Peace & Quiet in Church? That’ll be $8.4M, Please

¡*!*¡*! UPDATE: There’s an error in this piece. Please see the comments. ¡*!*¡*!

A single church in Adelaide, Australia applied for and received $8.4 million ($8.2 million U.S.) from the federal government for noise abatement.

Here’s a picture of the church:

st-nicholas

Smell a rat? You’re not alone. For almost eight and a half million bucks, you should be able to build five or more of these, and soundproof the hell out of each and every one.

Besides, the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church had already gotten $3.4 million for a noise insulation project that was completed last year. Now that church authorities have secured another grant for the exact same type of work, this time with a $5 million price tag, people are beginning to ask questions — especially because the typical Australian grant for noise insulation is about $100,000 per building.

An Adelaide Greek Orthodox Church faces another investigation after it received $5m from the Federal Government for noise insulation from the neighbouring airport. The investigation launched is due to the excessive amount of funds received by St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church…

[S]enator Simon Birmingham has queried the amount of money received by the church and has written to Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese seeking the costs of the project.

St. Nicholas Church is no stranger to controversy. In a long string of irregularities, the church priest, Father Prokopios Kanavas,

• has been investigated for allegedly supplying a forged character reference;
• received multiple warnings from his higher-ups, including one that came after explicit images were found on a church computer;
• was defrocked in 2008 over what the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem obliquely called “unacceptable behavior” and “questionable and suspicious activities.”

prokopios

Somehow, Father Kavanas was again ordained and returned to Adelaide in 2010 a better man.

Just kidding:

• In 2011, he was fired as South Australia’s police chaplain when his law-enforcement bosses found information that affected his “suitability” for that role;
• Last year, he courted more trouble when, on his Facebook page, he made false claims about his accomplishments, such as academic degrees he didn’t possess.

Securing two government noise-abatement grants worth several times the going rate for soundproofing large buildings (and eighty-four times the cost of the average building) is another headline-making feat for Adelaide’s Greek Orthodox community. Can’t wait to hear what the investigators find.

[photo of Kavanas by Bianca De Marchi, via news.com.au

Pastor Defrauds Church Day Care Center

A former pastor in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, is accused of misusing money from the church daycare center, forcing it to close. Ronald W. Lukat, 65, turned himself in after learning of the charges against him.

Lukat was the pastor of Gatlinburg Presbyterian Church from early 2011 until last December, when church members said they became aware of irregularities in the account used by their Child Care Center. They said Lukat volunteered to oversee the center’s finances when the center’s treasurer stepped down, not long after the pastor’s arrival. That left Lukat in possession of a credit card used to purchase supplies for the center, as well as overseeing its fiances.

thief

It appears that Lukat used the credit card for the purchase of about $3,600 worth of personal items.

The newspaper report mentions that the pastor’s Gatlinburg address is on “Money Maker Circle.” That must be across from “Den of Thieves Way” and just a block from “Temple Cleansing Avenue.”

[image via source]

Shitty Parenting

Highly religious Colorado Springs is sometimes referred to as “the Evangelical Vatican.” Like any other city, the place has its share of crime and misery, often inflicted by the faithful themselves. Such is the case here (courtesy of the Denver Post):

The mother of a 13-year-old boy who police say was living in a home littered with human feces has been placed on administrative leave from her part-time job at a church nursery.

Sharon Starkey [right], who was cited Thursday for child neglect along with her husband, former Colorado Springs Councilman Charles Wingate [left], worked at the First United Methodist Church of Colorado Springs nursery on a “very part-time” and “as needed” basis, Leanne Schreiner, director of administration and finance, said in a statement.

giucq

Starkey has been a long-time member of the church congregation.

Police went to Starkey and Wingate’s home just after noon Thursday after a neighbor reported not seeing their son in about a year. Police found the boy naked and alone in filth.

The Gazette reports it’s even worse than that:

Police found the boy, described by officers as “autistic,” living in what they called extremely unsanitary conditions, which included live and dead rodents in the residence.

“The boy stated he is an only child, home-schooled, and does not remember ever being outside the house. Neighbors confirmed they have not seen the boy outside in several years,” police said in a news release.

Police said code enforcement condemned the house as unsafe for living.

Wingate’s two-year stint as a councilman was unremarkable except for his unlawful and unethical behavior.

Wingate was a Colorado Springs City Council member from 2001 until his resignation in 2003.

He left office under a cloud following accusations of embezzlement, forgery and fraud,

and pleaded guilty to felony embezzlement of public funds shortly after quitting the job.

He was ordered to jail in 2006, after a judge found he violated probation in the case.

Priest-Led Mob in Georgia Attacks Gay Parade

Is this what it means to “love the sinner, hate the sin”?

In Georgia (the country), Christian priests in black cassocks fired up a crowd of thousands to attack about four dozen pro-gay-rights demonstrators. And by attack, I don’t mean they hurled angry words. Their weapons of choice were rocks, trash cans, and anything else the Godly Defenders of the Faith could get their hands on. Fists, too.

A throng of thousands led by priests in black robes surged through police cordons in downtown Tbilisi, Georgia, on Friday and attacked a group of about 50 gay-rights demonstrators.

Carrying banners reading “No to mental genocide” and “No to gays,” the masses of mostly young men began by hurling rocks and eggs at the gay-rights demonstrators.

“Mostly young men.” How bleak to think that this atavistic hatred doesn’t appear to be going out of style as the older generations die off, which is the pattern in the West.

Tblisi

The police pushed most of the demonstrators onto yellow minibuses to evacuate them from the scene, but, the attackers swarmed the buses, trying to break the windows with metal gratings, trash cans, rocks and even fists.

At least 12 people were reported hospitalized, including three police officers and eight or nine of the gay-rights marchers.

Conservative-minded Georgians traveled from other cities to condemn the gay-rights demonstrators, and one told a television station that she had come to “treat their illness.”

“We are trying to protect our orthodoxy, not to let anyone wipe their feet on our faith,” said Manana Okhanashvili, in a head scarf and long skirt. “We must not allow them to have a gay demonstration here.”

There is no doubt about the occupation of those who initiated and led the worst violence.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Vacharadze of Identoba said that priests from the Georgian Orthodox Church had led the charge that broke through a heavy police corridor.

“The priests entered, the priests broke the fences and the police didn’t stop them, because the priests are above the law in Georgia,” he said.

I learned the other day that Georgia’s first lady is a progressive Dutch linguist, Sandra Roelofs. The Netherlands is famously tolerant of gay people and has allowed same-sex marriage for many years. Forgive me for being naive, but I hope she’ll speak up to try to talk some sense into the haters on the sideline. All good people in Georgia should raise their voices against this madness.

As for the violent priests and their gay-bashing troops, I suspect arrests and jail terms are too much to hope for, but a man can dream.

[image via the New York Times. Thanks to Nicolas Eyle for the tip.]

Priest Suspended Over Plagiarism

Thou shalt not steal. Remember that one? The Rev. John McGinn doesn’t.

A priest on Cape Cod has been suspended for plagiarizing sermons. The Rev. John McGinn, 65, of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Sandwich was placed on administrative leave earlier this month after the diocese learned he had allegedly been using other preachers’ sermons since 2006. They were reportedly taken from the subscription website sermons.com.

The Rev. Mally Lloyd, canon to the ordinary for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, told the Cape Cod Times as many as 15 sermons have been identified as direct copies.

 

Pastor Accused of $19 Million Fraud To Finance the Pop Career of His Writhing, Warbling Wife

A Singapore-based megachurch pastor and five of his deputies appeared in court on Wednesday and Thursday to answer charges of massive fraud and deception.

The 48-year-old pastor and founder of City Harvest Church, Kong Hee, is accused of embezzling some 19 million dollars to finance the pop career of his warbling wife, Sun Ho (photo).

sun

According to the Sydney Morning Herald,

Based on Pentecostal teachings, the church’s “prosperity gospel” encourages the material aspirations of mostly young members, and uses music and drama for praise and worship. It often holds elaborate services resembling pop concerts.

Where’d the pilfered money go? For starters, Sun Ho moved into a Hollywood mansion. She appears to have spent lavishly to try to break into the charts. Here she is in a gilded video production of Fancy Free, a song that, aptly, is about dreaming of being a superstar. Its opening line: “Woke up feeling like a millionaire.”

Despite the 100% religion-free material-girl message, please understand that all this was done for the greater glory of god:

The pastor’s wife, now in her early 40s, was hoping international stardom would help spread the church’s message, according to previous reports in the Singapore media.

Singapore prosecutors say the accused channeled money earmarked for the church’s building into buying sham bond investments. Those investments were in church-linked companies whose accounts could be dipped into for the promotion of Ho’s music career.

[The conspirators] allegedly falsified church accounts to make it appear the bonds were redeemed, in an elaborate scheme the prosecutors called ’round-tripping.’ “The transactions were thus designed to throw the auditors off the scent of the bogus bonds,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Mavis Chionh.

The pastor’s followers are undeterred (I guess you could say they have faith).

Church members have told journalists they trust Pastor Kong to spend their money in any way he sees fit.

That‘s the (holy) spirit.

And you know who else has it in spades? Pastor Kong!

“Christian, remember the goodness of God in the frost of adversity,” Kong tweeted after the court adjourned Thursday.

[image via source]

Texas Worship Leader In Jail For Child Porn

Another devout pillar of the community.

John Raymond Williams, a seventh-grade science teacher at Gonzales Junior High and a music and worship leader at Faith Family Church in Gonzales [Texas], was arrested Wednesday in a raid by state officials.

gonz

According to the Gonzales ISD website, Williams has five years teaching experience, and is certified to teach fourth through eighth grades. In information about Williams, the website says he is a music/worship leader at Faith Family Church, and that his wife and at least two of his children also volunteer at the church.

He is suspected of both possessing and having uploaded child pornography images to a social networking website, and  faces five third-degree felony counts of child pornography possession, each punishable by 2 to 10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.

Oz Rape Victim Does Jail Time Under Sharia

An Australian female hotel clerk in the United Arab Emirates whose drink was spiked found herself sexually assaulted by three male colleagues.

But Alicia Gali’s ordeal was about to get much worse. When she told the authorities what had happened, she was the one who disappeared behind bars. You see, Allah wills it.

victim

What she did not know is that under the UAE’s strict sharia laws, if the perpetrator does not confess, a rape cannot be proved without the testimony of four adult Muslim male witnesses. She was charged with having illicit sex outside marriage, and thrown in a filthy jail cell for eight months.

[image via freethinker]

Priests, the Other White Collar Criminals?

This is a screenshot of a section of my customized Google News homepage right now. The section filter is priest. Not pedophile priest or priest abuse or anything along those lines. Just priest.

Click to enlarge.

priests

See also here.

U.K. Tongue-Biting: Media Won’t Talk About Muslim Sex Gangs; Calling Them ‘Asians’ Will Do.

The linguistic bobbing and weaving is becoming epic.

On Tuesday, at the Old Bailey in London,

Seven men of Asian or North African origin were found guilty of grooming six vulnerable white girls before putting them through a “living hell” during which they were forced to commit acts of “extreme depravity”.

Three guesses as to what “Asian or North African” means. But first, a little background on the activities of the seven perps:

In a case that bears harrowing similarities to the Rochdale grooming scandal, carefully chosen victims were showered with gifts and plied with alcohol and drugs before being subjected to years of terrifying abuse. The gang recruited its victims from the Oxford area between May 2004 and January last year, deliberately targeting vulnerable girls.

Some were spotted drinking or playing truant along the city’s Cowley Road, while others were chosen as they were living in care homes.

groominggang

Once under their control the abusers forced the girls to have sex using threats of extreme violence. Some were gang-raped, while others were prostituted to men who would travel from all parts of the country to have sex with them.

If the girls did not comply, they were beaten and burned with cigarettes. One girl was even branded with her abusers’ initials.

When another victim became pregnant aged 12, she was forced to undergo a dangerous backstreet abortion. Another was abused with sex toys to “prepare” her for one of the gang rapes.

Time and again we are told that these crimes, of which there have been many, all strikingly similar in perpetrator and victim profiles, are the work of “Asians.” Like so, courtesy of the Telegraph newspaper:

The case is the latest high-profile trial involving Asian gangs convicted of targeting and abusing vulnerable white girls. Last May eight men of Pakistani origin and one Afghan were convicted of trafficking and raping girls in the Rochdale area.

Last week a gang of Asian men who groomed vulnerable white girls in Shropshire between 2006 and 2009 were jailed for more than 50 years.

The dodge is as disingenuous as it is pervasive.

Mohammed Shafiq, the chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, said: “The majority of Asians from all backgrounds abhor these crimes these criminals have brought shame on themselves and their families and the wider Asian communities.”

Do you think that when there is happy news to share from within Britain’s Muslim population (let’s say, a Muslim author being awarded the Booker Prize, or a Muslim sports team scoring gold at an international event), Mr. Shafiq — or Britain’s mainstream press — will refer to the winners as Asians?

Were these gangsters and serial rapists Japanese, perchance? Chinese? Russian? Did they hail from Vietnam? Nepal? The Philippines?

You don’t have to be an Islamophobe to resent the whitewash, and Taj Hargey isn’t. On the contrary: Hargey [photo, below] is a progressive Islamic scholar and imam who doesn’t mind pointing the finger at his co-religionists. And here, does he ever:

What depresses me about [the Oxford] case is the widespread refusal to face up to its hard realities.

The fact is that the vicious activities of the Oxford ring are bound up with religion and race: religion, because all the perpetrators, though they had different nationalities, were Muslim; and race, because they deliberately targeted vulnerable white girls, whom they appeared to regard as ‘easy meat’, to use one of their revealing, racist phrases.

TajHargey_1381295c

Indeed, one of the victims who bravely gave evidence in court told a newspaper afterwards that ‘the men exclusively wanted white girls to abuse’. But as so often in fearful, politically correct modern Britain, there is a craven unwillingness to face up to this reality.

Commentators and politicians tip-toe around it, hiding behind weasel words. We are told that child sex abuse happens ‘in all communities’, that white men are really far more likely to be abusers, as has been shown by the fall-out from the Jimmy Savile case.

One particularly misguided commentary argued that the predators’ religion was an irrelevance, for what really mattered was that most of them worked in the night-time economy as taxi drivers, just as in the Rochdale child sex scandal many of the abusers worked in kebab houses, so they had far more opportunities to target vulnerable girls.

But all this is deluded nonsense. While it is, of course, true that abuse happens in all communities, no amount of obfuscation can hide the pattern that has been exposed in a series of recent chilling scandals, from Rochdale to Oxford, and Telford to Derby.

In all these incidents, the abusers were Muslim men, and their targets were under-age white girls.

Moreover, reputable studies show that around 26 per cent of those involved in grooming and exploitation rings are Muslims, which is around five times higher than the proportion of Muslims in the adult male population.

[Taj Hargey photo via Progressive Scottish Muslims]

Pastor Wrote Sermon While Watching Child Porn

Pastor Cedric Cuthbert was working on an Easter sermon when there was a resurrection in his pants.

A custodial manager at Disney’s Port Orleans resort is accused of watching child porn at work while writing an Easter sermon for a Sanford church where he is the pastor.

Cedric Eugene Cuthbert, pastor of the Historic St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church in Sanford, worked for Disney for more than seven years before his arrest. He has since been fired.

_Cedric Eugene Cuthbert_ - Google Search

Disney’s monitoring system takes screen shots of employee computers every three seconds and recorded Cuthbert writing an Easter Sunday church sermon on John chapter 13 verses 1-35 and Psalm 148 while loading pornographic YouTube videos involving teenage girls. That portion of the book of John tells the story of Jesus’ prediction of Judas’ betrayal and Psalm 148 tells all people to praise the Lord above all else.

Murdering the Infidels: a Creationist’s Cartoon

I found this cartoon on Answers in Genesis.

waronhumanism

I love how happy all the cannon-blasting Christians are.

If it were my religion, I probably wouldn’t want to associate it all over again (even just metaphorically) with conversionist bloodshed, violence, and the wanton destruction of unbelievers’ property. But that’s just me.