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Loading ...Anti-gay church raided in child porn case
09.22.2008 12:38pm EDT
(Fouke, Arkansas) Six minors have been temporarily placed in state custody as part of a child porn investigation after a raid on a ministry run by a man who says “consent is puberty” when it comes to sex, officials said Sunday.
The children will be in the custody of the Arkansas Department of Human Services as investigators interview them, state police spokesman Bill Sadler said in a statement.Sadler didn’t say how long the interviews would last, but did say that courts would decide the children’s status in the event of any “long-term separation” from the property of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries in rural Fouke.
He did not say how old the children were, but an email that authorities inadvertently sent to media members last week referred to 12-, 13- and 14-year-old girls.
The move comes after a raid Saturday by more than 100 federal and state authorities. Investigators said their two-year probe into allegations of child pornography and abuse focused on convicted tax evader Tony Alamo and his ministry, described by its critics as a cult.
Alamo claimed in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Saturday that the investigation was part of a federal push to legalize same-sex marriage while outlawing polygamy. He also said for girls having sex, “consent is puberty.”
News of the raid brought Anthony Justin Lane, 34, into Fouke from his job roofing in nearby Texarkana, hoping for some word about his family.
Lane said he has been trying for 10 years to reunite with his children, who belong to Alamo’s ministry. Lane said he saw a 13-year-old girl marry a man of about 40 just before he was kicked out of the church for asking too many questions.
Lane hired a lawyer and said that he is trying to subpoena his wife, but that it remains difficult as she moves among Alamo’s churches in Arkansas and California.
Lane said he last saw his oldest daughter, Ashley, who would now be 13, in 2005. She offered him a pamphlet as he sat in his car reading a newspaper outside Alamo’s church in Fort Smith in 2005. When Lane told her he was her father, he said, she ran off.
He has received only a few photos since then of Ashley, daughter Sarah, 11, and son Timothy, 9, from a relative. His longtime girlfriend was pregnant with Timothy when he said he was expelled from the church for questioning their practices.
“I see pictures of those kids and I feel robbed – robbed of being a father,” Lane told reporters.
“I keep laying it in the Lord’s hands and hoping he’ll have mercy on my children and protect them,” he said.
Authorities’ search of the Fouke complex ended after midnight Saturday, and Sadler said officials had no plans to search the buildings again. Authorities have not indicated any plans to search other ministry locations.
Same old, same old … someday, somebody is going to do an in-depth study of the correlation between religious fanaticism and child and spousal abuse. It’s there; and they hate US so much because GLBTs stand for EQUAL rights of men, women, AND children. Anything that challenges the patriarchy is “sin” … “God” is a white-bearded sharpshooter perched on a cloud with a celestial machine-gun and “The Book Exactly Worded,” wherein everybody who disagrees with him is duly recorded. Puh-LEEZE! Can’t these people get a LIFE??!!
Bud Clark
San Diego CA USA
P.S. – the word is “Religious,” NOT “Religulous” as you have it spelled in the section header.
There’s also a misspelled word in the Subaru ad, but it went past too quickly to catch it.
Cheers,
Bud Clark
San Diego CA USA
P.S. – the paragraph identifying Buenos Aires as a province of Brazil hasn’t been corrected either.
To bud clark…. click on the “religulous” banner header and you will come to find it is a documentary on how crazy some of these religious people really are.
religulous = ridiculous, play on words
Not a surprise from a state that allowed 2 and 3 year olds to marry, as long as they were opposite sex.
And they have the nerve to say WE’RE ’sick’. Wonder what Mrs. Palin thinks (and I use the term loosely) about this?
Is this really a surprise? In biblical times girls got married quite early and this has been an aceptable practice in many cultures for centuries. Even in the US it was an acceptable practice until only a couple of generations ago (pre-baby boomers), yet strangely enough you rarely hear that anyone accuses their (great) grandparents of being child molestors, though they are surely quick to accuse the SCC Community of such. Ironic that they continue to bow before the God of Hypocrisy and Child Molestors and then point fingers at us calling us “immoral”.
Well, surprise-surprise **sarcasm**!
I swear the most freaky things go on in the name of religion and it’s all being covered up. I guess that’s why most religions don’t want people asking too many question…
Knowledge is power and if the flock knew their left from their right, they’d leave.
Below are a few examples I compiled (along with my Agnostic commentary) as to why we should all take the Bible literally.
THESE ARE ALL ACTUAL BIBLE VERSES (well, the first part anyway):
______Greet one another with a holy kiss. (1 Corinthians 16:20)
Especially Catholic Priests when greeting Altar Boys.
______Women should remain silent in the churches. (1 Corinthians 14:34)
Yeah, because men are so much more rational when it comes to expounding on superstitious nonsense.
______Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. (Leviticus 18:22)
I don’t…I lie with a man as one lies with a man. Try it sometime. Oooo, baby!! That’s delectable.
______Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material. (Leviticus 19:19)
We are all Doomed!!!!
______If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. (Deuteronomy 22:28-29)
Wow! A hefty fine and a shotgun wedding for rape. What kind psychopaths wrote this holy crap? …Oh, I’m sorry, “uneducated straight men” — of course. The reason why those same poisonous fairytales persist today across the globe. Go figure!
______Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man. (Genesis 9:6)
Watch out war-mongers — it’s not good for the “image“. Last time I looked in the mirror, God looked like he was getting fat. I need to go on a diet.
______Sell your possessions and give to the poor. (Luke 12:33)
You hear that Republicans, and especially Pat Robertson; Dr. James C. Dobson (from Focus on the Phony), and all of you other sinfully rich bitches? Cough it up, Paris and Britney! Now!!!
______Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work (Exodus 20:9-10)
So close down all of those heathen hospitals; immoral police precincts and blasphemous fire departments on Sunday immediately you “disrespecting the Sabbath Day” sinners!
_____If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. A man ought not to cover his head (1 Corinthians 11:6-7)
Wow! That must be confusing to Orthodox Jewish people and cowboys — but understandable for nuns.
______If a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him (1 Corinthians 11:14)
Uh…I wonder if Jesus read this one? Maybe his hair just looks longer in those pictures.
______If you are married — do not seek a divorce. (1 Corinthians 7:27)
John McCain, shame on you! Well, actually fifty percent of you other formerly married heterosexuals out there too — shame on all of you! Yes, you’re a testament to the sanctity of marriage everywhere. Carry on!
______Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. (Matthew 5:42)
Hmmmm…the US Treasury‘s bailout of Wall Street?
______Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. (Proverbs 31:6-7)
Ok, let me get this right. That’s Budweiser to nursing homes and Chardonnay for the rest of us. Works for me!
______Do not put tattoo marks on yourselves. (Leviticus 19:28)
Ouch! Again, millions are doomed! :
______A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this. (Deuteronomy 22:4-5)
Well, considering how everybody wore dresses back in the day when this was written, I am confused. Are bathrobes ok?:
______I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing. I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes (1 Timothy 2:8-9)
All of the Fundies; the hair saloons, and Tivol’s won’t like this one.
______Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh (1 Peter 2:18)
This used to be the motto for KKK. But I think most people today believe that it should only apply to the GLBT community in the modern age — seeing how America is more civilized.
______Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. (Ephesians 5:24)
This one is not too popular with N.O.W. (National Organization for Women). I wonder why?
Well, there you have. The Bible is the “literal” word of God. And the above are just a few examples of those asinine tidbits. It is amazing that the misogynistic, racist, homophobic, misanthropic, chauvinistic, tribalistic, fashion police who concocted that odious Bronze Age alternative to Miss Manners still have fans. Will wonders never cease? It’s a anachronistic testimony to the persistence of ignorance. Sure there a few good pearls of wisdom (although women can’t wear them), but, in reality, the unHoly Bible is truly in dire need of a “do over“.
~ Bud Evans, 2008
*click on my name at the top for my blog.
______Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. (Leviticus 18:22)
I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe it’s a good idea to lie, period. Guess I’ll never be a Republican candidate for anything. Sigh…
Mr. Bud Evans … far too long of a post! And I loved every line of it. Having come from a very religious family, I have seen or heard every one of those things applied (as they are convenient) to various congregants – only not applied tongue in cheek. Thanks for the post.