistically safer at a drag show than a Sunday sermon, it doesn’t stop religions from using them as their major distraction.

While folks are outraged at the wrong people, they use the opportunity to try and pass laws that make the abuse of kids and women even easier. In Iraq, a draconian new law is being proposed which would make it legal for men to marry children as young as nine (you know, the age that their pedophile prophet married his favorite sex slave). The horrible taste in your mouth is the result of all the bile that’s invading it at the thought that this has a very good chance of passing.

Women and children’s rights campaigners in Iraq have pushed back at proposals that could enshrine sectarianism in family relationships, hand more power in family matters to clerics and open the door for marriage to be legalized for children as young as nine years old.

The amendments to Law No. 188, the Personal Status Law of 1959 have been heavily promoted by the Coordination Framework, a coalition of conservative Shia Islamist parties that form the largest bloc in parliament.

Wow, with that kind of endorsement, who can lose? Only the poor people who have to live in this country! This is the true face of Islam, and when they are in full control of government, it doesn’t take long for their intentions to be known. The Koran is all the justification that these perverts need to rape children that are in the most vulnerable years of their existence.

Is it the religion that attracts these pedophiles, or does it create them? It hardly matters which one. I suspect it’s both, which to me only amplifies what I have been saying for a long time: this religion is a curse on humanity, and only when the last Muslim has awakened from there toxic fever dream, realizing they supported a faith with irredeemable elements, will we ever live in peace. The marrying of child brides is but one of these toxicities that continues to plague this religion. It is but one great evil among countless others. Any rational and caring human being must reject this philosophy of submission and death before the rest of the world pays a heavy price for the fanatics within their ranks.

10% of Christians Left due to Sexual Assaults

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In a rare move of honest, a recent study conducted by the Lifeway Academy found that nearly 10% of protestants had left the church due to sexual abuse. The survey did not ask, however, if anyone had actually been abused. You don’t have to overthink why they wouldn’t do that. They just wouldn’t like the answer.

It’s not just kids that are getting abused. It appears that plenty of other unsavory things happens to adult church goers too.

Just under half of all Protestant churchgoers surveyed said they were victims of unwanted sexual joking, unsolicited sexual messages, unwanted compliments, and inappropriate glances. Twelve percent of such respondents said they endured those unwanted things while at church.

Sounds like a gas going to these churches. Who needs a subway groper when you can just get molested or harassed in god’s house of worship? What I find very telling from the survey is that only 1/3 of respondents felt that police needed to get involved whenever a case of sexual abuse happened. What the hell is that about? What percentage of people would want police involvement if it were any other institution other than a religious one? There’s even a significant portion that want these kinds of cases handled quietly. No wonder abuse continues to happen. Who wouldn’t want to work for an organization with these kinds of brainwashed idiots?

NOTE: The survey was conducted by Lifeway, which should not to be confused with Lifewise Academy, that delightful institution constantly indoctrinating kids without the parent’s approval. What is with all of these guys and the word “Life” in their title? Is it to make everyone forget that they are essentially a death cult obsessed with blood?

Six Women Accuse Kansas City Pastor of Abuse

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In Jackson County, Missouri, 6 women have come together to accuse their former pastor, a man named Robert “Bobby” Hawk, of having groomed and abused them. About 3 weeks ago, a blog post written by one of his victims, a woman named Isabelle Davis, detailed Hawks grooming behavior during her attendance at the EPIC Church KC in Independence, where Hawk was the founding pastor. She wrote about how during a visit, he put his filthy hand on her inner thigh while the two were watching a movie. Naturally, he threatened her into silence.

It didn’t take long for other women who had similar experiences to read the post, and to reach out to Davis. This would have surfaced earlier, but it appears that when his victims originally came forward, they were bullied into silence:

 “We were shamed, told to stay quiet, and (were) pressured by many in the church, including Bobby, to say nothing,” Bounds said, as her older sister stood behind her and nodded in agreement. “That unfortunately led to these other girls up here with me right now on stage, also becoming the victims to assault.”

Now, things are a little different. The church no longer has the ability to threaten little girls, and so they suspended Hawk, who later resigned. Now the police are officially involved, and an investigation is under way. The victims are hopeful that some form of justice can prevail. With the statute of limitation on child rape, something that exists only because of intense lobbying by religious organizations, it’s difficult to know if any charges will stick. This is why the 6 women came forward, asking for any other victims to come forward. So far, and avalanche of testimonials has come flooding in, so there will no doubt be more people coming forward in the coming days.

Here’s hoping that these women can finally get some justice.

 

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 358

This episode, TGA exposes the Southern Baptist Church’s stalling on their promise to expose abusers, the Catholic Church pathetic apology to Natives, and the Taliban murdering a gay man and sending the video to his family. All that and more!

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The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 358
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Megachurch Pastor admits to Child Abuse

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If you want to truly understand the horrors of child abuse at the hands of “men of faith”, I believe you should familiarize yourself with the case of Cindy Clemishire. When she was a 12 year old girl, she was sexually molested for years by a trusted family friend named Robert Morris. Morris was a young travelling preacher at the time, and would often stay with his family in the Clemishire home. For a while, it all seemed so innocent, until Christmas night in 1982, when Morris asked Cindy to join him in his room. It was there that he began to molest her, all the while warning her that if she told anyone, it would “ruin everything”.

This sick behavior continued for years, until in 1987 when Cindy told a friend of the abuse. This friend suggested that she speak to her parents about the abuse. Her father was livid, demanding that the Shady Grove Church report him, or that he would go to police. Instead, Morris chose to voluntarily take a long leave of absence from ministering. He blamed Cindy for being seductive, which explains why his wife, Debbie, later called Cindy and said that she “forgave her”. Here’s his pathetic response:

“When I was in my early twenties, I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying. It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years… In March of 1987, this situation was brought to light, and it was confessed and repented of. I submitted myself to the Elders of Shady Grove Church and the young lady’s father. They asked me to step out of ministry and receive counseling and freedom ministry, which I did. Since that time, I have walked in purity and accountability in this area,” Morris said in his statement, adding he and his wife met with the survivor and her family in 1989.

Well, give the man a prize for not having intercourse with a child. What idiot would believe for even a second that this guy is reformed? A man who accuses a little girl of “seducing him”, you know that there’s something not right going on in that guy’s head. What he needs is to be held accountable for his actions. Are Christians so desperate for pastors that they are willing to forgive the unforgivable? If Cindy’s family did forgive him, what effect did their pathetic excuse for parenting do to her sense of self?

Here’s the thing: you don’t need to forgive your rapist. Some acts are beyond forgiveness. You would think that someone molesting your child would be one of those. For some religious folks, I guess it’s just another Monday.

Partial Apology by US Bishops Promises Little

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Should every apology lead to forgiveness? This is a complex moral question. It would be tempting to answer yes, and to believe that all human beings are worthy of redemption. There are always outliers in any group, and overall, it is reasonable to assume that the vast majority of people are worthy of a second chance, especially when they make an honest and sincere apology.

The world is more complex than this trite observation would have you believe. It’s not only people who issue apologies. Sometimes, it’s entire organizations and institutions. One in particular, the Catholic Church, has committed so many atrocities over the centuries of its existence that it would take many lifetimes of work to simply identify them all, let alone do anything about them.

One of the many recent scandals it is involved with is the uncovering of mass graves in their 80 government sponsored boarding gulags. The rampant sexual, physical, and mental abuse suffered at their hands has never been full accounted for. The Church, which keeps meticulous records, have provided no helpful documentation that would harm their financial bottom line. Instead, they offered a partial apology that took only part of the blame for what had happened:

“The Church recognizes that it has played a part in traumas experienced by Native children,” the document said, saying “these tragedies” led to addiction, domestic abuse, abandonment and neglect that harmed families.

Played a part? They were the main event! It almost sounds like they want to throw their hands in the air and say: “Well, it was also the government’s fault for sending those guys to our rape dens in the first place”. Sure, the government place them in your care, which was wrong to begin with, but the Church could have showed them the love, compassion and charity they keep claiming to have a monopoly on. Instead, they beat them, starved them, sexually abused them, and countless other horrors that went on for decades. When you need to take responsibility for literal crimes against humanity, maybe don’t start with “played a part”.

To offer a proper apology, it’s important to be honest when it comes to exactly what part you played. Take for instance the part they played in the extermination of the Jews in Nazi Germany: in exchange for becoming the official religion of the country, they helped the exterminators find the families, often pretending to provide asylum for them but turning them in anyways, and whisking away the perpetrators to safe territory in Latin America when the whole thing went tits up. Those are things they have yet to specifically apologize for as well, or make up for in any way. Instead, they still collect part of every German citizen’s paycheck, unless that persons specifically asks not to. That deal with the Nazi stuck around, unsurprisingly.

This pathetic apology is a way to try and reconcile their Native believers, who feel a great deal of uncertainty about their faith following the harrowing details of the history of abuse. For most old Catholics, who’s ancestors also had their faith imbued at the edge of a sword, enough time has passed that the church’s atrocities are long forgotten. In Native communities, that wounds of the past are still fresh. It’s causing problems for the church’s bottom line, so something had to be done. Their plan? An impotent apology that serves only to highlight just how out of touch they are, and a promise to “listen”. Platitudes and empty gestures. Pathetic.

Islamic Scholar Abused Minor, Threatened to Kill Him

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TGA has been reporting on a number of Christian abusers recently, which has probably given our audience the mistaken impression that only Jesus lovers are abusing kids on a global scale. Please allow me to dissuade this opinion by bringing up the case of an Imam in India, recently convicted of abusing a young boy.

Unfortunately, the news report fails spectacularly in providing important details, such as the bloody name of the monster. They did release details of the conviction however. It seems that the young boy was assaulted multiple times when he attended religious classes, with the old pervert even threatening him with drowning if he told anyone what happened.

This sick bastard will be spending the next 56 years in prison. Hopefully, he dies there, never to spend any more time with young people. As for the news organization which reported on the assault, it’s pathetic that they couldn’t even be bothered to publish the name of this degenerate Those of us actually interested in keeping religions accountable find that this kind of information is crucial. Was it a simple oversight, or were they showing favoritism? I guess it’s hard to tell with bad journalism.

Church Volunteer Arrested for Sexually Abusing Kids

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A woman named Angela Marie Klickner has been arrested by the Mesa County Sherri’s Office over allegations that she sexually assaulted several children. Klickner was a church volunteer, and as such, she had a great deal of access and power over the kids she was responsible for.

The details are scant, and no doubt as the investigation continues, more details will be forthcoming during her trial. We do not yet know how many children were affected by this, or the extent of the abuse.

One has to wonder just how many of these abusers are employed by the church. Judging by how often these kinds of incidents get exposed, its terrifying to consider just how many horrible people there are out there, patiently waiting to pounce on the innocent. I wouldn’t be surprised if the problem only gets worse: churches need volunteers, and the fewer candidates they have, the more likely they are to hire someone with deep psychological issues. Coupled with the fact that religion often masks mental illness, and you have a recipe for disaster.

When more details of this becomes public, TGA will report on it, so stay tuned.

Canadian School Board Cancels ISIS Survivor Talk over Islamophobia Fears

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In Iraq, there is a religious minority that is constantly being persecuted. Although they speak Kurdish, there is some disagreement as to whether or not they are distinct subgroup of Kurds. What is clear is that the faith is ancient, predating Zoroastrianism. They are a monotheistic faith that has a strong affinity to nature, believing that the elements should remain free of pollution. Some call them “sun worshippers”, for they face the sun whenever they pray. They only marry within their faith, which is what has kept them separate from others for the last 900 years.

As you might imagine, a non-Islamic religious group is not very welcome in both countries with strong Islamic presence. Its members are regularly attacked, and one of the more popular ways to do so is to sexually assault young women. They are often kidnapped and sold in an endless cycle of sexual slavery whenever their rapists tire of them. In light of these atrocities, the Canadian government began to take in refugees. Among them was a young woman named Nadia Murad, who recently won a (shared) Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.

All of this sounds wonderful, until you realize that the same government who allowed these refugees in the country have no interest in them sharing their story. You see, a couple of days ago, a Canadian School Board had invited Murad to speak about her experiences. The event was cancelled, for fear that her talk would cause “hurt feelings” and Islamophobia.

[S]chool board superintendent Helen Fisher pulled the plug on Murad’s visit, saying she would not let students attend because the book would be offensive to Muslims and “foster Islamophobia,” the Telegraph reported.

Let’s recap here: the school was worried that actually learning more about Islam’s crimes against humanity might make some students critical of the religion. What else are we supposed to do with survivors? Ask them to quietly go away so that they stop exposing the evils of this religion? The West continues to bury its head in the sand at its own peril. You cannot ignore the dangers of Islam, wishing to avoid revealing the truth about the faith in order to protect the feelings of a religion that craves world domination.

Truth is often upsetting to people who live in a world of lies. Let’s also not ignore the fact that when Islam feels insulted, people often die. The religion is so insecure that countless adherents are more than willing to hurt, or even kill anyone who dares to insult it. These wackos need to learn that free expression in the price you pay for living in a democracy. If they dislike it, there are plenty of hellhole theocracies they can move to. Catering to these deadly temper tantrums will do nothing but undermine the very values we stand for.

Here’s hoping that this move actually backfires, and Murad is invited to more schools to share her experiences. I can dream, can’t I?

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 355

Welcome back to another episode. This week, we discuss a pastor ruining Autism Awareness, police investigating the New Orleans Archdiocese for human trafficking, and so much more. Don’t miss out!

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The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 355
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