Pastor Accused of Raping, Sexually Abusing His Parishioners

Posted by Cliff Schecter at 5:16 AM on October 30, 2007.

This post, written by Cliff Schecter, originally appeared on Cliff Schecter's Brave New Films Blog

The short (and very sad) version: No

Because too many of these guys have all sorts of power and projection issues they should be working out on a couch somewhere, which they instead relieve by publicly lecturing the rest of us while behaving like animals in private.

Here is the scoop, via my pal Pastordan, on the latest behavior that doesn't quite fit the guidelines many in the religious right community espouse for the rest of poor sheep:

At least 100 people were gathered for Sunday afternoon prayer at a Northeast Portland church when a woman stood to interrupt the preacher's sermon with some alarming allegations.

Pastor Sergio Alvarizares, she said, had used sweet talk and lavish compliments to draw her into his office, lock the door and make unwanted sexual advances.

Soon, other women rose to make similar accusations. A ruckus erupted, and the pastor tried to shout over them from the pulpit, "That's a lie! That's a lie!"

Church leaders and the pastor's son called police. "The crowd is going wild," one caller said, " ... while the pastor is trying to preach." A dispatcher alerted officers: "Complainant says church people inside are out of control. ... Everyone is hostile at the preacher."

The Sept. 30 event at Casa del Padre, a nondenominational Spanish-speaking church, sparked a two-week police investigation that resulted in a 15-count indictment against Alvarizares on charges of rape and sexual abuse.

Talk about an Intervention. At least there wouldn't have been a problem if any one of them had gotten pregnant, because I'm sure this guy is pro-choice.

Tagged as: religion, rape, crime, sexual abuse, alvarizares

Cliff Schecter blogs at Brave New Films.