This fucker is eligible for parole in FOUR YEARS??!!

Boy do I wish I was more surprised. Sometimes I'm so sick of this world.

Wouldn't a more accurate headline read: "Pastor RAPED daughters to teach them to be good wives" rather than "had sex with"?

Most appalling part of the article: His WIFE and CONGREGATION remain supportive of HIM!!! Thanks, Mom!

ack... I feel sick..

man I never got the whole purity ball thing. I wonder if happens much in Canada? I never hear about them around here, but thats a good thing.

I can't think of ANYTHING after reading that.

So. Not only is okay for a father to rape his daughter. It's double okay if it's teaching her how to behave for her husband-- i.e. teaching her that she deserves to be raped by him, as well.

Yeah. Can't think.

I feel sick. Is that a thought? I mean, I can't even form words right now for this. He raped them for ten years. And of course, because his wife and their congregation still support him that's okay, but no one is bothering to ask his daughters how they feel.

Do you think Children's Services is following up with the daughters of other congregants? I sure hope so.

Holy fucking shit. I hate this world sometimes. Or more accurately, the people in it. I hope these girls (now women) are properly being taken care of), but since the mom and congregation seem to be in support, i find that hard to believe. Yeah, no words.

Uhhhh, Jessica, it's pretty far off, considering that this is freaking child rape. I mean, I see where you're going here, about parallels in paternal and patrio-social ownership of girls' sexuality, but come on. What a terrible choice of words.

The scary fucking part:

Judge Lovell gave full credit for the man's guilty pleas, saying he was genuinely remorseful and had a good chance of rehabilitation as his wife and the church remained supportive.

I'm the biggest Daddy's girl you will find, and the people on the video referring to them as "dates" is just revolting.

Although, the anchor's transition from "Quite a Daddy's girl, huh," to "You know what's a mess? The whole Israel/Palestine thing," is worth a chuckle.

How does someone hurt their own child like that? Excuse me, I'm going to have to cry now.

where is the purity ball for boys? don't tell have to be pure for their wives too!

bullshit!

that paster needs his dick chopped off

I get so sick of hearing about people being given leniency for their crimes (esp. terrible crimes such as RAPING your own children) just because they go to fucking church!

The sentence seems incredibly light. However, if I'm reading it correctly it was over a ten year span starting while they were 13 an 15. Apparently New Zealand's age of consent is 16. The article doesn't mention physical violence...so while incredibly nasty, after the age of 16 it may not count as rape? Unless you can argue the previous several years of rapes as coercion? How do you even legally quantify that? This is hurting my head.

OH. MY. GOD.

The pastor thing is sad and sick, but doesn't surprise me at all.

But this is the first time I've heard of these "Purity Balls". I only watched the video up to the part where the girl showed off the ring daddy gave her and her plans to wear it until she gets married... that's when the bile began to rise in my throat and I had to turn it off. Absolutely revolting.

And no, it's certainly NOT far off at all. The whole mentality is one tiny step away from incest.

OH. MY. GOD.

The pastor thing is sad and sick, but doesn't surprise me at all.

But this is the first time I've heard of these "Purity Balls". I only watched the video up to the part where the girl showed off the ring daddy gave her and her plans to wear it until she gets married... that's when the bile began to rise in my throat and I had to turn it off. Absolutely revolting.

And no, it's certainly NOT far off at all. The whole mentality is one tiny step away from incest.

EESH, sorry about the double post folks. Window froze up and started doing crazy things...

That is no sentence... basically saying I have to give you some sort of sentence even though you are remorseful so this is the lightest I can give...

Excuse me?!?! He had a decade to be remorseful... he was only remorseful when CAUGHT! It is a miracle these girls didnt end up pregnant.

I hate the whole idea of "he's showing remorse"="he deserves forgiveness." As long as this idea is in our culture, worthless creeps like this will continue to claim that they are sorry for their behaviour for the express purpose of receiving lesser sentences. I have never once believed that any person who claimed to be remorseful in a case like this was actually telling the truth, and my guess would be that few of them are. If he wasn't in jail, these behaviours would be continuing.

And in most cases, "showing remorse" is tantamount to "I asked GOD for forgiveness." But what about the PEOPLE YOU VICTIMIZED?
Religious people like that think "forgiveness from god" is all that matters; it gives them a pass to commit horrible atrocities with ever facing or apologizing to their HUMAN victims. It's bullshit.

Yeah, you know, I really couldn't care less if you feel bad about raping your daughters. Boo-fucking-hoo to you. Your apology doesn't un-rape your daughters, and it doesn't make you deserve a single less second in that jail cell.

This made me cringe but it did not surprise me one bit. There have been lots of discussions with men who take their daughters to these things and none of them got very offended about the accusation that these are gateways to incest. Wouldn't most normal men be really offended if someone suggested they were raping their daughters?

There is currently one of the political religious right who is on trial in two different cities for raping teenage foster children. There were three known incidents and now others are coming out. What was really sick was this guy was taking them to state legislative sessions with him and raping them there in his hotel room. This sick puke has been an open supporter of the whole religious women are property agenda. This is how it plays out.

To answer the question about purity balls for boys. They did have one out here last year due to so much heat about only having them for girls. What was disturbing was the lesson taught to the boys was not to "spoil" your buddy's future property.

God, that made me so sad.

"I get so sick of hearing about people being given leniency for their crimes (esp. terrible crimes such as RAPING your own children) just because they go to fucking church!"

Same with me. My family never went to church while I was growing up. My experience was that some people who went to church on Sundays thought they were morally superior to me solely for that reason. They could do horrible things every other day of the week, but going to church for an hour on Sunday made that all okay (This is why I'm an atheist).

This man (if you can even call him that) is using religion in order to gloss over the fact that he raped his two underage daughters. What's sad is that this lame, disgusting "excuse" will actually work for some people. It obviously did for his wife. What kind of mother can support her husband after he has raped their two children? Sadly, this isn't unheard of. At my local sexual assault medical examination center, there have been numerous cases where the mother refused to believe the daughter when the daughter disclosed that she was sexually assaulted by the father/mother's boyfriend. I think that, as a daughter, that has to be the biggest insult. Talk about rubbing salt in your wounds...

I don't know if anyone has ever seen the Penelope Cruz film "Volvere," which discusses incest in this form, but I don't know if I believe his claim. It's probably just wishful thinking, but typically, when I come across these types of cases, I assume that the parent/guardian is attempting to lower his sentence by justifying a sexual issue. I agree that incest is implied by the purity balls, however, I am not so sure about this case.
It seems to me that he simply felt sexually obsessed with his children, and couldn't get a hold on it. I feel bad for the children who will now be told that their father's actions were for their benefit. No matter how many times people may say this is ridiculous, it must be difficult to cope with the fact that your father at least claimed that his abuse was for the greater good.

i can't even wrap my head around this one.

i can't believe the congregation is behind it.

this looks so incredibly Onion-esque.

His wife and congregation remain supportive of him after he plead guilty? As a religious studies major I try to detach myself from my own experiences with Western theology and try to maintain a shred of empathy for their beliefs and practices, but shit like this makes it SO FUCKING DIFFICULT. Even if he honest to god believed that women should submit to men for sex whenever he wants it, you don't fucking rape your children to teach them that!! And why the FUCK does his congregation support him? Doesn't it say in the book of Leviticus (which is so often quoted for the "man shall not lie with man" quote) that incest is an abomination?! And yet they can stand behind shit like this! Leviticus aside, what he did to his daughters was sick and horrifying. How can anyone with a shred of human decency stand behind something like this? I can't imagine how those women must feel knowing that their own mother and congregation with whom they probably grew up with stands behind their father after he plead guilty! And the fucker is elligible for parole in four years? He should be locked away for the rest of his life. I'm sorry, but nothing is too much for this asshole.

god this makes me sick...sicksicksick!

not to be off topic...or too personal...but my "baby daddy" (had to, sorry) and i are of COMPLETELY different "religious" backgrounds...how do i handle it if he ever wants to do something as disgusting as this "purity ball" nonesense...

i am trying to raise my daughter w/ some self worth, how to be a strong woman, and not the eventual property of some man. since it is obvious that he disagrees w/ what he calls my "feminazi nonsense"...what is a parent to do?

grr...and that pastor...there is a reason i left the church...hypocrisy! plain and simple.

You do not need the permission of your "baby daddy" to raise your daughter into a strong woman. If hee disagrees with your "feminazi nonsense" then make it clear to him that you disagree with his patriarchal religious nonsense. I think there is little he can do to undermine your parenting if you have a close relationship with your daughter that allows her to develop and grow into a person with a brain, whereas he does not seem to see women or girls as people at all.

"The sentence seems incredibly light. However, if I'm reading it correctly it was over a ten year span starting while they were 13 an 15. Apparently New Zealand's age of consent is 16. The article doesn't mention physical violence...so while incredibly nasty, after the age of 16 it may not count as rape? Unless you can argue the previous several years of rapes as coercion? How do you even legally quantify that? This is hurting my head."

Are you fucking insane? Because we have an age of consent of 16, therefore RAPING YOUR OWN DAUGHTER would be consensual because she's 16?? Is there no such thing as rape or incest past age 18 in the US?

I personally think having 18 as the age of consent is well screwed up, but then perhaps 16 would be too young in the conservative culture of the US

Now, how did they say it in the video? "Females were created to feel accepted by men." No way, no fucking way. I can't believe the mom said that, and the dad too. No wonder I feel so lost in this world as a single adult female, I must be pining away for the pure affection of a righteous man. Now I understand all my problems.
Actually I can understand quite a few of my problems, many of which are related to the very sexually oppressive Christian upbringing I had. But I won't get too personal, except to say that this is one of the reasons I won't go back to church.
I also noticed a couple other noteworthy things in the video. The girl wears her father's damn ring until she wears her husband's and if that isn't a perfect illustration of women as property then I don't know what is. This makes me want to go out, buy myself a ring, flaunt it to everyone I know, and perhaps even marry myself (if only that were legally possible). Added on to the scariness of the purity ball event, they had a young woman lead the girls in their vows and a man lead the fathers... how appropriate. Cross gender confusion there.

I meant "... No cross gender confusion there." But I'm sure that was obvious.

I ranted over that article when I saw it last week as well. It seems perfectly obvious that the daughters are against their father or else they would have lied and said it didn't happen. How then are they supposed to cope knowing that their religious community and their FUCKING MOTHER are standing by and sanctioning the disgusting abuse that was inflicted upon them?

According to the article, he had sex with them all around the property in private. I find it difficult to believe how the judge, who stated that he didn't accept the pastor's excuse that he was 'training' them for marriage (vomit) could then turn around and impose a light sentence with the chance for parole in 4 years. Utterly disgusting.

As for the Purity Balls, I'm with ccchild. Total daddy's girl and the idea of these makes me want to hit something. Staying 'pure' in order to give your husband a gift and not enter a marriage with inner pain? Fuck off.

I ranted over that article when I saw it last week as well. It seems perfectly obvious that the daughters are against their father or else they would have lied and said it didn't happen. How then are they supposed to cope knowing that their religious community and their FUCKING MOTHER are standing by and sanctioning the disgusting abuse that was inflicted upon them?

According to the article, he had sex with them all around the property in private. I find it difficult to believe how the judge, who stated that he didn't accept the pastor's excuse that he was 'training' them for marriage (vomit) could then turn around and impose a light sentence with the chance for parole in 4 years. Utterly disgusting.

As for the Purity Balls, I'm with ccchild. Total daddy's girl and the idea of these makes me want to hit something. Staying 'pure' in order to give your husband a gift and not enter a marriage with inner pain? Fuck off.

So maybe I missed it, but hopefully the girls are no longer living in that home? Staying with their mother/congretation sounds scary.

Also, what's the deal with 4 years? He terrorized them for 10 years. Seems like he should get at least 10 years in prison to match that, at least.

"I personally think having 18 as the age of consent is well screwed up, but then perhaps 16 would be too young in the conservative culture of the US"

Wouldn't 16 be too *old* for many conservatives?

Having the local age of consent be younger than the age limit in the local child labor laws would be very screwed up.

Imagine being 13 or whatever, having your parents threaten to throw you out of the house if you don't agree to marry, being also too young to get even a minimum-wage job to try to survive on your own, and having any authorities who find out assume "she was over the age of consent so we'll take her saying 'I do' at face value..."

Fenriswolf: Breathe. No, I'm not insane and I do not appreciate the question.

If you read the articles, they don't mention rape. Nor do they mention physical force. Also, he plead guilty to "incest" not to rape. I don't think the article mentions how the charges came about.

It's hard to believe, but his sexual contact with his daughters went well into their respective adult hoods. It sounds like the charges are from it being incest and I'm wondering if the "unlawful sexual conduct" only counts for the years they were minors (3 years total).

Pointing out the facts of the case, and trying figure out how they fit into the sentencing isn't remotely condoning it. There's no cause to insult me and act like I am. Way to have a knee jerk attack.

Ah, I get it--so it wasn't about the pastor trying to get off with his daughters--it was for their own good so they could have, you know, good sex lives with their husbands. Wow. All fathers should be so fucking thoughtful.

Nah, the Purity Ball dads wouldn't have sex with their daughters – all unmarried females who have had sex are worthless sluts and damaged goods, remember? The fathers wouldn't want to devalue their property.

ouyangdan, I would make it perfectly clear to him that you don't want to raise your daughter to be property, you want to raise a strong, intelligent, successful woman who can make her own decisions.

And it may be a low blow (and false, I don't know your history) but you could point out that the church would frown on his having a child out of "wedlock" (it's in quotes because I think it's a stupid word). If he wants to play dirty you can too.

Good luck.

Hi there. I think this is clearly a horrible horrible situation. However, as much as I am not a fan of purity balls, I have a really hard time equating them or even comparing them to this. I've actually done a lot of research on the sexual purity movement in evangelical/fundamentalist Christianity and while I very much disagree with and have huge problems with the purity balls and the way sexuality is handled in this contexts, I think it is important to remember that the people who take part in this are not crazy or mean. They are conservative families who very much care for their daughters and believe that they are helping them/doing the right thing. I've met tons of these people and I think it is important to try to better understand where they are coming from and how they got to where they are rather than just dismissing them as all shady and weird. Yes, it seems creepy. But I hope that feminists will do more work to understand why the sexual purity movement and purity balls are so appealing - both to families and young girls - rather than simply dismissing then out of hand. 6000 took place last year. 6000! What is the appeal of these? What do girls have to say about them? How can we offer viable alternatives to sexual purity/purity balls as ways for girls to understand and act (or not) on their sexuality? Sorry for the long post. Thanks for the comments and the great working being done here on feministing.