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Updated: Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Youth Pastor Robert Fenton Pleads Guilty to Sexually Assaulting Church Teen

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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.

In 2022, Robert Fenton, a former youth pastor at Abide in the Vine Church in Owego, New York, was accused of sexually abusing a church teenager in the 1990s.

WHTM-27 reported:

A former youth pastor from Bradford County has been accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl over 20 years ago during a church-approved “betrothal,” according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General.

Robert Fenton, 52, is being charged with sexually abusing and assaulting a 14-year-old girl from 1996 to 1998 in Bradford County, when he was 26 years old. According to the announcement from the AG’s office, Fenton allegedly claimed that “God wanted the victim to be his spouse” because of a vision he had. The AG further explained that Fenton allegedly got approval from leaders at Abide in the Vine Church to “betroth” the girl to him “with an understanding that no sexual activity would occur.”

The alleged victim, now over 40 years old, first told police about the abuse in 2019, according to the criminal complaint released with the announcement. After the “betrothal,” the victim said Fenton allegedly convinced her parents to take her out of public school so he could visit her at home. Fenton allegedly touched the girl’s genitals and made her touch him.

In 1998, the victim said she and Fenton got engaged, at which point he allegedly made her perform oral sex on him, the affidavit said.

After the wedding was called off because Fenton reportedly got pancreatitis, the relationship ended around August-September 1998. Fenton then allegedly told the girl that she ruined his ministry before moving to Australia. The AG’s Office said that Fenton is a paster at a church in Queensland, Australia.

Once the AG’s office took over the investigation in July 2021, officers interviewed friends of the victim, congregation members, and her parents. Her parents reportedly explained that they were aware of and agreed to Fenton’s betrothal. They also said that the church elders at one point set up a 6-month “no contact” period, during which Fenton and the girl could only write letters. However, the parents claimed that Fenton would “push the boundaries”.

The pastor of the church was reportedly unsupportive of the relationship when Fenton first explained his vision. However, the pastor’s son told the AG’s office that the girl’s family and Fenton pressured the pastor and likened the relationship to Mary and Joseph, with Mary being much younger. The pastor’s son said that his father didn’t know the relationship was sexual.

….

Fenton has been charged with Indecent Assault of a Person under 16, Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse with a Person Under 16, Aggravated Indecent Assault, Corruption of Minors, and Statutory Sexual Assault. The AG said his office will work with the U.S. State Department and Department of Justice to try to extradite Fenton from Australia.

“The defendant used his power and authority in his religious community to lie, manipulate and regularly abuse a young girl in his community. I promised we would hold anyone who was abusing children accountable – and Robert Fenton is no exception,” said Attorney General Shapiro. “Survivors experience a lifetime of anguish and trauma trying to overcome the impact of abuse. I want survivors to know – we believe you, and we will not let predators get away with the sexual assault of children.”

The website for Pennsylvania’s Attorney General stated:

Attorney General Josh Shapiro today announced the charges against former youth pastor Robert Fenton for regularly assaulting a 14-year-old member of his religious community from 1996 to 1998.

Fenton, 52, is believed to be associated with a church in the Queensland area of Australia as a pastor. A letter has been dispatched to the church notifying them of the charges. The Office of Attorney General will seek his extradition in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Justice. He was charged with statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault and related charges. His alleged victim, now in her 40s, reported to the Pennsylvania State Police that the defendant began sexually abusing her when she was approximately 14 years old and Fenton was 26.

“The defendant used his power and authority in his religious community to lie, manipulate and regularly abuse a young girl in his community. I promised we would hold anyone who was abusing children accountable – and Robert Fenton is no exception,” said Attorney General Shapiro. “Survivors experience a lifetime of anguish and trauma trying to overcome the impact of abuse. I want survivors to know – we believe you, and we will not let predators get away with the sexual assault of children.”

In July 2021, the Office of Attorney General in partnership with state police began investigating the case following a referral by the Bradford County District Attorney’s Office. Investigators learned that Fenton was a youth pastor in Bradford County and declared that God wanted the victim to be his spouse. He sought and received the approval of church leaders to “betroth” the victim to him with an understanding that no sexual activity would occur. However, between 1996 and 1998 the victim sustained frequent sexual abuse by Fenton.

Between July 2021 and February 2022, investigators interviewed multiple former church officials and associates of Fenton and the victim. These interviews corroborated the victim’s allegations, stating that they recalled then 26-year-old Fenton was in a “relationship” with the victim and understood them to be “betrothed” with the blessing of their religious community. The victim came forward to law enforcement after leaving the religious community and seeking counseling for the trauma inflicted by Fenton’s abuse.

On January 16, 2025, Fenton pleaded guilty to aggravated indecent assault and statutory sexual assault.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office reports:

Attorney General Michelle Henry announced that a former youth pastor from Bradford County, Robert David Fenton, 55, pleaded guilty on Thursday to aggravated indecent assault and statutory sexual assault.

He will also undergo an evaluation by the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board in Pennsylvania. Sentencing will be at a later date.

Fenton was youth pastor at Abide in the Vine church when the sexual abuse happened between 1996 and 1998, beginning when the victim was 14.

Fenton fled to Australia before charges were filed, and was ultimately apprehended entering the Philippines in April 2024.

“This trusted mentor figure used religion to get close to, and exploit, this child for his own sexual gratification,” Attorney General Henry said. “Investigators went to great lengths — literally — to bring this defendant to justice for deviate crimes he committed decades ago.”

According to the investigation, Fenton, who was 26 at the time, went to the victim’s parents and announced that he had a vision from God that Fenton and the child were to be married. Fenton, the victim’s parents, and other church officials came to an agreement on a betrothal between Fenton and the child. Fenton then sexually assaulted the child.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman and His Fellow Republicans Plan to Financially Harm Public Schools

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By David DeWitt, Ohio Capital Journal, Used with Permission

Does Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman hate public schools?

He very well might not hate public schools. I doubt that he would ever use those words. But as an observer, it just really comes off like Matt Huffman hates public schools.

Or maybe he has some sort of grudge against them and thinks they should struggle and suffer more than they already are.

Maybe hate is too strong a word. Maybe he’s just callously indifferent to public schools. Or maybe it’s not hatred or indifference; it’s a kind of gristle-chewing contempt for public schools combined with a deep, warm, abiding love and affection for private, for-profit, and religious schools.

I really don’t know.

What I do know is that since Ohio’s system for funding public education was declared unconstitutional more than 25 years ago, Ohioans have only seen two brief periods of time when anything resembling a constitutional school funding formula has been in place: the evidence-based model passed and signed under Gov. Ted Strickland in 2009 and then quickly overturned by Gov. John Kasich in 2011, and the bipartisan Cupp-Patterson Fair School Funding Plan that was put in place in 2021.

Now the future of Cupp-Patterson is in jeopardy as Huffman has declared it “unsustainable.”

Huffman, who starts the year as Ohio House Speaker after being term-limited out as Ohio Senate President, enjoys enormous influence in the Ohio Statehouse amid Republican supermajorities in both chambers.

The Cupp-Patterson Fair School Funding Plan included a phasing-in schedule over six years, or three budget cycles in Ohio. Now that the first two phases have been implemented, Huffman is signaling he’s ready to call the thing off.

“I don’t think there is a third phase to Cupp-Patterson,” Huffman told reporters Monday. “I guess the clear statement I can say is I think those increases in spending are unsustainable.”

Unsustainable. Fair School Funding in Ohio is “unsustainable.”

Meanwhile, this past school year, Ohio lawmakers funneled nearly $1 billion in taxpayer dollars toward private schools after passing near-universal vouchers the year before. The vast majority of new private school voucher money from Ohio taxpayers went to families with their kids already in private schools.

In Ohio, 90% of students attend public schools, while only 10% attend private schools. But according to Huffman, shoveling nearly $1 billion per year to private schools to help families who were already using private schools is definitely, absolutely, no doubt sustainable, while funding Ohio’s Fair School Funding plan for 90% of students is not.

Even under Cupp-Patterson, school districts across Ohio are facing enormous difficulties.

Here are some headlines about Ohio school districts around the state from 2024:

• ‘Can’t survive’: Greater Cincinnati school district will have to make $1M in cuts (WKRC)

• Perrysburg schools considering cuts after levy failed in November (WTOL)

• Princeton City Schools announce hiring freeze, other cuts after tax levy failure (WCPO)

• Local school district to move forward with approved cuts after levy failure (WKRC)

• Ashtabula Area City Schools superintendent updates board on $1.7 million budget reduction plan (Star Beacon)

• Ravenna City Schools making cuts to busing, staffing, extra-curriculars as state places district in ‘fiscal caution’ (WKYC)

• Financial health of local school districts varies considerably, driving levy debates (Dayton Daily News)

• Akron Public Schools proposes cutting 285 positions to contend with budget deficit (Ideastream)

• Federal Hocking School District plans to reduce deficit through attrition (Athens County Independent)

• This school district is facing an $81 million deficit. It hopes voters will help. (WEWS)

• Cuts and budget reductions expected for Youngstown City School District due to projected deficit (WFMJ)

• Youngstown schools to cut 20 positions to deal with budget deficit (Ideastream)

• Cleveland Municipal School District plans to cut $168 million from budget over two years (Cleveland.com)

• Local school district forced to cut jobs due to budget deficit (WHIO)

• Tri-State school districts are making cuts, financial changes after levies failed in November’s election (WCPO)

• Mansfield City Schools faces $3.9 million deficit next school year (Richland Source)

• Reynoldsburg school levy fails, budget cuts likely (WCMH)

• Milford Schools approves over $5 million in budget cuts contingent on Election Day income tax levy failure (WLWT)

• Milford School District tax levy fails (WCPO)

I’m going to stop here because I could go on and on with these.

I read an abnormal amount of local news from all around Ohio, so I know this all is happening because I see these headlines all the time. I don’t expect most Ohioans to be aware that school districts everywhere across the state are facing such terrible trouble, but I do expect the Ohio House Speaker to know it, because, well, that’s his job.

What I can’t understand is this: If you know that public school districts across Ohio are facing awful budget hardship, teacher shortages, morale problems, busing problems and driver shortages, an extremely hostile public, a complete unwillingness in many communities to pass local levies, would you, as Ohio House Speaker, try to find ways to help schools give 90% of students the absolute best education possible? Or would you rip away more resources and make their problems worse?

I would try to help.

I hope most people would try to help.

But Matt Huffman is signaling he intends to cause them more pain. And that’s why I wonder, does he hate public schools? Or, does he not care about them? Or does he just love private, for-profit, and religious schools so much that it doesn’t matter to him what happens to the 90% of students in public schools?

I don’t know. But if state lawmakers cut even more from public schools, all these headlines will keep getting worse, and Ohio communities, schools, teachers, students and families will all suffer the consequences.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Quote of the Day: The High Cost of Donald Trump’s Plan to “Drill, Baby, Drill”

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Excerpted from France 24, Donald Trump’s pledge to ‘drill, baby, drill’ meets the reality of fracking in rural Pennsylvania, January 19, 2025

A double yellow line marks the centre of Route 29, expanding at the top of each rolling hill that sweeps across the frozen landscape of northeast Pennsylvania. From the former coal fields of Wilkes-Barre to the topmost border of the state, the road cuts through sleepy rural neighbourhoods littered with Trump signs and fading Christmas decorations. 

Pulling into Dimock, a majority-White township with just over a thousand inhabitants, wide tyre marks start to form on either side of the yellow line. Hundreds of trucks shuttling equipment and water to fracking wells in the area have become part of the decor. 

Joe Wilson pulls up to his neighbour Ray Kemble’s house in a pick-up truck hauling a 700-litre water tank he filled from a hydrant about a 20-minute drive away.

“You wouldn’t think that in America, people would be delivering water to houses just so they can take a shower,” he says. “This is the kind of stuff they do in Africa.” 

More than two kilometers below his feet, billions of dollars worth of natural gas runs through the veins of the Marcellus Shale – the largest gas field in the United States.

The surface and groundwater used to supply homes in Dimock have become so contaminated with chemicals used during the fracking process that residents have lost access to clean water. As a result, neighbours have had to jumble together innovative solutions to help each other out.

“I deliver to Ray’s house once a week. He lives alone so he doesn’t need as much water. But there are five of us back home, so I have to drive back and forth from the hydrant to my house four times a week,” Wilson says, his face marked with exhaustion. “It becomes a chore.” 

The 39-year-old construction worker siphons the water into Kemble’s basement tank using a long hose and waits for it to empty out. It takes about an hour to finish the whole operation and fill the reserve, which is normally intended for storing and transporting water for livestock.

The tank is attached to a pump which sends water to Kemle’s kitchen and shower, but it is not safe to drink. On top of the thousands of litres Wilson shuttles around each week, he and Kemble have to get additional jugs of bottled water to make coffee, brush their teeth or cook pasta. 

Fracking is slang for hydraulic fracturing, a method used to extract natural gas or oil found in shale by drilling into the ground, then injecting water and other chemicals at high pressure underground to crack open existing fissures. The first company to start drilling for natural gas in Dimock, Cabot Oil & Gas, arrived in 2006 – riding the wave of the US fracking boom that would eventually turn Pennsylvania into the nation’s second-largest natural gas producer.

But shortly after Cabot’s arrival, locals started to fall seriously ill and Dimock saw its water turn brown. The contamination was so severe that people could put a match to a running tap and it would light on fire due to the high levels of methane in the water. A well near a house in the township even exploded as a result. 

Enraged residents began filing lawsuits against the company in 2009 and kick-started what would become a litigation odyssey. A state investigation ultimately concluded that deficient gas wells drilled by Cabot had leaked unfettered amounts of methane into the township’s aquifer. The company was banned from fracking in Dimock in 2010.

Kemble, a former gas trucker who has been at the forefront of the fight from the very start, pulls out a printed report of the water testing done by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that same year. “I’m not worried about just the methane coming through. Here’s the other 60-plus chemicals that are coming in with that methane,” he says, puffing on his pipe. The report includes arsenic and uranium, the latter of which is an important risk factor for developing chronic diseases. 

A grand jury investigation found Cabot guilty of environmental crimes in 2020. But two years later, the situation regressed. Rebranded as Coterra Energy under a merger, the ban was quietly lifted and the company got permission to open 11 new fracking wells outside a 23-square-kilometre radius drawn around the township. In exchange, Coterra had to pay $16 million for a public water system set to be completed in 2027.

….

The majority of fracking wells are located in Republican counties across Pennsylvania, including here in Susquehanna County, where Trump won over 70 percent of votes in the 2024 election. Even though the environmental and health consequences fracking has had on Dimock shows a darker reality behind Trump’s promise to “frack, frack, frack” and “drill, baby, drill”, locals seem undeterred in their support for the incoming president.

Except for Kemble, who thinks Trump “is a lunatic anyway”. He is still registered as a Republican but contrary to most of his neighbours, Kemble did not vote for Trump in the 2024 presidential election because “he is all in with the industry”. 

Along the main road, a colossal banner pasted on the front of a white, barn-like building reads “Trump coming soon”. Ironically, it was supposed to be a treatment site for fracking wastewater, but the project was put on hold because local authorities deemed it too dangerous. The building has been vacant for years. 

Back at Kemble’s house, the gun-carrying Craig Stevens slaps his contact card onto the long wooden table where Kemble is sitting. It is bright yellow and has a snake coiled around an oil rig in the centre, a reference to the flag used by the right-wing Tea Party movement. The card reads “patriots from the oil & gas shales – don’t tread on me”. Along with Kemble, he is spearheading the battle against Coterra. 

Stevens describes himself as a “former right-wing conservative” and insists that he is “not anti-drill” but rather “pro-clean air and water”, which is why he is also one of the few inhabitants here who didn’t vote for Trump either. 

“Locals here will not talk about fracking because most of them have their hands in the pockets of the industry. They’ve signed gas leases in exchange for money and are contractually forbidden to speak out due to non-disclosure agreements,” Stevens says. 

Trump made promises to boost oil and gas production by opening more drilling permits and increasing fracking leases on federal lands. But in the US, the vast majority of fracking takes place on state and private land. Gas companies can make deals with landowners to drill on their property, often in exchange for monthly payments in the form of royalties.

“It is a very sensitive subject here in Dimock,” a woman living in the community admits. She prefers to remain anonymous because her family has “had some problems” but “can’t talk about it”. There is a gas well close to her property that not only brought noise pollution but also caused “water issues”.

To solve the problems the family was having, they reached “a settlement” with Coterra, who installed a massive filtration system in their house so they could access clean water. In return, they agreed not to speak publicly about the contamination.

She says that money is the reason people will continue supporting Trump regardless of whether they are affected by the environmental and health consequences of the fracking around Dimock. “Some people get most of their income from the royalties [of gas leases on their property],” she explains. “[Those] with a ton of land like farmers have lots of wells on their properties,” and because they have a hard time making ends meet through agriculture, they sign gas leases. 

Coterra has not only put money in the pockets of residents but has also funded local schools and given over $1 million to Susquehanna County for scholarships. A red brick hospital complex located about a 20-minute drive north of Dimock bears an unmistakable Coterra logo on its façade. 

You may read the rest of the story here.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Trump Dump: Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene Lets Her Christian Transphobia Hang Out for All to See

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This series, titled Trump Dump, features outlandish, untrue quotes from Donald Trump, MAGA supporters, and Right Wing media. If you come across a quote for this series, please send it to me with a link to the news story that contains the relevant quote.

This groomer is lying to children. God created us in HIS image, male and female, he created us. No doctor, body mutilation, or lifetime of pharmaceutical drugs will ever change your sex/gender. Congressman Timothy McBride is a child predator and LIAR.

— Marjorie Taylor Greene on Twitter

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Trump Dump: If the Congress Doesn’t Give Rich People More Tax Cuts, Middle and Working-Class People will Suffer

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This series, titled Trump Dump, features outlandish, untrue quotes from Donald Trump, MAGA supporters, and Right Wing media. If you come across a quote for this series, please send it to me with a link to the news story that contains the relevant quote.

This is the single most important economic issue of the day — this is pass/fail. If we do not fix these tax cuts, if we do not renew and extend, then we will be facing an economic calamity and, as always with financial instability, that falls on the middle and working-class people.

We will see a gigantic middle-class tax increase. We will see a child tax credit cap. We will see the deductions halved … it has the potential for a sudden stop. And, as I said, traditionally with these sudden stops, it falls on working Americans.

— President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Treasury chief, billionaire Scott Bessent, as reported by Raw Story

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Trump Dump: Our Lord, Savior, and Deliverer Has Arrived

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This series, titled Trump Dump, features outlandish, untrue quotes from Donald Trump, MAGA supporters, and Right Wing media. If you come across a quote for this series, please send it to me with a link to the news story that contains the relevant quote.

I felt then [assassination attempt in Pennsylvania] and believe even more so now that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.

— President Donald Trump. as reported by The Scotsman

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Patriotic Masturbation: Our Obsession with Expressing Patriotism

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Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to a country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one’s homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, political, or historical aspects. (Wikipedia)

Generally, patriotism is the love of country. I was born in the United States of America in 1957. I am grateful to have been born in the United States. That said, I don’t think the United States is #1, the best country above all others, or a nation that is uniquely blessed by God. We have a violent, bloody history, one marked by slavery, capitalism, colonialism, and imperialism, so much so that I understand why non-Americans have less than positive thoughts about us. Worse, we have the prominent form of American patriotism that is actually jingoism:

[a form of] nationalism in the form of aggressive and proactive foreign policy, such as a country’s advocacy for the use of threats or actual force, as opposed to peaceful relations, in efforts to safeguard what it perceives as its national interests. Colloquially, jingoism is excessive bias in judging one’s own country as superior to others – an extreme type of nationalism.

I love going to high school football and basketball games. One thing that happens at every game no matter where I go, is that attendees are asked to stand, remove their hats if men, put their hands over their hearts, and listen to or sing the Star Spangled Banner. Due to its unsingability, few people sing our national anthem. I still try to sing it but have long since lost the range to do so.

Before the anthem is sung, the announcer reads a statement reminding people that we live in a nation with freedoms like no others, and that men and women are fighting over “there” so we have freedoms over “here.” Neither statement is true, but plays well with our jingoistic notion of country and place.

Government meetings are typically opened with the Pledge of Allegiance, a pledge of fealty to God and country. I refrain from saying the pledge due its demands that I swear allegiance to the Christian deity and the United States. This, at times, causes me problems when people notice my (supposed) lack of patriotism, but one of the freedoms each of us has is the right to dissent. My refusal to utter the Pledge of Allegiance is my private, silent way to say, “I object,” that I don’t applaud or approve of the violence and bloodshed our flag represents.

The trappings of American jingoism are everywhere to be found: flags, military flyovers, militarized pre-game festivities at sporting events, patriotic clothing, bumper stickers, yard signs, and household goods, and multiple patriotic holidays. Speaking of basketball games, every official wears a shirt with an American flag on one arm, similar to what is worn by law enforcement officers and soldiers. One local school board voted to require high school athletes to wear a flag patch on their uniforms. Why? The school superintendent said he wanted students to be reminded of the greatness of America.

With Donald Trump set to become our jingoist-in-chief on January 20, 2025, we should expect increased tribalism and white Christian nationalism. Claiming to be patriots, they are anything but. True patriots care for the common good of their fellow citizens; embracing differences of beliefs and practices. True patriots don’t threaten their neighbors in other countries with violence, war, and economic destruction. Trump’s threat to take over the Panama Canal and Greenland with military force, invade Mexico, and turn Canada into a state is so far beyond the pale that surely no right-minded American agrees with him, right? Think again. Millions of Americans agree with Trump’s expansionist ideas. The same can be said for his nationalistic economic beliefs which will likely lead to inflation and increased unemployment. Trump is willing to destroy the U.S. economy to prove a point. He is more than willing to ruin the lives of millions of people who live in the United States, all because they are “illegals.”

A patriot, I am, but I reject the patriotism being peddled by Trump, the Republican Party, the MAGAs, and, sadly, many Democrats. You will never see me show my patriotism by saying the Pledge of Allegiance, wearing a flag pin, or flying a flag on our front porch. Such things are what I call patriotic masturbation; feel good behaviors that have little to do with real patriotism. I choose to show my patriotism by loving and caring for others and working for the common good. At the political level, patriotism demands I push back against colonialism, imperialism, and military interventionism that presents the United States to the world as a violent bully who only cares about her thirst for power and world dominance. People hate America not for her greatness, but because she only cares about what advances her interests. Countries with oil, minerals, and other things that fuel our materialistic lust interest us, but emaciated people of color without food, water, housing, or medical care? Who gives a shit about them? Oh, we throw a bit of foreign aid here and there to help with these problems, but most aid goes to prop up governments and expand U.S. military presence across the globe (and the very reasons Trump wants the Panama Canal and Greenland).

I know patriotism is a touchy subject. Please share your thoughts in the comment section.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Church Prayer Chains: How Many Prayers Does a Healing Make?

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Recently, Heidi left the following comment (slightly edited):

I love coming up with my own practical deconstructions, such as: Why does God care more about popular people? Every time there’s a prayer chain for someone, isn’t it just an admission that God is keeping a tally, and once the prayee is sufficiently supported by the numbers, then that person will be healed? I guess the person with few friends is out of luck where God is concerned.

For the uninitiated, a “prayer chain” is a group of Christian church members who agree to pray for a person or circumstance when the chain is activated either by the pastor or whoever is in charge of it. Typically, a church member calls the pastor with a prayer request, asking others to pray for him, or a member is made aware of a “need” someone has and passes that need along to the pastor or whoever is in charge of the prayer chain. The pastor then calls one or more people on the chain, who then call one or more people until everyone on the prayer chain knows about the need. Sometimes, one person handles the chain activation, calling everyone on the list. The goal, of course, is to get as many people as possible begging God to save/heal/deliver someone or meet some sort of need. The thinking is that the more people who bug God in prayer, the more likely it is that God will favorably grant the prayer request.

The Bible diverges in two directions when it comes to God answering prayers. On one hand, the Bible portrays God as an instantaneous prayer-answering deity. Ask and it shall be given to you, right? Most Christians learn early on that God rarely, if ever, answers prayers immediately. Believers are encouraged to have faith, pleading with God without ceasing to answer their prayers. These prayers rarely, if ever, get answered either. Christians love to trumpet to the world that their peculiar deity answers millions, billions, and gazillions of prayers every day, but when pressed for evidence for their claim, believers turn deaf and dumb.

When my partner and I deconverted seventeen years ago, one of the first things we wrestled with was our past prayers. Both of us were praying people — morning, noon, night, before meals, at church, in the car, together, and alone. I suspect between the two of us, we uttered over 100,000 prayers for ourselves and other people. Yet, when we gave an honest accounting of our prayers, we concluded that only a handful of prayers couldn’t be explained naturally. Most of our prayers went unanswered, and those we thought were answered by God were actually answered by self, family, church members, or friends. Virtually every answered prayer was of human origin. And the few that weren’t were not enough to convince us that the God of the Bible exists, that he is personally involved in our lives, and that he answers our prayers. What we were left with was a few experiences we could not explain. Live long enough and you too will have similar experiences; things you can’t explain.

Heidi raises an excellent point about prayer chains. The same can be said for corporate prayer meetings. Evangelical churches often set aside one day a week for members to gather together and corporately pray. I grew up in an era when Baptist churches typically held prayer meetings on Wednesday or Thursday evenings. Some churches take praying seriously, spending an hour or more beseeching God, while others give lip service to the notion of a prayer meeting, taking requests from the congregation and then offering a single prayer, usually given by the pastor, for the people and needs mentioned. Sadly, most church prayer meeting nights are long on gossip and short on prayer.

The thinking goes, that the more people who pray for a person or need the more likely it is that God will answer their prayers. God is waiting and willing to answer prayer, but only if enough prayers come into Prayer Central. Picture God sitting in Heaven with a scorecard, putting a “I” on the card every time a Christian prays for Sister Bertha’s gallbladder or Brother Ernie’s hemorrhoids. Once the prescribed number of “I” are marked on the scorecard, God answers the prayer in the affirmative. As Heidi notes, pity the poor person who has few friends or isn’t well known. They never get healed because they don’t have enough people praying for them.

Why does God operate this way? Why doesn’t he help and heal people the moment they ask? Why does praying seem to be an exercise in futility; a practice that may comfort people, but rarely brings healing and deliverance? As with most things, Christians only count the “hits’ when deciding whether God answers prayers, ignoring the “misses” — which are statistically far more common than affirmatively answered prayers.

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.

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You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Is “Does God Exist?” The Most Important Question We Can Ask?

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I recently watched a discussion between Alex O’Connor, an atheist, and Dr. Francis Collins, an Evangelical Christian and former Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on YouTube. You can watch the video here:

Video Link

I have heard countless discussions, debates, arguments, and brawls over the existence of God. Eighteen years in, I’m no longer interested in the “God debate.” I have heard every possible defense of or “proof” for the existence of God. Many of these arguments try to establish the existence of a creator God, a generic deity of sorts that they posit is found in every culture and religion. Such discussions are largely philosophical masturbation, for which I have no interest. I will, at times, engage Evangelicals when they try to claim and prove that the generic deity I mentioned is actually the Christian God of the Bible. Such arguments miserably fail. Why? They rely on the Bible as proof for their claims. (I am using the words proof and prove in a colloquial sense. I know proof is a mathematical term, not a theological/philosophical one.) As a former pastor and theologian, I still enjoy discussing the Bible and theology, though I no longer have the stomach for WWE-style wrassling matches over minute points of dogma. That said, I have yet to have an Evangelical make a compelling argument for their peculiar God’s existence.

Even within the framework of the Bible, there are numerous gods, beginning with multiple deities in the book of Genesis to the insurmountable differences between the God of the Old Testament and the Son of God in the New Testament. There’s no such thing as a singular Christian deity. One could argue that there are more Christian gods than we can count, with each believer shaping his or her God in their own likeness. That’s why, when talking to Evangelicals about the existence of God, the first question to ask them is “How do you define God?” What are his qualities and attributes? Typically, no two Evangelicals will give you the same answer.

During O’Connor’s discussion with Dr. Collins, one idea came up several times; that the most important question any of us can ask is “Does God exist?” I suppose in atheist-Christian debating circles this might be true, but, for me personally, and I expect for many of you who read this blog, answering the question “Does God exist?” is not at the top of your list of important questions to answer. In fact, I suspect, for those of you who have always been atheists or deconverted years ago, the God question rarely crosses your mind, that is, unless a Christian zealot is in your face trying to get you to pay attention to his God and the importance of getting saved lest you die and end up in Hell.

The only time I even think about God is when I am writing an article for this site. Otherwise, God rarely crosses my mind unless I just stepped on a Lego left on the floor by one of my grandsons, leading to me uttering “God dammit” or “Jesus Christ.” I sure hope the Lord appreciates my worship. 🙂

Pondering deep philosophical questions is largely the domain of white, affluent westerners who have time and money to sit around pondering God’s existence and the meaning of life. For most people, their lives are focused on more pressing questions such as earning a living, providing for their family, renting/buying a home, putting food on the table, and making sure they have a running automobile or reliable transportation to get where they need to go. By the time working-class/middle-class people sit down at the end of the day, the last thing on their minds is the question, “Does God exist?

How about you? Is the “Does God exist?” question important to you? Or do you find such discussions boring, reminders of the endless chattering about theology during your days as a Christian? I wonder if I am alone with my indifference towards this question. I have reached a place in life where I simply no longer care. I have far more pressing issues that vex my soul, especially matters concerning my health, family, and economic well-being. Please share your pithy thoughts in the comment section.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: IFB Pastor Harold Cole, Jr. Accused of Sexually Assaulting a Boy

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pastor harold cole jr

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.

Harold Cole, Jr., pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Farwell, Michigan, stands accused of sexually molesting a boy. Trinity Baptist is an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) congregation.

The Midland Daily News reports:

A Farwell pastor is out on bond with a tether after being charged with sexually assaulting a boy in June 2021.

Trinity Baptist Church Pastor Harold Cole Jr., 57, was arraigned Nov. 1 on second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child under 13. The church could not be reached for comment and its voicemail is not set up. Farwell is about five miles west of Clare.

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The male victim told out-of-state authorities about the alleged assault in March. He now resides outside of Michigan. Clare County Sheriff deputies received information about the assault and began investigating.

Channel 10 adds:

The Sheriff’s Office said Cole Jr. is currently a pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in Farwell.

Detectives conducted an investigation and obtained a warrant for his arrest. He was arraigned on a charge of CSC – second degree and released on a $20,000 bond. He is currently on GPS tether.

Second degree CSC involves sexual contact with force or coercion, or with a victim who is under 13 years of age. This crime is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.