A Texas pastor who vociferously advocated for the criminalization of abortions in the state has been arrested for having sexual intercourse with a teen relative for years, the media has learned.
Stephen Bratton, 43, was charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child, from 2013-2015, Harris County Senior Deputy Thomas Gilliland said, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Despite his allegedly wicked crime, Bratton only had to post a $50K bail to get out.
Nevertheless, Bratton was forced to resign and has been excommunicated from Grace Family Baptist Church in Cypress Station near Houston. He also no longer lives with his wife and seven children and the abuse victim was granted an emergency protective order.
“This person’s life is such a contradiction to the faith that we see no evidence that they are a Christian,” said Aaron Wright, one of the church’s co-pastors, according to the Chronicle.
Bratton made headlines when he testified in support of Texas House Bill 896, which eventually failed. It would have made it a crime for women to have an abortion. “Whoever authorizes or commits murder is guilty,” Bratton said in the April 8 hearing. “They’re guilty already in a court that is far more weighty than what is here in Texas.”
What is just as interesting is the fact that sexual abuse of minors is so prevalent in the Baptist church that during the latest Southern Baptist Convention, they had to urge the 47,000 attendees to increase screening of pastors and to treat victims better, the Houston Chronicle reports.
Shockingly, the newspaper’s investigation revealed there have been 700 cases of child sexual abuse by hundreds of pastors and other church leaders since 1998.
