Former Regent University Asst. Dean, Wife Plead Guilty On Child Sex Abuse Charges
As Pam Spaulding puts it -- it's like a broken record.
Yet another member of the pious set proves the far-right judgmental conservative set is populated with a boatload of deviants. In a Virginia Beach Circuit Courtroom in separate hearings, Stephen Lee McPherson, 40, and Melina Ann McPherson, 37 pled guity of taking indecent liberties with a minor -- not one incident, mind you, but several between 1996 and 2000 involving three sisters. It occurred while the McPhersons were house parents at Hope Haven Children’s Home. It makes you sick. Read on...
Pat Robertson must be proud. I wonder if he knew how sick these people were? I've lost count of all the Republicans and so called "good christians" who've been caught doing despicable things to children. This was some sick stuff, and they used bible passages to justify it all:
Court records show Stephen McPherson repeatedly molested two of the sisters under his supervision and manipulated them by citing Bible verses that he said justified the abuse. Melina McPherson engaged in sexual acts with the third sister, cited Bible verses to justify her actions and told the victim that “they had a special relationship,” according to court records.
Stephen McPherson already is serving time on related sex abuse charges. He pleaded guilty in January to sexually abusing the two girls in Chesapeake. The McPhersons moved to Chesapeake in 2000 and took the three sisters there after adopting them, records show. Read on...
I thought these bloody republican xtians weren't supposed to do this kinda stuff?
a bunch of BS huh?
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/09/st...
Ben Stein is a sick idiot. His best friend is gay? After writing something like that, whose best friend isn't gay? I mean that part of what he said is funny even though he didn't intend it to be.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
say their spouse is their best friend. Is Ben married to someone of the same sex?
seems to me ben, that your GOP seems to have more closeted, self-hating homosexuals, than the Dems...at least the Dems aren't ruining the lives of the women they married, and the children they fathered by getting outed in very public and humiliating fashion.
So...my advice to you ben...STFU.
*copied and pasted from one of my posts in a different thread.
somethng new?
"Let's talk dirty to the animals"
... of what BS (perfect initials!) wrote, it is also ridiculous. The Democrats wouldn't win many elections if their primary constituency, besides teachers' unions, were homosexual men and lesbian women.
What possessed him to make up that little gem of utter stupidity?
I think what Ben meant to write was:
Seems a lot of ugly things go on under the blanket of religion. Do they think they can use religion to hide their sick ambitions? What a couple of sick fu*ks. Now how fu*ked up are the girls they used? I wonder how intelligent you have to be to land a job at Regent U.?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
That woman on tweety's show last night would flay these two alive.
She was awesome.
As for your last question...
Don't know how smart ya gotta be to get a job there, but I know ya don't gotta be that smart to graduate from there.
On Religio-Fascist Planet, sex betwixt consenting adults, bad.
Adults and children, good.
Jaysus hated the poor, needy, hungry and sick on Religio-Fascist Planet and rode on a golden calf, pushed by slave children.
let them try and use bible verses to keep the cons from killing them
I think in this case the bible will be supportive of the cons.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
the franklin cover-up?
http://www.wanttoknow.info/890629washingtonti...
and James Guckert?
and Mark Foley?
and countless other republicans?
Check out what Wayne Madsen had to say about what U.S. "diplomats" are doing in Southeast Asia to little girls:
http://revolutionarypolitics.com/?p=2436
Seems like the U.S. State Department may have a bit of a pedophilia problem in its ranks. And Madsen is no slouch. The guy does hardcore research in the CIA archives and spends a lot of time inside the beltway.
And speaking of sexual perverts, we also have the little problem right now that Hillary Clinton is trying to address....that of Blackwater mercenaries in Afghanistan running prostitution rings etc.
Our tax dollars at work?
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
"If you're doing business with a religious son of a bitch, get it in writing. His word isn't worth shit. Not with the good lord telling him how to fuck you on the deal."
Jeebus told me to do it!
love republican style?
..to bad rubbish. Now if only Billo and his pals are in orange jumpsuits and behind bars.
they were able to plead down their sentence
the wife is getting 40 days....
but had they been caught with drugs...they wouldve gotten a mandatory min
we just dont really care about kids in this society
bringin it up again. On hardball last night, tweety interviewed a woman who is livid about the Duggar case...
that woman will affect meaningful change to protect women and children, mark my words.
Was it about the Duggar family who is working on the 19th kid? If so, what did the lady say?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
the case about the kid that was abducted 18 years ago and is back with her folks.
What the hecks their name?
I'll see about a linky.
This is it.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/#32663869
As usual, tweety doesn't disappoint...that he's a whiney biotch.
Okay, I know which one you are talking about now. JayCee something or the other.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
evidently, there were parole officers making WEEKLY visits to this guys home...and had no idea this kid was in the backyard.
its an unusual case and theres probably more to the story. but i wish people wouldn't pretend that ten years of prison isn't enough. ten years of pure hell and they act like its a slap on the wrist. plus there's no way that recidivism is 100%. some people just want criminals to spend their entire lives behind bars, but not only is that unreasonable it's not doable.
it's wierd that we now have a private prison industry. we now have people lobbying for tougher laws to keep more people in prison and for longer sentences. i don't think it's the right approach for a modern society. this is a strange case but it has to be the exception rather than the rule.
amongst rapists and molesters.
But, I do know that 10 years is NOT anywhere near enough time for these cretins.
Actually..it's too long and too expensive...if found guilty, in a fair trial, I think they should be shot in the fuckin head.
Regents, the college for those too stupid to get into any other college. What happens at Regents stays at Regents... until the police find out. Praise the lord.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Cut 'em some slack because they're good Chreeshteeyans.
Committing sex offenses and demonizing opposing viewpoints are symptoms of someone who feels a deep seeded desire for power and control.
How do you change society so these people aren't raised to be so fearful?
How can anyone believe that religion is a good thing? Religion has brought some piece of mind for many who needed something to hang on to but it's also given a reason to kill, molest, conquer, and destroy.
Stop giving religion based business (schools, churches... yes churches, etc.) tax breaks. The US would collect some well needed tax money and it would separate the people who are really in it to further their respected faiths.
That some
peopleassholes that follow religion do horrendous things and throw up their religion as a defense does not make religion bad! Why is this so hard for people to understand?Anyone who claims that there is a god or that there are gods is ignoring reason and evidence. Ignoring reason and evidence is insane (delusional), therefore, people who ignore reason and evidence are insane.
*You* are the ignorant one.
How dare you presume to know how or why I came by my faith.
How dare you presume to know that I am delusional.
Don't paint me with your broad brush. You aren't much of an artist.
me thinks that thou doth protest way too much.
And exactly what evidence am I ignoring?
religions equates with belief in gods.
That evidence you talked about?????
Good and evil are human problems, not religious ones. It's easy to point at religion and say it makes people crazy and evil, but that's because for the vast majority of human history, most people have been religious in one way or another, while those with no religion have been a small number. If it were the other way around, if MOST people for MOST of history had been atheists, then it would be just as easy to sat that LACK of religion makes people evil.
In any population, no matter what the proportion of religion to not, you're going to get a similar ratio of good and evil. The easiest example is Stalinism - he was an atheist, and look how HIS regime turned out. (There are easier analogies, but I don't want to Godwin the discussion.)
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
To play Devil's (hur hur) Advocate, Stalin never did anything in the name of atheism, whereas other religious leaders used religion to justify their terrible deeds.
The powerful of all persuasions will look for ways to use their ideology to justify their behavior, so as Ex points out it's a human problem not a religious one.
manipulating peoples minds through religion, whether it's to rape them or make them kill themselves and others with a bomb, is fanatical religion. it doesn't have a home anywhere and it shouldn't be allowed to be rewarded with a tax break.
The f*&!n Repukes rarely mention homosexuality without mentioning Pedophilia in the same breath. Of course statistics show the vast majority of sexual child abuse is done my hetersexuals and if we broke it down some more I am sure it would show a fair share done by religous conservatiives. But like all good Repukes they just repeat what they are told and never bother to investigate. Inquiring minds want to know is not a phrase much used by these people.
I try my best to respect people and their religions but these two make that really difficult to do. There are religious people doing good things for their fellow human beings. Like the catholic nuns who run a house for poor people dying of AIDS. They take these people in, house them feed them and care for them in their final days as all human beings should be cared for. That is something I can support and do. It's not because of their religion that I support them, but because of the kindness they show others in need.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Well said, POP!
We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.
-- H.L. Mencken
I love that guy.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
Their love for Christ must fill them with joy.
me-oww!
and blind them to one another's appearance.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
I couldn't resist!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fAPEUWowEc
And fill reall sticky.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Get on your knees sinners!
And in your faith,
Jesus will cometh.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
But who will swalloweth?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
with teh priests?
By the looks of them I'd say these 2 are perfect representitives of the right-wing evangelical phony xian death cult. You know, the kind of people who have a problem with differentiating the 10 commandments and the 7 deadly sins. That ugly cow pictured above sure looks like she's got gluttony all buttoned up.
I think I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.....
Your last sentence in your comment really did make me laugh out loud.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Aren't the 7 Deadly Sins primarily a Catholic idea?
To these in the Protestant circle that's akin to being a cult.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSGM3ZTP2nw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e2pCpVPc0I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVdnqEyToqg
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
They look like a couple of fucking AMPHIBIANS!! Eecchhh!!
He's more kissable:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-mDrE4iUH8
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
And you know what Lovecraft said about those of notably batrachian features, don't you?
"Attempting to explain what it means to be chosen for leadership like King David was -- or Mark Sanford, according to his own estimate -- he asked a young man who'd put himself, body and soul, under the Family's authority, "Let's say I hear you raped three little girls. What would I think of you?" The man guessed that Coe would probably think that he was a monster. "No," answered Coe, "I wouldn't." Why? Because, as a member of the Family, he's among what Family leaders refer to as the "new chosen." If you're chosen, the normal rules don't apply. "
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/07/21/...
..you can get away with murder down here.
So for the new chosen normal rules don't apply and in other words, here it's cool to break the law and do shit that would disgust the normal human being.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
that their religious views allow for some flexibility with things like the 10 commandments, directives from jeebus, etc.
I'll bet he would be pissed if he would have known he could do all these things and still please Gawd.
You can't say I didn't say I told you so.
These are distracting Hate Mongers now lets see who in the MSM report this Nightly for at least two weeks.
Start looking at Sanford he is calling his Lt Gov., check for those rare secret meetings and Craigs secret Mens room handbook on how Not to get caught in the Mens room sting
And full of avarice and folly the whole
world will have but one kind of food.
And when the end of the Yuga comes, the right hand will deceive the left and the left the right. And men with false reputation of learning will contract Truth and the old will betray the senselessness of the young, and the young will betray the dotage of the old. And cowards will have the reputation of bravery and the brave will be cheerless like cowards. And towards the end of the Yuga men will cease to trust one another. And full of avarice and folly the whole world will have but one kind of food. And sin will increase and prosper, while virtue will fade and cease to flourish. And Brahmanas and Kshatriyas and Vaisyas will disappear, leaving, O king, no remnants of their orders. And all men towards the end of the Yuga will become members of one common order, without distinction of any kind.
http://www.hinduism.co.za/kaliyuga.htm
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
child abuse is almost always committed by those who were also abused as children. so in any case we can all be non-judgmental about these two as well. their far right piousness was/is simply part of the disease.
I know that what you're saying about these two being molested before is likely true. Why should we be non-judgmental about these two fucksticks?
But I'm sorry, once an adult, one can no longer blame their actions on a shitty childhood.
As an adult you can make a choice to break the cycle.
Those that perpetuate the cycle are weaklings.
I have NO fuckin sympathy for people that mess with kids...
Give em a fair and speedy trial, and, if found guilty, put a bullet in their heads and be done with it.
NO need to waste tax dollars on them.
Killing people is never the answer. Especially if it turns out you made a mistake. Capital Punishment is a sign of a demented country.
Except for maybe treason. With that you have at least a mass death toll.... with a torture program, warrantless wiretapping, countless bodies, murders, clandestine kidnappings and assassinations etc...
That would be something you should take before the Hague though, since Americans don't have the stomach for it. (but claim capital punishment is a strong deterrent... Really? Really??)
'The devil crept into Heaven, God overslept on the 7th, the New World Order was born on Sept 11th.' - Immortal Technique
I'm pretty much against capitol punishment except in cases like this one.
Pedophiles and rapists are the scum of the earth, and they don't deserve to live.
I'm willing to bet that 99.9% of those who visit and comment on this site were abused as children. Some don't even want to consider the abuse that they suffered as abuse Very few want to re-visit that childhood abuse to insure that they don't repeat it with today's children. If they were to face their own abuse they wouldn't be so willing to vote for politicians that belong to a "government" that initiates violence. If they were against child abuse they certainly wouldn't force their own off-spring to sit in a room for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, 36 weeks a year for 12 or more consecutive years.
n/t
Equating child molestation with education. I'm not sure the term "liberal" is quite strong enough for that viewpoint.
These guys just keep shooting themselves in the face don't they?
Guess they just keep doing it because all it takes to make things right is to say "I am so very sorry, Jesus, it won't happen again - wink, wink, nudge, nudge"
Id REALLY like to know what friggin Biblical verses justify child molestation?
bombing the shit out of countries that are populated by brown people that happen to be located above OUR oil?
That part?
Genesis 19:8
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=G...
Genesis 19:30-38
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=G...
And for that matter Genesis 4:16-17
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=G...
Where did his wife come from unless she was a sister, or there was another Creation down the road?
Genesis 29:25-35. Sure bigamy was cool then, but they were sisters.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Numbers 31: 14-18
…to the list of sex offenders who will have to register as such wherever they go. This will be their tie that binds.
Molesters have 100% recidivism.
Seems that the only way to stop them is to lock them up for life, or execute them.
I'm for the latter.
They don't deserve to live in my opinion.
pedophiles should be executed. I was sexually abused as a child, and I know for a fact that the same man molested two other kids in the nabe, probably others. I learned this in later years.
These perverts try to hide out in a very strict religion so that hopefully it will keep their strong urges to molest kids at bay. But it doesn't work. It's a power thing, I think. Christians like these helped me become an atheist. When somebody says, "He's a good Christian," I immediately think, "Uh oh!!"
real hard for the Rapture to be moved up...to say, NOW!!! Then maybe
all these GD religious freaks and will be whisked off the planet for good.
What disgusting human beings.
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
More proof that Right Wing-Nuts are sick fucks!!
"Christian" has, for some time now, been cemented in my mind with the concept of "vicious, sick pervert". They can squawk all they like, but that's what they've done to the word. If they don't like the association that many of us now have, linking their religion with the filthiest kind of sexual degeneracy, then maybe they should do something about cleaning their fucking gutters.
Poor Carpenter. Every day I feel sorrier for him.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
Abraham has been rolling in his 'grave' since 1948. Jesus is rolling in his grave since the 1980's birth of the Religious Right.
The murder and abuse done in their names is so staggering so overwhelming I couldn't think of a more horrible legacy than those two religions.
Muslims look literally 'sane' by comparison.
'The devil crept into Heaven, God overslept on the 7th, the New World Order was born on Sept 11th.' - Immortal Technique
is what proves to me that the guy they hold up as a god was nothing of the sort. If Jesus really was the King of the World they claim him to be, every one of these perverse offal would have been fried with a lightning bolt. The fact that they can keep pissing on everything their god stands for categorically proves their "religion" is nothing more than self-serving window-dressing for their hatred, bigotry and perversion, and Jesus nothing more than a hood ornament for their holy roller bandwagon.
It's a pity religious mania is no longer viewed as a symptom of mental disease sure to get you thrown in a mental institution.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
Here's a long list of Republican deviants.
http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Republican_Sex...
My personal favorite:
Joe Scarborough, former Republican Congressman, currently a conservative talk show host. Resigned his congressional seat abruptly to spend more time with his family, amidst allegations of an affair. His intern, Lori Klausutis, was soon after found dead in his office. The medical examiner, who had his license revoked in Missouri for falsifying information in an autopsy report, and suspended in Florida for six years, ruled the case an accident, after giving conflicting information about her injuries. He said he lied about them because "The last thing we wanted was 40 questions about a head injury."
Runner up:
Rudy Giuliani, had an adulterous affair. Pocketed $80,000 for speaking at a charity benefit for tsunami aid which raised only $60,000 for the victims themselves (Feb 2005).
Wow that tells me a lot about Joe. Why didn't this make the papers more? So basically, Joe is a murderer at large? That's a big statement.
If he tortured her though, that would have been ok.
Maybe this couple can get off saying they were only torturing the girls. That way they can be free like Dick Chaney, Rummy, and the Loyal Bushies?
'The devil crept into Heaven, God overslept on the 7th, the New World Order was born on Sept 11th.' - Immortal Technique
Everybody agrees that child molestation is awful, but it is counterproductive to conflate the religious right in general with the transgressions of those who purport to be in their midst just as it would be unreasonable for those on the right to cast aspersions on progressives if a proponent of single-payer health insurance turned out to be a child molester. We can certainly have our policy differences with conservatives, but it serves no purpose to use the heinous crimes of the few to malign an entire group.
Child rape was prevalent in the Abu Graib prison.(Seymore Hersh) So I guess it should be legal now. Maybe they were just working of precedent?
'The devil crept into Heaven, God overslept on the 7th, the New World Order was born on Sept 11th.' - Immortal Technique
I was thinking something similar. As a staunch and happy atheist in a socially-progressive country, I loathe religious hypocrisy as much as the next person. However, I have seen no evidence that ties sexual 'deviancy' (much of it being adultery or harmless sexual kinks that we shamelessly deride, though not in this particular case, obviously) to the ultra-religious specifically. If you had a microscope, I bet you would find that the 'perverts' spring up everywhere, and there are a multitude of reasons for this.
There are times when capital punishment just isn't enough.
The Talmud book there has regulations as to when it is appropriate to have sex with children, I guess the Christians have their version too. Sick and sad really.
The more devout the more I doubt.
'The devil crept into Heaven, God overslept on the 7th, the New World Order was born on Sept 11th.' - Immortal Technique
Man I'm glad bush isn't still in office, these 'good Christians' would be deemed misunderstood and set free. When are people going to wake up to the fact that religion is bad news. They are in the process of revising the bible again I wonder what guidance it will give on this subject. Pedophiles and rapist's should be lobotomized!
The Fightin' Hypocrites!!!!
They ought to be locked up for life - they have ruined those poor children for life. No one who is sexually abused, especially by a parent EVER recovers fully. And to use bible verses to justify it is beyond perverse.
I can't approve the death penalty, but I might be persuaded by monsters like this.
I once had a minister tell me that the most troubled church-goers are the proslyetizers, who want to throw it in everyone's face, and tell other people live. He said the real sinners don't really deal with their own issues, they just tell others how to live.
I take no comfort in other people's misfortune...unless they are right-wingers. Thos bastards deserve everything they get. They lie, slime and defame people with no regret. I have no sympathy for them whatsoever.
I also had a Pastor tell me something along the same lines. It's the ones who think that they are the poster children for righteousness and holiness are the ones who have the most serious and vile issues. Actually the way she put it was...some them folks who think they are in the whitest and purest of raiment are the ones who Satan loves to follow around the most, whispering in their ear the most horrible of things at every step.
Scratch a Republican or crackpot fundie, you'll most likely find some kind of crook or pervert underneath.
Government + the Federal Reserve = organized crime
is their facial asymmetry
gives me the heebie-jeebies
We all pretty much agree that Robertson is Pat shoot crazy, but to his credit this sleazeball is a former regent, and there doesn't seem to be evidence that he was acting in his official capacity when he committed these awful crimes.
In any sufficiently large population you're always going to find a subgroup of despicable, deviant ne'er-do-wells, and while this may make the larger group and its leaders poor judges of character, one can draw no logical conclusion about the group in general from the presence of the bad apples.
Suppose 3 Prius drivers cut you off on the freeway today. Could you make a general conclusion about Prius drivers as a result without knowing how many Prius drivers were on the road that day, whether the cars were stolen, or the number of Prius drivers taking their family to the hospital?
It's troubling to see the logical, reality-based community draw such feeble conclusions and generalizations about religion and those of various faiths based on the misdeeds of those who have no understanding of their church's teachings.
So kiddie porn is evil but molesting children for real is biblical? Or does Jesus love kiddie porn these days too? I can't keep up. The moral guidelines of Neocon, supply-side Jesus just seem so confusing.
I know it's hard for average Americans to keep track of the endless stream of Republican perverts, criminals, and scandals.
So as a public service, republicanoffenders.com (website) provides a long, long, long list of Republican criminals from the past ten years...nicely organized by category: Drugs/Prostitution, Corruption/Bribery, Rape, Lewd Conduct, Assorted Felonies, Fraud/Embezzlement etc etc etc...and a ridiculously huge section on Pedophiles, as would be expected.
Looks like only about 400 or so Republicans listed...so it's obviously a work in progress.
"Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?" - General Jack D. Ripper
I never realized so many C&L fans supported the death penalty. I like to believe that I am not an absolutist, but opposing capital punishment is a little like vegetarianism and virginity. You either are you aren't. The question is not whether people who do awful things deserve to die, but whether the rest of us deserve to kill them and whether we have the wisdom to distinguish the truly awful from the merely pathetic who make up the rest of the population.
The rule of law provides the moral foundation of our criminal justice system. Kings and peasants, blacks and whites, Christians and Muslims are to be judged equally under the law.
The case of Melanie McPherson raises significant concerns about the rule of law in Virginia Beach. Melina McPherson, the wife of rapist and former Regent University Assistant Law Dean Stephen McPherson, admitted to molesting and psychologically manipulating an adopted child. She violated the child under the cloak of Christianity, citing Bible verses to the victim as justification for the abuse.
Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey Bryant accepted her guilty plea in return for a recommended sentence of only 40 days. Once she is released, Melina McPherson will continue to "parent" her three natural children. Would Harvey Bryant, a Christian conservative, have made the same outrageous plea agreement with any defendant without such close connections to the Christian right?
Mr. Bryant has proclaimed that he has a no plea deal policy for drug dealers and gun offenders. "I do not permit plea bargaining with drug dealers. A drug dealer...has only two choices: plead guilty as charged and let the judge determine sentencing, OR face a jury of citizens who will determine the sentence."
Why is Harvey Bryant willing to make plea deals with certain favored sexual predators when he refuses to do so with other defendants? If the no plea deal policy is justified on deterrence grounds, do we not wish to deter sexual violence. If the no plea deal policy is justified on punitive grounds, is sexual violence a lesser evil than a drug sale? Mr. Bryant: sexual predators are far more dangerous to society than drug offenders.
The McPherson case is not the first involving Christian leaders who have engaged in Biblical distortion to justify the sexual assault and exploitation of children. The acts of Baptist minister Ted Haggard and certain Catholic priests from the Boston Archdiocese raised the issue of sexual abuse within the church to national prominence.
Similarly, distortion of religion for the purpose of advancing evil is not confined to self-proclaimed Christians. Islamic mullahs have issued fatwas directing the murder of infidels. Suicide bombers have justified the murder of civilians through the Koran and a claim that they will receive 72 virgins in paradise.
There is no difference between evil that is falsely justified by Christianity and evil falsely justified by Islam. The person who bastardizes Christianity is no better or worse, no more righteous or damned than the person who bastardizes Islam.
Why do we as Americans view these two evils differently? Would we permit or condone Harvey Bryant's lenient 40 day plea deal for a Muslim who cited the Koran as justification for molesting an adopted child? Would we believe that the same Muslim would limit her sexual violence to adopted children but would be fit to raise her natural children?
If Harvey Bryant demands that drug dealers plead guilty as charged without a sentencing recommendation, how can he agree to allow a pedophile to serve only 40 days in jail and then get her children back? If a Christian conservative Commonwealth's Attorney would not offer an identical plea deal to a Muslim sexual predator, how can the deal be justified for a Christian?
Our criminal justice system is riddled with inconsistencies. The ideals of America require that we eliminate these inconsistencies and give meaning to the rule of law.
Mark C. Hardman
Candidate for Commonwealth's Attorney
Virginia Beach, Virginia
*I am a Christian. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose on the third day. I am appalled that anyone would bastardize the message of Christ in such a way as did Melina McPherson, Ted Haggard or certain Catholic Priests. I believe that true Muslims are equally appalled by those who distort their faith.
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