Stop Religious Abuse.

A nineteen year old young man is dead at the hands of a half-dozen religious kooks.

It was two hours of relentless beating.

The doctors ruled death by sustained blunt force trauma to the abdomen.

His parents, Bruce and Deborah Leonard, are charged with Manslaughter for watching it all happen.  Apparently she and her husband watched the angry group (which included their daughter) kick and punch Lucas and his brother, Christopher (17 years old) for hours.  They are members of a very secretive Church called Word of Life in New Hartford, NY.  

When Lucas stopped breathing, the family brought him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.  The police were then dispatched to the 3-story brick church to look for his brother Christopher.  It took two hours because the family was uncooperative, but they found him on the second floor of the church.

According to church members, this was a counseling session that turned violent.  They were trying to get the boys to be repentant of something - and so they mercilessly beat them.

No mercy in life, no mercy in death.

Despite being forced to read the Bible two hours a day and attend the religious services of the church, Lucas and Christopher tried to live normal lives.  Friends and neighbors remember Lucas as a good kid who was nice to others - just unable to take part in the normal childhood things like sleepovers or holidays like Halloween.  

All I keep thinking about are two kids that kept getting beaten without mercy.  I doubt they kept quiet.  I am sure that they begged and pleaded - as any one of us would do.  Begged and pleaded for their lives.  No mercy . . . at the hands of people who are supposed to know mercy.  

How repulsive - to beat someone to death - for repentance.

How could you listen to someone begging for mercy and continue to beat them?

It makes me sick to my stomach.  It makes me worried for the countless other teenagers and young people who are being abused in the name of mercy.  Scared into silence.  People I pass everyday.  

God, please show mercy on the soul of Lucas.  If you would, welcome him into your presence.     

Time has run out for Lucas, but not for the countless other secretive communities and religious kooks who abuse those in their care.  Today is the day to speak up.  You have the voice and the power to end abuse that you know about.  Take the courageous step and tell someone.  Mercy is not something we talk about, it is something we practice.  The lawyers say his mother was too timid to speak up and end her son's suffering.  She is not guilty because of her temerity.

You and I know that is a lie.  Standing by makes one complicit.  

Mercy was hers to give by speaking up and ending the beatings.  Don't let her mistake be yours.