UPDATED::Florida Megachurch Minister Resigns After Confessing to ‘Moral Failing’ | Christian News Network

UPDATE::  Founder of Florida's Biggest Megachurch Accused of Molesting a 4-Year-Old

The call came from California. A woman told Coral Springs Police she had recently learned something terrible: A South Florida man had molested her daughter for years. It began when the girl was just 4 years old.

An officer noted the information and called the victim, who was then a teenager. She confirmed the story in stomach-churning detail.

 

The man had forced her to perform oral sex, she said. He would regularly "finger and fondle her" genitals, make her touch his penis, and "dirty talk" to her. The abuse lasted until she was a teenager, she told the cop. She'd never even told her family about the crimes.

By the end of that harrowing call on August 20, 2015, police knew the accused predator was no ordinary suspect. His name was Bob Coy, and until the previous year, he'd been the most famous Evangelical pastor in Florida.

A Florida megachurch minister has resigned from his position of senior pastor after he recently admitting to cheating on his wife.

Bob Coy, 58, led Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, which is considered one of the largest churches in Florida. Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale has approximately 200,000 members across its ten satellite locations in the state. He also maintained a television and radio broadcast, which have now been suspended, along with all of his sermons on the church website.

Calvary Chapel issued a statement on Sunday outlining that Coy had resigned “after confessing to a moral failing in his life which disqualifies him from continuing his leadership role at the church.” Local media reports that the “moral failing” centers around Coy’s admission of being unfaithful to his wife.

“Pastor Bob will be focusing his full attention on his personal relationship with God and with his family,” the statement from the church outlined. “The governing board of the church is providing counselors and ministers who will help guide him through the process of full repentance, cleansing and restoration.”

Florida Megachurch Minister Resigns After Confessing to ‘Moral Failing’ | Christian News Network

City worker investigated after pornographic images found on cellphone, computer | Times Free Press

A public works employee is on paid administrative leave after he allegedly used a city-owned phone, computer and car in activities as a prostitute, according to city documents.

The city began investigating Sherman Higdon and his activities during his work as an equipment operator in the emergency office in November after several of his coworkers noticed sexually explicit phone calls, text messages and images that were sent by local men to the department's shared cellphone, according to information released by the city's Human Resources office.

The documents say multiple city employees testified that the department phone, which is shared by all three shifts, received pictures of naked men and inquiries about a Craigslist ad.

Some employees also stated that Higdon, who worked alone during the night shift, regularly "wiped" the phone of all calls and texts sent or received while the phone was in his possession before handing it over to the next shift, a violation of policy since that material is public record. A total of seven employees were interviewed by Human Resources Compliance Officer Jay Piercy.

City worker investigated after pornographic images found on cellphone, computer | Times Free Press

Utah man justifies child molestation: ‘The Bible did not set limits on the ages between two partners’

Timothy Butler, 54, is accused of molesting two children and providing them “harmful materials” between 2008 and 2011, Good4Utah reports. One of the alleged victims was a then-5-year-old girl.

According to the Standard Examiner, Butler allegedly watched pornography with the child present. His charges include two counts of sodomy of a child and two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, which are felonies. He also faces charges of drug possession.

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Butler told the judge that “the Bible did not set limits on the ages between two partners, and that God will set the truth free.”
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“I’m thinking about getting a lawyer who might know a little bit more than me but I’m kind of going by my faith in God and the truth will come out and that’s what I’m going by,” Butler said in court.

Utah man justifies child molestation: ‘The Bible did not set limits on the ages between two partners’

How One Religious Organization Bankrolls America’s Social Conservative Movement | ThinkProgress

In 1882, a group of Catholic men gathered together by New Haven, CT pastor Father Michael J. McGivney incorporated an organization to provide for the families of its deceased members. More than 125 years later, the Knights of Columbus boasts of more than 1.8 million members and of “donating more than $167.5 million to charitable needs and projects” in 2012. Among its members: presidential 2016 hopeful Jeb Bush (R), Speaker of the House John Boehner (R), and Justice Samuel Alito.

But while much of the Knights’ charitable efforts in recent years have supported purely altruistic causes such as the Special Olympics and Habitat for Humanity, millions of their charitable dollars have funded a very socially conservative ideological agenda: opposing abortion, LGBT rights, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, and pornography, while supporting public funding for religious organizations.

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In a November interview, the organizations’ top official noted that the Knights’ “first principle is charity,” and that its success has come due to its focus on “mission integrity.” But for several decades, that charity has also included work to overturn Roe v. Wade. Each year, the organization reaffirms, by resolution, its “deep and historic commitment to oppose any governmental action or policy that promotes abortion, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, euthanasia, assisted suicide, or other offenses against life.” In so doing, the Knights also reaffirm their “long-standing policies of not inviting to any Knights of Columbus event, persons, especially public officials or candidates for public office, who do not support the legal protection of unborn children, or who advocate the legalization of assisted suicide or euthanasia.”

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Beyond just words, the Knights of Columbus have invested millions into the “culture of life” agenda. Between local chapters and the national organization, the Knights’ “Ultrasound Initiative” have provided more than $14 million worth of ultrasound machines to local “pro-life pregnancy care centers,” based on the belief that “a free ultrasound exam often helps an abortion minded woman to decide to choose life for herself and her child.” They have also worked to defeat a successful stem-cell research amendment in Michigan ($100,000), to pass an unsuccessful proposal to ban public funding of abortion in Florida ($100,000), and to oppose a defeated a Massachusetts initiative to allow physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients ($450,000).

The Knights of Columbus see this as a charitable rather than social issue. Citing Catholic values and the words of Pope Francis, Cullen explained, “we believe that many of our contributions across the board have a social justice component. We do not understand how providing ultrasound machines to pregnancy resource centers is somehow a ‘social’ issue, but building houses with Habitat for Humanity is not.”

How One Religious Organization Bankrolls America’s Social Conservative Movement | ThinkProgress