A South Carolina pastor is arrested after an Internet Predator sting by Greenville Police . 44-year-old John David Helmuth, of Pelzer , was arrested on September 22. Investigators say he was attempting to solicit sex from a 13-year-old girl over the internet. He was actually talking to an undercover police officer. Police say he arranged a meeting with the “girl” and he was arrested at the predetermined location. Investigators searched his home and his office, and took two church computers. News Channel 7’s Kristen Nastasia reports Helmuth is a pastor at Tabernacle of Faith in Piedmont. Senior Pastor Mahlon Helmuth released the following statement: “All of us at Tabernacle of Faith” are deeply shocked and saddened at the news of his arrest. He evidently got entangled in a sin that has affected so many others. Our prayers go out to all who have been touched by his ministry and ask that you please remember him and his family in your prayers.“ Tabernacle of Faith is aff...

In a discussion on the Rachel Maddow Show about the harm that Evangelical Christian thinking has done to the United States, Frank Schaeffer , the son of the prominent Christian thinker Francis Schaeffer , speaks out about how extremist views in religion have led a third of our population to reject facts in favor of faith. Frank Schaeffer is the author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back

One in every 33 women who attend worship services regularly has been the target of sexual advances by a religious leader, a survey released Wednesday says. The study, by Baylor University researchers, found that the problem is so pervasive that it almost certainly involves a wide range of denominations, religious traditions and leaders. "It certainly is prevalent, and clearly the problem is more than simply a few charismatic leaders preying on vulnerable followers," said Diana Garland, dean of Baylor's School of Social Work, who co-authored the study . It found that more than two-thirds of the offenders were married to someone else at the time of the advance. Carolyn Waterstradt, 42, a graduate student who lives in the Midwest, said she was coerced into a sexual relationship with a married minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for 18 months. He had been her pastor for a decade, she said, and told her the relationship was ordained by God. "I ...

The pastor of the Solid Rock Christian Center in Ventura and his wife were arrested Thursday for allegedly duping an elderly man into signing over the deed to his home. Alonzo Gene McCowan , commonly known as the Rev. Lonnie McCowan , 49, was charged with two counts of theft from an elderly person and two counts of money laundering in an amount that surpassed $500,000, according to a felony complaint. His wife, Kimberly Ann Oglesby McCowan, 45, is charged with one count of grand theft and one count of money laundering in the same complaint. Senior Deputy District Attorney Miles Weiss said the McCowans, who live in Camarillo, were booked Thursday with bail set at $500,000 for McCowan and $40,000 for his wife. Phone calls to their attorney and Solid Rock Christian Center were not returned. Alonzo Gene McCowan is accused of taking advantage of Leo Gilmond, now 86, by getting him to sign over the deed to his Ventura house in October 2004. In exchange, the pastor promised to pay Gilmond $...