Woman Literally Beats Pastor With Bible July 7, 2012

Woman Literally Beats Pastor With Bible

By Jessica Bluemke
July 7, 2012

A woman in Selmen, Tennessee was arrested for assaulting her pastor.

She’s 63.

She did it because she thought he had “the demon in him.”

Just watch the video:

Last year, Mount Zion Baptist Church got a new pastor. Not everyone was happy with the selection.  Evidently, this caused some sort of rift within the small 30-person church.

So member Ina Garrett hit the pastor in the head with her Bible. (To knock the demon out of him, obviously.) Pastor Leon Taylor pressed charges, and Garrett was arrested on charges of assault.

There is no word on what exactly Taylor did to piss off an elderly woman enough to smack him in the head, but apparently he isn’t taking the hint and he is staying put in his pulpit.   Probably something about turning the other cheek.

Tune in next week to see if she hits that one too!

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  • JohnnieCanuck

    Not very forgiving of him to have her charged. Maybe that’s proof enough that he is evil and thus she was justified.

  • gski

    Considering how many people have been killed because of the bible, she should be charged with using a deadly weapon.

  • kenneth

    Is it wrong to fantasize about an LAPD-style beatdown of fanatical homophobe pastors using bibles in lieu of batons?

  • Suspected Demon possession is a legal defense in Tennessee. 

  • VitreousTabard64

  • I’ve always considered the bible to be utterly without value. I’ll have to revise that opinion, seeing that it does indeed have at least one practical use.

  • ortcutt

    I have better things to do on a Sunday morning than play dress-up, get in fights, and argue about the management of a 30-member social club.  It never ceases to amaze me that people voluntarily subject themselves to this activity.

  •   Ah, but see he’s not the one technically punishing her (the law/police are) and if he FORGIVES her (you know, in his heart with Jesus and all) he’s totally turning the other cheek or something…  it’s all very vague, but that’s my guess on his justification of pressing charges.

  • Relevant:

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umLUKBlpyoY

  • Iosue

    What brilliant logic: ‘I disagree with _____ therefore he’s possessed by a demon.’

  • When you teach people stupid stuff like demon possession, you can’t be surprised when they act on it, and even harm people in the process. 

  • Onamission5

    In a way, I feel for the lady. There have been a few preachers I’d liked to have whapped with their bibles in my life. I also feel for the pastor, in that I’ve been accused of demon possession and whapped upside the head with a bible by an unbalanced religious person myself on more than one occasion. One could say I feel, well, ambivalent. I do wonder what it was that set her off. Like, did the pastor decide to preach in favor of gay rights?

  • “There is no word on what exactly Taylor did to piss off an elderly woman
    enough to smack him in the head, but apparently he isn’t taking the
    hint”

    sounds like victim blaming to me.

  • 3lemenope

    “I just crashed my van into Jesus!”

  • The most distressing thing to me is that even the newscaster is referring to the Bible as “God’s word” during a news broadcast, which on the one hand seems purposely written to provoke outrage among the audience-at-home, but also presumptively assumes that every viewer agrees with the newscaster’s (or news team’s) that there is a God and the Bible is 

  • his word, (sorry)

  • Stev84

    It’s exactly that reasoning that some churches use against sexual abuse victims. They forgive the abuser and then accuse the abused person of not being forgiving if they persist with accusations.

  • Stev84

    But if she had watched “Supernatural”, she’d know that’s not how you exorcise a demon

  • This gives the phrase “BIBLE-THUMPING” a whole new meaning!
    🙂

  • Yep, exactly the same. -_-

  • TCC

    They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love…

  • Ian Reide

    roflmao

  • CelticWhisper

     There’s a part of me that wants to say “We’re talking about a christian preacher here.  They’re never innocent victims.”*

    Still, I somehow feel compelled to draw the line at unprovoked physical assault and agree that this was uncalled for and yet another sad example of how religion drives good people to do bad things.  The story was vague on details but considering that it’s a small-town baptist church in TN, it’s pretty safe to assume that the “demon” was most likely the preacher making statements that the congregation determined were too forward-thinking.  Probably had the “audacity” to say that LGBT people are actually –not– all destined to suffer for eternity for loving who they love.  Put that in front of 63 years of small-town conservative indoctrination, toss in the sense of entitlement that people in those environments develop with age, and you get a response that, while repugnant and inexcusable, is not entirely shocking.

    (* There’s another part of me that just wants to say “The old folks down south be scary, y’all” and leave it at that, but I’m chalking that up to the late hour.)

  • Visitor

    Carrying Bible-thumping to a new extreme! 😉

  • Ah, gotta laugh when I hear these Christian apologists talking about philosophy so intricate and esoteric, trying to define what Christianity is all about.

    And then you have the rest of the Christian population acting out what Christians believe, have always believed, and will probably always believe.

  • Good and Godless

    Had she beaten him in a confessional it would have been privileged and he would be bound to not disclose any details of the crime. 

    Had she beaten his naked ass bent over a pew along with a line of weeping alter boys even the bishops would cover up her crimes.

    Had she beaten him as  her child (and at 63 he could be) to “cure” him of demonic possession the courts would defend her religious freedom.

    The absurdity of religious tolerance has been abundantly clear for decades.

    Time to re-amend the Constitution and remove this petulance from the world.

  • I hope they throw the book at her in court!

  • Who else couldn’t stop thinking of Blazing Saddles on this one? 

  • Chris

    I think there’s a distinction between persons being killed “because of the bible” and persons being killed with bible being used as rational.  There’ve been  just as many, if not more, killed by because of nothing more than greed.  Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Polpot the list goes on and on.  My point being, it’s not unique to persons subscribing (or more often than not) claiming to subscribe to a religion.  Saying you’re a person of faith and actually conducting yourself as a person of faith should are two separate things.  Much like saying your a rationale and fair person and then going out and acting a complete fool.  The proof is in the pudding. 

  • The Other Weirdo

    Wait, what? He’s pressing charges? Not very Christian of him, is it? What happened to turning the other cheeks and giving them the jacket when they take the boots?