Religion *is* a Problem

“Members of the Gig Harbor Church of Nazarene are deeply shocked. Their former pastor Stephen Kerr, who they had trusted to teach them religion and values, now sits in jail, accused of molesting a 7-year-old girl.”

“Stephen Kerr was arrested for allegedly trying to have sex with a 7-year-old girl while making her watch videos of children playing with men’s private parts.

Kerr pleaded not guilty in court on Tuesday. Hughes said he was surprised by the plea, because Kerr told him something different.

“He openly confessed it, you know,” said Hughes. “There was no question to the fact that he had admitted to his guilt. But it was explained to me that there are technical, legal reason for that.”

Prosecutors believe the sexual abuse had been going on for at least two years.”

From KOMO TV >

After creating the “Abuse of Power” category for the last post I decided to search the web for similiar stories because I realized that “clergy abuse” is something that I had, up to this point, neglected. I’ve got to say, I’m not sure I have the stomach for this. I don’t think that I am capable of actively searching out stories like this one. It saddens me and it sickens me. If I run across them, that is one thing and I will post them, but this is too much.

“A Fort Worth pastor accused of paddling and raping women under the guise of scriptural teaching has been suspended by the national body of the Church of God in Christ.

The suspension comes more than three months after a Fort Worth woman sued the Rev. Sherman C. Gee Allen of the Shiloh Institutional Church of God in Christ, contending that he repeatedly beat her with a paddle from 2001 to 2005 and forced her to have sex with him.

Since then, eight more women have come forward with similar stories, according to the woman’s lawyers.”

From Dallas News >

What is even more disturbing than beating and raping women is using your supposedly sacred authority as leverage. Sickening. People innocently trust “men of God” almost by default. To take advantage of that to do harm to someone is corrupt in the worst kind of way. These women will be haunted by the memories of this abuse for the rest of their lives and may never be quite the same again. It’s too bad that there isn’t a hell for this fellow to burn in.

Thank you to reader Kriscinda for sending this story in. I decided to create a new “abuse of power” category just for this type story which is dissappointingly common.

“Religiously justified violence is first and foremost a problem of “sacred” texts and not a problem of misinterpretation of texts.”

- Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Anti-War Activist

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - “Hamas gunmen fatally shot six bodyguards from the rival Fatah movement and mistakenly ambushed a jeep carrying their own fighters, killing five. In all, 16 people were killed in the bloodiest day of Palestinian infighting since violence broke out in the Gaza Strip four days ago.”

“Israel launched an airstrike at a Hamas building after the organization’s militants launched barrage after barrage of rockets at Israeli towns. Palestinian officials said at least four gunmen were killed.”

“In four days of fighting, 41 people have been killed and dozens more have been injured. Most of the dead have been from Fatah.”

From Fox News >

“Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.” Isaiah 13:15-16

EDITED: An apparently made up Bible verse was removed and replaced with this one (which is correct).

A great interview of Hitchens, author of “God is Not Great,” can be found here.

Take a minute to check out this well articulated argument for religion as a wholly negative institution. The author makes an excellent point… what good has religion done that an atheist (or secular organization) couldn’t of done? Very little to none? So why tolerate its deadly baggage?

“As a horrifying video of the stoning went out on the Internet, the British arm of Amnesty International condemned the death of Du’a Khalil Aswad as “an abhorrent murder” and demanded that her killers be brought to justice.

Reports from Iraq said a local security force witnessed the incident, but did nothing to try to stop it. Now her boyfriend is in hiding in fear for his life.”

From the Daily Mail >

Adults killing each other over religion is sad. But when the young die needlessly, tragedies like this become even harder to understand and explain to oneself. Why did this young girl need to die?

“WASHINGTON — A hate-crimes bill passed Thursday by the House, extending coverage to people victimized because of sexual orientation, gender identity or disability, is attracting opposition from an unusual coalition of Christian leaders.”

“But some Christians are depicting it as a “thought-crimes” bill attacking 1st Amendment freedoms of speech and religion. A coalition of evangelical, fundamentalist and black religious leaders is mounting a furious assault on the bill, airing television ads and mobilizing members to stop its progress. And President Bush has said he may veto the measure.

If the bill, approved 237-180, were to become law, opponents say, a pastor could be held liable for giving a sermon against homosexuality if a listener later attacked a gay individual.

“This legislation strikes at the heart of free speech and freedom of religious expression,” said Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition. “Statements critical of sexual orientation or gender identity can be prosecuted if those statements were part of the motivation of a person committing a crime against a homosexual or cross-dresser. … Pastors’ sermons can be considered hate speech under this bill.”

The bill’s supporters say this is nonsense, and that a sermon could never be considered an inducement to violence unless it explicitly advocated it.

“The only people who ought to fear this bill are people who would say to another human being, `You ought to do violence against someone else,’.” said Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), who earlier added an amendment to the bill reaffirming the principles of the 1st Amendment. “I don’t know of any man of God who would take to any pulpit and advocate that.”"

From the Chicago Tribune >

The idea that opponents to this bill put forward as their reason for not wanting it to pass is ludicrous. The rights of a group of people to be protected from violence and hate speech should never kowtow to religious doctrine. To say that this bill might somehow lead to injustice is just about as backward as it gets.

“A Myrtle Beach man and admitted atheist was attacked and robbed on Thursday night by a group of men who took offense to an anti-Christian phrase on his windshield.

The victim told police he was getting out of his car in the parking lot of the Crabtree Gym in Myrtle Beach about 8 p.m. when the men pulled up beside him and inquired about a derogatory statement on the back windshield of his car, according to an incident report.”

News story here >

For an interesting discussion on this incident, check out this site:

My own opinion on the subject is that while the man was asking for it (by having such a sticker on his car in a predominately Christian country), the Christians certainly didn’t have to give it to him.