Weird Religious belief has quite naturally gravitated towards that rather unique blend of right-wing politics and religion. It is that recipe that has incarnated and inspired intolerance, paranoia, corruption, greed, abuse, and a conscious and very deliberate desire to practise deceit. There are of course many people who are religious and don’t do any of that, but instead gaze upon it all with utter horror.
Each and every week I look to see if anything bizarre or weird has emerged from this collective. What is consistent and persistent is that something always does.
What is below is not for you to shout at and rant about, but instead to laugh at the utter absurdity of it all.
What Happened during the past 7 days?
Some still have Clinton paranoia …
(It’s actually almost a miracle that anybody takes Ms Crokin seriously … but unfortunately gullibility is rather common)
Some play the racist card in a racist manner …
- Andrew Wommack: ‘Obama Was Elected Out of Nothing but Racial Prejudice’… “I know I’ll get criticized for this,” Wommack said“
(Yep, he nailed it, he will indeed get criticised and also laughed at for this claim)
New Conspiracy theories …
(The NRA, is literally terrorising the population with its restriction-free pro-gun stance, no help needed from Russia for their inevitable demise).
Trump Cult Devotees are as loyal as ever regardless of reality or facts …
- ‘Prophet’ Jeremiah Johnson Prays That Good Things Happen As Trump’s ‘Grip Tightens on the Nation’…”the church must pray for President Trump as he tightens his “iron grasp” on America to ensure that he remains humble”
(It takes a special kind of stupid to seriously think that Trump is humble or that “Good things” emerge from his policies)
Religious Abuse and cover up
- In Pennsylvania, the Catholic Church is Still Paying Priests Who Raped Children…
(They have spent rather a long time covering up abuse and protecting abusers, so don’t expect public exposure to lead to a change)
Religious Fraudster
Pastor Says Church Member Left Him Every Penny After Death; Her Family Disagrees
Under what are, at best, suspicious circumstances, a pastor who inherited an elderly church member’s entire estate through a potentially invalid will didn’t even pay for her funeral.
Pastor Jon Wright now has every single cent that belonged to 90-year-old Beatrice Allen, whose relatives were entirely excluded from the will. The document makes Wright the sole benefactor of Allen’s estate, and it appears to have been drawn up by church members.
(I smell the very distinct aroma of deceit, greed, and fraud)
When Satan Attacks
Seminary President Blames School’s Accreditation Problems on Satan
Pastor and Master’s University and Seminary president John MacArthur is convinced that the probation of his school by an accrediting agency is nothing more than an attack by Satan — because, obviously.
Not only that, but students need to literally shut up about it.
(Why accept responsibility for your own incompetence when an imaginary enemy fits the bill)
Nuns
Two Nuns Stole $500,000 from a Catholic School to Gamble in Las Vegas
An internal investigation at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California revealed that Sisters Mary Margaret Kreuper and Lana Chang embezzled the money, skimming from the school’s tuition dues, other fees, and donations. Adding to the pile of lies, the two long-time nuns engaged in the scam while telling parents that the school was having budget concerns.
(Having been caught, apparently the story is that the Nuns have expressed remorse, and so no charges will be pressed.)
Creepy Christian Van caught hanging about outside school
Teenage Journalists Expose Creepy Christian Van Lurking Outside High School
Their eventual report in the school paper, the Pepperbox, found that the van was faith-based and full of misinformation.
(Lying for Jesus is as popular as ever)
Democrats are Evil …
FOX News Pastor: Democrats Are “Increasingly Becoming a Godless Party”
(Indeed yes, the Democrats practise the evil art of healthcare for all, and welcoming the stranger … oh the horror … shudders)
“Education”, the fine art of promoting ignorance and opposing science
Florida GOP Gov.-Elect Appoints Anti-Science Members to Education Committee
(These days it appears to be a GOP pattern to find the most incompetent individual possible and appoint them to office)
Abuse and coverup by a Religious group
The term “Abuse and Coverup” immediately brings to mind Catholicism, but in this case no, it is the Baptists.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has been conducting an investigation into child molestation in and around independent Baptist churches. The series of articles they have published is one long stomach churning tale of abuse and coverup.
The fourth instalment was published yesterday and is the result of eight months of investigation by their journalists. Here are some extracts …
Protection of the abusers …
Even if criminal charges are brought against a church leader, he might be allowed to continue in ministry. Facing charges that he had sex with a 14-year-old, a pastor left his Indiana church for Miami, where he told his new congregation that the girl was “promiscuous.” Though he pleaded guilty to felony stalking in 2009, he didn’t leave the church until 2014. He maintains his innocence. He’s one of nearly four dozen men who were allowed to continue in their ministry after facing sexual abuse allegations — and even convictions, the Star-Telegram found. …
A man convicted of sexual battery in 1999 went on to serve as a youth volunteer in Georgia, where he abused three more girls. He pleaded guilty in 2016 to sexual battery.
A principal at a Christian school affiliated with Bob Jones University was moved out of state when sexual abuse allegations came to the pastor’s attention. The deacons, said one deacon’s wife at the time, convened a secret meeting and then spirited him away, on the advice of Bob Jones University officials.
Dawn’s Story …
I was just five years old, looking for somebody to love me and not throw me out. I’d been in the system for three years, so I clung. [My adoptive father] told me he loved me, nobody loved me more. So the molesting began, and quickly it turned into rape. It went on till I was 12 years old. I did try to tell people at the church. There were five different times that I tried, and even CPS came twice, but I was told that I needed to forgive and forget, and that he had repented, and his sins were under the blood. My dad actually admitted to molesting me to a CPS worker, but again nothing was done. …
The pastor knew … that my dad was a pedophile, and he allowed him to stay in the church. Why? Money. My mom and dad gave a lot of money to the church so they were allowed to stay and he was allowed to be around children. Even though the pastor knew, he actually put a girl into my parents’ home and she was molested and raped as well.
Rule by Fear…
Current and formers members say many independent fundamental Baptist churches rule by fear. Pastor Jim Vineyard was an expert in the tactic. Vineyard had a tattoo snaking around his forearm and liked to talk about the days he said he was a Green Beret. …
Former members in Oklahoma City remember the story about a photo of a dead man Vineyard kept in his desk. It was a favorite of Vineyard’s to tell from the pulpit. In one version of the story, the picture was of a man who voted against Vineyard coming into the church to pastor. The man subsequently got into a car crash and broke his neck. Or there was this version: The photo was of the son of a Windsor Hills family who told Vineyard they were going to leave the church. Vineyard warned them: If they did, God would punish them. They left, and the son died in a car crash. Defy Jim Vineyard, the message went, and God would punish you. … [E]x-members said they believed that if they disobeyed the pastor or left the church, God would kill them or their loved ones.
Amber’s story …
“I told [a church counselor] that I was raped and how violent it was and how I was terrified it would happen again. She gave me a five-minute counseling session and told me she would have to tell pastor Schaap and the nurse, inform the doctor. And not to tell anyone. Anyway, we had our meeting, and they told me my rape was God’s will because it sent me there.”
Rhonda’s story …
Rhonda Cox Lee felt special when [pastor Dave] Hyles noticed her out of the hundreds of kids who attended his dad’s church. The first time anything sexual happened, she said, they were in his office. He sat at his desk, she sat across from him on a chair. He walked around the desk and placed her hand on his groin. “Do you feel that?” he asked.
At first she thought it was some sort of spiritual test. He was a man of God, after all, and even though it felt wrong, he wouldn’t ask her to do anything wrong. Several meetings later, their clothing came off. She was 14. It felt wrong, she said, but she knew it had to be what God wanted.
“He compared himself to David in the Bible and how he was anointed, and said this is what I was supposed to do,” Lee said. “I was supposed to take care of him because he was the man of God.”
Hyles, she said, alternately promised her that they would be together once she turned 18 and warned her not to tell anyone in the church because if she did, the church would split, America would go to hell, and the blood of the unsaved would be on her hands.
This is all quite frankly deeply shocking stuff.