Terry Firma, though born and Journalism-school-educated in Europe, has lived in the U.S. for the past 20-odd years. Stateside, his feature articles have been published in the New York Times, Reason, Rolling Stone, Playboy, and Wired. Terry was the founder and Main Mischief Maker of Moral Compass, a now-dormant site that pokes fun at the delusional claim by people of faith that a belief in God equips them with superior moral standards. He was the Editor-in-Chief of two Manhattan-based magazines until he decided to give up commercial publishing for professional photography... with a lot of blogging on the side. These days, he lives in an old seaside farmhouse in Maine with his wife, three kids, and two big dogs.
It’s been almost a year since David Yonggi Cho was indicted. Cho, whose Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea has more than a million congregants, was charged with fraud in an elaborate and bald-faced stock scheme. Prosecutors said Cho, 78, who preached the gospel of prosperity, arranged for the church to buy his son Cho Hee-jun’s stock at greatly inflated prices, enriching himself and his offspring to the tune of twelve million dollars. Read more
I try never to utter the words “Westboro Baptist Church,” lest I give that group more of the media oxygen it craves. Today, I’ll make an exception, though (sorry folks), because I’d really like to point out that many times, Fred Phelps and the other moral mongrels of the WBC don’t actually show up to picket when they say they will. My guess is they have neither the budget, nor the time, nor the courage. But that doesn’t always matter a great deal to the media (social and otherwise). Any mention of Westboro is sure to inflame passions, and thus draw extra eyeballs, Facebook shares, and mouse clicks. What’s regrettable is that these days, whether or not Phelps and his posse make an appearance, they reap tons of publicity and build their public awareness. Westboro is locked in a highly symbiotic, co-dependent relationship with the very media who proclaim to be against the group. All the Phelps camp has to do is issue a press release announcing that they’ll protest at another funeral, and the fever pitch of the gullible and the indignant, whipped up by a bevy of concerned articles and angry Tweets, starts building. Take the vigil for a young murder victim in Springfield, Missouri. Read more
When priest Gil Gustafson was caught, tried, and convicted in a child sex abuse case in the 1980s, his superiors excommunicated him from the Church and never spoke of him again. Ha ha. As if. No: the Twin Cities Archdiocese made sure that Gustafson was essentially set for life. [It] continued his priestly salary and health insurance, covered his living expenses and psychological treatment and paid for his education and training, according to church records and a former archdiocese accountant. It has given him jobs in the chancery, helped him establish his own consulting business, and steered clients his way. And it gets better worse. Read more
