What God's men have been doing lately.

The illegal arrest of fundamentalist Southern Baptist Rev. Lonnie Latham for soliciting a male police officer for sex got me wondering about what other ministers might have done lately to get themselves incarcerated. So I did a little digging. Now please remember that I think Latham should not have been arrested. He did nothing illegal. I still think all the evidence points to the cops trying to harass gay men and Latham happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In Alabama the so-called “Prophet”, Ron Williams got himself arrested for inciting a riot. Williams, who I suspect is self-ordained, comes from some hole-in-the-wall Miracle of Prayer Church. His secretary was arrested. Williams stormed the police station cursing, swearing and making threats. He started calling members of his “church” who also showed up and started screaming and cursing as well. All in all very Christian of them. When the congregation of followers of Jesus started to threaten police mace was sprayed which sent them running. The reverend was then arrested.

In Edinburg, Texas another arrest took place. Robert Franklin the former music minister for Trinity Worship Center was arrested again. His first arrest was because he was caught having sex with a 14 year old church member. He also supplied cocaine to the child. He was out on 10 years probation but was caught with more drugs. I guess he didn’t “get high on Jesus”. The child who reported Franklin originally was viciously attacked, requiring several operations, by an older boy supposedly on Franklin’s orders.

In Chicago Rev. Daniel McCormack was arrested and charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The arrest was over incidents with two children, one 12 and one 9.

In Flint, Michigan the Rev. Derrick Aldridge was arrested. He was charged with possession, with intent to deliver, of cocaine, carrying a concealed weapon and driving under the influence of drugs. Rev. Aldridge has a record. He was peviously convicted of grand larceny and for drugs. And he has also been charged with embezzling a market that he worked at a few years ago.

In Tampa a youth minister, Joshua Rosa, was arrested. He is alleged to have strangled to death a 13-year-old neighbor who also attended his church. Details are sketchy. In Waterloo, Iowa Rev.Galen Peckham was a “visitation minister” with the First United Methodist Church. He was arrested for “sex crimes”. The minister sexually assaulted a 93-year-old woman in a nursing home. In Pensacola a pastor of a Lutheran Church was arrested for soliciting sex from a minor.

In Forth Worth “Bishop” Terry Hornbuckle of the Agape Christian Fellowship is in custody. He faces six charges of sexual assault, one of drug possession, one of retaliation and one charge of tampering with a witness.

Rev. Michael Baker was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport. He resigned from the priesthood a couple of years ago but his arrest was for molestation he committed on two children, both under 9 years of age when he was still a priest. In El Paso, another former priest, Bruce MacArthur was arrested for molestation. He has also served time in prison for similar offenses and has admitted to raping and molesting numerous women and girls.

Of course a litany like this can go on for some time especially if one goes back far enough. But for this column I just checked the papers for the last two or three weeks! The idea that one can only be moral if one believes in God is a bit strained under the circumstances.