Perhaps we’re the only ones who are tired of religious leaders falling short on their morality, but we doubt it. On Tuesday, a Houston minister was arrested in connection with his wife’s murder. His wife, 56, was shot just a week after his church was burned to the ground in what police are calling “a suspicious fire,” according to KTRK in Houston
U.S. Federal Marshalls announced that Rev. Tracy Burleson, his 20-year-old son, and his son’s girlfriend, Tyonne Marie Palmer-Pollard, were all arrested in connection with the murder of Burleson’s wife, Pauletta. Burleson was not being cooperative when arrested on Tuesday, officials said, so he was brought directly to Harris County homicide headquarters.
The Burleson family has a history with law enforcement, too. According to court documents, Burleson and his slain wife were previously charged with abusing their two boys by allegedly hitting them with an iron, extension cord, shovel and wooden board.
Does anyone else think that’s just sick? And how did this man become, and remain, a reverend?
Coupled with the accusations brought against the Catholic church, and considering countless other such cases, we at The Daily Cougar wonder what is going wrong. When did religion stop uniting people? Perhaps the more pertinent question is; how did such low-lifes manage to climb up the ladder and become authority figures in the religious community?
“The word reformation is a sensitive one for Catholics, raising the specter of one of the church’s great historical challenges. But it has faced down danger before,” Jeff Israely and Howard Chua-Eoan wrote in a Time Magazine article. “Ratzinger once cited the legendary Cardinal-diplomat Ercole Consalvi, who, when told that Napoleon was out to destroy the Catholic Church, exclaimed, ‘He will never succeed. We have not managed to do it ourselves.’ This crisis may yet be the catalyst for change. “
Some of us on the staff are Christians, and it makes us sad to see such things happening within churches.
Faith is an important aspect of all of our lives, and since this kind of behavior has apparently become commonplace amongst religious leaders, we suggest you investigate your rabbi, reverend, etc., if you haven’t already.
The last sentence is a wonderful recommendation, but what do you do when faced with a situation where the people who would castigate a rabbi have been bought out by him? Thank goodness for the Internet and the blogosphere.