By Jonathon Van Maren
A repulsive religious huckster in Toronto has been making the news recently, and for an awful reason: He tried to push his mistress into having an abortion, and used the name of God in doing so. From the Toronto Star:
A religious leader and self-acclaimed “prophet” told a woman that God “showed him” she would die if she refused to abort his unborn child, according to a Toronto judge’s reasons for rejecting his request to conceal his identity in a paternity case.
Last week, Ontario Superior Court Justice Fred Myers dismissed pastor Martin Kofi Danso’s request to shield details of his paternity lawsuit against his former lover, Chris-Ann Bartley, a member of his church. He said reasons would follow and they did Friday in a 13-page decision.
“Ms. Bartley’s evidence is that when she approached Mr. Danso to tell him that she was pregnant, he asked her to have an abortion. When she declined, she claims that he told her that “the Lord showed him if I have the child I would die,” Myers wrote in his ruling.
Danso is a married father of four. His wife, Rev. JoAnne Danso who helps operate his Miracle Arena for All Nations church chain, is pregnant with twins.
Vice put it even more bluntly:
A Toronto Pastor who fathered a child with one of his parishioners reportedly told her that God would strike her down if she birthed his child.
Thankfully, the mother ignored Danso’s blasphemous deceits, and the child is now six months old. But consider a couple of things here. First of all, it is interesting that the Toronto Star, a notoriously left-wing and pro-abortion publication, refers to the baby as an “unborn child” in this particular story. That phrasing begs the obvious question of what an abortion would have done to the unborn child, which is a story that the media has long ignored for obvious reasons. And secondly, this story should draw attention to the fact that the sort of pseudo-spiritual pyramid schemes run by Danso and other snake oil salesmen like him are a transparent attempts to use religion to prey on people and make some quick cash. The more of these so-called “prophets” that get exposed for who they truly are, the better.