It seems there are a dozen diaries a day saying, "You can't make this stuff up." Here is another one. The story begin in 1997. Back then, Ernest Willis, a man in his thirties and member of the Trinity Baptist Church in Concord, NH raped and impregnated 15-year-old Tina Anderson.
The church pastor, Chuck Phelps made her confess her part of the sin:
The victim said Phelps told her she would be put up for "church discipline," where parishioners go before the congregation to apologize for their sins.
She asked why. "Pastor Phelps then said that (Willis) may have been 99 percent responsible, but I needed to confess my 1 percent guilt in the situation," the victim told the police.
"He told me that I should be happy that I didn’t live in Old Testament times because I would have been stoned."
More below the fold. You might want to reach for the Pepto Bismol.
Anderson is now 28, and is starting to tell her story.
Anderson, now 28 and living in Arizona, said Trinity Baptist Church members had told her not to report an earlier case in which she had been molested by a convicted sex offender who was also a member of the congregation, so she expected them to do the same if she told them she had been raped.
"They told me that to be a good Christian, I need to forgive, forget and move on in my life," she said. "And they told me that a good Christian doesn't press charges on another good Christian."
So what did the good and loving pastor Chuck Phelps suggest she do? Why, visit the man who raped her in prison.
Anderson said Phelps directed her to visit the man in state prison to offer her forgiveness.
"He said if I didn't forgive him and give him forgiveness, then I would get bitter," she said. "It's just kind of how things at the church go. The woman is blamed for everything."
At the state prison in Concord, Anderson said she was forced to confront the man with her mother. "It was horrible," she said. "It was awful."
Anderson never reported the allegation to the police, and the man was not charged with assaulting her.
More sordid details at the link. Thanks to The Friendly Atheist for publicizing the story.
P.S. Thanks for getting this publicized as a recommended diary. This is only my second time. Wish it could be more a more inspiring reason.