cloth monsters

Prop 8-Loving Pastor Tom Daniels Arrested On Child Molestation Charges

Finally someone has volunteered to take Pastor Eddie Long’s place in the Disgusting Men Of God headlines contest. Meet Pastor Tom Daniels. He’s the head pastor at First Baptist Church in Rio Linda, California, outside Sacramento. He’s a proud Prop 8 supporter. Oh, and he’s being held on $6 million bond for multiple child molestation charges.

Arrested Dec. 9 (which police kept quiet until now while their investigation continued), Daniels stands accused of sexually violating children between June 2004 and June 2007. This isn’t the first time he’s been on the radar of police: In 2008 a complaint was made against him, but police say they had insufficient evidence to pursue a case. Now another victim has come forward, and prosecutors slapped him with one charge of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age, and another charge for engaging in multiple sexual assaults of a child.

It’s so far unclear how Daniels came in contact with the children, but I’m going to take a wild guess: given the guy was a FOSTER PARENT and DAY CARE PROVIDER, he was around kids all the time.

Daniels will next appear in court at a Jan. 20 hearing, which means you’ve got between now and then to connect some dots: Daniels preaches the word of god, made donations to ProtectMarriage.com in its pro-marriage discrimination fight, and now stands accused of violating children (I can only suspect were) in his care. Oh, and the church is standing behind him: “Until such time as the courts prove Pastor Tom Daniels guilty, we have an obligation to support him and his family,” reads a statement from First Baptist’s board — which opted not to notify churchgoers of their pastor’s arrest, instead swapping in a substitute pastor as if everything was fine and dandy.

The church’s board wants the courts, and not the media, to try Daniels on the child molestation counts. So fine, we will. But we don’t need a judge’s gavel to know the man is already a monster: he’s manipulated religion to preach bigotry.

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