This article was posted over a month before election day. Trinity's Daniel Davis, former president of Jacksonville's city council, and deacon at TBC, began slinging barbs at other churches. He is no longer president of the city council, but still a member.
Daniel Davis speaks the truth about some churches.
Excerpts:
The subject being debated was whether it's a proper use of taxpayer money to provide scholarships for low-income children attending the Don Brewer Early Learning Center.
The back-and-forth had been going on for a long time when Davis spoke for the first time. In a voice tinged with emotion, he described his upbringing and his political philosophy.
Davis said he was fortunate to have been born into a middle-class family that provided for him and cared about education.
Trinity cared so much about education that, on some occasions, a few teachers had to go without pay. If they complained, their dedication would be called into question. Teaching's a calling, you know. Not a job! Yeah, they cared.
He said that when he came to the council, he didn't believe it was government's job to make sure children had a decent meal at night or to provide early learning opportunities for children who weren't as fortunate as he had been.
Where did he ever get that idea? Hmmmm. . .
But during his time on the council, he said, he has seen those children who don't get that meal and who don't get an equal shot at an education.
Government has to step up and help, Davis said.
Reality does have a way of poking holes in political fantasy, doesn't it?
Why?
Because "Jacksonville has a bunch of sorry churches" that aren't fulfilling their mission, he said.
Like the church whose leaders taught him it wasn't government's responsibility to provide 'early learning opportunities for children who weren't as fortunate as he had been'?
Churches are building magnificent structures and they trip all over themselves to witness in foreign countries, he said, but they aren't doing what they should at home.
If they were, Davis said, government wouldn't have to take on a role that shouldn't belong to it.
That's a clumsy walk on the tightrope! After Gray left for Germany, Trinity FINALLY got around to building their new sanctuary. Once the sanctuary was complete, they eventually built a new mission. First thing's first.
Davis said that after he finished talking at the council meeting, he thought, "Man, did I just say that?"
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
CONFIRMED: Trials have been pushed back.
2009: here we come!
Jeff Brumley of the Florida Times Union confirmed to me, in an e-mail, that the trials have indeed been pushed back. We have no idea if a date has been set. My bet is sometimes next year.
Keep checking this blog for updates, or read The Florida Times Union, for upcoming articles.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Tony Denton pleads guilty.
Click here to read article.
Click here to read more about Alford pleas.
Tony Denton, the minister who mysteriously disappeared from the website of Trinity Baptist Church (Jacksonville, FL) after Bob Gray's arrest, pleaded guilty to molesting young girls. He was attending Trinity Baptist Church at the time of his arrest.
The incidents took place at Berean Baptist Church, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, thirty years ago.
He pleaded guilty to 13 charges, but entered an Alford plea on three.
An Alford plea is when a defendant pleads 'not guilty' but acknowledges the evidence to convict him is there. The court can now render a guilty verdict and pronounce sentence.
Pronounce sentence they did: Denton was given three three year convictions---ALL SUSPENDED! He also gets unsupervised probation.
Click here to read more about Alford pleas.
Tony Denton, the minister who mysteriously disappeared from the website of Trinity Baptist Church (Jacksonville, FL) after Bob Gray's arrest, pleaded guilty to molesting young girls. He was attending Trinity Baptist Church at the time of his arrest.
The incidents took place at Berean Baptist Church, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, thirty years ago.
He pleaded guilty to 13 charges, but entered an Alford plea on three.
An Alford plea is when a defendant pleads 'not guilty' but acknowledges the evidence to convict him is there. The court can now render a guilty verdict and pronounce sentence.
Pronounce sentence they did: Denton was given three three year convictions---ALL SUSPENDED! He also gets unsupervised probation.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Trials have been moved.
The civil trials against Trinity Baptist Church have been moved to 2009.
Word on the virtual streets have Trinity's lawyers attempting to disqualify Adam Horowitz, lawyer for the victims. Why? Haven't the slightest idea.
Special thanks to the Jacksonville media for NOT alerting us to these changes! You'd think with thousands of people across the world looking to blogs like this for updates, at least the local media would keep everyone alert. Not a chance!
Word on the virtual streets have Trinity's lawyers attempting to disqualify Adam Horowitz, lawyer for the victims. Why? Haven't the slightest idea.
Special thanks to the Jacksonville media for NOT alerting us to these changes! You'd think with thousands of people across the world looking to blogs like this for updates, at least the local media would keep everyone alert. Not a chance!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Allan Rich interviewed about 'In The Room'
Allan Rich is a respected actor and producer. He was blacklisted during the McCarthy era. He maintained a career and continues to work with noted personalities like Barry Levinson and Stephen Spielberg. You can read more about him by visiting his IMDB Profile
He founded a company called 'We Care About Kids' that produces movies specializing in issues important to young people. 'Newton's Law', with Maria Conchita Alonso focused on drinking and driving. 'The Big Leaf Tobacco Company' featured Curtis Armstrong and narration by Cuba Gooding, Jr. It was aimed to discourage cigarette use.
His latest project tackles the controversial issue of child abuse. In this interview, Allan Rich discusses the dilemma victims face, the material his film will cover, and his plans to take it directly to the nation's PTA.
Here is an outtake where Rich reacts to the anti-Obama ad that accused him of wanting to teach sex to kindergartners:
I shot this video last week and finally have it on-line! I'm working to help Allan Rich get this movie financed.
If you'd like to contribute, visit We Care About Kids.
He founded a company called 'We Care About Kids' that produces movies specializing in issues important to young people. 'Newton's Law', with Maria Conchita Alonso focused on drinking and driving. 'The Big Leaf Tobacco Company' featured Curtis Armstrong and narration by Cuba Gooding, Jr. It was aimed to discourage cigarette use.
His latest project tackles the controversial issue of child abuse. In this interview, Allan Rich discusses the dilemma victims face, the material his film will cover, and his plans to take it directly to the nation's PTA.
Here is an outtake where Rich reacts to the anti-Obama ad that accused him of wanting to teach sex to kindergartners:
I shot this video last week and finally have it on-line! I'm working to help Allan Rich get this movie financed.
If you'd like to contribute, visit We Care About Kids.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Obama on program to educate children about predators.
It's interesting. Right before my trip to Jacksonville, when I organized the press conference that became the lead story on WTLV-12 on February 10, 2008, I wrote that one idea to combat sex predators might be to teach young kids the difference between inappropriate and appropriate touching. Have a brief talk about this, in school, at the kindergarten/elementary level.
Make such a program REQUIRED in all schools, public and private.
One idea that I championed, that has never been implemented, would be to have a poster in kindergarten, or elementary schools, along the lines of the sex harassment posters required in some workplaces.
It would basically say that no one is above the law, and if anyone ever touches you like that, to contact a teacher, principal, or number on the poster.
That hasn't happened yet, but kids are doing some amazing things these days. Like calling 9-1-1 to report burglaries in progress! It's just a matter of time.
While Christian parents argue over specifics like, "Is it scriptural to call the law on 'God's Anointed'?", it obviously remains up to the children to defend themselves.
Strange that Christian conservatives aren't questioning John McCain's distortion of a policy that Obama never sponsored in the first place, yet he did vote for. Namely, a program that told kids the difference between appropriate versus inappropriate touching.
Here is an article from The New York Times that quotes Obama's exact words regarding why he voted for this program:
“I have a 6-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old daughter, and one of the things my wife and I talked to our daughter about is the possibility of somebody touching them inappropriately, and what that might mean,” Mr. Obama said in 2004. “And that was included specifically in the law, so that kindergarteners are able to exercise some possible protection against abuse, because I have family members as well as friends who suffered abuse at that age.”
Sounds reasonable to me!
The article also spells out the other McCain distortions, such as the idea of a 'comprehensive' sex program for, of all people, children under five! Get out of town!
From the article:
It is a misstatement of the bill’s purpose, therefore, to maintain, as the McCain campaign advertisement does, that Mr. Obama favored conventional sex education as a policy for 5-year-olds. Under the Illinois proposal, “medically accurate” education about more complicated topics, including intercourse, contraception and homosexuality, would have been reserved for older students in higher grades.
The advertisement, then, also misrepresents what the bill meant by “comprehensive.” The instruction the bill required was comprehensive in that it called for a curriculum that went from kindergarten and through high school, not in the sense that kindergarteners would have been fully exposed to the entire gamut of sex-related issues.
I respect those who demand that various denominations create a database for sex offenders, but I personally feel that most denominations are incapable of policing their own.
The idea of reaching potential victims, before they become victims, makes far more sense to me.
Honestly, can you imagine some brave teacher at Trinity Christian Academy, circa 1970's era, teaching their class the difference between inappropriate and appropriate touching?
I can just see a child's hand going up and asking about strange behavior he, or she, encountered in an administrative office.
Why would Christian conservatives be against this?
Click here to read full article.
Make such a program REQUIRED in all schools, public and private.
One idea that I championed, that has never been implemented, would be to have a poster in kindergarten, or elementary schools, along the lines of the sex harassment posters required in some workplaces.
It would basically say that no one is above the law, and if anyone ever touches you like that, to contact a teacher, principal, or number on the poster.
That hasn't happened yet, but kids are doing some amazing things these days. Like calling 9-1-1 to report burglaries in progress! It's just a matter of time.
While Christian parents argue over specifics like, "Is it scriptural to call the law on 'God's Anointed'?", it obviously remains up to the children to defend themselves.
Strange that Christian conservatives aren't questioning John McCain's distortion of a policy that Obama never sponsored in the first place, yet he did vote for. Namely, a program that told kids the difference between appropriate versus inappropriate touching.
Here is an article from The New York Times that quotes Obama's exact words regarding why he voted for this program:
“I have a 6-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old daughter, and one of the things my wife and I talked to our daughter about is the possibility of somebody touching them inappropriately, and what that might mean,” Mr. Obama said in 2004. “And that was included specifically in the law, so that kindergarteners are able to exercise some possible protection against abuse, because I have family members as well as friends who suffered abuse at that age.”
Sounds reasonable to me!
The article also spells out the other McCain distortions, such as the idea of a 'comprehensive' sex program for, of all people, children under five! Get out of town!
From the article:
It is a misstatement of the bill’s purpose, therefore, to maintain, as the McCain campaign advertisement does, that Mr. Obama favored conventional sex education as a policy for 5-year-olds. Under the Illinois proposal, “medically accurate” education about more complicated topics, including intercourse, contraception and homosexuality, would have been reserved for older students in higher grades.
The advertisement, then, also misrepresents what the bill meant by “comprehensive.” The instruction the bill required was comprehensive in that it called for a curriculum that went from kindergarten and through high school, not in the sense that kindergarteners would have been fully exposed to the entire gamut of sex-related issues.
I respect those who demand that various denominations create a database for sex offenders, but I personally feel that most denominations are incapable of policing their own.
The idea of reaching potential victims, before they become victims, makes far more sense to me.
Honestly, can you imagine some brave teacher at Trinity Christian Academy, circa 1970's era, teaching their class the difference between inappropriate and appropriate touching?
I can just see a child's hand going up and asking about strange behavior he, or she, encountered in an administrative office.
Why would Christian conservatives be against this?
Click here to read full article.
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