Religion Youth Pastor Watch
posted by on February 18 at 15:44 PM
The youth minister who confessed to a 1994 killing is being widely forgiven by members of his former congregation, who say they admire his courage in finally surrendering to police.Calvin Wayne Inman, 29, remains jailed without bail since he was charged Wednesday with capital murder in the stabbing death of a convenience store clerk during a robbery. He was 16 at the time.
During Sunday’s service at the 800-member Elim Church, congregants praised the recently ordained Inman as a born-again role model taking responsibility for his sin.
“He’s a hero, really,” said Kelley Graham, 24.
Other "heroes": Jeffrey Dahmer, David Berkowitz, et al.
no, mr poe, Dahmer was a gay...he wouldn't count as a hero 'cause he was a pervert.
The story says the stabbing occured 14 years ago and he was 16 at the time, with that in mind it their reaction is more understandable. I still wouldn't go as far as calling him a hero.
i'm not sure i'd call him a hero either -- which was kinda the punch line. but if you killed someone, and got away with it, then, yeah, turning yourself in is a pretty bold act.
Murders are not heros......ever.
@2
But afterwards he found God and was filled with eternal bliss.
Dan, this story doesn't support your thesis. It looks like a case of a man inspired by his religious belief to do the honest thing at great personal cost. His violent crime and his status as a youth pastor are separated not just by 14 years but by the full breadth of the divide between youth and adulthood.
Great that you confessed, but you're still a filthy fucking murderer who lied about it for over a decade. And you're heroic how?
I agree with lostboy. People change with age; a murderer at age 16 is not the same person as that same guy 14 years later. Jeez, the best man at my wedding was a convicted murderer. Did his time in the joint and turned into a really great guy.
1996 -- The Classic Middle Name: Conan Wayne Hale, 20, a triple-homicide suspect who allegedly confessed to a priest in Portland, Ore., has been fighting for three months now to have the confession ruled inadmissible in court on freedom of religion grounds. And escaped murderer Michael Wayne Thompson was recaptured in July near Farmersburg, Ind. And a few days later, Danny Wayne Owens, 38, was arrested in Birmingham, Ala., for allegedly murdering a neighbor. (Among other prominent middle-name Waynes: serial killers John Wayne Gacy of Illinois and Elmer Wayne Henley of Texas; recently executed Arizona murderer Jimmy Wayne Jeffers; sadistic Louisiana murderer Robert Wayne Sawyer; the Ohio Aryan Nations member caught last year with freeze-dried bubonic plague bacteria, Larry Wayne Harris; the Oklahoma rapist recently sentenced to 21,000 years in prison, Allan Wayne McLaurin; and of course John Wayne Bobbitt.)
http://www.newsoftheweird.com/cgi-bin/search/newsweird.cgi?query=gacy&num=1
Man, talk about setting the bar low.
Frankly, it appalls me that this congregation can blithely overlook the fact that Inman essentially LIED to them the entire time he was part of their church, and that it took him FOURTEEN FUCKING YEARS to finally "do the right thing".
That doesn't make him a "hero"; a hero wouldn't have done something so heinously stupid in the first place. And it sure in Hell DOESN'T make him a "role model", unless apparently the behavior to be emulated in this case consists of committing a crime, then concealing it for more than a decade before FINALLY deciding to admit your guilt.
The first "Christian" Roman Emporer had murdered members of his own family and found it most convenient to become a "Christian" because he could find "forgiveness" for the crimes he had committed. Getting away with murder is the "Christian" thing to do.
Disgusting!
@lostboy:
"It looks like a case of a man inspired by his religious belief to do the honest thing at great personal cost. His violent crime and his status as a youth pastor are separated not just by 14 years but by the full breadth of the divide between youth and adulthood."
I am a firm believer that a 16 year old either knows that Murder is wrong (with or without religion telling him so) or is simply extremely mentally handicapped. Were this boy 4 or 5 I could possibly see the ignorance of youth be used as a crutch defense. As it stands, at the young-adult age of 16 this man knew EXACTLY what he was doing. As much as any adult would. The "full breadth of the divide between youth and adulthood" simply does not apply here.
Furthermore, just because this man suddenly, whether it be from religious insight or simple overwhelming guilt, comes forward FOURTEEN YEARS LATER and confesses to a heinous crime *might*, and I meant MIGHT, earn him a slivver of respect. He COULD have just kept going with the secret tucked away. Agreed. But does this deserve the title of Hero? Are you and those religious idiots even THINKING? Would the person he stabbed to death in cold blood 14 years ago agree with such an assessment? What about that person's family and loved ones?
What if the person he had stabbed was one of their congregation? One of their CHILDREN? For god sakes- he killed a man! No manner of "oh, gee, I did it- take me away officer!" is going to exempt him from that horrible act. He can repent all he wants. Hell, he MAY receive forgiveness in the eyes of society if he spends the rest of his life atoning for such a horrible act. But will all those things he does EVER deserve the title of "Hero"? For god SAKES no. He's trying to bring the bar back to zero, not raise it to the level of such a status.
Anyone who says otherwise is simply fooling themselves.
MarsBellow @13:
No! Really???
No, I don't think so. I never suggested it does.
What I said was this story doesn't support Dan's thesis that youth pastors (and by implication, Chistians and other believers) are no less evil than the rest of us, and I stand by that.
While the bad act--murder--was separated from being a youth pastor by a gulf of time and change, the good act--turning himself in--was plausibly caused by his religion and church position.
Hernandez @8, COMTE @11 (quoted), and others,
I'm mystified by this particular line of criticism. Do most murderers who've gotten away scott-free turn themselves in after only 6 years or something?
Wow.
I can understand commending him for making the right choice to come forward, but a hero he is not.
@lostboy
I'm sure anyone could infer such a thing if they really wanted to, but simply put: how can you tell? Dan Savage is constantly telling men and women to stop trying to figure out fucked up people. It's simply not legal to bore a hole in their brain, so it's better to stop trying to figure it out.
The same can be said here, Lostboy. It doesn't matter what he says, it doesn't matter what people want to believe: the simple truth is we will never know why he decided to come forward. It is just as likely, in my book, that he was simply dealing with way too much guilt over the years and snapped, choosing the time in his life that would grant him enough forgiveness from the people surrounding him.
Also, when did Dan Savage say that religion is entirely, 100% evil? No person of any level of intelligence believes that a HEALTHY faith (regardless of the chosen path they take) isn't an asset to society. The only thing he argues, and I agree with, is that more often than not religion is simply taken way too far, or used as a mouthpiece to preach intolerance and bigotry. Too often it is used to push the propaganda of someone who irrationally despises what he or she does not know or understand.
Lastly, you did not directly suggest it, but frankly to anyone reading, (obviously by the responses you got) it was inferred that you also thought he was a hero, whether you wanted it to be or not. I think this may be the case because you seemed to be putting words into Savage's mouth as to WHY he posted this issue. How do you know that it wasn't to highlight how incredibly inane the idea of calling a murderer, no matter how repentant, a Hero? I don't believe I saw him state "pastors are no less evil then the rest of us" in this particular thread. I think it was moreso the fact that he was being propped up by an entire congregation as a Hero, not that he was a pastor who is, actually, WORSE then most of us. Because I'm sorry, but most of us have not committed murder, so there is no reason we would need to confess something like that.
PS: I wholeheartedly agree with his assessment on Youth Pastors, by the way. The profession seems to have an equal or larger percentage of fucked-up people as any other profession, regardless of what you think. The constant stream of scandal surrounding Pastors is enough to convince me. But once again I must emphasize I do NOT think that was why Savage posted this. Which meant you were putting words in his mouth. Which allowed us to make the obvious assumption that you were defending the congregation, not just the Pastor profession.
Sorry if it got confused.
MarsBellow @17, try googling "Youth Pastor Watch" site:slog.thestranger.com.
Beyond that, your long-winded response puts so many words in my mouth that I won't dignify it with a rebuttal, except to say--
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