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 $...

by Kate Shellnutt As teens, they start thinking that it just doesn’t make sense anymore, and for years, it’s their secret… then, in college, surrounded by more open-minded peers, they come out of the dark, still-stigmatized atheist closet. One in four adults under 30 are atheists, agnostics or unaffiliated, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (see chart), but the number of young people who outwardly identify as nonbelievers is much, much smaller, for fear that it could threaten their careers, social lives or familial relationships. Now, with the help of the Internet and the Obama administration , 2009 may start a more open age for America’s nonreligious" (Click here to read the entire article)

Image via Wikipedia A principal and an athletic director in Florida could be charged with crimes and spend six months in jail after they prayed before a meal at a school event, the Washington Times reported. Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and athletic director Robert Freeman will go on trial in federal district court Sept. 17. They're accused of violating the conditions of a lawsuit settlement reached last year with the American Civil Liberties Union , according to the Times. Local pastors and some students and teachers are outraged that Lay and Freeman face criminal charges, and they have protested during graduation ceremonies, the newspaper said. "I have been defending religious freedom issues for 22 years, and I've never had to defend somebody who has been charged criminally for praying," said Mathew Staver , founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel , the Christian-based legal group that is defending the two school officials. But an ACLU official sa...

Image by nimrodcooper (gone for now) via Flickr Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. — Matthew 18:19 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. — James 5:15 A central Wisconsin man accused of killing his 11-year-old daughter by praying instead of seeking medical care was found guilty Saturday of second-degree reckless homicide. Dale Neumann , 47, was convicted in the March 23, 2008, death of his daughter, Madeline, from undiagnosed diabetes. Prosecutors contended he should have rushed the girl to a hospital because she couldn't walk, talk, eat or drink. Instead, Madeline died on the floor of the family's rural Weston home as people surrounded her and prayed. Someone called 911 when she stopped breathing. Sitting straight in his chair, Neumann stared at the jury as the verdict in a nearly empty courtroom was read. He declined comment as h...

Dallas Couple Sees Jesus Inside Cheese Snack Many people have seen and heard about the likeness of Jesus turning up in unlikely places. Now, one North Texas family says they found Jesus in a cheese snack . Dan Bell found his vision of Jesus last week at the gas station. "We were leaving town. I stopped by to fill up with gas and bought some snacks." Inside a 99-cent bag of Cheetos brand cheese snacks, Dan and his wife Sara found something unique. Sara recalls the discovery. "I was putting them in my hand and I had eaten most of the ones in my hand, and one was left lying there. And I said, 'Oh my gosh, look at this. It really looks like a person in a robe praying.'" Dan looked over. "I said, 'Wow, it does look like a praying Jesus.'" The couple nicknamed it "Cheesus." "Cheesus" is about two inches tall. Despite missing a right arm, the Bells see a body, hair, robe and even a tiny face. They say it is a reminder of their...

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford tearfully admitted on Wednesday he had been unfaithful to his wife, likely ending any chance he might be a Republican contender for the U.S. presidency in 2012. Sanford resigned as chairman of the Republican Governors' Association and was replaced by Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour , another possible 2012 candidate. "Any aspirations for 2012, if he had any, are certainly out of the question," said Robert Oldendick, a political scientist at the University of South Carolina . FULL STORY LINK The Bible says, “Let your light so shine be fore men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father that’s in heaven.“ Hopefully, by the way in which you act. The way in which you make decisions. They’re going to see that some thing’s there. I would also say the Bible says in Revelation, “Be hot. Be cold. But don’t be lukewarm“ [Rev. 3:15]. And there’s too many political candidates who walk around completely in the middle—comp...

Pastor Dr. Paul Lewis of Brooklyn was busted in Jamaica (the island) for having sex with a 15-year-old girl while a 14-year-old girl watched. The Rev. Paul Lewis, founder of the Messengers for Christ Ministries World Healing Center , was held without bail on charges of carnal abuse and indecent assault , Jamaican police said. The Bedford-Stuyvesant evangelist was arrested Wednesday after witnesses saw him hanging out with the girls and then taking them to a hotel, police said. Lewis, 45, who was on the island for a crusade at a local church, is accused of offering the girls between $30 and $60 for the romp. In February, a 19-year-old Brooklyn woman filed a complaint claiming that Lewis, her former pastor, had raped her in a parking lot nearly a year before. The teen returned to police a few days later to recant the allegation, claiming she and the pastor had a consensual sexual relationship, police sources said. The young woman said she wanted to end the romance and concocted the a...