Author Archive for MojoeyPage 5 of 34
I see Christian markings on commercial vehicles and signage all the time, but I wonder if it hurts or helps. I sure turns me off.
I was researching the arrest of pastor Jeffery London when I came across this odd grouping of images on Facebook. Nothing say more about you than the friends you keep.
Technorati Tags: Facebook,Christians
Youth pastor Jeffery London was arrested and charged with 30 counts of battery and child molestation. According to the Orlando Sentinel, London was denied bail after an alleged victims emotional testimony. London faces life in prison if convicted.
Let’s run 48-year-old Jeffery London down. Can you see the problem?
- Counselor at the Boys and Girls Club in Fort Lauderdale
- Dean of students at Eagle charter Academy
- Youth Pastor at Fort Lauderdale’s Bible Church of God
- Took in troubled youths at his home
But wait for it… Parents gave their kids to London for same keeping. People are so naively trusting. Here you have a single man who’s life revolves around children, and he has little oversight, and parents give him kids. When is this ever a good idea?
Former pastor Creth Dean Hopkins was found guilty on three counts of child sexual abuse and one count of lewd molestation.Hopkins was arrested in 2010. I must have missed the story, but his case is typical.
Testimony was presented during the trial by the 22-year-old victim, who had gone to the police nearly two years ago. She told officers that Hopkins had repeatedly touched her inappropriately during encounters when she was between the ages of 13 and 16.
A recording was played for the jury of an interview with Hopkins by police and officials for the Department of Human Services. In it, Hopkins states: “I saw her as a precious thing. It sounds corny, but I wanted to honor her, to show her adoration, that I was pleased with her. I leaned forward and I kissed her, telling her how beautiful she was, how precious she was.”
Sick right? He faces 20 years in prison.
Hopkins was a blogger. He also founded Grace Community Church, which was not a church as much as it was a place for Hopkins to shop for victims of his “precious attention”.
Technorati Tags: Clergy Sexual Abuse,Child Molestation.
Greta Christina inspires me. Her post, If Everyone Does One Thing…, resonated with me. Of course, as an atheist blogger, I do way more than one thing already, but I can do more. I can say thanks and tip with “God” stricken from “In God we Trust” on all currancy. It an easy thing to do. It’s something I can do. It’s something I did on Easter in a hotel room in Alameda just yesterday. Five one-dollar bills all with a small edit for the cause.
Do one thing. Just one you are not already doing.
I was asked today if I will be going to church on Good Friday by our Korean janitor. I was sunning myself like a big fat lizard, because I was not feeling well. He asked his question, in broken English, while I enjoying my moment in the sun, so naturally, I did not give my response much thought. "No. Atheist. Discgolf." His response was as hilarious as it was hateful. He acted like he had stepped in dog shit. He averted his eyes, said "No." while shaking his head, and stomped off in a huff. He's a very religious man. I am sure my office will never be cleaned again.
Such is life among the haters.
The other party to the event was incredulous. "But Joe, you don't act like an atheist. You read poetry and are so nice and everything."
Yep. I'm a nice guy. Too nice to argue the point. Duck. Water. Back.
Update 4/3/2012 evening regarding use of the word Korean. I blogged this from my phone today. It's easier to think at home. I would have left off the janitor's ethnicity if I had taken more time on the post. My bad. I am sorry. My Korean janitor is one of many Koreans that I know who are fierce Christians and defenders of the faith. I was tying to link this trait in the post and did so poorly. My janitor is a man I respect and one who works tirelessly at his job. I meant no disrespect.
Such is life among the haters.
The other party to the event was incredulous. "But Joe, you don't act like an atheist. You read poetry and are so nice and everything."
Yep. I'm a nice guy. Too nice to argue the point. Duck. Water. Back.
Update 4/3/2012 evening regarding use of the word Korean. I blogged this from my phone today. It's easier to think at home. I would have left off the janitor's ethnicity if I had taken more time on the post. My bad. I am sorry. My Korean janitor is one of many Koreans that I know who are fierce Christians and defenders of the faith. I was tying to link this trait in the post and did so poorly. My janitor is a man I respect and one who works tirelessly at his job. I meant no disrespect.
Few things please me more than reading that a nutball religious zealot is sent to prison because his biblically inspired actions are deemed illegal by our modern legal standards. Take those nutballs who beat children with rods because they think the bible tells them to do so. Pastor Philip Caminiti advocated for this type of biblical discipline. He even suggested that his followers beat children as young as 2 months old. I don’t recall that in the bible.
Assistant District Attorney Shelly Rusch, who prosecuted the case with Assistant District Attorney Greg Venker, said she was surprised that the jury deliberated for such a short time. She said she did not know what resonated most with the jury, though she speculated that the ages of the children involved in the case might have weighed on them.
The charges alleged that two of the children involved were just 2 months old when discipline was advocated by Caminiti. The oldest child was 5 when the practice was stopped after police intervened in November 2010.
Read more: Black Earth pastor found guilty in child abuse case
You are not a Christian based on based on what you say. The magic prayer of salvation does not end your journey. To be a Christian you must actually practice the principles that Jesus supposed taught. I don’t recall Jesus telling his followers to beat their children. Do you?
Technorati Tags: Clergy Misconduct,Nutballs
Every man has a secret buck list. My secret bucket list, the one my wife does not know about and will never find out about because she does not read my blog, includes a spring trip to Indonesia for the annual unveiling of the miniskirts. Now, thanks to Indonesia’s Religious Affairs Minister, I may never get the chance to cross this important event off my list. Indonesia’s grand tradition is at risk. They want to ban miniskirts. Apparently, miniskirts are the root cause of all rape.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Indonesia’s House of Representatives speaker, Marzuki Alie, also recently made inflammatory comments around women's apparel, suggesting that women who wear miniskirts could encourage men to rape them.
To fight this imaginary rape scenario, Indonesia's Religious Affairs Minister, Suryadharma Ali wants to classify miniskirts as a porn crime.
'Pornography is something that we can feel … but we have to make the criteria,'' Suryadharma Ali said, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
I have a message for you Suryadharma Ali. Rape is caused by men who will rape a woman wearing a burka if they have the opportunity. Women are the victims. Limiting what women wear will not decrease the incidence of rape. Rational people understand this, and we understand that you are going after miniskirts because it offends your religious sensibilities. This must not be allowed to stand. Miniskirt women of Indonesia, I implore you to rise up and throw Ali and anyone who supports him out of office. The future of my secret buck list is at stake.
What biblical lesson do we learn by exposing children to the terror of kidnapping? Did Jesus teach this? I’m confused. You should be too. Read this: Fake raid at youth church meeting shakes up 14-year-old girl.
A 14-year old Dauphin County girl said she thought she was going to die Wednesday night when two men with apparent guns raided a church meeting. She later found out that it was a learning exercise carried out by the church youth group.
The mother of the young girl did not want to reveal their names. The teenager does not belong to the Glad Tidings Assembly of God church in Lower Swatara Township, but she decided to go to a youth meeting Wednesday night with a friend who told her the meetings were fun.
The pastor and youth pastor are incredulous. They can’t believe that anybody might be upset by their antics. After all, they’ve done it before with no complaints. That should make kidnapping children ok, right?
The youth pastor all but called the 14-year-old victim a liar.
"In fact, I'm pretty sure she was laughing at some point and having fun with the other students," youth pastor Andrew Jordan said. "I can't confirm that, but that's what I've heard from friends of hers that were there."
Nice going youth pastor Jordon. Did they teach you to act like that in youth pastor school? Was that in the correspondence course? I like how your words show your compassion and Christ-like nature. I can feel the love.
Let’s talk about what could have happened. Disaster scenarios easy to come up with after just a few minutes of thinking this though. A testosterone loaded teen decides to put up a right. He Jumps from a moving van, crashing the van, or acts out in a way that injures himself and other innocent participants. He gets to carry the guilt around for the rest of his life as a bonus. Guns were involved. All it takes is a uniformed 3rd party with a loaded gun and people will die. Let’s not forget the mental pressure these teens were placed under. Stress, terror, fearing for ones life, these factors can cause lasting mental trauma. Sure, you can laugh it off because you are in the know, but some kids are fragile.It only takes a little push. In the real world, only a reckless fool would propose this type of event. The risks are simply too high.
Let’s look at this from another angle. Church is a business. It has assets that require protection in order to sustain itself. A well-run business does not risk it capital on questionable behavior. Churches will take action to reduce risk wherever they can. I doubt the leaders of this church thought that through. This case will lead to a civil suit, and criminal charges are a real possibility too. This could cost the church a lot of money. This could actually close the church. Yet misguided church leadership wants to push ahead with more kidnapping events. I must ask, how is this in any way connected to the teachings of Jesus? Is it reasonable to risk the wellbeing of a church and its mission on a questionable stunt? Pastor John Lanza and youth pastor Andrew Jordan, you are nutballs and should not be allowed near a church.
Members of the Glad Tidings Assembly of God: If you feel like you are being persecuted for your actions. If you feel like outsiders are trying to run your church and tell you what to do. If you feel like the world has turned against you. It’s because your leadership acted like children. Step up to your responsibilities. You owe this girl an apology. You owe all of the children involved an apology. You owe their families an apology too. You also own your community an apology. I’m not just talking about the town you live in either. You need to tell other churches that you screwed up and were focused on the wrong things. You cannot justify teaching teens about imaginary Christian persecution scenarios when the homeless go hungry in your own county. You know the story right? Your lord commands that you feed the homeless, clothe the poor… the good work that Christians can do. It’s why some of us appreciate you. Terrifying children is not on the list. Jesus tells you to, “Live such a godly life that people, seeing you do good deeds, will have respect for your Father which is in heaven.” He also commands this jewel… “When persecutions come simply because you have done what is right in God's sight, rejoice and be extremely happy, for you have a great reward in heaven.” Why are you teaching kids to fear persecution again?
Nice touch taking your website down by the way. You probably need the cash to pay your legal bills. I understand.
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A jury of his peers found Pastor Timothy Jackson guilty of molesting a 13-year-old girl. The story of his conviction did not make the news, but a member of the jury was kind enough to confirm the story, so was a member of the audience at the time the verdict was read.
Jackson’s church was particularly vocal in his defense. They tended to attack the victim. I mean… she obviously was the one who caused the problem. That’s what evil girls do. Right? People are such jerks.
Believer offered this:
This attacks are a lie!!! Someone needs to look at this girl and her families history of lying!!! The truth will come out and all will see that Mr. Jackson IS a man of God!! This is a disturbed family and the truth will set you FREE!! We all love you Pastor Jackson and God is on your side!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Loyalcitizen offered this tripe:
As stated the truth will be revealed this girl suffers from a mental illness was actually molested by her stepfather but of course how often have we seen victims blame others to cover the abuse in the home as an outcry. for those who know this family knows wat type of people they r n wat they have done in their own past. which is y this is unbelievable . Not to say this girl isn't a victim nor tht no man is capable of sin although for those who know the truth knows much more was exposed over the years tht this girl her mother and numerous other family members have done .. Shes a product of her environment!
Source: Pastor Timothy Jackson charged
You can tell a lot about a person when the chips are down. Pressure can open up big festering puss filled sores that show the real you. Jackson failed the test. He raped a little girl. But his followers. They are poor examples of what a Christian is supposed to be. How sad is that?
Technorati Tags: Clergy Sexual Abuse
Crazy news out of New York. The New York City Department of Education wants to avoid offending children from the city’s standardized test. Dinosaurs was listed as one of the potentially offensive words.
"Dinosaurs" evoking unpleasant emotions? The New York Post speculated that the "dinosaurs" could "call to mind evolution, which might upset fundamentalists.”
Source: New York city schools want to ban 'loaded words' from tests
Oddly enough, they left “idiot” off the list. Missed fundies too. Go figure.
"but let us Judge not, that we be not judged" - Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln said these words as part of his second inaugural address. He was paraphrasing Jesus of course. I've always taken his words to mean do not judge everyone by the actions of a single actor. Others, mainly Christians, insist that it means I must suspend all judgement. I don't buy it. We are called to judge others. It is a moral obligation. We must judge others, but we must be careful to judge what people do, not what we think they might do. We must also be careful not to judge a group by the actions of an individual. It's hard though, right?
I struggle with pastors. If not for the good people I know who are pastors, I might develop an irrational prejudice, like the prejudice I suspect George Zimmerman had towards Trayvor Martin. Prejudices can kill. What was it that caused Zimmerman to kill Martin if not prejudice? Well ok… Zimmerman could have also deliberately created the opportunity in order to kill Martin.
Pastors are not my biggest problem though. I am constantly fighting the urge to lump all politicians into the same nasty bucket of fish guts. I loath politicians. Every one I've met eventually caused me to think our great democracy is broken. We elect those who are drawn to power for powers sake, for personal enrichment, or because of a moral agenda at odds with the foundation of our democracy.
I started my political life as a Republican. I moved toward the fringes of the political process by becoming a Libertarian shortly after George H. Bush took the reins of power back in the 90s. Since then, the Republican party has become a morally corrupt theocratic party while the Libertarians have morphed into an irrelevant crazy sideshow. Don't get me started on Democrats. They have just as many issues. In fact, their collect failure to press their political advantage during the early days of the Obama administration left me speechless. The Democratic party is a herd of cats.
Political corruption is rampant… this leads me back to my main point. Do we judge all politicians by the actions of a few corrupts actors? Take Republican member of the National Labor Relations Board Terrence Flynn. His alleged crime is one that speaks to his character. I read cases like his every week. Are all politicians corrupt? No. Are politicians to be trusted? I think the answer here is no too. Trust no politician. Judge actions. Judge results. Distrust promises. Distrust religious agendas and agendas that seek to undermine our democracy. Simple. Right?
Speaking of which. if we judge the actions of Rick Santorum, he fails. …just saying.
I scratch my head at some of the stuff that goes on in Atheist circles. Take efforts to remove a blessing from a highway in Florida. An atheist group, Humanists of Florida, decided it was a good idea to wash away something that was not there in the first place. How does one wash away a blessing?
Representatives from various atheist groups in the area scrubbed the road at the Pasco-Polk county line. They were figuratively removing holy oil that had been put on the road last year by a group of area religious leaders. That group was Polk Under Prayer, or PUP.
Source: Offended by religious group's highway blessing, atheists 'scrub' it away
I guess they were hurting for publicity. Does this kind of activity really help the cause?
Why did they do it?
"It sends a very bad signal to everyone in Polk County, and (anyone) who travels through Polk county who doesn't happen to be Christian,” Palmer said, “This event is not about atheist rights; this is about welcoming everybody into Polk county."
But does it? I guess would have made sense a year ago when the blessing took place. A year later, not so much. It would also makes sense if you can actually see a blessing. Since you can’t, I’m thinking this is kind of pointless. I’d be interested in hearing more about why they thought this was necessary.
The Catholic Church has a well documented history of hate, lies, and misdirection from when it comes to clergy sexual abuse scandal. At this point, the church will say anything to avoid responsibility, and often does everything it its power to thwart investigations and hid priests from scrutiny. Their approach is not surprising since the scandal is the first meaningful threat to the authority of the church is the last 150 years. I think they have stooped to a new low this time by suing SNAP for the release of two decades worth of emails on clergy sexual abuse cases.
The Roman Catholic Church has decided that they want to go after the leading advocacy group for those victimized by pedophile priests. Lawyers for the Roman Catholic Church and priests accused of sexual abuse in two Missouri cases have sued the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests or SNAP to try and compel the group to release two decades of emails detailing correspondences with victims, lawyers, whistle-blowers, witnesses, the police, prosecutors and journalists.
Source: Desperate Catholic Church Targets Victims of Pedophile Priests
Paper tiger Bill Donohue has an uniformed opinion. He always does.
It is not surprising that William Donohue, the head of the the Catholic League, would attack SNAP. Donohue has made it clear that he has no problem with Catholic priests molesting children. He stated that “SNAP is a menace to the Catholic Church. . .The bishops have come together collectively. I can’t give you the names, but there’s a growing consensus on the part of the bishops that they had better toughen up and go out and buy some good lawyers to get tough. We don’t need altar boys.”
heh… “We don’t need altar boys.” Really? Is that because your priests have already had a go at them?
The real issue here is silence. The Catholic church wants to silence SNAP.
The network and its allies say the legal action is part of a campaign by the church to cripple an organization that has been the most visible defender of victims, and a relentless adversary, for more than two decades. “If there is one group that the higher-ups, the bishops, would like to see silenced,” said Marci A. Hamilton, a law professor at Yeshiva University and an advocate for victims of clergy sex crimes, “it definitely would be SNAP. And that’s what they’re going after. They’re trying to find a way to silence SNAP.”
The Catholic church has already lost the moral high ground. They will not regain it by silencing their critics. Nor will they regains it by fishing for lapsed Catholics. The war has been lost already. Everything else is a holding action.
The stars aligned for me today, so I was able to attend the Long Beach Atheist Meetup with 17 other local atheists. The two people pictured above, Henry and Yara, sat across from me. To be honest… I had a blast. The conversation was interesting and the people were gracious and caring. We talked politics and religion, but my favorite was when each person told the story of how and when they became an atheist. I got a few laughs when I admitted that I did not remember the specifics of my own story. Michael, the organizer, did a fine job building hosting. Thanks Michael.
I tried something different this meet. I left my gear at home. I normally have a good camera and a notepad. Instead of focusing on building a story for my blog, I focused on the stories of those around me. It worked too. Two hours passed without the urge to document my life with photos and stories.
Bruce Gleason of Backyard Skeptics attended the event. I managed to stay far away from the man. He’s at it again. He’s made the cover of the OC Weekly with a story called No Exist – Bruce Gleason wants to kill your god, one joke at a time. by Josh Dulaney. I’ll give it a read before I comment, but I’m already prejudiced by the title. I find myself in the unenviable position of explaining to my friends and family that I do not hold his views, nor do I think they helping my cause.
The Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul is a fugitive wanted for the alleged rape of two young girls while he worked as a pastor for the Catholic Dioceses of Crookston at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Greenbush, Minn. Jeyapaul was arrested in India. He was working as a pastor with Children.
"We are grateful to the police and prosecutors in Minnesota and elsewhere for getting this dangerous cleric behind bars," said Barbara Dorris, a national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
I’m grateful too. People like Jeyapual must answer for their crimes.
Technorati Tags: Clergy Sexual Abuse,Catholics
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