Is killing a Pastor always a bad thing?

[Mystical]

Considering that I have no religion dictating whom it is okay to kill or not, I'd like to know: if a Pastor came to your town, and accused the children of your town of witchcraft which lead to social unrest and suffering, torment and child abuse: would you kill that pastor?



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/18...24943.html

The nine-year-old boy lay on a bloodstained hospital sheet crawling with ants, staring blindly at the wall.

His family pastor had accused him of being a witch, and his father then tried to force acid down his throat as an exorcism. It spilled as he struggled, burning away his face and eyes. The emaciated boy barely had strength left to whisper the name of the church that had denounced him – Mount Zion Lighthouse.

A month later, he died.

Nwanaokwo Edet was one of an increasing number of children in Africa accused of witchcraft by pastors and then tortured or killed, often by family members. Pastors were involved in half of 200 cases of "witch children" reviewed by the AP, and 13 churches were named in the case files.

Some of the churches involved are renegade local branches of international franchises. Their parishioners take literally the Biblical exhortation, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."

"It is an outrage what they are allowing to take place in the name of Christianity," said Gary Foxcroft, head of nonprofit Stepping Stones Nigeria.

Sam Itauma of the Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network said it is the most vulnerable children – the orphaned, sick, disabled or poor – who are most often denounced. In Nwanaokwo's case, his poor father and dead mother made him an easy target.

"Even churches who didn't use to 'find' child witches are being forced into it by the competition," said Itauma. "They are seen as spiritually powerful because they can detect witchcraft and the parents may even pay them money for an exorcism."


There's a scar above Jane's shy smile: her mother tried to saw off the top of her skull after a pastor denounced her and repeated exorcisms costing a total of $60 didn't cure her of witchcraft. Mary, 15, is just beginning to think about boys and how they will look at the scar tissue on her face caused when her mother doused her in caustic soda. Twelve-year-old Rachel dreamed of being a banker but instead was chained up by her pastor, starved and beaten with sticks repeatedly; her uncle paid him $60 for the exorcism.

Israel's cousin tried to bury him alive, Nwaekwa's father drove a nail through her head, and sweet-tempered Jerry – all knees, elbows and toothy grin – was beaten by his pastor, starved, made to eat cement and then set on fire by his father as his pastor's wife cheered it on.



The home was founded in 2003 with seven children; it now has 120 to 200 at any given time as children are reconciled with their families and new victims arrive.

Helen Ukpabio is one of the few evangelists publicly linked to the denunciation of child witches. She heads the enormous Liberty Gospel church in Calabar, where Nwanaokwo used to live. Ukpabio makes and distributes popular books and DVDs on witchcraft; in one film, a group of child witches pull out a man's eyeballs. In another book, she advises that 60 percent of the inability to bear children is caused by witchcraft.

In an interview with the AP, Ukpabio is accompanied by her lawyer, church officials and personal film crew.

"Witchcraft is real," Ukpabio insisted, before denouncing the physical abuse of children. Ukpabio says she performs non-abusive exorcisms for free and was not aware of or responsible for any misinterpretation of her materials.

My answer is still No, amazingly. I guess that makes me more moral than them.

[IAmNotHere]

Not kill, but certainly lock up...

[pineapplebunnybounce]

I would if it would solve the problem. I think it just makes them a martyr and me a new target for exorcism. But yea I would take some drastic measures to stop the pastor.

And holy shit, that's messed up stuff.

[Captain Colostomy]

Hell yeah! And my conscience would be clean, because they're obliged to forgive me first!



OK...no. Not likely. Well, maybe.....depending.

[Something completely different]

Jozef Tiso

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jozef_Tiso

Jozef Tiso (13 October 1887 – 18 April 1947) was a Slovak Roman Catholic priest, politician of the Slovak People's Party. Between 1939 and 1945, Tiso was the head[1][2][3][4][5][6] of the Slovak State, a satellite state of Nazi Germany. After the end of World War II, Tiso was convicted and hanged for treason.

[Cinjin]

First -
Keep a link to this article the next time you have some christard spout off about how his god hands out morality as soon as you sign up.


Secondly -

I'd kill em all. Every time. You don't torture and murder children for any reason and then live to do it again if I'm anywhere nearby.
We are all just a part of nature and since I don't believe in sin, only actions, my actions would be completely justified in the protection of the innocent.


If I'm wrong - so be it. I'll risk the judgement of those who don't matter in the first place.

[Mystical]

See I'd protect the children by taking them away. And fighting back with non-deadly means. I'm not against burning their church down, for instance..Or stealing from them all the funds they raised for exorcisms in order to give to the children (the family members who were party to horror should pay for what they did and are no longer considered victims in my mind).

---

and that's only after legal means of resolution fail

[MindForgedManacle]

How frightening. And a demonstration to the Christians who say no one takes the verses in question as literal proscriptions that they are wrong as could be.

[Faith No More]

...would you kill that pastor?

If it was the only way to stop the abuse, sure, but in a manner that ensured he suffered first.

[Lemonvariable72]

I say kill them, but try them first and make it long and showy. Cart them out as evil and make sure everyone knows what they have done to these children, then exceute them.