Mild mannered "sweet n kind" Baptist preacher accused of kidnapping & raping 4 women

[moobu2]

According to an incident report, about noon on a Saturday last month, Richardson picked up a woman and gave her a ride. When the 20-year-old tried to get out of the car, Richardson allegedly pulled a gun, bound her hands, covered her head and took her to the gray-blue trailer home behind the church.

The report said he later dropped the woman in a wooded area, threatening to shoot her if she turned around. Police said the woman was able to identify Richardson from his picture on the church website, which also displays a short biography detailing how he became a Christian and then a pastor.

Richardson has since been charged with two other similar sexual assaults, both of which occurred last year. He is accused of bringing one of those women to the church trailer. The third woman claims she was raped in a wooded area outside nearby Summerville, a bedroom community about 20 miles northwest of Charleston. He is also charged with kidnapping a fourth woman.

<snip>

The church website says Richardson became pastor of the church on June 9, 2010. It says he graduated from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. — the college founded by evangelical preacher Jerry Falwell — and has a wife and two grown daughters.

Link to the entire story

[laconicsax]

1. Truly a man of God.

Rape is one of those Biblically-condoned crimes.

[struggle4progress]

2. South Carolina has about 4.5 million people, over 90% of whom say they are Christians.

In 2009, there were about 30.5K violent crimes and about 300 rapes

So in any given year we might expect about 680 people per 100K to be the victim of a violent crime and about 630 people per 100K to be the victim of a violent crime committed by someone calling him/herself a Christian. Similarly we might expect about 13 per 100K women to be the victim of a rape and about 12 per 100K women to be the victim of a rape by someone calling himself a Christian

I have no idea whether Mr Richardson is guilty as charged. But on any ordinary readings, the gospel does not preach rape; and there's no reason think the congregation of Freedom Free Will Baptist Church condones rape or knowing chose a potential rapist as pastor. South Carolina, as a state, does not seem to deliberately encourage rape; and although the state is over 90% Christian, neither the religious climate, nor the fact that Mr Richardson calls himself a pastor, has prevented his arrest on these charges

Standard Christian theology, of course, does not preach that we are good, but that we should begin by recognizing that often we do not do what we ought and often instead do what we ought not, that we should therefore try to do better by loving our neighbors as we want to be loved, forgiving them just as we want to be forgiven

If Mr Richardson is indeed guilty as charged, most South Carolinians, Christian or other, will prefer his freedom be restricted somewhat, and some will hope the sickness of his mind abate -- it is, anyway, natural and appropriate to attempt to discourage people from committing such crimes, and to attempt to protect people from such crimes

[LAGC]

3. I think you're kind of missing the point.

Pastors are supposedly "men of God" -- we're supposed to look up to them for moral inspiration and guidance. They are, by definition, "holier than thou."

Yet, when even the most devout spiritual leaders show that they are capable of great evil, it destroys the myth that religion supposedly causes people to do good.

If religion doesn't make people do good, what good is it at all?