A grim Bible Girl
This week's Bible Girl
column tells an incredibly grim and graphic -- you have been warned -- tale of an influential black Pentecostal minister in the Dallas-Fort Worth area who has been formally accused of multiple counts of rape and sexual abuse of women in his church. As we so often hear, the alleged victims claim they were told that if they went public, they would be defying God's will by bringing shame to His Anointed One, and that they would end up ruined.
It's routine for female victims of abusers, whether family, friends or trusted others (clergy, supervisors, etc.), to be told that they mustn't make an official complaint because it "would ruin his career." And then she gets her reputation ruined no matter what she does. (I've been one of these victims.)
I think that the reason the Catholic clergy get dragged through the mud is because they are often protected by the Catholic hierarchy. If the Catholic hierarchy would simply turn them over to the police and remove their frock, the public would forget about it. This is really the worst kind of betrayal. They use the name of God to prey on the weak. I have to wonder if this man could even see that what he was doing was wrong. Some people of religion believe in spanking and the wrath of God.
Cardinal Law had the priviledge of casting a ballot at the last papal enclave. Tell me again how Catholics hold their clergy accountable for these things?
Once again, we see that human depravity knows no denominational bounds.
Anyone else think that maybe, just maybe, God is punishing the Pentecostal Church for allowing divorce? Good thing they still hate gays, huh?
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