Some of you may remember my report of a court case involving coercive "deliverance ministry" group Remnant Fellowship involving yet another sad case of "death by chastening rod"--religiously motivated child abuse that ends in the death or maiming of children (both physically and emotionally) and which is all too common and all too much of a dirty secret in the dominionist community.

And as of the 16th, Josef Smith's ghost may have finally found justice, as the courts ruled his parents guilty of murder.

( To quote 'Big O', 'In the name of God, ye be guilty' )

This actually sets a very powerful precedent--to my knowledge, this is the first time a parent has actually been convicted of murder for religiously motivated child abuse (typically, if these cases make it to trial at all, the parents are simply convicted of child abuse or involuntary manslaughter).

At least one group of walkaways and survivors of Remnant Fellowship are stating this should be a lesson that religiously motivated child abuse is not acceptable, per the Tennessean newspaper:
( Walkaways speak out )

Hopefully little Josef Smith will not be the first to see justice--hopefully one day *everyone* who has been the victim of religiously-motivated child abuse will someday see justice. (In that light, I strongly encourage each and every reader of this community to please support the work of the Safe Passage Foundation, which to my knowledge is the ONLY group that is specifically working to prevent religiously-motivated child abuse and support the rights of child walkaways from coercive religious groups--including coercive dominionist churches.)