Patheos blog
Oct. 14, 2019
By James Haught
[Editor’s Note: For readers who hail from my home state, today’s post is relevant since New York’s Child Victims Act recently took effect. This law opens a one-year window for victims of child sexual abuse, who were previously shut out by the statute of limitations, to file civil lawsuits against their abusers and the churches and other organizations that sheltered them. As with other issues, statute-of-limitations reform was blocked for years by Republicans (who were doing the bidding of the Catholic church’s lobbyists), and was swiftly passed when Democrats took control of the state senate. —Adam]
“Give me that old-time religion…”
Pentecostal evangelist Mario Leyva of Columbus, Ga., sodomized more than 100 church boys. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 1989. Two assistant pastors got 15 and 12 years for transporting the boys state-to-state for orgies.
“Give me that old-time religion…”
The Rev. Roy Yanke of Beverly Hills, Mich., pleaded guilty in 1991 to robbing 14 banks of $47,000 to pay for his daily use of prostitutes. He got seven years in prison.
“Give me that old-time religion…”
Some 400 U.S. Catholic priests have been charged with child molestation in the past decade, and the church has paid an estimated $400 million in damages and costs. One priest, James Porter, is accused of abusing perhaps 100 victims in three states — including a boy in a full body cast who couldn’t move to resist.
“It’s good enough for me….”
Born-again con-artist Michael Douglas of Antioch, Ill., who specialized in investments for wealthy fundamentalists, got a 12-year sentence in 1991 for swindling 131 people out of $31 million.
“It was good for Paul and Silas…”
Army chaplain aide Steven Ritchie of Fort Lewis, Wash., was sentenced to 26 years in prison in 1990 for raping a six-week-old baby girl.
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