What Happens When You Mix Republicans, Southern Baptists, and a Court of Appeals Judgeship?
This. This is what happens.
I do not even know where to start telling you this story. You just need to read it. Front page of the Houston Chronicle.
Paul Pressler is a Southern Baptist deacon, a stalwart in the Republican Party, an elected judge on the Texas Court of Appeals, and a member of a fancy Houston law firm. He sexually preyed on young men and got away with it for a thirty year period.
Jared Woodfill, former Harris County (think Houston) Republican Party Chairman (until 2014) is accused of helping Pressler cover up his horrifying behavior.
This stained glass window depicting Paul and Nancy Pressler is among a series of artwork immortalizing leaders of the Southern Baptist Conservative Resurgence in a 3,500-seat chapel at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary dedicated in 2011. (Photo/Don Young Glass Studio)
By the way, Dr. Frank Page, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, retired late last month for having a “morally inappropriate relationship.” Y’all stay away from Southern Baptists.
Molly Ivins got it right when she said only thing wrong with baptists, they didn’t hold them under long enough when they baptised then.
1My first thought was, “At least it isn’t only Catholic priests doing the nasty.” The was tempered, however, after reading the article in this week’s New Yorker by Junot Diaz describing the horrifying results of his own rapes as a child.
I’m beginning to rethink my opposition to the death penalty when it comes to these predators.
2AMEN! A loud amen!
3I’d say his phylactery is pretty broad.
But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments Matthew 23:5
4I have to wonder if the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has had any thoughts of removing that stained glass window. You know, because of the stains they can’t see…
5I don’t know. It seems to me that it’s *white, male* southern Baptists you need to stay away from.
6Seeing that stained glass window reminded me of my favorite Christmas movie, “The Bishop’s Wife”, starring Cary Grant as an angel who comes to earth to help David Niven, a bishop trying to get a huge expensive cathedral built. He’s having trouble raising the cash for it and has to resort to pandering to a rich widow in his congregation who wants to call the shots on how it’s constructed.
In one funny scene he reluctantly goes to her mansion and agrees to do whatever she wants. She tells him she doesn’t want her deceased husband’s name on some “horrid little plaque.” Instead she says that in the stained glass window of St. George slaying the dragon, St. George’s countenance should suggest that of her late husband, also named George. Niven is appalled, but agrees. Then he asks her who the dragon should look like. She looks at him for a moment and then with a wave of her hand says, “Oh, any dragon will do.”
7The stained glass windows are particularly telling. They have set themselves up as false gods/idols. Wow! It’s all about worshipping pride and power and has nothing to do with honoring the Lord. When we see what the Southern Baptists actually do in spewing hate towards minorities (see Westboro)
8some very openly and others more subtly, their pious words mean absolutely nothing.
A long, long time ago southern Baptists were active in getting rights and decent wages and housing for migrant farm workers. What the hell happened?
9A sexual predator on a church window? That is definitely stained glass.
10I’m sure he was condemning homosexual behavior the entire time, and was convinced that *he* wasn’t committing it. No, everything he did was just hunky-dory with the god in his own head. And one of his victims blames the abuse for his drug and alcohol addiction and multiple prison sentences.
I don’t know what punishment is bad enough for him, but I know what it needs to INCLUDE: he needs to stand shackled in front of his victims while they tell him what he did to them, if they want to say it to him, and then he needs to be taken in front of a jeering crowd of decent people to witness the smashing of that stained-glass window while they cheer.
11“having a “morally inappropriate relationship.” ” What did he do – have sex with his wife?
12van heldorf:
Nah, probably got caught dancing and thought they were having sex standing up.
13They definitely need to put a few rocks through those two windows. Hypocrisy thy name is Southern Baptist.
14bear in mind, the “Southern Baptist” church was originally formed, for the sole purpose of providing a religious justification for slavery. this was just prior to the Civil War. so it’s always had a gamey history.
15I cannot convey how deep my rage is at the c**ksuckers who are sexual predators. Having been the long term victim of one makes a difference. It takes many years and many thousands of dollars to regain a good life.
One of the best things that courts can do is what the judge did in the Larry Nasser case. Make him sit there and listen while the victims take turns, and all the time they want, saying whatever they need to say to him. That’s incredibly REpowering. Then they get to watch while he’s sentenced and perp walked in chains.
At one point in Nasser’s trial he begged the judge to let him stop hearing the women. The judge basically told him too bad. He was going to sit there till they were done. See, they had the power, the perp had none. I especially loved it when a woman told him, “I’ve been coming for you for a long time.” She got him. They all got him. They won. It was the one beautiful moment in a long, ugly story.
Oh, in this particular story, it would be great if they’d remove the window, set it up in the parking lot, and provide his victims with whatever objects they want to use to smash it. They might want to use something of his or something representational. And make the c**ksucker watch. In chains.
16BTW, as someone else said, what are the doing putting current people in a stained glass window. That is totally creepy and wrong. Those people he attacked never had a chance in that atmosphere. Abuse by religious leaders is the worst and churches and such orgs need to be the most vigilant in reporting perps to the cops so there are outside investigations. Instead, some of them are among the worst.
The denominations that are best at protecting their people are the ones we so rarely hear of, chiefly the moderates, Black churches and mainlines.
17I’ve said it before: When these people keep saying that homosexuality is a choice, I always disagreed because I couldn’t choose my own sexuality. It has since dawned on me, maybe for them, they *could* (choose).
I hope, as gay people can be who they are supposed to be, these predators will dry up and disappear^…
^ It won’t happen, but I can hope.
18Sorry, I had to look this up since I had no idea what it meant!
19Phylactery definition, Judaism. either of two small, black, leather cubes containing a piece of parchment inscribed with verses 4–9 of Deut. 6, 13–21 of Deut. 11, and 1–16 of Ex. 13: one is attached with straps to the left arm and the other to the forehead during weekday morning prayers by Orthodox and Conservative Jewish men.
Moral issues aside, whoever designed that window should go to Hell.
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