Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

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1. 

   As someone who produced dozens of nativity plays as a teacher and a Sunday School leader, that title ‘A Gay…

2. 

   The defence of a Christian view never seems to be settled by debate: exchange of facts, reference to historical events.…

3. 

   But …… Rwanda is a safe place: Parliament says so.https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/8/contentsSafety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 S 2 Safety…

4. 

   Religion can survive only on the most unquestionable assumptions. The statements made on Sundays on the BBC as if they…

5. 

   Yes, if I’ve got anything remotely like a phobia, as an ex-fundy, its bibles, churches, tracts etc. I like to…

CHARGES brought against Lawrence Hecker, above, by a Louisiana grand jury include one that alleges that, in 1975, he choked a teen unconscious under the guise of performing a wrestling move and then sexually assaulted him.

Hecker, acccording to Religion News Service, faces felony counts of rape, kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature and theft.

It wasn’t until 2018 that the Archdiocese of New Orleans publicly identified Hecker as a suspected predator when it released its list of “credibly accused” priests.

Jason Williams, the Orleans Parish District Attorney, told reporters on Thursday.

He should have been prosecuted a long time ago. We’ve had to fight very vigorously in the courts and behind the scenes.

Attorneys Richard Trahant, Soren Gisleson and John Denenea said in a joint statement that the indictment was:

A victory for all victim-survivors of clergy sexual abuse. Lawrence Hecker got away with grotesque sexual felonies against children for many decades under the protection of the Archdiocese of New Orleans,. Our client and several other Hecker victims whom we represent believe that he should spend the rest of his life in prison where he should have been for at least the last 60 years.

New claims against Hecker have surfaced as recently as this year. One alleged victim filed court papers in February claiming Hecker in 1983 forced him and other altar boys to strip naked so he could “inspect” them inside the changing room of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church.

He then proceeded to fondle my genitals as well as the other boys in the line.

Image via YouTube

Another survivor, Aaron Hebert, above, says Hecker abused him in the late 1960s when he was an eighth-grader at St. Joseph’s Catholic elementary school outside New Orleans. Hebert has said Hecker groped him and several classmates while purporting to demonstrate “what a hernia examination would be like” for those interested in playing sports.

Hebert wrote in a letter to a federal judge:

It was all swept under the rug. In my opinion, the Archdiocese of New Orleans is morally bankrupt, not financially bankrupt.

The Archdiocese sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020 amid a flood of abuse claims. The records are said to chronicle years of such claims, interviews with accused clergy and a pattern of church leaders transferring problem priests without reporting their crimes to law enforcement.

Court records indicate that Hecker was relocated at least ten times to various parishes despite repeated red flags, his own admissions and an undisputed complaint of child molestation made in the late 1980s.

Attorneys for Hecker’s alleged victims wrote in a court filing:

Even after Father Hecker made monumental admissions in 1988 and again in 1999, the archdiocese failed to report him to any authorities.

In A video Hecker told a WWLTV report that he has “changed” and that its been at least 30 years since he last touched a child, other than to give one a “holy hug.”

He added:

There’s not one chance in a million that anything like this would ever happen again.

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