A south Australian fundamentalist church pastor had sex with two of his teenage daughters to educate them on how to be good wives, a South Australian court has heard. The 54-year-old man, who cannot be named, was sentenced in the South Australian District Court to eight and a half years jail after pleading guilty to seven counts each of incest and unlawful sexual intercourse. The court heard that the man had sex with his daughters for nearly a decade from 1991 when they were aged 13 and 15 at the family property. The sex took place at various locations including in a shearer's shed, a paddock, on the back of a ute and, on one occasion, at the girls' grandparents house. The man told the court the sex was not about fulfilling his desires but about teaching his daughters how to behave for their husbands when they eventually married, as dictated in scripture. In sentencing, Judge David Lovell said the misrepresentation of scripture used to justify the abuse of the girls "defi...

Disgraced minister Ted Haggard is asking that donations to support him and his family be sent to a Monument group run by a twice-convicted sex offender. Haggard, who has moved with his family to Phoenix, could not be reached for comment today. The head of a four-member panel of ministers overseeing the fallen preacher's spiritual restoration said he will fly to Arizona Tuesday to meet with Haggard for a face-to-face explanation. "I'm just now discovering some of that information," Mike Ware, a senior pastor at Westminster's Victory Church, said of allegations that Haggard was urging supporters to make tax-deductible donations through Families with a Mission, based in Monument. "I can't really make any comment on that until after I've investigated ... and talked with the other overseers," Ware said. He called Haggard's fund-raising solicitation without the overseers' approval "premature." The revelation is the latest in the bizar...

A Webb City preacher has been charged with three counts of child molestation, according to documents filed in Jasper County Circuit Court. Roy Curtis Huling , 58, a preacher at United Pentecostal Church in Webb City was charged Tuesday by Jasper County prosecutor Dean Dankelson. According to a probable cause statement, Huling had multiple encounters of sexual contact with a female who was under the age of 12 at his house in Duquesne, between August of 2003 and February of 2006. Huling was arrested Tuesday by Duquesne police. He was released on $10,000 bond Wednesday. Story Link

Television Evangelist Juanita Bynum , the hair stylist turned preacher, known for her inspiring and candid sermons about sexuality and marital responsibility, is recovering after allegedly being attacked by her estranged husband. Atlanta Police say Bishop Thomas Weeks III , founder of Global Destiny churches , will be charged with aggravated assault and terroristic threats, WXIA-TV in Atlanta reports. Around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, the couple got together for dinner at Concorde Grill in the Renaissance Concourse Hotel in Atlanta to talk about making their marriage work, Bynum's sister, Tina Culpepper told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But that conversation,which led into the early morning hours, turned into a heated argument, and things got ugly, an eye witness told police. "They were talking about a reconciliation. They got into an argument. In the process of the argument, her husband walked out to the parking lot area, turned back around and started to choke Miss Bynum,...

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The San Antonio pastor charged with assaulting a teenage girl at a Christian boot camp returned to his church Monday. The story captured national headlines after Pastor Charles Flowers and an employee were charged with dragging a 15-year-old girl behind a van. Flowers and his wife, however, told his congregation that they would get through the difficult time with faith -- but no fear. The church was filled to standing-room-only capacity by supporters rallying behind Flowers and camp trainer Stephanie Bassitt. Flowers' attorneys said they would build a strong case around Flowers' honorable reputation, showing that they're representing a man who is known for helping the community. They also explained how problems are bound to develop for a pastor who faces lots of resistance from troubled teens at camp. "They're difficult people to deal with, they're on a path to destruction," Jimmy Parks, an attorney representing Flowers, said. "...

WM comment: Christians are all in an uproar over a new movie that is coming out in December. (From LifeSiteNews.com ) - The best selling novels of atheist author Philip Pullman which were written specifically to indoctrinate children with anti-Christian values, have sparked the creation of a controversial new fantasy film to be released this December 7 by New Line Cinema - a Time Warner Company. Starring Nicole Kidman, " The Golden Compass ," is based on Pullman's " His Dark Materials " trilogy, which includes "Northern Lights" (re-titled "The Golden Spyglass" in the United States), "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass." Pullman wrote these books with the intention of indoctrinating children with atheistic values. While the full interpretation and presentation of the movie has not yet been seen, the books' underlying message promotes antagonism towards Christianity. According to UK's Daily Mail, Pullman has r...

The senior pastor at a Round Rock church who resigned amid a criminal investigation is now in police custody. Click here to view the news video. Officals say Donald Roger "Roddy" Clyde, 48, the former pastor of the Fellowship at Forest Creek Church , was in the process of being booked into the Williamson County Jail Wednesday night on embezzlement charges. He is accused of taking money from the Fellowship at Forest Creek Church. According to the church, their accounting department found questionable activity in their books, which they described as a possible misuse of church funds by the pastor. Deeming it suspicious, they turned that information over to the Round Rock Police Department. Clyde resigned from his position as Senior Pastor on Monday. He is cooperating with police in their investigation. Long-time church member Denise Rucker says the congregation learned about the allegations from church leaders. "Maybe he wasn't practicing everything he was preach...

A southwest suburban Southern Baptist congregation allowed a convicted child sex offender to preach for the last few years -- despite his past, and a warning from his previous church that he might still be dangerous, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. In 1996, Jeff Hannah was sentenced to nine years in prison for having sexual relations with four underage girls -- ages 15 to 17 -- while a married youth minister at Crossroads Church in Libertyville . Hannah was paroled in 2001 and joined the First Baptist Church of Romeoville , where his new wife was a member. Soon after, the pastor moved on, and church members -- aware of Hannah's crimes -- asked him to step into the pulpit until a replacement was hired, according to church members, Hannah and others. Hannah served in that role for three years and ever since has been a fill-in preacher, teacher and music minister at the church. 'We believe in forgiveness' Authorities say there's no evidence that Hannah has re-offended...

Whether or not God exists is perhaps the most perplexing of life's cosmic questions. It is a debate each of us has probably grappled with at one time or another. For former " Saturday Night Live " star Julia Sweeney , giving up on religion was anything but easy. "I had spent so much time thinking about what God meant, I hadn't really spent any time thinking what Not-God meant," said Sweeny. "There was this teeny-weeny voice whispering inside my head, I'm not sure how long it had been there but it suddenly got just one decibel louder and it whispered 'There is no God.' I tried to ignore it but it got a little louder. 'There is no God, there is no God.' Oh God, there is no God! It was terrifying. You know, it was a terrifying moment to let go of that idea." Sweeney's most famous "SNL" character was Pat, the gender-confused character who later starred in her own movie. Even more confusing for Sweeney personally was re...

DENTON -- An Arlington pastor was arrested on Thursday afternoon during a sex sting operation where a Denton police detective posed as a 15-year-old girl arranging to meet the man for sex. Leroy Cruz faces charges of soliciting a minor and sending explicit images to a minor over the internet. According to reports, Cruz first contacted the 'teenager' at roughly 11:30 a.m. Thursday morning. He arranged to meet who he thought was a 15-year-old girl at South Lakes Park in Denton . According to the detective, during an online chat, Cruz allegedly offered the 'teenager' $50 for oral sex and turned on a webcam to expose himself. Jim Bryan of the Denton Police Department explained, "The pastor came here to South Lakes Park yesterday afternoon at 2 p.m. hoping to meet a 15-year-old girl here for sex. Instead, he was actually met by several Denton police officers who took him into custody." The 50-year-old was formerly the pastor at Grace Fellowship Church in Arlington...

Reposted from: The Guardian David Smith Sunday August 12, 2007 The Observer Struggling authors should keep the faith -- literally. Sales of books that explore religion or spirituality have grown by more than 50 per cent in the past three years, according to online retailer Amazon. The boom surpasses the rise in sales of books in categories such as history, which have grown by 38 per cent, and politics, up by 30 per cent, confirming that religion has become a pivotal topic in the early 21st century. But the statistics may not make uplifting reading for believers. The most popular 'religious' book, says Amazon, is The God Delusion , an anti-faith polemic by Richard Dawkins, the academic who has been dubbed 'Darwin's rottweiler'. Second is God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything , another broadside at holy citadels, by the journalist Christopher Hitchens. Amazon said that the third most popular book in the category was Jesus of Nazareth by the Pope, followed...

TACOMA -- A pastor has been sentenced to spend 4 1/2 years in prison for filing fake visa applications. Dong Wan Park, 53, of Tacoma was found guilty last summer of filing false religious worker visa applications for two Korean nationals in exchange for tens of thousand in cash. On bond after being convicted in 2006, Park sold his Hope Korean Church for $448,595, wired $290,000 to a bank in South Korea and fled to Mexico with his wife, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Once there, authorities said, he told the Mexican police he had lost his travel documents and with the false police report went to the Korean consulate in Mexico City and applied for temporary Korean travel documents. According to court records, by June 23, 2006, Park went to Canada, then Korea where he was arrested and convicted for passport fraud. Because Park is a U.S. citizen, he was deported to the U.S. In April, he pleaded guilty to one count of failure to appear and one count of transportation of stole...

A San Antonio pastor and an employee of his Christian boot camp were arrested today on aggravated assault charges, accusing them of dragging a girl behind a van after failing to keep up with others during a running exercise. Investigators with the Nueces County Sheriff's Office arrested Charles E. Flowers shortly before noon at the Faith Outreach Center in northwest San Antonio, said Brad E. Bailey, a spokesman for the Schertz Police Department. The department assisted Nueces County authorities in the arrests because some of the camp's training exercises occur in Schertz. Bailey said boot camp trainer Stephanie Bassitt was arrested later in Kirby. Authorities said both boot camp officials restrained a girl June 12, tying her to the back of the truck before dragging her on her stomach at the Love Demonstrated Ministries boot camp in Banquete, about 10 miles west of Corpus Christi. The 15-year-old girl's mother complained to authorities about the incident after taking ...

Provided by Monk: FREDERICK, Colo .—A Catholic priest faces an indecent exposure charge after police said he went jogging in the nude about an hour before sunrise. The Rev. Robert Whipkey told officers he had been running naked at a high school track and didn't think anyone would be around at that time of day, a police report said. He told officers he sweats profusely if he wears clothing while jogging. "I know what I did was wrong," he said in the report. Whipkey did not return phone messages. His attorney, Doug Tisdale, told the Longmont Times-Call that Whipkey had no comment. Whipkey, 53, was arrested June 22 in this small town about 20 miles north of Denver. An officer said he saw a naked man walking down the street at 4:35 a.m. The U.S. Naval Observatory Web site said sunrise that day in Frederick was 5:31 a.m. The officer said when he shined his flashlight at the man, he covered himself with a piece of clothing he was carrying. The Archdiocese of Denver said it tak...

Sent in by JoeB, from the Washington Post The Defense Department's inspector general has found that four generals and three other military officers improperly participated in a fundraising video for an evangelical Christian group, inappropriately offering support for the religious organization while appearing to operate within the scope of their official government duties, according to a 47-page investigative report. Investigators concluded that the officers should not have participated in the filming in 2005 of a 10-minute video for Christian Embassy, a nonprofit religious group, which ultimately used the video as a fundraising tool. While Christian Embassy has hosted prayer meetings at the Pentagon for years, the inspector general concluded that the officers' endorsement of its activities -- while in uniform, showing their rank and in the halls of the Pentagon -- violated ethical rules. "The overall circumstances of the interviews emphasized the speakers' military st...

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers today announced the conclusion of a months-long investigation into the financial dealings of the Rev. Acen Phillips. Phillips has been charged with 12 felonies in Arapahoe County District Court; there are seven counts of theft and five counts of forgery related to insurance fraud. The counts list five people whose names allegedly were used by Phillips for fraudulent policies, but Suthers said there were others who said they were duped by the reverend. Phillips is accused of stealing or attempting to steal more than $575,000 between July 2005 and May 2006. He faces up to 81 years in prison and $5 million in fines. State authorities had said they were looking into one life insurance policy that a woman had taken out through a group called American Church United, which listed Phillips as its chief executive officer. Officials said the life-insurance sales program operated by Phillips made his religious organizations beneficiaries when the faithful ...

The former pastor of the Chickaree Union Church in Jackson Township will stand trial in Cambria County Court on charges that he stole thousands of dollars in church funds. The Rev. Randy L. Rugh of New Alexandria , Westmoreland County , was charged with theft and receiving stolen property after he allegedly cashed a CD worth $23,540 without authorization. The church along Route 22 on Chickaree Mountain is known as the “Jesus Saves” church because a sign proclaiming that message is posted on the building. Members of the small congregation who have been fighting to get back what they say is church money were relieved when District Judge Mary Ann Zanghi ordered Rugh to stand trial on two charges. “I’m very pleased,” said Terry Fletcher of Jackson Township. “That money was given to the church and not to Randy Rugh. “The money should stay with the church.” Fletcher and his brother, Joseph, who filed the criminal charges against Rugh, were among 25 people who crowded into Zang-hi’s court ...

Baptist church leader faces sex abuse suit LAPORTE -- A lawsuit alleges church youth leader Mark Comford spent two years gaining the trust of a boy, buying him expensive gifts then molesting him, even at the church. The lawsuit also contends the suspect's grandfather, Jack Cox, the pastor at Faith Baptist Church in LaPorte , turned a deaf ear. The allegations are contained in a civil lawsuit filed Thursday in LaPorte Circuit Court against Comford, the church and its pastor. At least $30 million in damages are sought in the lawsuit filed by Michigan City attorney Doug Bernacchi on behalf of one of Comford's alleged victims. Cox said he had no comment about the lawsuit Friday. The legal action was taken a week after Comford, 23, a janitor at Purdue North Central, was arrested on seven counts of child molesting and two counts of criminal deviant conduct. Four boys, ages 9 to 13, were listed as victims in the charging information outlined in all of the counts. According to the law...

LOUISVILLE -- A bizarre story ends with the arrest of a southern Indiana man studying to be a minister. He is accused of battering a boy during an exorcism. Detectives tell us in his hometown, 22-year-old Eddie Useyugi was known as a star athlete and 2003 class valedictorian. He was a student at Indiana University and also studying at a Bloomington area church to be a minister. Church officials tell investigators what he's accused of is not a part of their teaching. Monroe County sheriff's detective Brad Swain says, "I've never encountered something like this before." Swain says Useyugi promised a 14-year-old's family he could cure him of autism using an exorcism to cast out demons. The boy was in a group home, but Swain says Useyugi told the family, "He could be home for good. He just wouldn't have to have home visits." Useyugi was a minister in training at Cherry Hill Christian Church and the boy's mother -- thinking the exorcism was part ...