They shouldn't. In this case they did for some horrible reason.

Usually, Christians have independant thought from their pastor, and the pastor is there to help guide them. Unfortunately, weak and stupid Christians in some cases simply believe whatever the pastor says because he's smarter than them.

The sheep have a responsibility to reason for themselves whether the teachings of the shepherd are in line with the scriptures or not.

This has got nothing to do with Christianity`s view of women - nor men. This is about someone blaming another person when said person did nothing wrong and those who put the case in a way to avoid seeing the truth of one man`s wrong doing.

before the new testament when women could be pastors and hold power in the church.

To be fair, there were women pastors and held power in the NT church, as per Paul's writings. Multiple references were given to women that held church services in their house, and Paul mentions quite a few women that were of prominence in the church. However, many people tend to discourage proper interpretation of these scriptures.

That is true, but the sexist bureaucrats that ran/runs the Church denounced/denounces the household teachings if I remember right, too. I think it has something to do with some crap along the lines of "scripture and holy blessings can only truly be given by a pastor in the house of god" or some crap like that.

in my opinion people do not turn to or embrace religion because they want to "think for themselves". they want security and peace of mind. they want to be free from uncertainty and they want to hear that everything will be alright as long as you follow the rules.

i am not saying these are bad things, but they hold a lot of potential for abuse, especially as every scripture can be interpreted in any way it suits someone.

It has everything to do with how Christianity views both women and men. It's about the persecution of a WOMAN, and the ignoring of a MAN's wrongdoing.

Great post!

I don't think this has anything to do with the church, just one man with a distorted view on the world (and a congregation that will be sympathetic towards his manner of dealing with things).