Two charged with 220 sex offences at 'prayer sessions'

[panzerfaust]

Source: Sydney Morning Herald (AFP)

Two men have been charged with more than 220 sex offences commited at "prayer sessions" at Sydney hotels and motels...
Police say one of the men had claimed he could speak to angels and remove curses...

... They are alleged to have committed the offences over a period of four years on a woman who believed she was cursed. Police allege the older man claimed to be a spiritual mentor who was able to speak to angels, remove curses and banish evil spirits...

...The woman told police she attended many prayer sessions at various hotels between 2001 and 2005 where she was blindfolded and
sexually assaulted...It is alleged she paid the men between $500 and $1000 for each prayer session and by 2005 had paid at least $70,000...



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/curse-sex-220-offences/2008/09/12/1220857793041.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

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Ah. The healing power of Faith.

Likely this is even worse than Palin making rape victim's pay for their own 'rape kits' back when she was only a mayor
( http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/12/sarahpalin.feminism )

[lynnertic]

1. The same woman hired these guys over/again?

Now she's wanting them criminally charged?

There's not enough truthiness here for me to be anything but confused.

[panzerfaust]

2. The two men had the keys to her salvation

It is very simple.

She had been cursed.

She could only be freed from the curse by having sex with them.

She certainly could not expect that they would do this therapy for free.

Thus, she (and apparently other women also) paid for these two spiritual leaders to counter-act the curse - the curse that they had, being spiritual, found out about by talking to angels.

This story is the minimalistic paradigm of how religion works: An unhappy, vulnerable, frightened person, exploited by heartless predators in the name of spirituality, in the name of god(s).

It has worked since the dawn of time.

[lynnertic]

3. Wow. Just Wow.

I'm glad the lady came to, in the end. I mean, I'm glad she woke up to see through the deception.

[canetoad]

8. It's hard to put yourself in the victim's shoes

I can understand as in my reckless 20's I was involved in a fringe/new age/cult/group. Since then have done a lot of reading on the types of pressure that are applied to keep you involved.

It's all to do with destroying your capability for critical thinking. This can be done in lots of ways; so called healings, 'love fests' , jumping around feeling the spirit - can all be considered forms of hypnosis that purposely break down your critical though process.

Luckily for me, I realised what was going on after a couple of years and was thrown out for noisily questioning the doctrines. Actually I told a 'priest' to go fuck himself, but that's another story :rofl:

Ed: typo

[screembloodymurder]

4. This illustrates the danger of allowing others to take over your thinking.

We laugh, but how many times has Bush fucked us in the past seven years and we paid him to do it.

[fascisthunter]

5. What's Sad is How Naive and Powerless People of Faith can be...

these folks really leave their guard down to those who profess such a connection with a God, that they themselves cannot prove. Do believers ever question if these professors are untrustworthy....? They SHOULD!!! It really is sad and unfortunate.

[TrogL]

6. Welcome to the authoritarian mindset

[sarcasmo]

7. Jesus, he is the best.

Do I really need a sarcasm tag.