There are lots of ways to influence a person. Honest influence uses argument and reason, debate and intellect. Dishonest methods use coercion and threat, manipulation and blackmail.

Bishop Thomas J. Tobin is a dishonest man. Rather than having the weight of evidence and argument, he resorts to emotional extortion and threats of damnation.

Congressman Patrick Kennedy, of Rhode Island (not really an island, if you didn't know) had the audacity and the unmitigated gall to stand up for his principles in defiance of a group that considers itself the ultimate authority on all things: the Catholic Church! You see, the Catholic Church doesn't like abortions, and quite frankly I can't blame them. It doesn't matter how you view it, it's not a "Good Thing". You don't buy one as a gift, and you don't wish one on anyone. So if someone happens to not LIKE the idea of abortion, I don't think they are crazy or silly or simple.

A 16 year old high school student was baptized during a football outing this week sponsored by the football coach and approved by the schools superintendent. The coach, as a school official and in a position of authority took the kids to a Franklin Crossroads Baptist Church where the boy and several others were baptized, some without their parent knowledge, or their prior consent.

Abuse of position, trust, and the use of authority to coerce children to perform acts they are not old enough to consent to... sounds pretty creepy to me. That's likely why Michelle and Dannie Ammons, parents of Robert Coffey, are sptifire angry at the school, the coach, the church and I assume a bunch of other people involved.