In The Name of God Here's a great question for you. Why does God permit people who are obv

In The Name of God
Here's a great question for you. Why does God permit people who are
obviously unrepentant sinners to assume authority in his church(es)?

Some examples:

Art Phillips, 43, of Arizona, was arrested in March and arraigned in
April for fondling a 15-year-old girl and "solicitation to commit
commercial sexual exploitation of a minor" (read: he wanted to take
nude photos of her). Phillips is a Mormon sunday school teacher.

Rev. Carey Mavor, an Arizona Methodist, pleaded guilty to 1 count of
continuous sexual abuse and 2 counts of lewd acts with a child under
14.

Rev. Wilputte Alanson Sherwood admitted recently to having sex with
1,800 males since 1984, at least 22 of whom were under 18. He also
kept records and videotapes of the sexual encounters. He was
sentenced July 29 by Superior Court and was on PAID LEAVE until then.
Also from Arizona.

In California, Rev. Richard Allen Henry, 47, was sentenced to 8 years
in state prison for having sex with 4 boys, all brothers, over a 6
year period. The Los Angeles archdiocese -- get this -- told the
court not to imprison a "broken man" and unsuccessfully, praise
Dobbs, offered to pay for treatment if probation was granted.

Rev. Maurice McInerney, of St. Peter Catholic Church in Colorado, was
charged with sexually abusing an incest survivor who had trusted him
to counsel her. McInerney has been relieved of his duties but IS
STILL RECEIVING HIS SALARY.

This one is great. Rev. Mike Williams, 47, also of Colorado, was
charged with SPANKING a man during a counseling session. He was
acquitted of similar charges last year.

In Illinois, Rev. David Stalzer was REINSTATED to his parish despite
a civil lawsuit accusing him of sexual misconduct with a minor.

FIVE priests from Belleville, Illinois were removed from the ministry
(exception, not the rule) due to allegations, investigations etc. of
sexual misconduct.

Rev. Kevin Sullivan, of Decatur, Illinois, is being sued. Why?
Because he impregnated Susan Hertel and then encouraged her to have
an abortion.

In Indiana, Rev. Raymond Weber is being sued. He allegedly used LSD
and alcohol to seduce a teenage boy.

Also in Indiana, home of great moral leader Dan Quayle (sorry,
couldn't resist), deacon A.V. Ballenger was convicted of fondling a 7-
year-old girl in Sunday school class and sentenced to 8 years in
prison. Naturally, his congregation expressed shocked disbelief, and
probably (I say this without any evidence whatsoever) assumed that
the girl was influenced by Satan to Deceive as Jezebels are Destined
to Do unto Men of God.

In Iowa, the pastor of the Wesleyan Church is accused of placing an
ad under the name "Diamond Dreams" and agreeing to sex for $150 with
an undercover officer while DRESSED IN DRAG. Rev. Jennfrey Dean
McKelvey quit his job after his arrest.

In Kentucky, Rev. Earl Bierman attempted to seduce two boys by
telling them all about other parishioners' confessions of sexual
aberrations (according to Catholic doctrine, this is one of the worst
things a priest can do). He pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of 6 boys
and was sentenced to 20 years.

Rev. Ronald D. Provost of Barre, Massachusetts was convicted for
taking over 100 nude photos of boys. Naturally, he refused to
apologize to the victims'
families, and the mother of one boy said that the diocese has
"expressed no concern at all."

C. Eric Lincoln, a Methodist minister, is charged with assault,
attempted rape and battery of a woman at Duke University, where
Lincoln is a professor emeritus.

Donald J. Heydens, a priest in Grand Rapids, Michigan, admitted to
molesting 5 girls. The girls claimed that Heydens submitted them to
repeated assaults over a period of one year.

Rev. Wilson Smart molested or had sexual contact with 31 boys since
1950. His Helena, Montana diocese has encouraged parishoners not to
sue but instead accept church counseling (which is probably where
they were abused in the first place).

A priest, 2 Millville, NJ men and the father of a female victim have
filed a suit against 2 priests. The priests are accused of operating
a sex ring of children. Several dioceses and Catholic organizations
are accused of a massive coverup of the abuse. This is not proven,
but I personally find it highly likely.

In lovely New Mexico, Rev. David Holley gets up to 275 years in
prison for molesting 8 boys.

A third priest, Rev. Edward Pipala, was removed from a Hudson Valley,
NY pastorate for accusations of sex abuse. He has ADMITTED to turning
the parish boys' club into a sex club he called "The Hole," at which
he provided beer to 30-50 minors and engaged in anal and oral sex and
masturbation, all under an oath of secrecy (and threat of
excommunication, I'll bet).

Martin Louis, a priest of the Cleveland, Ohio diocese, was sentenced
to 25 years in prison. A woman testified that he molested her when
she was 10 following her first communion. He repeatedly raped her,
threatening her with hell and telling her that this was what all
priests do (Possibly, but not probably).

Had enough yet? These individual examples are selected from a list of
over 100 cases of "black collar crimes."