Starbucks is accused by the religious-right of waging war on Christmas. What better way for Starbucks to placate Jesus-is-the-Reason-for-the-Season Evangelicals than to put Bible verses on their signature red and green coffee cups. Nothing like a verse from the inspired, inerrant Word of God to go with your coffee, right?
Guest post by ObstacleChick
With the recent flood of high-profile sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Louis CK, Roy Moore, and a variety of others, there is a tremendous amount of conversation regarding sexual abuse. While it is despicable that these people abused others, it is good that so many victims have felt empowered to speak up, creating more awareness of the prevalence of sexual abuse. A little over a year ago, the conversation came to the forefront in the running community when 3 women in 3 separate states were attacked and killed while they were out running. This excellent in-depth article from “Runner’s World” sums up what women would like for men to know – please read it. There is some good information about harassment in general that will benefit male and female readers alike
Prior to the “Runner World” article, I had not realized that unless I am inside my home or in another place I consider safe, I am always on alert. I am always cognizant of who is around me, whether they look threatening, and locations of my possible escape routes. There’s always the realization that I could become a target of someone with nefarious intent. People have told me that I walk very confidently, with a don’t-mess-with-me attitude. My mother used to joke that she felt sorry for anyone who tried to kidnap me because I would fight like a tiger despite my small stature.
My grandfather was a World War II combat veteran, and he taught me to always be alert in public and how to fight if I ever was attacked. One tip he gave was to carry your keys in your fist with the sharp keys sticking out between your fingers so you could punch someone in the face with the keys. He said to aim for the eyes to inflict most effective damage. If I was walking without keys, he instructed me to pretend to like the guy and touch his face to take him off guard, then to jam my thumbs into his eyeballs, grab his head near the ears, bring my knee up and jam his face into my knee as hard as I could, and then run like hell to a public place. He said to do whatever I needed to do to fight, and to yell “fire, fire” to get people’s attention. He said people might not be interested in an attack, but they would be interested in a fire.
While I have been very fortunate to have never suffered a physical attack, I have been cat-called on many occasions. Once when I was out running on a Sunday morning, someone in a windowless delivery van slowed down to follow me on a less-populated road around a reservoir. I promptly turned around and ran in the opposite direction back toward the homes, church, and police station on the road. I got the license plate number and reported it to the police station. People should not assume that women are only “checked out” when they are wearing something skimpy – this was in the winter, and I was wearing long pants, a jacket, a hat and gloves, and I was still followed — followed for being female while running. In fact, every time I have been cat-called while running, I was mostly covered. The time I was least-covered when I was cat-called was when I was wearing a long t-shirt and long shorts, and I was visibly pregnant. When a cyclist called out “nice ass” as he passed, it was winter and I was covered head to toe. Regardless of what we are wearing, women should not have to hear unsolicited comments like “nice ass” or “hey, hot stuff,” or “hot mama,” and we certainly shouldn’t be followed.
I have reminded my teenage son countless times that cat-calling is unacceptable behavior. The vast majority of women do not like it, and what do guys really think the outcome is going to be? Do they actually believe that if they tell me I have a nice posterior that I will say, “hey, baby, pull over that car and let’s go get it on”? Maybe some women will, but the vast, vast majority will not. And every time someone cat-calls me, it makes me angry. Some people have told me, “oh, that’s a compliment,” or “at your age, you should be glad that someone still thinks you’re hot” (I’m 48). NO! I do not consider it a compliment, I consider it unwanted attention that could be a precursor to something worse. It’s a situation in which I have to evaluate whether I need to flee, fight, or call the police.
Last year when the running attacks occurred, I had discussions with men about always being on alert. Even the most empathetic among them cannot understand what it is like to be on alert like this. Some men thought I was being overly dramatic. Others accused me of having a victim mentality. And yet others thought I was being paranoid. The only people I found who genuinely understood were other women or men who had been sexually assaulted.
Men can definitely be sexually assaulted, and I know of several who have been, but usually the abuse occurred when they were children or teens. Sexual assault is generally an act of control – someone who is stronger or in some way more powerful is exerting sexual control over another person. The recipient may be physically weaker, or they may be in a position of subordination (as in employer toward an employee), or the recipient may be below the age of consent. There may be a combination of these factors. In any case, the recipient is in a disadvantaged position. For example, the accusers of Roy Moore were either below the age of consent or they were young teens propositioned by a prominent attorney – someone with influence in the community. Each girl was at a disadvantage.
How can we as responsible adults make a difference? While I do not pretend to know all the answers to that question, I have identified some things that I can do personally. I can teach my children what sexual abuse means. I can teach them that they can and should say NO in any situation in which they are uncomfortable. I can teach them ways they can protect themselves, both in terms of fighting an attacker and in surveying a situation in which attack could occur. I can teach them to encourage their friends to speak up whenever they encounter sexual abuse. I can teach them to be supportive of others who report sexual abuse and not to automatically blame the victim. Even asking “what was she wearing?” or “was she out alone?” are subtle implications that the victim shares in the blame for someone choosing to assault another human being. Is it wise for women to be on alert, to walk with someone else rather than alone, to perhaps carry pepper spray? Indeed, these ways can help in the immediacy. In the long term we as members of society need to be discussing what sexual abuse means and creating a culture in which victims can come forward and not be immediately doubted and dismissed or considered culpable. We need to stop making excuses for abusers. We need to stop glamorizing and dismissing sexual assault in movies. For example, in “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” Han Solo forcefully kisses Princess Leia while she is trying to fix equipment even though she has told him multiple times and in no uncertain terms that she isn’t interested. Fast forward to “Return of the Jedi” when they are a couple. This teaches boys that no doesn’t mean no, she doesn’t really mean it, she wants you to kiss her and she will fall in love with you even though she seems mad at you right now.
No, that behavior is not OK. It is assault.
I hope one day our society will teach our children to use their voices to protect themselves. I hope that they will not feel afraid or like they are being mean by vehemently saying “NO” to someone who wants touch them or convince them to do an act with which they are uncomfortable. I hope that we as a society won’t automatically seek ways to blame the victim or to excuse the acts of a perpetrator. Until then, I will remain on alert.
Let’s not forget amidst all of the uproar over Roy Moore that a sexual predator currently occupies the Oval Office. What follows is a video about Donald Trump’s predatory ways — detailing the abuse stories of sixteen women who have accused Trump of sexual improprieties.
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.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to turn over internal documents detailing reports of church leaders who have been accused of sexually abusing children:
The governing body of the Jehovah’s Witness church received another rebuke this week by a state appeals court for “obstinately” refusing to turn over internal documents about knowledge of church leaders who have been accused of sexually abusing children.
The ruling, filed Thursday by the 4th District Court of Appeal, upholds a $4,000-a-day penalty against Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York for its failure to comply with a court order in a lawsuit filed by a man who claimed to have been molested in the 1990s.
Here, Watchtower has abused the discovery process. It has zealously advocated its position and lost multiple times. Yet, it cavalierly refuses to acknowledge the consequences of these losses and the validity of the court’s orders requiring it to produce documents…,” the opinion concluded.
The fight for these internal documents has been at the center of not only this lawsuit, but a similar one that accuses the same leader of molestation.
Church elders knew Gonzalo Campos had molested a boy as early as 1982 but did not remove him from interacting with children, according to evidence revealed in the cases.
In one lawsuit filed in San Diego Superior Court in 2012, Jose Lopez said he was 7 when a church elder in a Linda Vista congregation suggested Campos mentor him. Campos molested the boy at Campos’ La Jolla home one day in 1986, according to the lawsuit. When church leaders were told, they said they would handle the situation, the lawsuit says.
Campos became more involved with another congregation in La Jolla in 1987. In 1994 or 1995, Campos molested Osbaldo Padron, a church member there, when he was 7 or 8 years old, according to Padron’s 2013 lawsuit.
Campos later confessed to abusing at least eight children between 1982 and 1995. He fled to Mexico around 2010, said Irwin Zalkin, the lawyer for both alleged victims.
Watchtower has argued that the court’s order to turn over the documents is too burdensome and overbroad, and also that Watchtower does not have access to such records after 2001, but a church corporation does.
In both lawsuits, Watchtower has rebuffed court orders to produce documents about current of former leaders accused of molesting children and has heavily redacted the records it has turned over.
In the Lopez case, a Superior Court judge found Watchtower to be noncompliant and eventually terminated the organization’s right to be heard in the case.
Watchtower appealed, questioning why the judge didn’t use lesser measures to gain compliance, such as monetary sanctions. The appeals court agreed last year, saying the terminating sanction had been too harsh and reversed a $13.5 million judgment that had been imposed. That case is still being litigated.
But when the issue came up in the Padron case, and a different Superior Court judge imposed financial sanctions — $4,000 a day for not producing or searching for the ordered documents — Watchtower complained it was unfair.
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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.
Gary Spear, youth pastor at Mitchell Church of Christ in Mitchell, Indiana, was sentenced Wednesday to 1 1/2 years of house arrest and 1 1/2 years of supervised probation for child seduction. I’m shocked by the fact that Spear received no jail time for inappropriate sexual behavior with a minor he was counseling.
In October 2016, WBIW reported:
A Mitchell man was arrested Friday after police say he made sexual advances against a teenage girl while he was a youth minister at Mitchell Church of Christ.
Police arrested 45-year-old Gary Spear on a felony charge of child seduction.
According to a Lawrence County Superior Court II probable cause affidavit, on May 2 a woman reported to the Lawrence County Police Department that she had been assaulted by Spear. The incidents happened between 2011 and 2013 when she was between 16 and 18 years old.
In 2010, the teen was receiving counseling from Spear because her parents were getting a divorce. The victim told police that the alleged incidents happened during those weekly counseling sessions when Spear was the youth minister at Mitchell Church of Christ.
Spear told the girl that he considered her as his daughter and, as a daughter, she should give him hugs and kisses. The woman reported Spear would lay on top of her and he would have her sit on his lap while he kissed her. She also claims Spear fondled and touched her inappropriately during these incidents that happened several times a week in the church, at his home and in his truck.
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Spear served as the community engagement facilitator for the Mitchell Community Public Library. He was also the co-host and director of Hoosier Hometown Live, a popular variety radio show. He is no longer employed at the library.
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Spear describes himself this way on his blog bio page:
Hi! I’m Gary. Thanks for stopping in for a read. I’m writing from a place I’m glad to call home here in southern Indiana. I grew up just down the road, then wandered away to two different colleges before settling down back here, near home. I’m a Youth Minister with a church family dedicated to being the body of Jesus in this hurting world through serving and loving people. My parents showed me how to love God and now my wife and children teach me about God in ways I could never learn alone. I’ve also been blessed to write for some publications and speak many interesting places. Some thoughts on this blog are from past publications or presentations but most will be what I’m thinking of as I prepare for the future. I like traveling to share my thoughts but I mostly long to be home these days; in Mitchell and more for Heaven.
Feel free to add me on Facebook if you know me personally want an easier way to chat than here on the blog. You can click above in the first paragraph where my name is to open my profile.
Until we get home, I’m excited about every new day’s journey with the Ancient of Days. God is ever present and amazing as He saves us as Son, walks with us as Spirit and waits for us as Father. He calls us to journey and He is the journey. These are the eternal truths and mysteries I hope to ponder here: that the great I Am has chosen to delight in Me.
In a 2012 blog post, Spear wrote:
At the very least today, think about how you value sexuality in your life and how you’re guiding and influencing the people around you. Be intentional in your example, attitude and guidance. The young people in your life will grow up to thank you for helping them have less emotional baggage to take into adulthood.
I wonder how much emotional baggage Spear’s victim is carrying thanks to his predatory behavior?
If you are familiar with vampire lore, you know that pure silver and garlic can protect you from vampires. Vampires are real, dammit. I watched all seven seasons of HBO’s hit series True Blood, and I am currently watching the final season of From Dusk till Dawn: The Series. After watching these shows, I have absolutely no doubt that vampires are real.
I’ve lost my mind, right? Anyone with a bit of common sense and reason knows that vampires died out with the dinosaurs. Okay, I am just pulling your leg. Vampires aren’t real. I have been reading all the defenses of Roy Moore, along with the emails I receive from Christians saying their pastor couldn’t have committed the crimes he is accused of in the Black Collar Crime Series, and I am starting to wonder if Evangelicals think Christian salvation — being born from above — is some sort of talisman that protects Christians from committing sex crimes.
I frequently receive emails from people who object to one of my Black Collar Crime stories. One woman told me her pastor couldn’t have committed sex crimes. Why? He’s a man of God, and true men of God don’t sexually molest girls. I didn’t respond to her, knowing that any attempt to talk sense into her Bible-addled mind would be futile.
As you know, Evangelical darling and Alabama senate candidate Roy Moore has been accused of sexually assaulting minor girls back when he was a thirty-year-old district attorney. He has also been accused of having a creepy obsession with female teenagers when he was younger. Moore is now married. His wife Kayla was in her early twenties — fifteen years younger than Moore — when they married. Moore’s wife says they met at a Bible study and she considers him to be one of the nicest men she has ever known. He certainly couldn’t have done what these women are accusing him of.
Dean Young, a Republican political consultant who calls himself Roy Moore’s “number one adviser,” resolutely believes that Moore is innocent of sexual misconduct. Why? Young believes that the fact Moore is a Christian inoculates him from doing such things. Young is quoted in the Washington Post as saying:
“Who says you all aren’t paying someone to do that? Go pay more people to say stuff. It’s a waste of money because people here know Judge Moore and we know he does believe in a Christian God, so that fake stuff doesn’t work with us.”
Evidently, much like vampires with garlic and silver, asking Jesus to save Evangelicals from their sins immunizes them from committing crimes. Yet, every day in the Fake News are stories about pastors, missionaries, evangelists, TV preachers, parachurch leaders, Sunday school teachers, deacons, worship leaders, church workers, and Christian family values politicians committing crimes — including rape, child abuse, sexual assault, and sexual harassment. Based on the evidence at hand, it is clear that Christianity does not provide immunity from committing crimes; that Evangelicals can and do behave no differently from the unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of the world. Character, not Christianity, is what inoculates people from doing the things Moore is accused of. One need not believe in Jesus to treat women with respect. One need not be washed in the blood of the lamb to keep his hands off of children. All Evangelical Christianity does for perverts, predators, rapists, voyeurs, and child molesters is give them a façade to hide behind as they commit their crimes. Knowing that Christians are inherently naïve and quick to forgive and forget, these perverse men of God and followers of Jesus act with impunity, quickly explaining away whispers about their behavior. Much like vampires in the light of day, many Evangelicals cannot or will not see what is right in front of them. Their unwillingness to see things as they are only emboldens abusive Christians, leading to greater depths of depravity. This kind of thinking must cease, with Christians being brutally and critically honest about their culpability in the explosion of Evangelical sex crime stories.
It’s time to put a wooden stake through the heart of the belief that Christianity makes people morally superior. It doesn’t. The majority of Americans are Christians. This means that the majority of crimes committed in the United States are perpetrated by people who believe Jesus is their savior. I know of no evidence that suggests that atheists or other non-Christians are more likely to commit crimes. (Please read Misinformation and Facts About Secularism and Religion.) Thus, it is clear that Christianity, in and of itself, does not keep people from doing anything — legal or illegal. We know that purity vows and thunderous preaching against premarital sex doesn’t keep Christian teens from having sex. Much like their secular, non-Christian counterparts, Evangelical teens, with hormones raging, lustily engage in sexual conduct which Evangelicals deem “immoral.”
Did Roy Moore do what he is accused of? It is likely that he did. Like Bill Cosby before him, Moore is now facing an increasing number of accusations of sexual misconduct. If there were just one accusation, it could be chalked up to he-said, she-said. But now that there are numerous women claiming that Moore acted inappropriately, there is little doubt of his guilt. As is often the case with Christian family values politicians, their talk is cheap. Pay attention to what they do, not what they say. In Moore’s case, it’s evident that he had a thing for teen girls, and sometimes his behavior went beyond that of an older man hitting on high school girls.
The same goes for Evangelicals who object when I turn the Black Collar Crime spotlight on their pastors and church leaders. In most instances, there are numerous reports of criminal/sexual misconduct. The likelihood of collusion or conspiracy is remote. I know it is hard for people when the sins of their religious heroes are exposed for all to see. Surely, everyone is lying, right? Occam’s razor applies here. The shortest, simplest explanations are usually the truth. Evangelical churches (along with Catholic churches) have become havens for bad men to commit despicable acts. Worse yet, it is unlikely that these “fallen” Christians were caught the first time they acted inappropriately. More often than not, these men left behind a trail of victims, fearful people too ashamed to speak out. I hope we are reaching a point in our society where children, teenagers, and women can, without fear of recrimination, stand tall and expose religious predators for who they really are.
About Bruce Gerencser
Bruce Gerencser, 60, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 39 years. He and his wife have six grown children and eleven 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. For more information about Bruce, please read the About page.
Bruce is a local photography business owner, operating Defiance County Photo out of his home. If you live in Northwest Ohio and would like to hire Bruce, please email him.
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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.
Daniel Williams, pastor of Arrowbrook Baptist Church in Xenia, Ohio, was arrested earlier this year on a prostitution related charge. In August, Williams pleaded guilty to loitering.
A Xenia pastor arrested in Dayton was found guilty earlier this year for loitering to engage in solicitation, according to court records.
Daniel P. Williams, 40, of Huber Heights, was found guilty in late August after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of loitering, according to Dayton Municipal Court.
Williams’ employer is listed as Arrowbrook Baptist Church in Xenia in both court record and the police report. The church’s website also lists Williams as their pastor.
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Williams was originally charged with a second count of loitering and a third count of soliciting, both of which were withdrawn upon his guilty plea, according to Dayton Municipal Court.
The violation happened at around noon Aug. 17 in the 3400 block of East Third Street in Dayton, according to Dayton police.
Williams was sentenced to 60 days in jail, with 60 days being suspended. He will be on probation for one year, according to court records.
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Arrowbrook Baptist is a Southern Baptist church affiliated with the Founders Ministries and 9Marks — both Calvinistic ministries. Williams’ church bio states:
Pastor Dan has served Arrowbrook as the Pastor of Preaching and Teaching since May 2001. He graduated from Wright State University with a Degree in Mass Communication and a Minor in Religious Studies. He is married to his wife,****, and together they live in Huber Heights with their daughter ****. Pastor Dan has a desire to build up the people of God through the preaching of God’s Word and a deep love for the local church, knowing that it was for the church that Jesus Christ died.
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.
Ronald Paquin, a former priest with the Boston Catholic diocese, was indicted last week on 31 counts of sexual misconduct.
Seacoast Online reports:
A York County Grand jury re-indicted a former Catholic priest from Boston on additional charges alleging he repeatedly sexually abused young boys in Kennebunkport in the late 1980′s.
Ronald Paquin, 75, was originally indicted on 29 counts of sexual misconduct last February stemming from an investigation by Kennebunkport police after one of the victims contacted them. He was re-indicted last week with two new charges, bringing the total now to 31.
Paquin has been held at the York County Jail since his arrest in February at a homeless shelter in Boston.
According to Kennebunkport Police Chief Craig Sanford, the two new charges filed last week stem from one of the victims remembering two more events during the course of the ongoing investigation.
The defrocked priest, formerly of the Boston archdiocese, served more than a decade in a Massachusetts prison for abusing an altar boy from 1989 to 1992 while serving as associate pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He was a central figure in the Boston archdiocese’s sex abuse scandal. He pleaded guilty to raping an altar boy in 2002 and was released in 2015.
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Keith Townsend of Seabrook, New Hampshire, said in an interview with Seacoast Media Group in February that Paquin’s release from jail in 2015 prompted him to contact Kennebunkport police again, leading to the indictments. He first met Paquin when he arrived at St. John the Baptist Church, his family’s church, in 1981.
Townsend said he was molested by Paquin approximately between the ages of 8 and 13. He said Paquin used alcohol and drugs to control and sedate him during the period of abuse. He said he was one of about 10 other young boys abused together during trips to a camp in Kennebunkport, and that he personally knows the other victim tied to the new indictments.
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cal coverage, including for medication. He then decided to go to the Kennebunkport Police Department, where he told an officer in a video interview about the abuse, but said he did not contact the department again until Paquin was freed in 2015.
“I was under the impression he was in jail for the rest of his life,” Townsend said. “When they released him, simple outrage. Nobody is safe as long as this guy’s on the street.”
Satirist Andy Borowitz “reports”
Breaking his silence on Alabama’s embattled Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate, Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that dumping Roy Moore could start a “dangerous trend” of believing women.
“I think we need to be very, very careful here,” Trump told reporters. “This is not just about Roy Moore. This is about our country deciding that we are going to start believing women, something that we have never done before.
“This is a very dangerous road we’re heading down,” he said.
Trump cautioned that, if instituted, a new practice of believing women would “totally destroy” the system that the country already has in place. “For years we’ve had a system of believing men,” he said. “It’s worked very well. It’s done a great job.”
He said that he was considering a number of measures to stem the tide of women’s credibility, including an executive order banning women from giving believable accounts to the press. “That’s something we’re looking into,” he indicated.
Trump painted a doomsday scenario of what might happen if the “very bad trend” of believing women gained traction in the country. “If people believe Roy Moore’s five accusers, what happens to a man who has, say, about twenty accusers?” he asked. “I don’t like where this is going.”
— Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker, November 15, 2017
Italian Catholic priest Lorenzo Guidotti is not accused of rape, but he does stand accused of being a Grade A asshole for berating 17-year-old rape victim. Here’s what he had to say:
“I mean, honey, I am sorry, but 1) you frequent Piazza Verdi (which has become the asshole of Bologna!! […] 2) You get disgustingly drunk! Why? If you participate in the (sub) culture of mayhem, it’s your fucking business if the morning after you wake up who knows where.”
“After the mistake of getting drunk, who do you walk away with? A North African? Notoriously, especially in Piazza Verdi, very gentlemanly, all professionals, teachers, people of culture, good people.”
“Honey, at this point waking up half-naked is the least that could happen. I’m sorry, but if you swim in the piranha tank, you can’t complain if when you get out, you’re missing an arm.”
“Should I feel pity? No.”
Guidotti rightly faced outrage over his comments. Here’s part of his “apology”:
“I wish I could meet her [the victim’s mother]. I understand when she says that this is not Christian charity, but I did this with all the charity possible because we are getting used to news of rape. If no one helps our young people, because of complete imputability, then young people must help themselves, by staying away from mayhem. This is what I meant, but I said all the wrong words.”
