RouletteWeekend

**the views expressed in the following are opinions and only opinions**

There are few things I shy away from on this blog, but politics and religion are, in fact on that list. There is enough of that everywhere you turn and rarely, if ever, do I let it affect me. However, over the last couple of weeks, we have had a very public and very sad situation here in Myrtle Beach. A woman named Mica Miller very calmly walked into a pawn shop, bought a gun, and drove to a state park where she, again, very calmly called 911 to make sure they would have her location before she killed herself. From the news and the community, it seems as though the root of it all was domestic abuse. From her husband. A pastor.

Having been in a short term abusive relationship once, I could very easily step into her shoes and see how someone could gaslight you and be so awful that they could literally convince you that nobody cares what happens to you and you’d be better off dead. I’m not saying that is what happened here. I am in no way associated with any party involved. There are a dozen other scenarios that also pop into my head about why she took her own life instead of just taking his which from this side of the computer makes me think that would have probably been the better option.

And still, the situation just keeps digging into my psyche. Myrtle Beach is a small town. So it’s easy to run into people who are much closer to the pastor than the normal seven degrees of separation. And I have run into a couple of them recently. One prompted me to look up the good pastor on a public records app. I thought there would be more dirt but the only thing on record was an assault charge in 1994. But being the son of another well known pastor, I’m sure anything else would have been removed as a favor in the good ole boy system.

Speaking of the father, Dr. Reginald Wayne Miller, here’s a couple of fun facts. He has a “bible college” locally-ish, he also was charged for exposing himself to a man in a bath house in 2006 and is currently wanted in Pakistan for sex abuse of a minor boy and those are just the sexual charges. There are also charges for bringing immigrants here and abusing them and not paying them the proper wages, but I digress.

Back to the less than seven degrees of separation, I have it on good authority that the good Dr. Reginald Wayne Miller is still pastoring and currently has a pair of sibling Pakistani kids just over 18 who he is parading around to other churches and having them tell their stories. I’ve heard these children look full of fear, but that’s just hearsay. Nevertheless, the current news of the Miller pastors put me on a quick google search of other pastors, preachers and priests who stand up every Sunday proclaiming the good word and looking down their noses at those of us who refuse to step foot in a church because we have a tendency to see through all of that bullshit, but are secretly or not so secretly abusing other humans, God’s children, if you will.

I’ve compiled just a short list. One that only took me about 30 minutes to find. I had to stop because I was so pissed off that I was having real avenger feelings. Some of these are older but you will get the point rather quickly I believe:

Carl Lentz- sexual abuse

Jim Bakker- sexual assualt – misuse of funds

Jimmy Swaggert- sex scandal involving prostitutes

Ted Haggard- homophobe caught in a gay sex scandal

Bill Gothard- 30+ accusations of molestation and assault – including underage girls

Bob Coy- Multiple affairs and pornography addiction

Dave Reynolds- 70 counts of possessing or viewing child pornography

Doug Phillips- Sexual abuse

Mike Hintz- youth pastor accused of sex with a minor (no jail time and 10 years after the conviction his name was removed from the sex offender list).

Bill Hybels- resigned after sexual misconduct claims (plural).

Tony Alamo- transporting a juvenile across state lines for sex.

Brian Houston- inappropriate conduct

Clinton Bucknor-70-accused of molesting a 15 year old girl in a basement

David Helbleng-78-accused of sexually assaulting a child UNDER 10!!!

Monte Chitty-62- Sexual assault and contributing to the delinquency of a minor (15)

William Oswold- molestation (of his two daughters)

Robert L. Carter- accused of a raping a child over 600 times starting at age 7 and getting her pregnant at 16 where she gave birth in a closet and he forced her to give the baby up.

And those are just a few of the sex offenders. Do you see how exhausting that list is? NBC News released an article called Almost 1700 Priests and Clergy Accused of Sex Abuse are Unsupervised. These men of God have gone on to be public speakers, teachers, coaches, counselors, and live near playgrounds.

I’m not sure how or why we keep turning a blind eye to it. But at least some churches are taking steps. Here is a compilation list of offenders by no particular denomination that spans 2007-2022.

Again, most of these are the sexual predators. These are not the ones who are mentally, verbally, physically abusing their wives and never get reported. I would bet those numbers are WAY higher. And when you are in the cycle of abuse, it’s so hard to even see a way out. Unfortunately, Mica Miller’s way out was one that devastated a community, but it also shed light on a problem that has been swept under the proverbial rug for far too long.

I hope every person who goes to church and blindly follows a leader will start questioning the motives of the person standing in the pulpit. I hope they will be able to tell the true believers, the ones who really only want the best for their flock from the ones who only want the bucks from their flock.

I hope the family and friends of Mica Miller get justice.

I hope this terrible situation will bring more victims forward and shed a blinding spotlight on those who yell from the pulpit just to take advantage of those who so desperately want to believe. If you or someone you love is a victim of pastoral abuse, click here for more information. If you or someone you love is a victim of any type of domestic violence, click here for more information or call 800.799.SAFE (7233).

And as always, my inbox is forever open.

I care. I understand. I believe you.