Brooklyn pastor, Dr. Paul Lewis, busted in Jamaica for teen sex rap

[moobu2]

A Brooklyn pastor was busted in his native Jamaica for having sex with a 15-year-old girl while a 14-year-old watched, authorities said yesterday.

The Rev. Paul Lewis, founder of the Messengers for Christ Ministries World Healing Center, was held without bail on charges of carnal abuse and indecent assault, Jamaican police said.

The Bedford-Stuyvesant evangelist was arrested Wednesday after witnesses saw him hanging out with the girls and then taking them to a hotel, police said. Lewis, 45, who was on the island for a crusade at a local church, is accused of offering the girls between $30 and $60 for the romp.

In February, a 19-year-old Brooklyn woman filed a complaint claiming that Lewis, her former pastor, had raped her in a parking lot nearly a year before.


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/06/20/2009-06-20_brooklyn_reverend_busted_in_jamaica_sex_rap.html">LINK

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. the ministry does attract

both con artists and sexual perverts. It's because of the power involved--ministers are automatically respected and trusted, just because they have "Rev." in front of their name. One reason I don't use the title, though I am an ordained minister.

[moobu2]

2. I call "the ministry", the second oldest profession.

lol.. this is one of the testimonials on his website.

I thank god for you. Thank you so much for the letters you send me. The coin you sent has been a blessing. thank you. the cup of christ you sent last week is still close to my bed. please keep praying for us. our family is starting to get along better. My weight is bothing me so much. i weigh to much.please pray for me. I have sowed my seed also. I thank God for you and your ministry.

<and this>

Since I started sowing my see,, I'm catching up on my bills, my freezer is over flowing. Thank you Jesus. I know this is my season. I want to thank you for sending me the Bible sackcloth key. My mind was playing tricks on me at this time. I'm growing but I always need an encouraging word. Because I know I must be doing something right because Satan is on my tracks. But I rebuke him in the name of Jesus. I tell him NO Weapons Formed Against me Sahll Prosper. God Bless You Rev. Lewis and your ministry. Again I thank you for keeping myself and my family in your heart and in your prayers.

These folks are seriously scary

[charlie]

3. Dude wears some slammin' suits

Where does he get them, 21st Century Devo?



Oh man, I've seen this guy. He's the MIRACLE SOAP peddler! Watch him do a BIG HONKING PRAISE JESUS MIRACLE at the 6 minute mark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLV4zjfwQxY

[zazen]

5. OMG--I thought it was an SNL parody at first. Miracle Olive Oil Soap?! n/t

[Ian David]

4. I am shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, to find a chrisTian Conservative committing sex crimes! n/t

[struggle4progress]

6. Y'all oughta keep up, moobu: GD busted this guy a week ago

He seems to be a loner con-man, associated with no particular denomination

Prominent NY pastor held for carnal abuse - So, who is it?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=5859017

[moobu2]

8. What about this one?

Baptist ministers facing sex charges appear in court

LIBERTY, MO -- Southern Baptist ministers facing molestation charges in three states had recent days in court.

Robert M. Black, 40, pastor of New Home Baptist Church near St. Joseph, Mo., pleaded not guilty June 18 to felony counts of first-degree statutory rape and attempted enticement of a child.
Black was arrested April 8 after allegedly soliciting sex over the Internet with a police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl. He is scheduled to stand trial Jan. 14.

A grand jury in Waco, Texas, indicted William Frank Brown, 45, June 17 on four counts of sexual assault of a child and four counts of indecency with a child.

Brown, who resigned as pastor of First Baptist Church in Bellmead, Texas, just before the investigation became public, stands accused of molesting two children in incidents that began about four years ago in another state.

According to media reports, one of the children, who was 9 or 10 at the time, told a school counselor about the abuse, which is alleged to have occurred hundreds of times with multiple
victims.

LINK

[struggle4progress]

9. You didn't want to investigate Lewis further? I don't understand the POV: you think these

stories are somehow worth noticing, but not examining in detail?

[trotsky]

11. "associated with no particular denomination"

Not a "real Christian," eh?

[struggle4progress]

12. Of course, that is not what I said. Even pastors will require pastoral care, which may be

difficult to obtain without some larger association -- and the person in question obviously has some issues that remain unaddressed. The fact, that this "pastor" seems not to be identified with a larger group, suggests that the ministry is self-appointed and subject to no real discipline. Since I do not regard the gospel as teaching solitary self-sufficiency, I am slightly prejudiced against such self-appointments. Of course, in the United States, no law restricts calling oneself a religious leader

[trotsky]

13. It's pretty clear what you meant. n/t

[dmallind]

14. Just another shifting rationalization

Somehow the need for a strong support structure and orthodox credentials NEVER comes up when priests are caught diddling kids. No doubt the next time it will be dismissed because the minister is left handed or too short.

[trotsky]

15. You got it. n/t

[struggle4progress]

16. Let's look at some statistics:

Roughly speaking, about 39/304 = 12.8% of the US population was sexually abused in childhood. If we assume 100K Catholic victims, 90% being unknown and unreported, then about 0.1/67 = 0.15% of US Catholics have been abused by church officials. The abuse is shocking, of course, but the rate of abuse in the Catholic church seems to be much lower than the rate in the general population. If you have better statistics, feel free to provide them. Sexual abuse is a crime that requires secrecy and some solitude, but Catholic priests in the US do not tend to lead private, unsupervised lives

Statistics Surrounding Child Sexual Abuse
... An estimated 39 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse exist in America today ... http://www.darkness2light.org/KnowAbout/statistics_2.asp

USA
Population, 2008 estimate 304,059,724 ...
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html

Shockingly, Only 2% of Catholic Clergy Sexual Abusers Were Ever Jailed:
A Demonstration that the Self-Policing of Criminal Behavior Will Never Work
By MARCI HAMILTON
... The number of victims was 10,667 ... And there are very probably many more -- even ten times more -- victims and abusers than the Report indicated, as the Report itself acknowledges. The sociologist and Catholic priest Andrew Greeley predicted long ago that the number of victims was probably on the order of 100,000 ... http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20040311.html

Roman Catholicism in the United States
... The 2008 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, a statistical listing of major religious bodies published by National Council of Churches, reports 67,515,016 registered members of the Roman Catholic Church ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholicism_in_the_United_States

[charlie]

17. I don't think that's the right way to measure it

If you want to determine if the Church harbors an inordinate number of abusers, you get the ratio of victims per number of priests, not victims per number of Catholics. If there were only 1000 priests in the US during the time period, then the Church is a nest of monsters that should be destroyed immediately. If 10 million, there are 100 priests per victim. If it's shown the average number of victims for each predator is 3, then it's 300, etc, etc.

[struggle4progress]

19. ... There are approximately 46,000 Catholic priests in the United States and 300 cases filed to date

which is under .7% of the priesthood ...
Catholic Priests - Unfolding Issue
http://www.allaboutreligion.org/catholic-priests.htm

This estimate is the same order of magnitude as the estimate I obtained before. Again, if you want to provide other statistics, feel free

[charlie]

21. What happened to 10K and 100K?

You were good with those a moment ago. Now it's cases filed?

Naw, you can save your challenge for someone it's pertinent to. I was only noting you were doing it wrong.

Parting gift, though. From your Findlaw link above -- "The number of abusers? A minimum of 4,392."

[struggle4progress]

23. "If you have better statistics, feel free to provide them"

[charlie]

24. Haw!

Why? I didn't quibble with your statistics, just how you handled them.

You've brought plenty you can repurpose and discard already. Carry on as you were, you don't need me.

[struggle4progress]

26. I think I'll pass on the game where you merely sneer, without providing anything

[charlie]

27. Haw, Part 2

Only you would throw out a gratuitous, superfluous challenge and make an imperious exit when no one jumps at your command.

I think I'll pass on humoring your swollen self-regard.

[trotsky]

18. The gymnastics you're willing to do...

to somehow prove that Christian crimes really aren't that bad, is quite astounding.

[struggle4progress]

20. As I said in the post, "If you have better statistics, feel free to provide them"

[trotsky]

22. Sweet, I assume you'll accept your own source, right?

From http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20040311.html:
"Decades ago, psychologist Richard Sipe, an expert on the issue predicted that as much as 6-8% of priests sexually abused minors."

From http://law.jrank.org/pages/5182/Child-Molestation.html (The American Law Encyclopedia):
"According to the JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, there are approximately four million pedophiles in the United States."


4 million / 300 million = ~ 1% pedophiles in the US general population.

So a Catholic priest is about 6 to 8 times MORE LIKELY to bugger children than the average American.

[struggle4progress]

25. If you actually look at the John Jay study, the 4,392 figure is the number accused of abuse sometime

over a forty year period, corresponding to an overall accusation rate of about 4%. Total convictions were about 325, corresponding to a conviction rate of less than 1% of priests

[trotsky]

28. See, there you go again moving the target.

Now it's just "convictions," when even the Catholic church has paid out damages when no convictions were made.

I'll stand by the stats I got from YOUR source.

[struggle4progress]

30. You're as much fun as a box of rapid badgers, trotsky

[trotsky]

31. Better than a box of sluggish ones I suppose.

But at least I'm not the one trying to downplay the sexual abuse of children by priests. You should call up Bill Donohue, you'd get along great.

[DeSwiss]

7. Thanks for posting moobu2.....

...there are so many cretins like this out there, that I can't keep up with 'em. I, for one, hadn't seen this until today.

- Although I'm not surprised. Just another religionist freak....


K&R!!!

[onager]

10. Man, I'm tired of this crap...

Would somebody please donate to the Saint Onager Home For Wayward Girls Over 18? I accept PayPal.

My church needs a new pole...er, altar rail.

[rrneck]

29. He is just another pervert and crook.

Religion doesn't cause this kind of shit. It does offer a ready made population of potential victims since people deeply involved in their faith, desperate, lonely, confused or otherwise lost are in a suggestible state and more easily manipulated. Religion is fertile ground for crooks, thieves, con-men, liars, authoritarians, and anybody else looking for an easy mark and a quick buck.

All too often the relationship between an individual and the religious organization is one of codependency.

This guy's still my favorite.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TjrYAgaMNsg/SQj2LuQsTfI/AAAAAAAAAJw/5-QpwWK9jqM/s400/Robert+Tilton.jpg

The farting preacher still kills me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYMuhN7OZgM