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erronis

(21,829 posts)
Sun Nov 2, 2025, 06:11 PM Sunday

God-Fearing Predators -- Digby [View all]

https://digbysblog.net/2025/11/02/god-fearing-predators/



Uh oh. Another church filled with sexual predators, many of the pedophiles. And yes, they were protected by the holy rollers of the Assembly of God. You know, the ones who love Donald Trump. I guess we don’t have to wonder why anymore. He may not be a bible thumper but he’s one of them.

A children’s pastor was caught filming girls in a church bathroom in Arkansas. Elders suspended him for a few weeks.

In Illinois, a preacher was accused of sexually abusing children. Church leaders sent him to therapy rather than call police.

In California, a worship minister went to prison for molesting boys. His congregation threw him a party when he returned.

All of these men remained in ministry in the Assemblies of God, the world’s largest Pentecostal denomination. All went on to abuse more children.

Since the 1970s, Assemblies of God churches have repeatedly reinstated ministers and volunteer leaders accused of sexual misconduct, returning them to pulpits and youth groups, an NBC News investigation found. While some of the other largest Christian denominations now require safeguards such as background checks and mandatory reporting, national Assemblies of God leaders have resisted, arguing such rules would increase legal risk, undermine its commitment to local church autonomy and defy a core biblical command: to forgive.

The result is a patchwork system that has protected accused predators and left generations of children in danger.

NBC News identified nearly 200 Assemblies of God pastors, church employees and volunteer leaders accused of sexual abuse over the past half century, based on a nationwide search of lawsuits, criminal records and news archives. Together, they allegedly abused more than 475 people — the overwhelming majority of them children. The allegations stretch into this year, when a 10-year-old girl said in a lawsuit that her pastor groped her during Bible study.

It’s some really sick stuff:

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