Church leaders accused in beating Boy in intensive care with kidney failure By ARMANDO VILLAFRANCA Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau AUSTIN -- An 11-year-old boy who read the wrong Bible verse at church was severely beaten with a tree branch by a Baptist pastor and the pastor's brother, the boy's family said. The boy suffered kidney failure as a result of the beating and spent the Fourth of July weekend in the intensive care unit of Brackenridge Hospital sedated with morphine, according to a police affidavit. Austin police issued arrest warrants Monday for Joshua W. Thompson, 22, of Austin, and his twin brother, Caleb D. Thompson. They are wanted on charges of first-degree felony injury to a child. Joshua Thompson is pastor of the Spanish-language congregation at the Capital City Baptist Church. Caleb Thompson is an assistant to the pastors. They are accused of using an inch-thick tree branch to discipline the boy. "(The boy) was accused of not taking this very seriously," said Bobby Taylor, an attorney for the family. According to Taylor and family members, the beating occurred Wednesday while the boy and other children practiced for a Bible competition. "He was trying to find the verse and he was on the wrong verse, and they thought he was goofing around," the boy's mother said. She said church assistants summoned Joshua Thompson, who took the boy to Caleb Thompson's house. Taylor said the boy was placed facedown on a bed and beaten with the tree branch on his back and buttocks. When the boy tried to break free, Caleb Thompson held him down so the beating could continue, Taylor said. Taylor said the beating lasted 90 minutes, during which the boy was allowed to use the bathroom one time. The boy told his family the Thompsons turned up a radio to drown out his screams. The family said the Thompsons brought the boy home and suggested he wear long sleeves for a while. The family said one of the brothers told the boy's stepfather, "It's your turn now" and that they suggested he "finish the job." According to the police affidavit filed in support of the arrest warrants, the stepfather told investigators the Thompsons said they tried to break the child and make him repent from wrongdoing. click for complete article
Haha, Bobby Taylor is opposing counsel in one of the cases at the law firm I work at. Let me just say that this one has just a tad bit more merit than the one we're involved in.
Twin fundamentalist Baptist brothers named Joshua and Caleb sound scary to me. We need to to put these guys in jail pronto. Suggestion- Let's pit Joshua and Caleb against two Al Queda detainees in a steel cage match to the death on FOX. I want to see which side the God of Abraham really prefers, once and for all.
my question is how did two guys, who were only in their twentys become Baptist ministers? one would think that it would talk some experience to do such a job.
In the churches I've gone to, you don't become a minister without a college education, seminary, and plenty of intensive training. Then you would be a youth pastor somewhere and not work your way up to head pastor for quite some time. However, some churches will award this title to anybody. Scary. The worst evils are those that come disguised as good... providing a rationalization for those who commit them. Never forget what human beings are capable of, no matter where they come from...
Is it also scary that Jesus would call men straight off a fishing boat to be apostles? Or from a tax booth? As for these guys, if the charges are true, they need to be beaten with sticks--preferably the same variety they used on this boy. What I really don't get is that people seem to want to focus on the fact that these guys are "fundamentalists." Bulletin: There are evil people in just about every possible position in society. Does that not sink in? I hate to say it, but I'm never really surprised by these kinds of things. Guess what? There will probably be other Baptist "ministers" who do equally heinous. It is a huge leap (of faith?) to believe that there is somehow a correspondence between the professed beliefs of these people and their actions. I'm not a Baptist, but I'm pretty confident that 99.9% of Baptists are just as appalled by this as anyone else. As for sticking these two guys in a cage for a death match with some Al Queda members, that's just wonderful advice. We can have our very own showdown like the one with Elijah and prophets of Baal. Then again, you'll always have people like Achebe chime in that it's just the survival of the fittest principle at work.
Baptist churches aren't very demanding in the formal qualifications for the job. Also, Baptist churches are very independent entities. Each Baptist church is its own political unit. I don't think you can derive anything from this about the Baptists generally.
I think that is pretty easy to answer: the hypocracy. A guy beating a little kid into kidney failure is a story. A MINISTER doing that is a BIG story. It is because there is a fundamental violation of trust that is supposedly inherent. Same thing with cops or parents or family members. I agree with you that no one should be surprised considering the frequency of violent acts, but the shock value is greater when the person involved is supposed to be an upstanding member of society. News goes kinda in this order: A man being shot might be newsworthy. (If he dies, moreso) A man being shot by his son is more newsworthy. A man being shot by his 10-year-old son is big news. If the father was molesting the boy, that is HUGE news. If the father also happened to be a minister or politician or someone in the public eye, we're talking OJ.
I'm guessing I probably wouldn't have visited in the first place. Uh-oh, I hear giddyup already telling me I'm doing it wrong.
I don't have to derive anything. I was raised hardcore southern Baptist for the first 18 years of my life and without getting into detail, I saw how parents of this faith disciplined their children. I saw first hand how church politics worked. That's why I haven't set foot into a church in 22 years (except for the occasional wedding or funeral).
