Pastor who raped daughter gets less than minimum sentence because he is pastor. - Sensationalist Headlines

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2019/05/pastor-who-repeatedly-raped-daughter-14-gets-light-sentence-because-jesus/ Please read the whole article. Headline expanded for more clarity.

Just a reminder folks, judges are elected officials. Local city and county voting is just as important. Can't believe this fucking judge.

I guess this will go to a higher court?

America is a fucking rape culture.

Its shit like this that makes me seriously say fuck the law and become a vigilante. Hey if i get caught can I pull the Jesus card and say I was "doing the lords work of punishing the wicked"? So that way I can get my 100+ life sentences be brought down to 2 months of community service.

No. This is a Criminal case. It would only advance if the Defendant (the Pastor in question) appealed the verdict. The prohibition on Double Jeopardy, that is being tried multiple times for the same crime with the same evidence, means this sentence is all the Prosecution (the law) will get, unless evidence of new crimes comes to light, in which case he will stand a separate trial for those other crimes. If this were a Civil case, the Plaintiff (the party suing the Defendant) could appeal the results to a higher court, but even then it would be up to the higher court to decide if the lower court's ruling would stand, or if they would hear the appeal (with no guarantee that they would reverse the original ruling, sometimes appeals are taken that end up only more strongly reinforcing the lower ruling.)

Questionable title and site aside, that is some honkytonk crap. It's not entirely a religious thing most of the time with these BS sentences for criminals. 90% of situations like this the dude being sentenced did something behind closed doors to get the judges favor like bribery or drug handling. Guy probably took some church money without anyone knowing and paid him for a lighter sentence. Either way, guy is about to go through a literal hell once he enter prison and I'm not saying that out of catharsis; once word gets out the inmates will be out for blood.

When anything relating to religion can alter the judgement upon someone, that's when you know your shit's backwards, doesn't matter your position or your fucking beliefs, you are not above this shit, you suffer the same punishment as everyone else.

I have no words to properly convey how disgusted I am.

Normally I'm against people being murdered by other inmates as a form of extra-judicial punishment.

I hope he gets stabbed in prison.

would he have received the same joke sentence if he were anything other than christian?

People like him usually do get stabbed there. And I hope that it's the case for here as well.

He might as well change his whole identity because I can't imagine him being that safe out there on the streets after this.

That he was a pastor should've made his sentencing harsher as such people should be held to a higher standard. Fuck him, the only consolation here is knowing he'll be treated like a chew toy in prison which just goes to showcase the shit-smeared US prison system.

The leaders of the free world everybody.

Can we get rid of religion finally. Like shit I don't even hate the idea but religion as a institution or being given special rights is just fucked.

Seems like this is a big part of the problem TBH.

first world country btw

However, despite the overwhelming evidence, including forensic evidence showing traces of Richards’ semen on his daughter’s bed frame, many in the community refused to believe that Pastor Richards was a rapist. For example, Pastor David Thompson, who shared ministry duties with Pastor Richards at My Father’s House Church of God in Lenoir City, said: I find it impossible for me to believe he’s guilty of this. His business needs him. His family needs him. Our church needs him. In fact, over 30 parishioners from the church came to court to show support not for the victim, but for the rapist. At sentencing, Pastor Richards refused to take responsibility for his heinous crimes. Instead, the “good Christian man” blamed the victim while claiming he was innocent. Pastor Richards said: I stand before you convicted of crimes I did not commit. … I’m not sure why I’m here. … but I assume it’s for His purpose. I wouldn't bet on it, seems like he's surrounded by people just as fucked in the head as he is

See, these are the cases I'm okay with vigilantes taking matters in their hands. Justice was not served and it really should be.

If you can't be discriminated against based on your religion then you're religion shouldn't be taken into consideration when you fucking rate a girl.

American Christianity™ is a fucking travesty.

Sick, good to know that all I have to do is become a holy man and spread the religion of the courts around me to get away with raping children. That is literally the message this sentencing says.

Oh, he will be. One of my friends worked as a correctional officer for 6 months before he (mentally) couldn't take it anymore and resigned. He said that the first thing that happens to new inmates is that their cellmate, among others in their block, approach you and demand to see your papers so they can verify what crime you've committed. Rapists and child molesters are quickly targeted and it's not uncommon for other CO's to turn a blind eye - sometimes even facilitating circumstances where high-risk inmates like this guy are left unprotected. This is one of those cases where I really don't feel anything wrong with that.

Fuck the free world. Reference

I wouldn't be surprised if those parishioners do the same exact sorts of things.

Mathew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Mathew 25:41-44 "41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” For some reason, the majority of evangelicals in this country think that all they have to do to earn their "get out of hell free card" is to say the right words, as though salvation as depicted in the bible is some magical on/off switch. All because of those verses that say that faith alone allows you to enter the kingdom of god. Problem with that is, the New Testament also says "faith without works is dead." I dunno about you, but this pastor's "faith" seems pretty dead to me. If he actually believes in this shit, he better be fucking scared as hell, because his putrid lip service to Jesus isn't going to cut it. Nah, if he's right about the bible being true, I'm pretty sure he's on his way to hell.

I ended up bringing this up in another thread, but might as well, here, too. This is literally a major premise behind Protestantism, and is a primary cause behind their divergence from Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Almost half of the American population is protestant, including all living presidents, and America is the largest concentration of Protestantism in the entire world. The "get out of hell free card" was even used by American protestants to attack other Christian denominations, including Catholicism, for over a century. The United Kingdom and South Africa are two other countries with very high levels of Protestantism, whereas most of Europe and South America are Catholic. (Scandinavia has a large population of protestants as well, though, as does a decent amount of northern Europe)