Snarky Sermon on the Blog

Did you hear the one about the pastor (Doyle Davison of the Water Of Life Church in McKinney, TX) who believes that "mental illness is possession by demons and only God can cure it"?

Pastor Doyle testified (Yea, verily he testified!) in court that he believes that. I guess he must also believe that God allows demons to possess his parishioners, like Dena Schlosser, and allows them to make the possessees chop off their baby's arms with a kitchen knife.

According to Dena's jail counselor, Schlosser suffered from hallucinations (blood in the streets turned into apostles)... until she received treatment while in custody.

Here's Caesar's dilemma: Now that Dena has begun medical treatment (including anti-psychotic drugs), she's deemed competent to stand trial for a crime she committed while not under treatment.

I know. I know. Law & Order has covered this plot six ways to Sunday, but how many times will this same issue be "ripped from the headlines" before our court system devises a consistent policy for dealing with the Dena Schlossers of this world?

Now that Dena is "sane," she faces life in prison if convicted of a crime or hospitalization if she's found not guilty by reason of insanity. Either way, Dena is still under the influence of Pastor Doyle, and that little fact might affect Dena's long-term prospects for sanity more than any judge or jury in Caesar's court system.

Thus Endeth Today's Sermon.

Go forth today and decide for yourself whether or not demons commit crimes via possession. Decide for yourself whether or not people like Dena Schlosser, who respond to treatment, should be sentenced to life in Caesar's prison or hospitalized.

And decide for yourself whether or not pastors like Doyle Davison are either men of God or just plain dangerous.


I mean it, damn it!


So you think you know Delilah?

Judges 16:19-- And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head.