If there is any one thing that never loses the ability to shock church activists, no matter how long they’ve fought religion’s serial indecencies, it is that churches almost always rally to the pastor who rapes their children. Even when the pastor admits his criminal actions, congregants will cast out his victims and swamp the court with appeals for leniency.
I don’t know of a single case where the congregation gutted the sumbidg and hung the steaming entrails over the door as a warning to the pastor’s replacement. Seriously: Not one.
In India, the government had to call-out troops to maintain order after a guru was sentenced to prison for raping multiple young women:
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh wept and begged forgiveness as a judge read out the sentence against him on Monday: 20 years for raping two young disciples in 2002 at his compound in the northern Indian state of Haryana. The self-proclaimed Sikh guru received 10 years for each offense, to be served consecutively.
The burly, bearded 50-year-old wailed that he was innocent and had to be carried out by marshals, according to reporters at the prison hearing.
[ … ]
Security was the order of the day throughout the entire state. Thousands of troops were deployed in Haryana to keep the peace that was shattered on Friday.
On Monday, a small convoy of army vehicles moved through Panchkula’s streets in a show of force meant to discourage Singh’s supporters from staging more violence. After his conviction on Friday, they vandalized train stations, burned cars and motorbikes and damaged government buildings. More than 30 people died in the violence.
It’s hard to believe some days that religion gets away with the claim that it’s indispensable to moral behavior.