EDITORIAL: Weed out the fake churches
The cane with which the devil is going to whip fake preachers – and those who amplify their criminal enterprise – is still soaking in kerosene.
On Judgment Day, when every believer will give an account of themselves, salvation will further slip away... and hell will draw closer. Tough questions will be asked - from unexplained wealth to fake healing, the charlatan religious leaders will have their day.
Thousands of people have starved to death under the guise of fasting, others have been told to give away their houses because they are possessed by the devil. If this is what religious freedom means in a secular state, let’s scrap it. Freedom of worship should be exercised with sincerity, not deceit.
How many more people must be raped before we decisively deal with the conmen and predators masquerading in clerical collars and borrowed robes? We agree, the government must not play God. Not when its own closet is teeming with the bones of its own sins. But governments are elected to protect society – especially its most vulnerable members.
We risk being locked out of heaven if we neglect our duty to protect our fellow countrymen, and leave men with pointy, shiny shoes to dance on people’s suffering.
If a man in a wheelchair believes some Joe Sixpack from a church with a long name can heal him, it’s not because he is gullible. It's because he's desperate for a miracle, and can thus be easily exploited.
On Judgment Day, when every believer will give an account of themselves, salvation will further slip away... and hell will draw closer. Tough questions will be asked - from unexplained wealth to fake healing, the charlatan religious leaders will have their day.
Thousands of people have starved to death under the guise of fasting, others have been told to give away their houses because they are possessed by the devil. If this is what religious freedom means in a secular state, let’s scrap it. Freedom of worship should be exercised with sincerity, not deceit.
How many more people must be raped before we decisively deal with the conmen and predators masquerading in clerical collars and borrowed robes? We agree, the government must not play God. Not when its own closet is teeming with the bones of its own sins. But governments are elected to protect society – especially its most vulnerable members.
We risk being locked out of heaven if we neglect our duty to protect our fellow countrymen, and leave men with pointy, shiny shoes to dance on people’s suffering.
If a man in a wheelchair believes some Joe Sixpack from a church with a long name can heal him, it’s not because he is gullible. It's because he's desperate for a miracle, and can thus be easily exploited.
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