Is sexually abusing children a crime?
Is raping children a crime?
Is sending minors sexually suggestive texts a crime?
Is using your position of power and authority to take sexual advantage of a person a crime?
Is sexually molesting children and teenagers a crime?
Is domestic violence a crime?
Is sex trafficking a crime?
Is transporting minors across a state line for the purpose of having sex with them a crime?
Is furnishing children with illicit drugs, alcohol, or pornography a crime?
Is stealing from your employer a crime?
Is using your employer’s money for personal use a crime?
Is filing fraudulent tax returns a crime?
If selling fake securities or bonds a crime?
Is stealing money from elderly people a crime?
Is murdering your spouse or your spouse’s lover a crime?
I suspect readers will say YES to every one of these questions. These are the stories that I cover in the Black Collar Crime Series — crimes by clerics, primarily Evangelicals. So far, I have published over 1,000 stories, with another thousand reported crimes sitting in a draft folder awaiting investigation. I have repeatedly explained WHY I write the Black Collar Crime Series, yet some Evangelicals refuse to see what is right in front of their faces: Evangelicalism has a sexual abuse problem that rivals that of the Roman Catholic Church.
One such Evangelical is Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen. Here’s what Thiessen had to say about the Black Collar Crime Series:
The owner of the BG website has had a series on Pastors and other church leaders committing crimes, making mistakes, and calling it Black Collar Crime. We have called that website out on this problem but that website won’t stop.
In fact, it is said that that website has about 1000+ more stories to post on preachers who either made a mistake, gave in to temptation, or purposefully committed some offense worthy of being arrested.
It is obvious that we do not like that list because it is redundant and really not that website’s business. We would like to know who appointed that owner to be the judge, jury, and executioner of those Christians who fail in their Christian lives.
Thiessen refuses to mention me by name or link to this site. His lack of ethics in this regard speaks volumes about the man.
Note how Thiessen describes the type of posts that are in the Black Collar Crime Series:
- Preachers who make “mistakes”
- Preachers who give into “temptation”
- Preachers who commit some “offense” worthy of arrest
Note that Thiessen refuses to use the word “crime” or “sin.” Thiessen thinks the crimes mentioned above are “mistakes” or “failures”; that I am kicking these fine men of God while they are down. How dare I catalog and publicize their stories. What Thiessen never mentions is the victims. His only concern is the poor, “fallen” preachers. This is why Thiessen has repeatedly defended men such as Bill Gothard, Ravi Zacharias, and Bill Cosby. Worse, he even goes after the victims of these men’s crimes for not playing by his rules and adhering to his perverted form of “justice.
In October 2021, I wrote a post titled David Tee Defends Christian Rapists and Sexual Predators, calling out Thiessen for his defense of criminal preachers. Thiessen responded:
BG makes many mistakes here. First off, if it is in the Bible, it is not a corrupt biblical message. The corruptness comes in when people try to use their own interpretation to understand what God is saying.
If God said he will forgive and forget, then there is no one on this earth who can say otherwise. But remember, God does not just forgive, he punishes the wrongdoer as well. A fact that BG has forgotten. David & Bathsheba lost their first child because of their sins.
No, we do not defend any corrupt sin. Our article yesterday was merely saying that the Church is already aware of what is going on and we do not need unbelievers broadcasting the news to the 4 corners of the world.
Their action distorts justice, not aid it. While many people in the church do cover up sins by their fellow members, we never said that was the correct response to take.
….
Another distortion of what we do. First off, Ravi Zacharias is innocent. We and his son have proven that quite well. Secondly, Bill Cosby was railroaded and not given justice. All the allegations against him carried no physical evidence to support the false accusations.
We will speak up against injustice and not blindly accept hearsay evidence made by certain women and their supporters. To do so would be to pervert justice and violate the rules of law, evidence, and legal proceedings.
….
That is the name of the series we were alluding to. However, what good will it do to publish them on the internet? If he has these stories and he has the evidence, why doesn’t he report them to the police himself?
No one is stopping him from doing that but knowing his cowardly nature, BG just hides behind a keyboard thinking he is doing something good. The only thing we ask when he reports these crimes is that he has verifiable evidence, and the people get true justice.
If there is real evidence, not the made-up kind against Mr. Zacharias or Mr. Cosby, then we would support the criminal investigation. We would use the information to warn other pastors, etc., to get their sexual desires under control–we have done that on this website in years past.
….
We do not sweep anything under the rug but we are not rats either. We write what God wants us to write and then let him do the convicting. Any guilty pastor, etc., should be going to the police and confessing if they are guilty of such crimes.
We are not going to point fingers at anyone nor will we pile on someone who is down. These pastors, etc., are adults and they know God’s word so we know that they know what they should be doing. They do not need us humiliating them to get them to act. We are not their judge or executioner.
….
Victims need to follow the rules. Their word is not good enough. Too many innocent people have been convicted of crimes they did not commit and convicted on someone’s word alone.
The justice system is not perfect either and it makes a lot of mistakes but there are rules to follow and victims need to learn those rules if they want justice.
We do not change the rules because some victim feels dismissed or marginalized. Why have rules if they are not going to be followed? God has rules for justice that everyone, including many Christians, ignores, yet, God does not change his rules.
They are to be obeyed or people suffer, especially the innocent or the victim.
….
We support true justice and we support the rules. if people making the accusations are not following the rules, then they are just as guilty as the person or persons they accuse.
….
Probably not [supporting victims] as we often talk about sin in general. But we won’t support anyone who violates the rules of God and the justice system. Just because you are a victim does not mean you are telling the truth.
But then there is a myriad of people supporting those victims. We are supporting God’s way, trying to get justice done which means getting to the truth. Sometimes the truth is the victim is wrong, lying, or part of a conspiracy.
We have to get through the crap to make sure the right justice is done to the right person.
….
We are to defend the innocent but the innocent is not just on the victim’s side of the issue. BG fails to see this fact and it distorts his reaction to such crimes. We do not defend the dregs of Christian society, we are trying to make sure that Christians and others do not sin in their haste to blame, convict and punish anyone they can get their hands on.
We said that in our many posts concerning Mr. Zacharias. Sin in the pursuit of justice does not beget justice. It begets more crimes and more sin and that is wrong.
Thiessen’s thinking is not a deviation within Evangelicalism. Crimes by clergymen are routinely covered up and swept under the rug. Victims are routinely discredited, marginalized, and shamed. Even when preachers are arrested, convicted, and sentenced to prison, they often find forgiveness and restoration after release. Throw in the sheer number of preachers who sexually take advantage of adult church members, and when found out say “I’m sorry” so three, six, or twelve months later they can be “restored,” and it is evident that Evangelicalism is a scandal-ridden enterprise. This should disgust Christians, but sadly way too many of them are like David Thiessen: quick to overlook, forgive, and move on. Left in the wake are countless victims harmed by so-called men of God they trusted and respected.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen 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.
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Derrick Thiessen responds to my post:
https://theologyarchaeology.wordpress.com/2022/11/30/why-the-hatred-for-god/
Dr T may be projecting and need to excuse others for crimes he may commit. Anyway, this is not a good look for him.
It’s interesting, given what we understand of his own history, that he would want to refer to crimes as ‘mistakes’.
Fuck him. The priest who sexually abused me made the same “mistake” with other kids. So did another priest who was in my parish at the time. So did at least one priest in my next parish. So did a “youth leader” in the Evangelical church I later attended.
“Saved” criminals/sinners/oops I did it againers don’t have to be accountable to anyone but their God because in the end, they are saved. They still get heaven and God forgives. That’s why Derrick Thiessen puts so much effort into his apologetic defenses. He thinks if he can just keep saying: The Bible says and Jesus thus . . . that it makes it all okay ’cause Jesus saves! Sure the “mistaker” might lose a few jewels in their crown or lose a few crowns but hell, they’ll never lose heaven, mistakes be damned.
Ugh, what a disgusting victim-blaming and perpetrator-shielding piece from Mr Tee. He seems to be firm in the notion that unless many people saw the abuse it didn’t happen, and the accuser is just making it up.
This guy makes my blood boil. What a POS, if I ever saw one. It always seems to be the fault of the victim and not the perpetrator, doesn’t it? “Victims need to follow the rules”. WTF does that even mean?? Did the perpetrator follow the rules?? Of course not! But, somehow, in this knuckledraggers’ mind, it’s the victims that need to be blamed and the criminal is forgiven while his dirty deeds are swept under the rug. Again.
Victor Justice continues to bombard me with comments and emails. Now he is aligned with Fake Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen. Two peas in a pod, I’d say.
Here”s what the “godly” Justice had to say:
This very distinguished writer, Doctor David Tee, has once again made mincemeat out of your perverted arguments on “justice.” He’s eloquently dismantled the apparent lies made against Zacharias and Cosby.
Concerning Brother Gothard. I know that there must be another side of the story, as this humble man is probably reluctant to bring up:
Where else, besides the crippled, emasculated, and filth soaked West, would touching a girl’s hair, or touching a female’s foot under the table, bring all these accusations…as if a man had raped or molested them. To make this such a huge deal causes me to think the Satan is in the details here. What better way to do away with an effective ministry, than to charge a godly man with a slanderous, disparaging accusation! Thereby leaving in the hearts of those he has helped; with a stain when thinking about his character.
How dare you for jumping on board with these vicious slurs against Brother Gothard, Little Bruce! You attempted to murder your own stepmom, you vile malcontent! And now you feel worthy to get bent out-of-shape over some unintentional footsies!
You collected a pastors salary for decades before exposing yourself as a fake minister! What kind of useless hypocritical bastard condemns a man for something that Joe Biden has done—on camera—about 500 times! You are really becoming even more disgustingly dishonest than you were before…and that’s quite a feat!
For the record, I did not try to murder my father’s wife.
Christa Brown writes about the Ravi Zacharias story and so much more. https://baptistnews.com/article/what-the-sbc-should-learn-from-the-ravi-zacharias-tragedy/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhoGz1s3Y-wIV9mpvBB2cZwm-EAAYASAAEgKnDfD_BwE#.Y4in033MKUm
A man who minimizes another’s bad actions is certainly showing his true colors. I wouldn’t allow any child near Victor.