Civil Commotion

The occasional round-up of repellent behavior that your tax dollars subsidize.

• Former Kannapolis pastor charged with attempted murder

  Rowan authorities confirmed a former pastor charged by Mecklenburg authorities for the attempted murder of two people was arrested in Rowan County earlier this week.

• Local pastor arrested on new sexual-assault charges

  A Texarkana pastor charged earlier this month with two counts of sexual assault involving a teen girl was arrested a second time Friday.

  David Wayne Farren, 41, was booked into the Miller County jail Friday on a charge of second-degree felony sexual assault and a misdemeanor charge of mandatory reporter failing to report sexual abuse, jail records show. The most recent arrest for sexual assault involves a different alleged victim than involved in three counts of first-degree sexual assault for which Farren was arrested Aug. 3.

• Abuse suit filed against former priest

  A New Mexico native has filed a lawsuit alleging he was sexually abused in the 1970s by a former priest who turned up in Morocco earlier this year, more than a quarter century after he vanished from his Albuquerque parish.

• Lawsuit accuses Stockton priest of sexual harassment

  Allegations of sexual harassment have surfaced against Monsignor Lawrence McGovern, the pastor of Presentation Catholic Parish in Stockton.

  Attorneys at Manly, Stewart and Finaldi, a Southern California law firm, filed suit on Thursday in San Joaquin County Superior Court on behalf of a victim who alleges that McGovern sent sexually explicit pictures to him. The victim was working as a pool maintenance contractor for the pastor and also alleges that McGovern ended the victim’s employment in retaliation for reporting the behavior to police.

Don’t miss this affecting tale of a 98-year old Mennonite pastor who conducted his gay son’s wedding and lost his credentials.

“Generous Orthodoxy” is the story of Chester Wenger, a 98-year-old Mennonite minister who chose to confront his own church over a question of deepest principle. It asks: What do you do when the institution that has defined your life comes between you and your family?

An institution that presumes upon wholesome family loyalties deserves only loathing and contempt. Good for Pastor Wenger.

And this:

FYI: RP means “reporting party.”

Have you heard? It was our very own Barack Obama who founded ISIS!!

Trump was asked by host Hugh Hewitt about the comments Trump made Wednesday night in Florida, and Hewitt said he understood Trump to mean “that he (Obama) created the vacuum, he lost the peace.”

Trump objected.

“No, I meant he’s the founder of ISIS,” Trump said. “I do. He was the most valuable player. I give him the most valuable player award. I give her, too, by the way, Hillary Clinton.”

So: Is Donald Trump mentally unstable, or is he trying to throw the game?