Sylvester shaken by arrest of church deacon on child molestation, incest charges.

[Swede]

To the rest of the world, however, this is just another day in Christian paradise.

https://ktvz.com/cnn-regional/2024/05/10/sylvester-shaken-by-arrest-of-church-deacon-on-child-molestation-incest-charges/

[NoRethugFriends]

1. A man of God? I'm shocked shocked I say.

[Chainfire]

2. A predator in disguise. Church and religion is the best place to hide in plain view.

Of course, all he has to do to be forgiven is to go on his knees and mutter a magic incantation to the god that rules the universe and he can be washed of his sins and, when the day comes, he can live in paradise for an eternity. That, friends, is the value of religion. When us poor old atheists sin, we have to live with it and I think that, in general terms, it makes us better people.

[TSExile]

10. As a person of faith and lifelong churchgoer, I am embarrassed and angry.

You are absolutely right that predators and sexual deviants have a magnetic attraction to churches - primarily because potential victims' guards are down. In 2015, I was groomed and then sexually assaulted by a man who was a fellow congregant. He wasn't a pastor, elder, on church council or anyone else in leadership, but he was a predator just the same.

I told my pastor and he talked to the guy. It was an ugly showdown that happened one Sunday once service was over and everyone else had left. The guy stormed out and to date has never been back. I never saw him again. But the guy never faced real accountability. He was never arrested, put on trial or made to pay me monetary damages. Once he was gone, it's like the whole thing was swept under the rug. He's gone, and we must never talk about this again. It's really a miracle that to this day, hardly anyone in the congregation knows what happened. On one hand, that's good. On the other hand, there are people who look at me strangely when I get vocal about contingency plans.

No wonder the world looks at Christians like this. Many Christians - though not all - ruined the last shred of their credibility when they started fawning over the Rapist in Chief. On behalf of people of faith, world - I am so, so sorry. 💔

[NanaCat]

12. It's not only the incantations that absolve

It's what comes long before that: The way that the laity themselves 'gang up' against the victims who come forward, because they are unable to accept that their clergy can do any wrong. Even now, after literally tens of thousands of revelations about clergy raping children, if someone says, 'Father so-and-so touched me down there,' the first reaction isn't, 'OMIGOD! Are you okay? Let's call the cops!'

No, the first reaction tends to be, 'How dare you say that about such a good man?! He's a man of gawd! You should be ashamed of yourself for telling a lie like that!'

Nearly every single time, the victim gets painted as a liar, and the priest as completely innocent. Some members of churches never do accept what happened to the victims and defend the clergy to the bitter end. After all that's happened, I've witnessed Catholics who still say the rapes were all made up.

And the reason they refuse to accept that reality is because the religion calls its ministers the direct speakers for their deity. That teaching brainwashes the laity from birth to see clergy as holy, chosen by their deity to show them the way, and thus the ultimate moral authority that never does any wrong and must never be questioned.

It's a feature, not a bug of all religion, but it's especially pernicious in Christianity.

[MineralMan]

3. This is in Georgia, folks.

Just info for those who've never heard of Sylvester, GA, like me.

[Ptah]

5. SYLVESTER, Georgia

[MineralMan]

7. Yes. I had never heard of that place.

Yes, the town name was in the OP. I wonder how many Sylvesters there are in the USA. To find out, I had to click the link.

[58Sunliner]

4. 🤬

[Emile]

6. Under the age of 16. . . Sick bastard

[lpbk2713]

8. Clearly a family values guy.

Do I hear an amen?

[republianmushroom]

9. Parent protect your children from the 3 "C".

[NanaCat]

11. Do we dare point out, yet again...

Not a drag queen!