Thursday, 29 March 2012
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Staged Kidnapping: Youth Group Gone Too Far?
Teenagers at the Glad Tidings Assembly of God Church in Middletown, Pa., were surprised when they attended a youth group meeting at the church on March 21 and were ambushed by what seemed to be real kidnappers.Adults, including an off-duty cop, brandished weapons and put bags over the heads of the children, ages 13 through 18, and forced them into a church van. The group was driven to the home of an assistant pastor, who was presented before the group with a seemingly bloodied and bruised face, according to Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo.
One of the adults used a real AK-47, though the gun was unloaded, Chardo said.
If the kid gets forced to go somewhere, that isn’t a “fake” kidnapping, it is a kidnapping.
Pointing a firearm at a kid who is being kidnapped is assault, regardless of whether or not it is loaded.
It is a crime. Kidnapping is a crime. False imprisonment is a crime. AK-47, aimed at children and treated like a toy?
These people should be prosecuted.
What would have happened if one or more of the kids had resisted the attack?
What are your thoughts about this? Is this a case of good intentions but bad actions, or did the adults of this church really commit a crime?
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- From: Kristenmomof3@xanga
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- About Me: It's not about surviving. It should be about love. When you know love...that's what makes this life worth it. When you live with it everyday. Wake up with it, hold on to it during the thunder and after a nightmare. When love is your refuge from the death that surrounds us all and when it fills you so tight that you can't express it. — Carrie Ryan
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Comments (38)
@fool_in_the_rain121289@xanga - Strange thing to lie about.
@EccentricSiren@xanga - agreed.
@whataboutbahb@xanga -
That is your opinion, so what.
@RobertLeeRE@xanga -
You think it's my opinion that the opinion of the Supreme Court is different from yours when it comes to this particular issue?
Um, no. It's not my opinion. It's a fact. Read the freakin case that I provided the wiki page to. It's bright as day that neutral laws of general applicability do not violate the free exercise clause. State criminal laws are neutral laws of general applicability.
You are entitled to your opinion of what the first amendment means, no matter how stupid that opinion is, but that doesn't change the reality that current supreme court precedent directly on point disagrees with you.
Now, do I really think any charges will be filed? No way, that would be a stupid move, politically, for the local DA's office. But to think that any possible convictions would be blocked by the first amendment just goes to show that you really have no clue what you are talking about.
@whataboutbahb@xanga - So your a piece of crap whore attorney that chases ambulances for a living. Get lost with all your BS you shovel for a living pal. We can all see through your puke that spews out of your mouth. You guys get all these lite sentences for all these child molestors, rapists and murderers and then go after the Christians and churches. Yeah, we know what your all about. Go sell your trash somewhere else.
@RobertLeeRE@xanga -
:) You pray to God with that same mouth?
So, a few things:
1) I'm merely a law student, not a lawyer.
2) I have no interest in personal injury law ("ambulance chasing").
3) My current career path is not criminal law, but if it was I would probably be more interested in prosecution than criminal defense.
You seem to hate lawyers while knowing very little about the profession (like the simple concept that a lawyer does not practice personal injury, prosecution, and criminal defense all simultaneously). I thought you would be more open to the legal profession since you were professing legal knowledge about what the first amendment meant. Maybe you just don't take to kindly to "book-learners"?
what was the point of this?
it worries me that anyone would think this was acceptable behavior.
@whataboutbahb@xanga - So your gonna be a scumbag leech sucking divorce attorney or maybe your gonna sue every Tom, Dick and Henry to take down the Christmas lights off their building, or put transexual bathrooms inn all the elementary public schools. Cmon bub, we know your all scumbag leechs that care of nothing but money. Why don't you visit this girl and her Mother, maybe they will take your card.
@RobertLeeRE@xanga - You're a fun one.
4) I have no interest in family law.
5) I have no interest in civil rights litigation.
6) And I already mentioned I had no interest in being a personal injury lawyer (which is who the mother would go to if she wanted to pursue a civil lawsuit against the church).
I'll most likely be practicing commercial law (defending big corporations when they get sued by other big corporations), which is actually a bit more boring than the alternatives you keep throwing out, though the job security is a bit better.
But who am I to correct you on preaching your wisdom regarding the legal profession. You clearly know everything there is to know about what lawyers do (what the TV shows and new stories say they do!) and what lawyers need to survive (money of course!). (As an aside: If my goal was actually to make as much money as possible, I would have gone to business school instead.)
By the way, you never answered my question in my previous comment. Why the random hostility to the legal profession? Or is it a broader hostility to higher education in general?
@dustysojourner@xanga - its AGAINST THE LAW! Just because you have the tax exempt status of a church does not mean you get to violate the secular laws of the nation state in which you live and then claim that it was in the best interest of the children. This is how so called churches try to get away with rape and incest.
@Web_of_Bloody_Dreams@xanga - It just goes to show you that Christianity is no better than the VIOLENT religions supported by THEOCRACIES in the middle east and elsewhere. What a bunch of religious wackos Christians are.
@Captric@xanga - I didn't know if it was against the law to have a staged event like that or not. I assumed that if this was actually in the law-books there wouldn't be a cop participating. But, you're right, if it is against the law, they do have to submit to the punishments of the land.
The fact that a cop participated is not a reason to assume it was not against the law. Police violate the law all the time because they know how, but that is a subject for another forum. If one of the parents or even the children complain and the prosecuter decides to pursue it then there will be formal charges . I for one hopes that someone goes through the process and exposes and punishes these wacked out religious nutsK