Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is a cold desert world with a thin atmosphere and two moons. The average distance between Earth and Mars is 140 million miles. Using current technology, a trip from Earth to Mars and back takes 2-3 years. Scientists continue to work on reducing the time necessary to make the trip.
Mars has long been a subject of science fiction writers. Our collective imaginations are filled with stories about Martians and spaceships. One of my favorite movies is Mars Attacks! — a parody movie about Martians coming to Earth. They are eventually defeated by a country song that causes their heads to explode. Must have been a Toby Keith or Morgan Waller song. 🙂
Listen to “visionaries” such as Elon Musk and others, and you will be told the future of our civilization rests on us being able to colonize Mars before global climate change, war, and fascists such as Donald Trump and his fellow MAGA Republicans destroy the planet.
It is certainly possible for us to build a colony on Mars, but how many people, out of the eight billion people on Earth, will make the Red Planet their new home? By the time sea waters flood our coasts and turn Florida into an underwater marine park, how many people can we rationally expect to be colonists on Mars? Not many, and those that do will be rich. Most of us will never have the opportunity or the money to become Mars colonists.
No, the truth is, most of us will live and die on Earth. We will face the brunt of our indifference towards climate change and our unwillingness to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We do not have the requisite will and commitment necessary to make a difference. Shit, we have a President who wants us to drill for more oil and natural gas, refire coal burning power plants, and restart nuclear reactors. He’s a filthy rich seventy-eight-year-old narcissist who only cares about himself. If Americans suffer because of his energy policies, he won’t be affected. The rich are never affected when hard times come. It is the working class and the poor who will spend their days on a dying planet, watching the skies as handfuls of billionaires escape to Mars (or the Moon) on Musk’s rockets.
It is far more likely that we are headed for the next great extinction. I fear we have crossed the line of no return, and whatever it is we do now will be little more than Band-Aids on a severed aorta.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
Commenting on Evangelical Pastor Robert Morris’s arrest on five counts of “lewd or indecent acts to a child,” a Christian counselor said:
It’s not the type of sin nor the amount of sin that’s the issue, but the *fact* of sin. God’s children commit 100 instances of sin daily whether they realize it or not. The problem is that in the minds of a lot of people, some sins are more respectable than others, and some are more deplorable than others, based not on how it offends a Holy God but how it negatively impacts other people … My daily sin is as offensive to God as Morris’s.
This counselor believes that, in God’s eyes, all sins are the same; that every sin is offensive to God. In other words, if you walk down the produce aisle of the local grocery store, stop at the grapes, and eat a handful without paying for them, you are stealing. In God’s eyes, and the eyes of many Evangelical Christians, you are just as sinful, just as guilty, as a pastor who sexually molested children.
The practice of viewing all sins the same way is called sin-leveling — a belief held in many Evangelical churches that is used to minimize serious “sins” such as sexually molesting children, sodomizing church boys, raping church teens, and sleeping with a parishoner. Christian Post reporter Jennifer Michelle Greenberg, aghast after reading the counselor’s comment, wrote:
Now, I have no idea how this counselor spends his time (and I’m not sure I want to know), but the idea that all sins are equally deplorable to God is a tenet of spiritual abuse.
On the one hand, the smallest, most mundane sin separates us from God. He is utterly and unimaginably holy. He is perfectly just and good. Jesus died for the sin of the child who stole candy from the grocery store, but that does not mean God considers the child to be as evil as a child predator.
You would think this would be common sense. Even unbelievers and complete pagans instinctively know that sin exists on a spectrum of severity.
A poor person who steals a loaf of bread does not deserve the same punishment as a bank robber. A person who cusses in traffic is not as deeply sunk into Hell as a serial killer.
And yet, this Christian counselor wants us to believe that on a daily basis, you and I commit sins just as repugnant to God as the sexual abuse of children.
Unfortunately, this tactic of sin-leveling — this false doctrine that all sins are equally heinous — is prevalent in abusive churches and theological circles. In order to shame victims into forgiving their abusers and not reporting crimes, they point out that the victim is just as evil as their abuser, and therefore the victim should not point fingers or accuse. In order to manipulate witnesses into keeping quiet, they remind them that they’re just as depraved as a sexual predator and claim that real Christians “extend grace” and “don’t gossip.”
According to the Bible, we all sin in thought, word, and deed. This counselor would have us believe that all sins are the same; that rape and murder are the same as petty theft and going fifteen miles over the speed limit in the eyes of God.
Have you ever wondered why preachers who commit serious crimes often end up back in the ministry a year or so after they are released from prison? Sin-leveling and unconditional love and forgiveness are the primary reasons criminal preachers end up restored to the ministry. Bro. Joe, the pastor of First Church of the Rightous Baptists, spends five years in prison for sexually molesting a church boy. After release from prison, Joe gets a hankering to preach again. He goes on a restoration tour, convincing his fellow preachers and churches alike that he is a changed man (with no thought given to the boy he raped); that he promises to never, ever molest children again. Good to go, right? For many people, the answer is HELL NO! This preacher has no business pastoring churches or being around children again. Yet, for Evangelicals who think all sins are the same, this preacher should be unconditionally loved and forgiven; that if God has forgiven him, so should everyone else. It’s what Jesus would have us do, right? As a result, scores of American churches are pastored by or have staff members who have been convicted of sex crimes. Sometimes, churches don’t know about their pastor’s criminal past. In other instances, churches know about their pastor’s past crimes, but, thinking they are offering a penitent sinner love, grace, and forgiveness, churches give rapists, child molesters, and abusers a new start in life. Who are they to stand in the way of what God is doing in the life of their pastor? Or so their thinking goes, anyway.
If you ever attend an Evangelical church again, look at the so-called man of God who stands before you and ask yourself if you should trust him. What do you really know about him? What do you know about his past? Ask yourself the same questions about the church’s assistant pastor, youth pastor, Sunday school teachers, children’s church workers, nursery workers, and anyone else who has contact with you and your children.
Sadly, well-meaning church members think they “know” their pastors and staff members, when, in fact, they don’t. Pastors often present to congregants a well-manicured, scripted version of their lives. Past criminal behavior is “under the blood.” Jesus forgives past sins, and if he wipes the offender’s slate clean, how dare people still hold them accountable for their “sins.”
Love and forgiveness are laudable goals. However, blindly loving and forgiving people can and does lead to awful consequences. Common sense suggests that some sins are worse than others and often cause greater harm. Common sense tells us that we should protect children and vulnerable adults at all costs. Yet, because of a warped understanding of human nature, many Evangelicals are willing to give preachers who commit sex crimes a second chance. This is why I advise parents to never let their children out of their sight when attending church. Just because someone is a preacher or church staff member doesn’t mean they can be trusted with children.
Suppose Betty Jo, a Godly woman and member of Holier Than the Methodists Baptist Church for thirty years, is appointed treasurer of the church. Unbeknownst to the church, Betty Jo has a severe debt problem due to her husband gambling away their money. Over time, Betty Jo steals money from the church, paying her bills with the proceeds of her criminal behavior. Eventually, the church finds out about Betty Jo’s theft. The church has two choices: prosecute Betty Jo or forgive her for stealing from them. The church congregation decides to forgive Betty Jo. Three years later, the church needs a new treasurer, and Deacon Bob suggests hiring Betty Jo again. What? It’s one thing to forgive Betty Jo, but should she be given access to the church’s money again? Common sense says, absolutely not. Unfortunately, unconditional love and forgiveness often get in the way of common sense. Betty Jo should never be permitted to touch the church’s funds. She forfeited that right when she stole the church’s money. So it is with criminal preachers, especially those who commit sex crimes or have illicit sexual relationships with vulnerable church members.
Some “sins” disqualify men and women from the ministry. This used to be a commonly held belief, but no longer. It seems no sin is beyond the forgiveness of gullible churches. Remember this the next time you take or drop off your innocent children at the local Baptist church.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
When asked to describe what atheists believe and how they live, Evangelicals are notorious for giving straw man responses. This meme accurately shows how many Evangelicals view atheists — none of which (generally) is true.
What say ye? Does this meme describe you? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section.
Yesterday, I received an email from an Evangelical woman who lives in South Africa. My response follows. (All grammar, spelling, and punctuation in the original.)
It is with much sadness that I read your blog. I can hear the hurt and disillusionment in every word, the pain of your youth and your mothers’ mental health struggles with little support from those who loved her and the church members.
Why should you feel sad reading my writing? I get that you might disagree with the path I’ve chosen in life, but there’s no reason for sadness on your part. You don’t know me, so I can’t imagine you feeling sorry for me.
I have written almost five thousand posts for this site. How many of them did you actually read? How many posts on the Why? page did you read? If all you read is a few autobiographical posts about my upbringing and my mother, I can see why you might feel “sad.” However, the vast majority of my writing should not cause people to feel sorry for me. I am a happily married man. We are blessed to have six grown children, three daughters-in-law, and sixteen grandchildren. Two of our grandchildren are currently in college at Ohio State University (pre-med) and Miami University (zoology), respectively. We own our home, drive a late model automobile, and have four cats. In every way, I am blessed. Yes, I have a lot of serious health problems. Yes, I am depressed over Trump’s attempt to destroy our republic. But these things aside, I have a good life. No need to feel sorry for me.
I suppose if you only judge people — and you ARE judging me, despite what protests you might raise — based on your theology, there’s reason to feel sorry for me. After all, I’m headed for Hell, right?
This life sure is interesting how we all have such different experiences. To be an evangelical pastor for 25 years and a Christian for so long and to have such a 180-degree turn of belief is truly fascinating.
While a pastor deconverting at my age with the experience I have is rare, people walking away from Christianity is quite common (and increasing by the day).
My story is the reverse. I rejected God for very much the same reasons as you did for over 20 years, I also carry much hurt and trauma from my past and after my wonderfully talented cousin got diagnosed with schizophrenia and went on a rampage and brutally murdered and raped a woman that was it for me and God and I set out and lived my life.
Yet over 20 years later on a normal Thursday morning, while watering my garden, the presence of God descended on my garden in the arse end of Africa with wars raging in Ukraine.
It was the first supernatural encounter of my life. After over 17 years of intense Buddhist meditation, nothing could ever compare to this moment. In my spirit, I could hear the word “Child” being called. The atmosphere grew heavy and thick, and as those words resonated, it felt as if every grain of sand, every leaf, and every cell in my body was filled with the presence of the Lord. I was overwhelmed with a love so profound that I never knew existed, yet it felt like home. I could not stand; I had to drop to my knees and begin to weep. How could I have ignored this reality for so long? This world is not what it appears to be. It’s not just a sequence of events; it’s a carefully woven, deeply spiritual, divinely orchestrated journey.
What you provide here is an anecdotal story. Such stories are fine for testimony night at your church, but you can’t expect it to convince an Evangelical-preacher-turned-atheist like me. I am not a Christian because I no longer believe the central claims of Christianity are true. Unless you can empirically show me that I am wrong, I see no reason to return to Christianity.
I did not even own a Bible but at that moment I understood what was meant when God says He is the Alpha and Omega, that there is only one Living God. I was shown Jesus on the cross and the importance of the blood. I could understand the meaning of free will, that God is not a psycopath that controls everything, but in order to fully love he has to allow everything so that each thing can be.
Your email reflects exposure to Christianity before your experience, so you certainly were not a clean slate for God to write his story upon. The Bible is a book of claims, not evidence. Again, what empirical evidence do you have for your aforementioned claims?
If you want to have a discussion/debate about your claims, I am game. Just in the one paragraph above, there are several claims you make that I can easily refute from a Biblical/theological perspective (i.e. that there is only one God, that God is not sovereign, that humans have free will, that God is not omniscient, that God doesn’t have free will).
After this life changing encounter I went out and bought a Bible and not long after, I ran into the same challenges that I had before with Christianity, but I could not deny what happened and the glory of God. I asked God to help understand these issues and over time God revealed this to me.
How do you KNOW God revealed anything to you? People tell me God told them all sorts of things, yet they can provide no evidence to prove their claims.
I could understand why much of these things are sin.
What things, exactly? Personally, I don’t believe in “sin.” Sin is a religious construct used by clerics to invoke fear of God’s judgment. This keeps asses in pews and money in offering plates. People do good and bad things. When we do bad things, we need to own our behavior and, if necessary, make restitution. No need for God, judgment, condemnation, or Hell. Just do better the next time.
I also learned about spiritual warfare and how so many of us do not acknowledge the attacks of the enemy.
What enemy? Satan is a mythical being too. I have no worries about being attacked by the Devil. Attacked by humans? You bet. I have been repeatedly attacked by Evangelical Christians more times than I can count; people who show me no regard or respect.
I also learned about the power of suffering. Not from the human eye or man’s perspective. I learned that suffering in the world is far different than suffering which is God ordained. Suffering of the world is only to harm, where suffering of God is to refine us, to make us stronger, for this life, for its battles that we will inevitably incur as life is hard. There is no way around it.
You seemed to miss what suffering really teaches us; namely that there is no God, and if there is, he cares nothing for us, content to allow horrific suffering that he could stop in a blink of an eye. Let me give you a quote attributed to Epicurius:
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”
In a world without God, suffering is expected. Shit happens. However, in a world with a personal God who allegedly loves and cares for people, suffering is a blaring advertisement for the fact that said God either doesn’t exist, doesn’t care, or is on a millennia-long vacation.
Richard Dawkins had this to say about the Christian God:
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
As I was deeply hurt by church as well, I couldnt hand my soul in a man’s words again and I asked God to help me. Its not that I dont want to be part of the body of Christ, its that I want to seek God and only God. I want the truth.
While Christians have done hurtful things to me over the years, they played little to no part in my deconversion. If you read the posts on the Why? page, you will find out that I left Christianity primarily for intellectual reasons. Most of the hurt from Christians came after I deconverted. Over the past seventeen years, I have received countless hateful, nasty, vulgar, mean-spirited, judgmental emails, social media messages, and blog comments from Evangelical Christians — some of whom have known me for decades. These emails, messages, and comments are a poignant reminder of the ugly underbelly of Evangelical Christianity.
The only way to get to that Truth is to build a personal relationship with the Trinity. To be led by the Holy Spirit, to learn from the life of Jesus who also suffered as an innocent, like so many today. This did not come easy as I had many questions and had many fights with God but it was never in rebellion to God. That ultimately this journey led me to surrender my life and to grow real faith in uncertainty, to let go of the world and its views and step into a new life with a new heart, new ears, new eyes, restored. To truly sacrifice my ego, my will and my dreams. From the outside it looks like one lets go of your freedom and identity, but in actual fact you gain so much more. Because our minds are limited and God takes us to the unlimited. He gives true peace, He empowers us to bring peace and healing to those we encounter on our journey. What I was, is nothing compared to who I am now and what I am able to do through Christ Jesus.
Again, you make lots of claims. You are free to believe what you want. However, you can’t expect me to return to Christianity based on an anecdotal story. If Christianity works for you, fine. However, I see nothing in your testimony that I haven’t heard countless times. Did you really think that your story would lead me to repent and embrace faith in Christ, given that I am a man who was a Christian for fifty years and a pastor for twenty-five years?
So my message to you is that God still loves you, He wants you back, nothing can seperate you from the love of Christ, do not be fooled by the enemy who operates greatly in churches.
You can’t possibly know if God loves me. You can’t know if God wants me back. Your statements directly contradict the teachings of the Bible. How do you KNOW Satan operates greatly in churches? How do you know it’s not your beliefs that are false? Maybe you are deceived by Satan, and your email to me is her attempt to lead me astray. Besides, even if there is a Devil, who created her? Isn’t God ultimately culpable for the works of Satan? If God is all-knowing and all-powerful, why did he create Satan?
I pray that you are touched by the love of Christ once again, that His peace blows through your soul, His mercy restore you and that you must know that none of it was in vain. You matter greatly to God.
Sigh. Stop with the syrupy love bombing and cheap cliches. I don’t matter to God for one simple reason: he doesn’t exist. And even if he does exist, it’s clear that outside of helping Nana find her car keys or helping Sister Bertha get a good parking place at Costco, God doesn’t give a shit about people. I see nothing in my life that says I “matter greatly to God.”
Saved by Reason,
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
Over the past ten years, I have read countless Evangelical blogs and websites that say Donald Trump is a Christian. For the life of me, I don’t understand how Evangelicals think Trump is a follower of Jesus. What evidence of faith are they privy to that the rest of us are not? Trump doesn’t go to church, read the Bible, or live by the precepts, teachings, and commands of the Word of God. In fact, his life is a repudiation of the teachings of Christ. Name one thing he has said or done consistent with the Bible’s teachings. The past two months have been one long “fuck you” to the Good Book’s words about immigrants, poverty, and ministering to the least of these.
If Trump is a Christian, the word loses all sense of meaning. He is a pathological liar, a bigot, a racist, and a misogynist. I have yet to see anything in Trump’s life that remotely suggests he is a Christian. It’s not that a president needs to be a Christian. They don’t. Most Americans value competency over faith. Trump uses religion as a tool to keep Evangelicals, conservative Catholics, and Mormons on his side. He doesn’t give a shit about Evangelicals themselves. The moment Evangelicals are no longer beneficial to his agenda, Trump will jettison them quicker than the sex he had with Stormy Daniels.
I wish Evangelicals would admit that the only reason they support Trump is that he supports their theocratic agenda. Instead of standing on moral and ethical principles, they have sold their souls for a bowl of pottage. If Jesus came back to earth today, I have no doubt he would rebuke Trump and the Evangelicals who support him. Of course, he’s not coming back, so it is left to those of us who have a clear-eyed view of the president to rebuke him and his Evangelical defenders.
Four decades ago, Evangelicals went nuts over a blow job, an intern, and a blue dress. Today, they have abandoned the teachings of Christ for the sake of political and cultural power. Such a Christianity is not only worthless, it’s harmful.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
Revival “I Lie for Jesus” Fires is an Evangelical Christian who regularly tries to comment on this site. Most of his comments are so vulgar, vile, and disgusting that I refuse to approve them. What follows is my response to his latest comment. (All grammar, spelling, and punctuation in the original.)
Ok buddy you want to talk about pastors and clergymen that fall into sexual sin,rape?prison rape,etc. It actually amazes me if you struggle with pain and bad health as much as you put out that you’re able to take the time to research this every time a LIKELY false Christian pastor falls into this trap.
I am glad you find my herculean research skills amazing, but the Black Collar Crime Series doesn’t take me as much time as you might think. I have developed research and writing skills that help me quickly turn out these posts.
You seem to suggest that I am lying about my struggles with chronic pain and pervasive health problems. Why would I lie about these things? What do I gain from misleading readers?
I find it interesting that you think preachers who rape children, molest teenagers, and take sexual advantage of vulnerable adults have fallen into a “trap.” It’s as if you think these preachers were just humbly walking the road of life, suddenly tripped, and “fell” into sexual sin. This, of course, is untrue. Most of the preachers featured in the Black Collar Crime Series are not first-time offenders. Many of them were predators for years before they were caught. Proving how easy it is to fake being a Christian, these men Sunday after Sunday stand before their congregations preaching the wonders of Christ all the while committing crimes.
Sadly most are likely just a false as you were in your heart.
You do know the Bible says that liars will end up in the Lake of Fire, right? You have no evidence for your claim that I was a false Christian. The same goes for these offending preachers. Based on your comments on this site, I may be an atheist, but I am a better Christian than you are. In fact, most of the atheists on this site are better Christians than you are. Your behavior suggests that you are Christian in name only.
As far as the preachers featured in the Black Collar Crime Series are concerned, I am sure some of them were Christians in name only. However, what these stories suggest is that one can be a Christian and still commit crimes; that Jesus, salvation, and the Bible are no antidote for sexual sins. The Bible says that when a person is saved, their old life passes away and their new life, in Christ, begins. While I have met scores of loving, kind followers of Jesus over the years, they are the exception to the rule. I have concluded that the so-called “new life in Christ” is largely a myth; regardless of whether a person is saved, they are who they are. The real issue, in my humble opinion, is why so many preachers commit sexual sins. I have written over 1,000 posts for the Black Collar Crimes Series, with hundreds of other stories I have not yet posted. The sheer volume of these stories suggests that Evangelicalism has a big problem with predator preachers. Instead of attacking me for publishing these stories, Evangelicals might want to ask why sexual sin, along with infidelity, is so common among preachers. Why do churches continue to cover up such things, fearing loss of testimony more than doing right by victims?
Also sad that every time this happens it gives God and the church a black eye and a fat lip.
Just like when David committed adultery with bathseheba. As Nathan states in 1 Samuel it gave the enemies God a reason to blaspheme.
Yes, these preachers give the church a black eye. What you cannot or will not see is that your own behavior, as witnessed on this site, also gives the church a black eye. Again, the question that should be asked is: why is such behavior so common among Evangelicals; that despite being bought by the blood and filled with the Holy Ghost, Christians can and do commit crimes and have affairs. Why is that? I see nothing in American Evangelicalism that remotely suggests that it is superior to all other religions and that it is a preferred way to live.
So is the point trying to be proved here that these sick men “Christian pastors” who are being charged with child sexual crimes 😡😡 beyond unthinkable!! Or have had an affair with the church secretary,etc are they never truly saved?(likely) Or is the point that the church is no different than the cesspool of a lost world? Obviously if it is either or Or both the main point is to discredit Jesus Christ and disprove existence of God.
The Black Collar Crime series is in its seventh year, having published more than one thousand reports of clergy and church leader criminal misconduct. Most of the reports are about Evangelical pastors, evangelists, youth directors, and other church leaders who committed sex crimes. Using Google Alerts, I receive an immediate notice any time a news story about clerical malfeasance is posted on the Internet. It is important that these stories receive wide circulation. Victims need to know that there are people standing with them as they bring to light what God’s servants have done in secret.
I realize that these reports are often dark and depressing, but the only way to dispel darkness is to turn on the lights. Clergy who prey on congregants — especially children — must be exposed, prosecuted, convicted, and sent to prison. By leveraging this blog’s readership numbers and publishing these reports, I am serving notice to law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges: we are paying attention, and if you fail to provide justice for victims, we will hold you accountable.
Sometimes, these seemingly untouchable predators are brought to justice, but not before the public puts pressure on law enforcement and prosecutors, forcing them to act. The sordid story of abuse at Restoration Youth Academy is case in point. Decades of abuse reports were filed with local law enforcement, yet nothing was done. Yes, they finally acted and the perpetrators are now in prison, but what do we say to the hundreds of children and teenagers who were ritually abused before prosecutors got around to doing their job?
I am sure that this series will bring criticism from Evangelical zealots, reminding me that accused/charged clerics are innocent until proven guilty. While they are correct, all I am doing is sharing that which is widely reported in the news. In the sixteen years I’ve been writing about clergy misconduct, I can count on one hand the number of pastors/priests/religious leaders who were falsely accused — fewer than five, out of hundreds and hundreds of cases. The reason for so few false accusations is that no person in his or her right mind would mendaciously accuse a pastor of sexual misconduct. The social and personal cost is simply too high for someone to falsely accuse a religious leader of criminal conduct.
Secondary reasons for this series have to do with exposing the lie that Evangelicalism is immune to scandal and criminal behavior. I remember when the Catholic sex scandal came to light. With great glee and satisfaction, Evangelical preachers railed against predator priests and the Catholic Church who covered up their crimes. Now, of course, we know — with the recent Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) and Southern Baptist sex scandals — that Evangelicalism is just as rotten, having its own problems with sexual abuse and subsequent cover-ups. Evangelicals love to take the high moral ground, giving the perception that their shit doesn’t stink. Well, now we know better. Not only does Evangelicalism have a sexual abuse problem, it also has a big problem with pastors who can’t keep their pants zipped up. (Please see Is Clergy Sexual Infidelity Rare?)
I receive threats from people defending their religious heroes. Threats of legal action are common, even though all I am doing is republishing stories publicly reported by news agencies. A pastor featured in one of my reports contacted me and said that reporters had it all wrong. As I do with everyone who asserts they are being falsely accused, I told this preacher that he could give his version of the facts, sign his name to it, and I would gladly add it to the post. Usually, this puts an end to any further protestations. Most often, the accused want to bully me into taking down my post. In this preacher’s case, he provided me his version of events and I gladly added it to my post. After adding the information, I decided to investigate this pastor further. I found more information about his past indiscretions and crimes. I dutifully added them to the post. I have not heard anything further from the good pastor.
I am not immune from making mistakes, so if you spot a factual error in one of the stories, please let me know and I will gladly correct it. If you come across a story that you would like me to add to this series, please use the contact form to email me. Please keep in mind that I need links to actual news reports in order to add them to this series.
I primarily use Google Alerts for Black Collar Crime reports. I also rely on readers to alert me to new stories or updates of previous reports. I am one man with a limited amount of time each day to slog through the brackish Evangelical swamp, so I don’t see every report or know the outcome of every case I’ve featured in the Black Collar Crime Series. Keep in mind that I require EVIDENCE for me to update a story. Not gossip or personal opinion. Actual evidence such as reputable news stories (with links). Just because a reader or drive-by commenter says something doesn’t make it so. I appreciate your understanding.
I realize that nothing I say in this post will change the minds of preachers such as Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen. Thiessen has a sketchy background. He has been accused of abandoning his family, including an infant child, failing to pay child support, and fleeing to South Korea/Philippines to avoid being held accountable for his behavior.
Thiessen has been a vocal critic of me personally and of the Black Collar Crimes Series. Thiessen is known for defending clerics who commit sex crimes. Just this week he wrote two more posts defending Ravi Zacharias. He has also defended men such as Bill Cosby and Bill Gothard. Thiessen goes to great lengths to defend his support of offending preachers, but I find his defenses lacking in every way. Thiessen repeatedly rejects the substantial work done by law enforcement in investigating, prosecuting, and convicting pastors who commit sex crimes. Why? This is the judgment of the “world,” not God. Of course, God is unavailable for comment. All we have are our legal processes; albeit imperfect, they are the best we have to hold clergy and churches accountable.
Thiessen frequently blames victims for what happened to them. Thiessen is not alone in this approach to women (sometimes men) and children who have been sexually violated and taken advantage of by so-called men of God. Again, Thiessen claims that victims are following the ways of the “world” instead of God. Of course, God’s ways in Thiessen’s mind are his peculiar interpretation of the Protestant Christian Bible.
He [Bruce Gerencser] is right in one thing, we do not like his black collar series but not for the reasons he thinks. We [Derrick Thiessen] do not like it for many reasons and two of them are, it is not being fair or just. That owner [Bruce Gerencser] ignores all the unbelievers and atheists who are caught, tried, and convicted for the same crimes.
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[Speaking of being fair and just] Christians have to do both to be able to make an impact for Christ. But this is not the end of the hypocrisy and injustice carried out by the owners of the BG [The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser] and MM [Meerkat Musings] websites, as well as other unbelieving websites.
There have been other similar stories about drag shows in schools, and so on. Yet not one peep from either owner about how bad, immoral, or wrong these actions are. Instead, they would rather target Christians as that is the group of people, as well as Christ, that they hate.
This is another reason God told us to never follow in the counsel of the ungodly. They do not have fairness or just behavior in their thinking. Look at all the CRT, equity, BLM re-education going on today. None of those and anything similar is of God nor are they just and fair.
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Another reason we do not like the black collar series over at that website [The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser] is that it is unneeded. It does nothing constructive for society nor does it help redeem those men who failed in their Christian lives, if they were Christians at all.
All it does, as we said earlier, is influence others to hate Christ, pastors, and the church, and turning people to hate is wrong. It is not fair to those men highlighted and the series does not have people being just or fair towards them. In fact, it helps stoke the misguided guilty-until-proven-innocent mentality that many unbelievers endorse.
It is also redundant as the local papers will carry the same stories and his series is just wasting everyone’s time. When the Christian sees those stories they need to ask God how to reach those men so that Christ can redeem them.
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{we would link to the article we talked about but it is so filled with lies and eisegetical comments that it is nothing but trash [which I can’t rebut] }
I have explained my motivations for writing the Black Collar Crime Series several times. He knows exactly why I do what I do, so I can only conclude that Thiessen is a liar and his goal is to impugn my character and impair my coverage of clergy sex crimes.
Let’s suppose I operated a site whose mission was to cover the Cincinnati Reds. Every day I published news stories about the Reds and individual players on the team. One day, a man named Deirere TeeDee sent me an email, complaining about me not writing any posts about the NHL, particularly me not covering the Detroit Red Wings. Duh, I replied, I write about the Reds, and Major League Baseball, not the National Hockey League and the Detroit Red Wings. Your complaint has no merit.
Yet, this is exactly what Thiessen has done with his complaint about me not covering atheists and other unbelievers who commit sex crimes. He knows that this site focuses on four things:
Helping people who have questions and doubts about Christianity
Helping people who have left Christianity
Telling the story about my journey from Evangelical Christian to atheist
Critiquing Evangelical Christianity
I have been blogging since 2007 — sixteen years. I have stayed true to these four focus points, rarely veering off the path to talk about politics, sports, food, and travel. Why Thiessen cannot understand why I write the Black Collar Crime Series is beyond me. I know that all sorts of people commit sex crimes, but my focus is on Evangelical preachers who commit such crimes. This is NOT a sex crime blog. If it were, I would cover unbelievers and believers alike. And even if I did, it would still be true that the vast majority of people who commit sex crimes are Christian or religious. Why? Because most Americans are Christians.
I have repeatedly explained to Thiessen why the Black Collar Crime Series is needed. I assume, at this point, he is being obtuse. Most of the stories I write require numerous news stories to tell the complete story. They also require research on my part to find out what sect the offender was a part of and their background and beliefs. Sometimes, these reports take a lot of time to put together. Other times, a Google search quickly gives me everything I need to write the story.
These reports are based on news reports, court records, social media, and other verifiable sources. I rarely interject my personal opinion. My goal is to provide a one-stop website for people looking for information about a particular preacher/church and their crimes. Blog traffic numbers suggest that this is exactly what is happening.
It is not uncommon for news sites to either delete stories about clergy sex crimes or put them behind paywalls. That’s why it is important for me to make these stories available to the public free of charge. The public has a right to know what is going on in Evangelical churches. Surely it is important to cover criminal behavior by clerics. Surely it is important to say to victims that I hear them and I will make their story known far and wide. The bigger question, then, is this: why do Derrick Thiessen and other Christians of his ilk want to muzzle me and keep these stories from being known?
One answer to the questions above is that the Thiessens of the world don’t care about the victims of clergy sex crimes. I suspect many of them believe that the victimized women (and men) and children are not victims at all. Thus, they view sexual predators as the real victims; that the “world” is out to get them. Thiessen admits as much when he says “When the Christian sees those stories [about rape, sexual assault, child molestation, along with theft, fraud, and murder] they need to ask God how to reach those men so that Christ can redeem them.” Remember, Thiessen has called sex crimes “mistakes.” He has yet to write one positive post about the victims of clergy sexual misconduct. All that Thiessen cares about are the poor preachers who rape, assault, misuse, and abuse vulnerable people. In his mind, these preachers just made “mistakes.” If they will just shoot a 1 John 1:9 (If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness) to Heaven, Jesus will forgive them and cleanse them from all unrighteousness. With that, the offending preachers are forgiven and should get right back on the ministry horse. Thiessen seems oblivious to the fact that most pedophiles are incurable; that Jesus himself can’t fix them. He seems to be oblivious to the fact that preachers caught committing sex crimes, particularly child pornography, have likely been doing so for years. When a 60-something-year-old preacher is arrested for sexually assaulting a child, it is likely that he has committed this crime before. Most clergy sex crimes go unreported/unprosecuted (as is the case in the general population). What I cover with the Black Collar Crime Series is but a fraction of the crimes committed by Christian clergy. I read sites such as Ministry Watch, The Roys Report, Bishop Accountability, Baptist Accountability, and the Black Collar Crime listings published monthly for members by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. I am astounded by how many stories about clergy sex crimes I actually miss.
It’s clear to all who are willing to see that Evangelicalism has a clergy sex crime problem of epic proportions. These reports are not a few bad apples. The sex scandal roiling through the Southern Baptist Convention certainly proves that the proverbial barrel is littered with rotten, stinking apples.
— end of quote
What it really does is show the extreme depravity of man.
No, what it shows is the extreme depravity of some born-again Christians. Why is this behavior so common? Why do so many preachers commit sex crimes, especially with children? Are you really saying that none of these offending preachers are saved; that they are still depraved?
Christ is Holy and Righteouss! God and man who died and rose again to pay the penalty for sin and purchase eternal life and change lives and hearts! Even the most depraved!
“Changes lives and hearts?” Surely, you jest. The Black Collar Crime Series is testimony to the fact that Jesus does not change lives and hearts. The real question is why do preachers commit sex crimes? It is evident that religion does not insulate them from such behavior. Why is that?
And any prison on the face of this earth will be a spa and beach compared to what awaits the unredeemed in hell.
There’s no evidence for the existence of Hell. The only hell is that which we cause and experience in this life. What I find interesting is that you never mention the victims. Why is that? You seem more concerned with justifying criminal behavior and defending Evangelicalism than you are speaking for the vulnerable. Why is that? Jesus said in Matthew 18:6: But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. This verse must be missing from your Bible.
You would think that every Evangelical would support the Black Collar Crime Series. If godliness and holiness are the goal, why would any Christian object to light being shined on evil works done in darkness, even if they are committed by so-called men of God?
Saved by Reason,
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Marvin Upton, pastor of Crofton Pentecostal Church in Crofton, Kentucky, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, on three counts of bank fraud and three counts of filing false tax returns
A former Christian County pastor was sentenced last week at U.S. District Court in Paducah to more than two years in federal prison for fraud and tax offenses, the U. S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Kentucky announced on Thursday.
According to court documents, Marvin Upton, 58, received two years and three months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, on three counts of bank fraud and three counts of filing false tax returns. Until recently, Upton was the pastor at Crofton Pentecostal Church in Crofton, Kentucky.
Prosecutors say the bank fraud charges arose from Upton’s scheme during the years 2013 to 2016 to defraud one of his elderly congregation members who suffered from dementia. During that same time frame, Upton also submitted multiple false tax returns which omitted the income he received from the fraud scheme.
Upton was also ordered by the Court to pay restitution in the amount of $500,000 to the victim’s estate and another $222,037 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). There is no parole in the federal court system.
The case was investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation office, while Assistant U.S. Attorneys Madison T. Sewell and Corinne E. Keel prosecuted the case.
This matter was investigated and prosecuted as part of the National Elder Justice Task Force and the Kentucky Elder Justice Task Force. The Department of Justice’s mission of its Elder Justice Initiative is to support and coordinate the Department’s enforcement and programmatic efforts to combat elder abuse, neglect and financial fraud and scams that target our nation’s older adults.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Samuel McKinney, an Evangelical pastor at an unnamed church in Kentucky, was recently convicted of first-degree rape against a child under 12 years of age.
A former Kentucky pastor has been found guilty in a decades-old rape case.
According to Attorney General Russell Coleman, 60-year-old Samuel McKinney was found guilty Wednesday by an Estill County jury on the charge of first-degree rape against a child under 12 years of age.
The victim alleged the abuse occurred about once a month from May 1982 to December 1985 and stopped when she was about 11 years old.
The woman, now 50, reported the abuse in 2023 after learning her abuser was a pastor at an Irvine church.
“In our Commonwealth, there is no statute of limitations for felony charges, which allowed this courageous woman to come forward and report her abuse after all these years,” said Attorney General Coleman. “Her bravery was critical to putting this criminal behind bars, and we hope her example will encourage others in similar situations to come forward.”
The jury recommended a sentence of 20 years. Under Kentucky’s law, McKinney will be required to serve 85% of the sentence before he is eligible for parole. McKinney will also be required to register as a Sex Offender for the rest of his life.
He will be sentenced on June 3.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Waymon Jordan, Sr., pastor of Greater Blessed Hope Baptist Church in Waxhaw, North Carolina, stands accused of sexually assaulting a minor girl.
A pastor in Union County was arrested this week after he was accused of committing child sex crimes, the sheriff’s office said.
The pastor, 79-year-old Waymon Jordan Sr., was arrested on March 5. He is listed online as the founder and senior pastor at Greater Blessed Hope Baptist Church in Waxhaw.
The sheriff’s office said that in February, its special victims unit began investigating a report of a child sexual assault. Over the course of several weeks, detectives conducted numerous interviews and eventually named Jordan a suspect.
Upon his arrest, Jordan was charged with four counts of statutory sex offense with a child. An arrest warrant said that he engaged in a “sexual act” with a minor who was 15 years old or younger. The child’s exact age was not given.
The warrant indicated that the alleged crime happened in 2022.
Jordan was initially denied bond but then had it set at $200,000. He was released from jail on March 6. Court documents said that upon his release, he is not allowed to have any contact with the victim. He is scheduled to be back in court on March 25.
Greater Blessed Hope Baptist Church was contacted for a statement regarding Jordan’s arrest, but no response has been given.
A week after his arrest, Jordan allegedly committed suicide.
North Carolina pastor was found dead a week after he was charged with multiple child sex crimes, the Union County Sheriff’s Office today confirmed with The Roys Report (TRR). Waymon Jordan Sr., the senior pastor at Greater Blessed Hope Baptist Church in Waxhaw, North Carolina, was arrested on March 6, according to an earlier statement from the police on Facebook.
Jordan, 79, was charged with four counts of statutory sex offense with a child, the statement said. Following his arrest, he was released on a bond of $200,000, police said.
The pastor was found dead last week — about a week after being released, Lieutenant James Maye told TRR. Jordan was discovered behind his church with a weapon nearby.
While a cause and manner of death could not be revealed, Maye said police suspect no foul play in Jordan’s death. Police said that no other suspects are being sought in connection with his death.
“Everything on scene indicated this was an isolated event,” Maye said. “We can’t officially say this was a self-inflicted gunshot wound at this time because the medical examiner has still not made their findings public, so we are waiting on that. But we can say, like I said, that we do not believe that foul play was suspected.”
Maye noted that there is still an “active sexual assault investigation and an active death investigation into Mr. Jordan at this time.”
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Jeffery Summers, former pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, and employee of Horizon Elementary School, stands accused of two felony charges of obscene communication with a minor, traveling to meet after using a computer to lure a child, and he has additional charges of obscene communication-use of a computer to solicit/lure a child.
A former South Georgia pastor has been arrested along with 16 others on Child Sex Crimes in Volusia County, Florida.
Jeffery Summers was a pastor at Maranatha Baptist church in Plains from 2005 to 2013. The Port Orange Police Department in Volusia County reports, he was arrested as part of a child sexting called “Operation Full Throttle”. In the sting, suspected child predators believed they were talking to underage children online but were in fact talking officers.
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According to the incident report, “The defendant knowingly used a computer, the internet, or a cell phone to solicit a child whom the defendant believed to be a 14-year-old male with the intent to engage in some form of unlawful sexual activity with that child.”
52-year-old Jeffery Summers was arrested and now has two felony charges of obscene communication with a minor, traveling to meet after using a computer to lure a child, and he has additional charges of obscene communication-use of a computer to solicit/lure a child.
The police report also listed Horizon Elementary School as Summers’ employer. Horizon Elementary and the Volusia County School Board have been made aware and are taking appropriate action.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
