I thought some about our loyal reader Gary's post down there in the comments section in my post about Bob Casey, and I was impressed by his blog, American Regression. On there he cites a letter sent to him by Mr. Santorum, one in which Righteous Rick goes off on his pet Federal Marriage Amendment. Gary posts the entire letter sent to constituents here.
Mr. Santorum, of course, has been under fire for homeschooling his kids through the Penn Hills School District, and they've called for him to return the money, since Santorum lives in Virginia, after all. Most of us would consider that stealing, so I figured Mr. Santorum might be more comfortable getting his homeschooling from these folks at Faithworld.
Seems they've got some novel ways with spending the money of others as well. Alas, the head of the place, Clint Brown, has some matrimonial troubles as well as his financial shenanigans to negotiate. Seems he bilked a widow out of $200,000, and his soon-to-be ex-wife is testifying about how he spent some of the church tithes on a lavish lifestyle. Still, I suspect he might help with some homeschooling.
Channel 9 has uncovered the financial records of a nasty divorce involving the head of one of Central Florida's largest churches. The records detail how Pastor Clint Brown, and his wife Angie, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars from FaithWorld's large congregation.
In one case, Brown spent $70,000 in church money on women's clothing that his wife and daughter never received.
The divorce fillings indicate this couple, admired for their family values, had a relationship that was irretrievably broken. Records show they lived a lavish lifestyle, largely financed by the members of their church.
Pastor Brown's Sunday morning services are filled spirited sermons and rock and roll music. On FaithWorld's website, Brown asks for donations of up to $1,000 to "spread praise to the world."
The financial documents in Pastor Brown's divorce file show many of those contributions aren't spread much further than he and his estranged wife, Angie.
Their home in Alaqua cost $1.4 million. The $7,000 a month mortgage is paid for by FaithWorld. So is the electricity, lawn care and pool maintenance.
Angie Brown drives a $95,000 Mercedes. Parishioners pay for that, too, along with the $531 in monthly insurance.
Even after all those perks, FaithWorld still pays Pastor Brown a generous salary. He made more than a half million dollars last year. His attorney says much of that came from the church.
What's wrong with marriage today? Examine some of these holy rollers like Clint Brown and you'll find out. (WFTV in Orlando, by the way, has more stories about this geek here, here and here.)
Folks like Mr. Santorum would be better served in the hereafter by taking off after criminals like Clint Brown, who is doing more to destroy marriage than any gay or lesbian couple I've ever met.
