BishopAccountability.org
	Sda Pastor Fired By Laurel V Williams Trinidad & Tobago Newsday January 22, 2011 http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,134495.html SEVENTH-DAY Adventist (SDA) religious leader, Pastor Herman Waldron, who on Thursday appeared in court charged with sexual offences, has been fired. In a swift move by elders of the faith, Waldron’s services were terminated. This comes a day after the 43 year-old man from Siparia, was granted bail in the sum of $75,000 by Magistrate Joanne Connor, in Siparia Magistrates’ Court, charged with three counts of sexual offences. In a press release yesterday by Aura Stewart-Henry, of the South Caribbean Conference of the it stated that the organisation had a zero tolerance for such misconduct as they uphold the laws of the country and are guided by the Biblical principles in such manners. “The leaders of the church have therefore terminated the services of the pastor and have offered counselling services to the affected persons,” stated the release. The charges against Waldron allege that on unknown and separate dates in July he committed the offences on two boys, ages ten and 11. Members of the church are hoping that the matter will be tried in the court of law based on the evidence and not from a religious perspective. Richard Bevon Daniel of the Laventille SDA church yesterday said that religion did not have much to do with the issue. He was of the view that it was instead an individual issue for the pastor to answer. “ Maybe he was a victim of abuse. In relation to the church, I think they should not have ex-communicated him. That contradicts the purpose of the church. They should not turn their backs on him. They should come together as a church and handle it the way Jesus would,” Daniel said yesterday. Reagan Delaney of the Woodbrook Pentecostal Church yesterday noted that this incident would negatively affect the church especially since it was the first time that such incident had been publicised SDA faith. “ I agree with the church’s move to remove him. If it was my son I do not know what I would have done,” Delaney said.
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