In January Michael Clare, the 38-year-old married pastor of the Harvest Worship Center in the Bronx (and principal of its affiliated school, Harvest Prep), was charged with sexual abuse by one of his flock. Specifically, a now 15-year-old girl claimed Clare inappropriately interacted with her for over three years. Despite DNA evidence from the victim's aborted fetus, Clare has maintained his innocence and yesterday rejected a plea deal that would have put him behind bars for just two years. more ›

We thought we had heard the last of Mr. Cool Moustache in September, when he was charged for officers who had to be on duty because of his threats to burn the Koran on September 11th, but he is still making news! Jones was invited by an organization in England to speak about "the evils of Islam," but Britain's Home Secretary says they reserve the right to "exclude people who are not conducive to public good or on national security grounds," and that includes him. Hah, threat to the public good? How does it feel, Jones? He claims he wouldn't even talk about Islam being evil, saying, "We have no problem with Muslims." Somehow we doubt that. more ›

The controversial Florida mustache-enthusiast who threatened to burn a bunch of Korans on Sept. 11, didn't, and then got a free car out of the deal, returned to Ground Zero yesterday a humbled man. Pastor Terry Jones was in Manhattan to announce his latest project, an organization called Stand Up America, whose aim is to foster communication and understanding for Americans about Islam in an attempt to atone for his incendiary antics last September. Or...not: the initiative actually aims to "teach about the dangers of radical Islam." more ›

Has one of the Staten Island Ferry pastors been silenced from preaching to his (involuntary) commuting congregation? SILive reports that Michael Ihedioha (also known as Michael Nwadiuko) has been sentenced to three years probation and is likely to keep mum after cutting a plea deal yesterday to a misdemeanor obstruction charge. more ›

A storefront pastor has been sentenced to two to six years in prison after swindling more than 100 immigrants with promises of U.S. visas and green cards. Gregorio Gonzalez, 57, was sentenced on Tuesday after pleading guilty to collecting more than $840,000, mainly from Ecuadorian immigrants who visited him at the Iglesia Pentecostal Roca de Salvacion Eterna in Corona, according to 1010WINS. "He took our money," 27-year-old office cleaner Viviana Ordonez told the Daily News. "He took our trust in him. We right now have nothing. We don't have hope. We want justice." After Gonzalez gets out of prison, he will face deportation proceedings. more ›

After fending off a legal battle from dissenting congregants who sought to block his installation, Riverside Church pastor Dr. Brad Braxton has decided to step down after all. His critics had objected to what they perceived as an extravagant $600,000 compensation package and worried that Braxton was moving the church away from its traditionally progressive agenda to a more conservative religious attitude. Braxton, a Baptist minister and former Rhodes scholar, had sought to style himself as "progressive evangelical," but in the end seemed unable to unite the congregation. In his resignation letter, obtained by the Times, he wrote that "the congregation has struggled publicly for decades about the kind of church that it should be and the kind of pastor who should be its voice. In recent months, these struggles have created a level of antagonism within the congregation that undermines the community’s efforts to embody harmony in the name of Jesus Christ. The consistent discord has made it virtually impossible to establish a fruitful covenant between the congregation and me." more ›

An Episcopal pastor on Staten Island is accused of turning the other cheek to a plastic surgeon and paying for the procedures with church money. According to SI Live, Rev. William Blasingame, 66, the now-resigned pastor of St. Paul's Memorial Episcopal Church in Stapleton, is accused of stealing over $80,000 during a three-year period starting in January 2005. Authorities say Blasingame used the money to pay for botox injections and face lifts (see his picture), as well as a club membership, car insurance, fancy clothes, and unspecified drugs. The larceny was discovered after church elders began double-checking church finances and noticed suspicious withdraws from two funds: one that was supposed to cover the maintenance and beautification of the church's grounds, and the other to provide small amounts of cash to parishioners in need. But don't parishioners also need a good-looking pastor? The D.A. doesn't think so; Blasingame's been charged with felonies punishable by up to 15 years in prison. more ›