Pastor destroys children’s belief in Heaven through kittycide

Moody the cat

Pastor Rick Bartlett of the Bastrop Christian Church in Texas is in a spot of trouble. It all started when he caught what he believed was one of those feral cats he’d been having problems with:

Rick Bartlett, pastor of the Bastrop Christian Church, is facing animal cruelty charges. Bastrop Police Chief Michael Black said Bartlett admitted that he caught the cat, named Moody, in a trap on Sunday, Jan. 15. Bartlett told them that he was having a problem with feral cats in his garden.

Moody ^[sic] also told police that he had the cat in a cage in the back of his pick-up truck for three days and forgot about him until Tuesday, Jan. 17., when Bartlett brought the cat to police. An animal control officer noticed a name tag including the phone number of Moody’s owners, Sarah and Eddy Bell, on the cat's collar.

Okay, so he was negligent, but he ended up doing the right thing and dropped kitty off with its owners, right? Happy ending?

Oh, wait:

The officer offered to take Moody back to his owners but police said Bartlett told them he’d take the cat back himself since they were his neighbors.

Later on the same day, a park visitor discovered Moody’s near lifeless body on the bank of the Colorado River, some 40-50 feet below a bridge.

[…]

Moody was Sarah and Eddy Bell's cat for 11 years. They are having a difficult time understanding what happened to the beloved member of their family. Trying to explain his death to their five-year old daughter has proved challenging.

“She also asked me where Moody is now and I said, 'Baby he's in Heaven,'" said Sarah. "She knows the man who did this is a pastor at the Bastrop Christian Church and she said, 'I don't believe in Heaven anymore, Moody's just dead.'”

Score another one for that superior, God-given Christian morality we’re always hearing about.

As a grim silver lining, though, we now have a sure-fire way to get young children to stop believing in religious fairy tales: Just show them what these so-called holy leaders are really capable of.

Edit (01/26/12 11:50 PM ET) – Thanks to Skwiver for pointing out something I’d missed. Fixed.

(via Pharyngula)

Tags: Rick Bartlett • Bastrop Christian Church • Moody • Sarah Bell • Eddy Bell • Heaven • pastors