Clergy Crimes (Besides Pedophile Priests and Gay Hypocrisy)

[Doug]

MOBILE, Ala. — An Alabama evangelist who authorities say terrorized his family while preaching at revivals has been sentenced to life plus 51 years in prison after being convicted of killing his wife and storing her body in a home freezer.

Circuit Judge John Lockett imposed the sentence Thursday on Anthony Hopkins, 39, who showed no remorse during the proceeding. He got the maximum sentence of life for murder and additional time for convictions including sodomy and sexual abuse.

Assistant District Attorney Ashley Rich called Hopkins "evil of the worst kind."

She said he taught the eight children in his home things about the Bible that were not true and that helped him get away with his crimes for years.

During Hopkins' trial in April, prosecutors said he killed his 36-year-old wife, Arletha Hopkins, in 2004 after she caught him molesting a girl, then stuffed her body in a freezer at their home in north Mobile. Investigators discovered the body in 2008 after a young woman abused by Hopkins told child advocates about it, authorities said. Police arrested Hopkins while he was preaching at a revival in the south Alabama town of Jackson.

See here.

[Dardedar]

Tip of the iceberg. For instance, see:

Conservative Babylon

Exposing the Hypocrisy of the "Family Values" Crowd, One Right-Winger at a Time, Since 2003

For hundreds, if not thousands of such examples.

[Dardedar]

It's called Freedom Bible College and as I remember it's across the street from Schlotzsky's in Rogers, on Walnut. Always thought the title was funny, having Freedom and the word Bible together like that.

***
Bible College Founder Arrested for Child Porn

Dr. Joel Church, the founder of Freedom Bible College and Seminary in Rogers, has been arrested after the Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered child pornography was being e-mailed to computers located at Church's home and business.

The Rogers Police Department arrested 69-year-old Church on Monday for distributing, possessing and viewing child pornography. The FBI says the images were sent to computers at Church's home on Turtle Creek and to the college on West Walnut Street. Officers executed search warrants and found several pictures and videos of nude children who appeared to be between the ages of 8 and 15. Several computers and compact discs were seized.

Distributing, Possessing, or Viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child is a Class C Felony. Church was taken to the Benton County Jail to await a probable cause bond hearing.

According to the Freedom Bible College and Seminary's website, the ministry has been in operation in Arkansas since 1996."

KFSM News

[Doug]

Bentonville Police say two more men have been arrested for as a result of an undercover operation.

The latest arrests are in addition to nine arrests made earlier in the week...The arrests are part of an undercover operation by the Bentonville Police Department and area law enforcement agencies. Undercover officers used a website to set up the meetings. Chief James Allen says the operation is ongoing and part of their continuing efforts to stop prostitution in Northwest Arkansas. The same investigators made several arrests in the Spring.

The following men were arrested Wednesday and Thursday for Sexual Solicitation and Loitering:

...Joshua Wisdom, 37, Rogers

Wisdom was a Student Pastor at the Church at Pinnacle Hills. Andy Wilson, Executive Leader of Ministry and Operations, says the church has requested and received Wisdom's resignation, effective immediately. Wilson said in a statement released by the church "we are shocked at this news; however, we are looking to the Lord who provides us strength in the midst of a crisis."

See the full story here.

[kwlyon]

Wow...Great work fellers. Have yourself a donut. It would seem we need to cut back on our funding of local law enforcement. And to think, I was under the impression they were UNDERSTAFFED! Who knew that they were so desperate for something to do.

[Dardedar]

As much as I hate religious hypocrisy (actually hates too strong, it's mostly amusing), I hate criminalizing consensual sex between consenting adults even more. That's just unamerican.

[Doug]

Reverend caught staring at children while masturbating--at a public park

The Rev. Grant Storms, the Christian fundamentalist known for his bullhorn protests of the Southern Decadence festival in the French Quarter, was arrested on a charge of masturbating at a Metairie park Friday afternoon.

Storms, 53, of 2304 Green Acres Road in Metairie, was taken into custody at Lafreniere Park after two women reported seeing him masturbating in the driver's seat of his van, which was parked near the carousel and playground, a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office report said.

The first woman...told a second woman, who walked to the van and also spotted the man masturbating, the report said. The second witness told deputies that the driver saw her and tried to conceal the zipper area of his pants with his hand.

The two women flagged down a park employee who notified the Sheriff's Office. The employee detained the man, later identified as Storms, until deputies arrived.

[Storms] is especially known for arming followers with bullhorns, Bibles and picket signs to protest Southern Decadence, the three-day gay festival held in the French Quarter during Labor Day weekend. Storms grabbed national attention in 2003 with his failed attempts to shut down what Southern Decadence organizer Chuck Robinson called a peaceful festival that celebrates gay and alternative lifestyles.

See here.

[susan]

We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of GOD. He who has not sinned, let him cast the first stone. It is always easier to see the splint in someone else eyes than the plank in your own. There is no sin that can not be forgiven except for the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Not one sin is bigger than another. If you sin and do not ask for forgiveness you will all burn in Hell. Clergy is hit harder from Satan than any other because he thinks if he can tear down the top then he can have the rest of the followers of Christ. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!

[Susan]

When you see or hear of someone that is trying to follow Christ do something wrong. PRAY for THEM

[Doug]

When you see or hear of someone that is trying to follow Christ do something wrong. PRAY for THEM

I would, but:
a. I'm an atheist, so I don't pray.
b. Studies consistently show that prayer doesn't work.

[Doug]

We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of GOD.

I'm WAY more moral than the God of the Bible. So are you. We've never drowned the world in a failed attempt to get rid of sin. We've never murdered a baby because of something it's parents did.

2 Samuel 12:13-14:

Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has [h]taken away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.”

DOUG writes:
Any God who does such things is certainly not worthy of worship. I never have to worry about whether my morals surpass such poor moral character. I know I, and almost everyone else, are much better than that. I don't fall short of God's morality, I surpass it. I leave it in the dust every day of my life.

He who has not sinned, let him cast the first stone. It is always easier to see the splint in someone else eyes than the plank in your own. There is no sin that can not be forgiven except for the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Not one sin is bigger than another. If you sin and do not ask for forgiveness you will all burn in Hell. Clergy is hit harder from Satan than any other because he thinks if he can tear down the top then he can have the rest of the followers of Christ. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!

DOUG writes:
The reason we point out things like this about the clergy is to show a number of things, such as:
a. The clergy act and talk like they are more moral than others, but they are not.
b. Familiarity with the 10 Commandments and other scriptures obviously does not create moral character in the way the religious think it does, as in the cases of those who want to post the 10 Commandments in courthouses and schools in a supposed attempt to instill morals.
c. The religious do not have a corner on the market regarding morals. Indeed, it often seems that the opposite is the case.