Wow, This Is Pretty Nasty

[Beetwasher]

Florida Woman Says Former Church Plans to Make Her Sins Public

A 49-year-old Florida woman says her former church is threatening to reveal her sins to its congregation after learning that she is in a "sexually immoral relationship."

--snip--

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,469928,00.html

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4680831&mesg_id=4680831

[phantom power]

1. Christian forgiveness we can believe in, my friends!

[jgraz]

2. OK, you hang around with people who hate gays and believe in talking snakes

And you suddenly want them to start acting rationally? :shrug:

[Jackpine Radical]

3. If the "mentor" in whom she confided is ordained, then

presumably confidentiality laws apply. If the mentor goes public, this may be an actionable violation of confidentiality. I know that would be the case if a psychologist, psychotherapist or physician did it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. That's true--clergy are supposed to maintain confidentiality

My father was a Lutheran pastor and must have heard thousands of confessions in his long career. He never told us or anyone else what a parishioner said to him in confidence.

A couple of years ago, I was worried about the emotional state of a fellow parishioner, and I quietly informed one of the clergy at my church. A day or two later, she told me that she had made an appointment to meet with this person. I thanked her, but I never asked her what happened when they met, and I knew better than to ask. It would have been a severe violation of pastoral ethics if she had told me or even hinted at what my fellow parishioner had talked about.

Mainstream clergy are trained to recognize when a person just needs a confidential listening ear and when they need psychological or psychiatric counseling. When I had my first bout with depression during graduate school, I first went to one of the chaplains, and after listening to me, he said that I needed to be evaluated by a clinical psychologist and that he would make an appointment for me at the Student Health Service if I didn't feel up to doing it myself.

What happens with one of those free=lance fundamentalist types is anybody's guess. A lot of these guys just declare themselves to be ministers or even "bishops," and you they've been vetted by no one.

[Warpy]

4. "Churching" sinners is an old and malignant tradition

and I wonder what the congregation expects to get out of it besides a momentary flush of self righteousness if they haven't committed that particular sin recently, or just haven't been caught.

My Irish grandmother was routinely "churched" after she gave birth to confess the sin of sex within marriage!

Any Christian church that does the public humiliation thing needs to be abandoned quickly. After all, Jesus pretty much covered it in the story of the woman taken in sin.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. You think she'll "get it"?

So, she confided and got screwed. Why on earth would she tell anyone about a relationship that she known is frowned upon by her "church"? If she wants to be a member of the church, she's obligated to play by the rules.

But, going public?

Oh, I smell lawsuit.........

[dmallind]

6. Why is the obvious answer

Never the one people come up with when confronted by their church. Why do they always have to try to comply or excuse or defend their own oppressors? At least this woman got half way there by leaving the church. I have a sneaky feeling her children are likely perfectly aware she is sexually active and not married, so Why not just laugh it off as sexually frustrated repressives trying to get their jollies by reading her "sins" in public. The fact that she has internalized the idea so much that she still thinks of this as "sinning" shows she is indeed still only half way there.

[Birdiesmom]

7. Jesus always allowed people to walk away.

There is nothing Christian in this. These people are self-righteous and cruel. And what ever happened to "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"? They have plenty of their own "sin" that they wouldn't care to have dragged out into the public light.

They are a disgrace to the name "Christian," and one of the main reasons so many are leaving the Christan churches.

And they blame atheists.

I'm saying this as a Christian, BTW.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

9. Word and welcome to DU

:hi:

[Birdiesmom]

10. Thanks!

:hi:

[rateyes]

8. That church has a lot of gall calling itself "Grace" anything.

They should rename themselves "Legalistic Bastards Church."

[Birdiesmom]

11. Pharisees "R" Us

:mad:

[rateyes]

17. "R" for Repuke.

[benld74]

12. Rebecca Does Jacksonville? Nah wouldn't sell!

[northernsoul]

13. The church may want to study up on FL defamation/extortion law before they do that.

Kinda sounds like blackmail to me.

[Libertyfirst]

14. The lady should sue for invasion of privacy. Win a bundle. n/t

[cosmik debris]

15. She should beat them to the punch

She should confess to having sex with the preacher six times and with his wife twice.

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. ohh..good one.... clever.

[conscious evolution]

19. LOL!

[Taverner]

16. Hate the sin, love the sinner right?

Another reason why you shouldn't trust charlatans and invisible friends with deeply guarded secrets

[PassingFair]

20. That reminds me of Mrs. Johnson!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn4-2qMErgM

[TWiley]

22. Another fine example of Christian Love

[Jamastiene]

23. They do stuff like that where I live too.

There is no privacy. They publish people's names in the paper if they test HIV+ too. We KNOW we are screwed here in the Bible Belt and have been talking about it and complaining about it forever and a day now. I can't believe people are shocked by any of these stories. Shit like this is standard operating procedure in the Bible Belt. It's wrong, but it's the way it is down here.

There are no laws that say clergy has to keep secrets. The police can get that information at any time even in Hollywood's version of life. In real life though, clergy don't keep their yaps shut even to non police people. They tell all to the people around them any salacious gossip they get. Wake up.