N.C. Church Members Charged With Beating Gay Man to Banish 'Demons'

[William769]

Five members of an evangelical Christian church in western North Carolina have been charged with kidnapping and assault in connection with an attack on a young gay man, which he says was meant to rid him of “homosexual demons.”

Matthew Fenner, now 21, says that in January 2013, “he was threatened with confinement for two days, slapped, strangled and verbally assaulted” by members of the Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale, reports North Carolina’s LGBT outlet QNotes.

In an affidavit he submitted to local law enforcement, Fenner said church members confronted him about being gay, telling him it was disgusting. They then began a ritual called “deliverance,” which, he wrote, “meant extremely rough pushing, loud screaming, and other violent measures intended to ‘break me free of the homosexual demons.’”

Then one woman grabbed him by the throat and began shaking, punching, and beating him, leaving him with bruises on his collarbone, neck, chest, and shoulders, he wrote in the affidavit. Next, he said, “I had at least 15-20 college age men around me, screaming, shaking me, punching me, hitting my chest, grabbing my head, telling me to repeat different phrases.”

http://www.advocate.com/crime/2014/12/11/nc-church-members-charged-beating-gay-man-banish-demons

[msongs]

1. just another xtian group practicing their sincerely held beliefs. more coming nt

[Mister Ed]

2. Don't scoff. Demons are real.

And some of them, it is clear, attend church in North Carolina.

[octoberlib]

3. This is insane. If they want to banish demons, they'd best start with themselves. Poor Matthew.

[yuiyoshida]

4. Are these the same people

who hate Sharia law?

[gordianot]

5. I spent an entire month convincing a family that autism was not demon posssesion.

They had tried two exorcisms obviously without a cure. Eventually we convinced them but not before I had to listen to their superstitions. I do believe this sort of brutal religious nonsense is more common than we would like to know.

[Warpy]

6. Being gay in a shithole like Spindale NC

is unbelievably scary. He probably thought his family would protect him but most likely, they instigated the whole thing.

This is more common than you'd think at so many of those churches outside the big cities--and some inside. Usually it stops with getting bibles and crosses shoved in your face while people babble nonsense and "lay hands" in a way that won't leave bruises.

He's unlikely to get a conviction of any of those viciously pious Christian soldiers. What this might do is persuade other gay people to get the hell out of there as soon as they graduate high school by letting them know what's in store for them if they don't.

Sometimes coming out is not safe.