Two Sex Scandals You Missed

Posted on | February 17, 2015 | 52 Comments

The liberal media generally ignore sex scandals unless they involve a Republican politician or a Catholic priest, so maybe you didn’t hear about Mohammad Abdullah Saleem, the Illinois imam who allegedly perpetrated “decades of assault and child sex abuse . . . within the community of Indian and Pakistani Muslim immigrants.”

Does this reveal a “war on women”? Is there a “rape culture” among Muslims? Of course not! Saleem is not a Catholic priest or a Republican politician — he’s not even a college fraternity member — and therefore his alleged perversion is entirely random.

The same is true of Tony Jones, a leader of the “Emergent Church” movement that embraces postmodern progressivism: “In 2010 Jones encouraged Minnesota clergy to stop performing legal marriages, as a show of solidarity with LGBT people who could not be legally married in the state at that time.” This heretical theology appears to be a sort of hipster universalism, salt that has lost its savor (Matthew 5:13) and has become “conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2).

Tony Jones became a progressive religious celebrity, touring like a rock star on the “emergent” speaking circuit while his marriage was falling apart. If we are to believe the allegations of his ex-wife, Julie McMahon, Tony Jones developed a pornography habit and “starting in 2007, Mr. Jones began asking her repeatedly for sexual behaviors she found repellent, including anal sex.” Of course, this is the progressive gospel of “emergent” theology: “Thou shalt watch porn and do it in the butt.”

Documents relating to the Jones-McMahon divorce depict Jones as a manipulative narcissist who, in order to justify his own behavior, resorted to “gaslighting” his wife, accusing her of mental illness. He threatened to sue her for defamation if she went public about his affair with his mistress, whom he subsequently married. You can call that whatever you want, but you can’t call it Christian leadership.

As with the Chicago imam, however, the misbehavior of a progressive pastor is just random. Such scandals are never part of a “pattern of abuse” that journalists can use to indict entire institutions like the Catholic church or the Republican Party. It’s like sexual harassment by atheist men — nothing to see here, move along.

Category: Religion, Scandal, Sex

Comments

52 Responses to “Two Sex Scandals You Missed”

RS
February 17th, 2015 @ 6:20 pm

Well. I can’t wait for the minions of “Reverend” Jones to be along shortly, much like the troll for Joel Osteen some weeks back, to defend their Dear Leader with utmost vigor. Heaven forbid we should analyze behaviors (fruits) and compare them with words to determine whether someone is truly a Christian leader.

As for the Muslim, anyone who’s paid attention to the UK of late has been waiting for that shoe to drop here in the US for some time.
Fail Burton
February 17th, 2015 @ 6:22 pm

The concept of group libel is a thing that comes and goes with progressives.
smitty
February 17th, 2015 @ 6:44 pm

What is a “Progressive Christian”? How does that relate to the Gospel as written?
Matt_SE
February 17th, 2015 @ 6:56 pm

In the past, such revelations would never have seen the light of day. This is the transparency that the internet and citizen journalism provide.
This is why the left are intent on controlling the internet; why they seek to regulate it like a utility.
Can you imagine what would happen if the government declared that they would seek to regulate news media (MSM) as a utility?
There’s little outcry because not enough people realize that this is what the internet has become.
kilo6
February 17th, 2015 @ 6:57 pm

Perhaps they believe in “living scriptures” (or some such nondescript yet Orwellian language) in the same way political progressivism believes in a “living constitution” … it means whatever they say it means, in the future it may mean something completely different.
Matt_SE
February 17th, 2015 @ 6:57 pm

Progressive Christian: Someone who has progressed beyond the teachings of Christ. Formerly known as an “apostate.”
Adobe_Walls
February 17th, 2015 @ 7:21 pm

Interesting question, I doubt Marx would endorse the term. We may be certain that it’s more Progressive than Christian.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
February 17th, 2015 @ 7:23 pm

Mark 13:22; Matthew 24:24.
concern00
February 17th, 2015 @ 8:12 pm

‘Progressive Christians believe that Christ came to “save the lost and downtrodden,” and place emphasis on caring for the poor, whereas conservatives tend to preach moral principles, and stress the need for the lost and downtrodden to accept Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation in addition to caring for the poor. (Wikipedia)’

So progressive Christians like to care for the poor; gaining salvation through Jesus, not so much. Not really Christianity, is it?
RKae
February 17th, 2015 @ 8:15 pm

I’m gonna have to say that you overestimate the internet. Apparently, you didn’t read the right books way back when.

Stuff like this did come out, and (exactly like today with the internet) it only came out in preaching-to-the-choir environments.

As an old fogey, I’m just going to say there’s nothing new under the sun.
RKae
February 17th, 2015 @ 8:16 pm

They like to repeat the line “He who is without sin cast the first stone,” and UTTERLY IGNORE that Christ then said to the adulterous woman, “Go and sin no more.”
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February 17th, 2015 @ 8:41 pm

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DeadMessenger
February 17th, 2015 @ 8:49 pm

I urge the minions of “Reverend” Jones to show up. I, for one, am prepared to eviserate their arguments with the sword of the Spirit. Too bad their shepherd didn’t prepare them likewise.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
February 17th, 2015 @ 8:50 pm

nice try concern troll, but the truth is most serious Christians I know actually do care for the poor too.
DeadMessenger
February 17th, 2015 @ 8:50 pm

Good answer.
DeadMessenger
February 17th, 2015 @ 8:57 pm

Indeed, because how does a lost soul recognize that he needs salvation until he knows he has broken the law, and that there is an eternal penalty for sin?

I’m frequently asked why Jesus would tell the adulteress to “sin no more”, when He knew that she couldn’t do that. My response is that God isn’t interested in perfection, He’s interested in persistence.
CrustyB
February 17th, 2015 @ 9:06 pm

Here in Chicago, we have an annual Gay Pride Parade to celebrate how normal, natural and healthy homosexuals are. Not two months later and two blocks away they clear out Lake Shore Drive and have an AIDS marathon to raise money for how abnormal, unnatural and unhealthy homosexuals are.
Michael Spangler
February 17th, 2015 @ 9:31 pm

Speaking of patriarchy, I’ve found a site today called Patriarchy Patrol https://patriarchypatrol.wordpress.com/

Unsurprisingly, there seems to be very little patrolling for patriarchy. You would think, with a name like “Patriarchy Patrol” the writers would be discussing, in depth, the patriarchy of Muslim sex gangs grooming and raping young women in the UK and EU.

Or maybe they would talk about the young girls being sold into sex slavery and continually raped by members of ISIS.

I guess they’re too busy discussing the patriarchy behind “manspreading” to discuss anything of substance.
Dianna Deeley
February 17th, 2015 @ 10:00 pm

Ugh.

How come people give themselves permission to be so freaking awful?

At some level, I’m glad you point this stuff out. At another, I just get so bloody depressed – it’s like the entire fourth estate has gone bonkers, and won’t inform us about things that matter, unless it supports a narrative. I am tired of narrative. I want simple facts!
K-Bob
February 17th, 2015 @ 10:29 pm

Reminds me a lot of how we used to play as kids with army men. You’d just make up a weapon name and act like it’s totally real.
Michael Spangler
February 17th, 2015 @ 11:05 pm

Yep, that sounds about right.
Julie Pascal
February 17th, 2015 @ 11:45 pm

He did say “in addition to”…
Dana
February 18th, 2015 @ 6:25 am

It’s an oxymoron, nothing more.
Jeanette Victoria
February 18th, 2015 @ 9:02 am

They are on Facebook I don’t recognize this as Christianity looks more like Marxism to me https://www.facebook.com/TheChristianLeft
Evi L. Bloggerlady
February 18th, 2015 @ 9:16 am

My bad. I read concern00 too quickly and missed the meaning.
BLBeamer
February 18th, 2015 @ 9:19 am

Progressive Christianity is a system that allows hipsters and douchebags to continue to feel good about themselves, and more importantly, it allows them to continue to feel they are better than mere “Christians” who believe in all that icky “sin” stuff.

It’s holy trinity is:
1. LGBQT advocacy
2. socialism
3. No orthodoxy in anything
Dana
February 18th, 2015 @ 9:26 am

You cannot be a “progressive,” as it’s understood in the United States, and be a Christian; the two are mutually exclusive. You cannot support homosexual activity and be a Christian; homosexual relations are specifically forbidden by the Bible. You cannot support abortion and still be a Christian. You cannot support sexual freedom or divorce for anything other than cause, and still be a Christian; they are forbidden by scripture.

When someone says he is a progressive and a Christian, he’s not only lying to you, he’s lying to himself as well.
trangbang68
February 18th, 2015 @ 10:13 am

What do a degenerate imam and a narcissistic, self serving heretic have in common? Same devil/ different day.
trangbang68
February 18th, 2015 @ 10:14 am

intellectual descendants of the Christless social gospel of the nineteenth century
trangbang68
February 18th, 2015 @ 10:16 am

they also worship at the altar of the saintly Matthew Sheppard martyr of the Sacred Order of Sodomites
trangbang68
February 18th, 2015 @ 10:17 am

He would probably view progressive “Christianity” as the xanax of the masses
Art Deco
February 18th, 2015 @ 10:17 am

Sad to say, the evangelical star system generates a certain number of characters who are running (often quite successfully) what amounts to a motivational-speaker’s feel-good racket. The recent spate of established megachurch pastors promoting au courant mores swaddled in gauzy protestant/sentimentalist verbiage reflects, one is proper to assume, their market research. The cheerleaders for these greasy characters find their home at Religion News Service.
Art Deco
February 18th, 2015 @ 10:23 am

In the Catholic Church in America, you have a stylistically different problem: teachings embarrassing to a certain sort of bourgeois are simply never mentioned by the bishop and their adherents are purged from the Church’s middle management. You also have the Vicar of Bray phenomenon. Sterling examples would be the Cardinal-Archbishops of New York and Washington, respectively. And, of course, no professing Christian expect jack from oldline protestant clergy.
The least corrupted denominations appear to be the more staid (but rigorist) protestant bodies like the off brand Lutheran and Presbyterian congregations. The Eastern Churches do not produce many scandals either. The Mormons still have their mojo. However, when a true history of this era is written, it will be properly harsh with the clergy in general.
Art Deco
February 18th, 2015 @ 10:24 am

I think I’ll never understand men who want to cornhole women.
Art Deco
February 18th, 2015 @ 10:27 am

As we speak, only an indulgent attitude toward sodomy and the subcultures surrounding it is really decisive. Adopting that attitude has knock-on effects which replaces any kind of Scriptural or Apostolic authority with what amounts to conventional wisdom among a certain sort of bourgeois found between the newsroom, the faculty lounge, and the therapist’s office. They don’t trade in ‘socialism’. No real cachet in that.
Zohydro
February 18th, 2015 @ 11:27 am

I’ve read that some old versions of the Gospel of John omit that pericope—probably just for that very reason… Perhaps Jesus just specifically meant the adultery!
Zohydro
February 18th, 2015 @ 11:32 am

AKA Godless Commie Sodomites™
robertstacymccain
February 18th, 2015 @ 11:38 am

Ludwig von Mises made the point that Christian socialism is … socialism.

That is to say, calling something “Christian” doesn’t change what it actually is and, from an economic perspective, there is nothing essentially different between “Christian socialism” and any other socialism. It’s the same system and, as such, fails for the same reason. Governments cannot effectively plan economic activity, and therefore all socialism is destructive and doomed to fail. Once you understand that basic economic truth — that socialism is ultimately impossible — a lot of other issues come into clearer focus. There is no moral argument to made on behalf of a destructive policy that harms everyone, and the posture of superiority so common among self-styled “progressives” is a fraud.
Zohydro
February 18th, 2015 @ 11:41 am

Where did that come from?
RS
February 18th, 2015 @ 11:44 am

Quite. These “Über-evangelists” have people who monitor social media and send out the “call to action” when something negative appears. I experienced it years ago when I posted something critical about a female Christian bigwig on my now defunct blog. It was a very enlightening experience.

(And, BTW, big companies do the same thing. I had a similar experience with a large brewer. The national headquarters popped into my blog about five times within 20 minutes of my post.

And it was a throw-away line without any criticism stated or implied.)
Art Deco
February 18th, 2015 @ 12:03 pm

Tony Jones developed a pornography habit and “starting in 2007, Mr. Jones began asking her repeatedly for sexual behaviors she found repellent, including anal sex.”
That’s right there in the moderator’s 3d to last paragraph.
Art Deco
February 18th, 2015 @ 12:08 pm

from an economic perspective, there is nothing essentially different between “Christian socialism” and any other socialism.
You cannot use the social encyclicals to justify a command economy. Also, the social encyclicals are animated by some signature concerns which do not figure in social democracy derived from Marxism (though they may be congruent with ‘social-liberal’ thinking to a degree).
The most severe problem with the social encyclicals is that (as written and without annotation) they are nearly impossible to operationalize. I’m not sure how Christian democratic or social Christian parties ever got past that other than doing some free-forming.
Art Deco
February 18th, 2015 @ 12:14 pm

There is no moral argument to made on behalf of a destructive policy that harms everyone, and the posture of superiority so common among self-styled “progressives” is a fraud.
The trouble with this remark is that an economic system is not a policy but a mess of policies, some better than others. If you speak of ‘socialism’, you’re only really precise and coherent when you’re discussing command economies or some sort of generalized syndicalism. The latter has only one satisfactory example, Tito’s Yugoslavia, and neither have much of a constituency anywhere these days.
The problem the West faces is not ‘socialism’, but mixed economies with a stew of bad policies which promote rent-seeking and damage the fluidity of the labor market. They’re indubitably also implicated in the strangest phenomenon of our times, the refusal of people to procreate (which is due to cause a real social crises in the industrial Orient and in the germanophone states).
Zohydro
February 18th, 2015 @ 12:25 pm

Right… Nevermind!
Two Sex Scandals You Missed |
February 18th, 2015 @ 12:30 pm

[…] The Other McCain- […]
kilo6
February 18th, 2015 @ 12:48 pm

http://i.imgur.com/goProMX.jpg
DeadMessenger
February 18th, 2015 @ 1:13 pm

The internet, and blogs in particular, being a good way to gauge how far off the rails a healthy segment of people are, and not just mentally, but also intellectually and emotionally.

p.s. It may have been funnier if I’d sarcastically faux-attacked you because of your response, but given the experiences of several regulars here, I decided that I’d be the only one who thought it was funny.
Dana
February 18th, 2015 @ 1:34 pm

Our honored host wrote:

Once you understand that basic economic truth — that socialism is ultimately impossible — a lot of other issues come into clearer focus.

Trouble is, for much of the left, that realization hasn’t occurred.

We heard it back in the seventies and eighties, that real communism, as Herr Marx envisioned, had never really been tried, without the left ever asking if it hadn’t been tried because it never could work.

In one way, it’s easy to understand the impetus for “Christian socialism,” the desire of so many for people to have a much better life, and the distaste for the fact that some people have more than others; it’s just so unfair, you know. Jesus would be appalled, they believe.

Absent from that is any consideration of the fact that while luck plays a real role, the real root of poverty is the failure of the people in poverty themselves. Even if you start out poor in life — I certainly did — you can do something really radical like work, and better your economic situation.

Capitalism is a tough system: it allows many people to succeed, and some will succeed fantastically well, but it also allows people to fail, and, for the oh-so-compassionate left, that is a horrible problem. Socialism, they think, is the answer, but the problem is that, in the end, socialism just doesn’t work.

Let me be clear about this: socialism doesn’t work and socialism cannot work, because we are not all equal; some people are simply better than others, some people are simply born with or develop talents superior to others, talents which make a real difference economically.
DeadMessenger
February 18th, 2015 @ 1:35 pm

In John 5:14, Jesus heals a guy and tells him to “stop sinning”. The Apostle Paul says it in 1 Corinthians 15:34.

I think the point here is to see our sin through the eyes of a holy and perfectly righteous God instead of the eyes of men. A lot of people think “I’m not Hitler, so I’m doing OK” but that’s way off. Jesus said that when we look at someone with lust, we have already committed adultery with them in our hearts. And hate is the same as murder in God’s eyes. The fact is, we all sin constantly in thought, word and deed. We commit sins of commission and omission.

When I decided that I loved Jesus and wanted to be with Him forever, I knew I that I needed to start addressing my sin. For instance, how many times do you hear people say the words that “OMG” represents? Using God’s name like a 3 letter curse word is blasphemy, and is a sin. There are so many seemingly “little” things all day. But when you start taking notice of them, and try to correct them, you start to see just how weak you are, and how much in need of salvation you are. So I think the goal here is making constant forward progress.

I know it’s trite, but true Christians aren’t sinless, they just sin less.
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