Archives: Cornerstone Baptist Church
Original date of publication: March 10, 2003
Church faces new baptism complaint/ Girl, 8, ordered to take off clothes
The Gazette
A Colorado Springs church long criticized for baptizing children without their parents' permission faces a new complaint from the mother of an 8-year-old girl who said her daughter was ordered to disrobe for a baptism Sunday.
Officials at Cornerstone Baptist Church declined to comment.
Shelby Obermuller listened to her daughter talk about what fun she had at the church playing basketball and eating sweets.
What the little girl said next outraged Obermuller and led her to call police.
"She started talking about how they baptized her," Obermuller said. "She said they told her to take off all her clothes, even her underwear, and put on a white church robe. When she said she didn't want to do it, they told her she would be saved and be a better person."
Then, Obermuller said, they told her daughter to step in a small pool of water about chest deep. They put a tissue over her nose and dunked her head backward into the water.
Obermuller's daughter said she was one of a few children who had not been previously baptized whom church leaders ordered into the baptismal area.
"My daughter doesn't even know what it means to be baptized," Obermuller said. "I asked her what religion she is, and she said 'What's religion?' I had no problem with her going to church, but I never wanted to push anything like that on (my kids).
"I cannot believe they (the church) would do something like that, especially behind the parent's back and make the child think if they don't do it they're doing something wrong," Obermuller said.
Since 1993 Cornerstone has attracted children to the church with offers of fun - from roller skating to pie throwing and ice cream.
The church repeatedly has used the functions to baptize children without their parents' knowledge or consent. In past interviews with The Gazette, the church has said it considers baptism to be "soul winning" or bringing converts to Christianity. Some parents consider it a violation of their rights and several have sued the church over it.
In 1997, a civil jury decided the church did not harm the children by baptizing them during carnivals but found the church deceived the kids by telling them they were going to the church for carnivals. The church was ordered to pay each of the eight plaintiffs $664.29 in damages for the concealment charge.
Other allegations surfaced at the church in 1999, when five women told police they were sexually assaulted as teen-agers by Charles Dean Miller, Jr., then the church's music director who also is the pastor's son. Miller later pleaded guilty to multiple sex assault counts.
Obermuller said church members canvass Fort Carson, where she lives, every Saturday, recruiting children.
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Original date of publication: May 22, 1998
Church faces new accusations over baptisms/ Cornerstone pastor: Permission was given
The Gazette
When Kathleen Sullivan-Durso sent her two daughters to Cornerstone Baptist Church, she thought they would participate in Bible study and have fun at a local game room.
What happened was her 8-year-old daughter was baptized without her mother's knowledge or consent, according to Sullivan-Durso.
That accusation is nothing new for the church. Since 1993 Cornerstone has used bus trips promising fun as an opportunity to preach to children and more often than not baptize them.
But what the church considers "soul winning" or bringing converts to Christianity, some parents consider a violation of their rights. A few of them have taken the church to court over it.
"The real problem is not that what they're doing is illegal. The real problem is that some people disagree with the church's methods (of saving souls)," said Bill Ritter, a Denver attorney who defended the church against lawsuits.
Sullivan-Durso and Isabel Maestas, whose 10-year-old son also was baptized by the church May 3, said they never signed a permission slip and were never aware their children would be baptized.
The Rev. Dean Miller, the church's senior pastor, disputed that. He said he has signed permission slips from each one of the parents on file in his church. He refused to make them available for review by The Gazette.
For Miller, what he is doing is a direct command from God. He fears media coverage, which began when the first accusations were leveled against the church in 1993, is an attempt to discredit his church and attack religion in general.
"Our practice is to preach the gospel and get people saved and baptized," Miller said of his church's practice.
Even 8-year-olds?
"We'll take them at 5 or 4," he said.
In Maestas' case, her son Nicky was 10. She doesn't feel like he was saved.
Nicky came home telling her how preachers at the church threatened them with a "river of fire" and a "beast that would grab you around the neck and pull you into it."
"All my life I've taught my kids that God is good and that Jesus is right there with you, that he loves them," Maestas said. "Now they've convinced him that God is terrifying and just waiting to hurt him."
Although the Baptist faith places emphasis on baptism as an important part of salvation, most Baptist churches disapprove of baptizing without parental consent and involvement.
"It's not acceptable anywhere and any self-respecting Baptist church would not do that," said Charles Aiken, director of missions for the Pikes Peak Association of Southern Baptists.
Cornerstone Baptist Church is an independent Baptist church and is not answerable to a larger body.
But parents making the most recent allegations want the church to be answerable in court. Sullivan-Durso said she intends to pursue legal action.
"The lawyer said that they can assert their First Amendment rights," Sullivan-Durso said after visiting a local lawyer with Maestas. "What about our freedom of religion? I still have the freedom and my kids have the freedom. I don't understand why their freedom is more important than mine or my kids."
In 1993, eight children sued the church for a number of civil damages.
Jurors concluded that the children were not physically harmed by the baptism. But they found the church guilty of concealment, meaning the jury felt the church hadn't been clear enough in telling the parents its intent.
The jury ordered that each child be paid $664.29.
A second 1995 case was dismissed before it went to trial.
In February the church ran a full-page ad in The Gazette stating it had been "exonerated." Among other things, Miller asserted that "at no time have we ever sought to harm a child."
Sullivan-Durso argues her child was harmed.
The children were asked to take off all their clothes and put on church robes and church underwear to be fully immersed in the baptismal water.
"I'm upset by the fact that they had them undress. That they couldn't even leave their own panties on," she said. "And then there's the threatening way they did it. Telling them they're going to the river of fire. I've never even heard of that."
Miller maintains his church is following the Bible and it will not stop in the face of what he sees as persecution.
"Every person in the family is invited to come," Miller said of his ministry. "If they would decide to send their child and not come then that's their problem, not ours."
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Original date of publication: June 5, 1997
Mother testifies permission denied for carnival baptism
The Gazette
The mother of a 9-year-old girl testified Wednesday her daughter was baptized by Cornerstone Baptist Church last month despite the mother's insistence that such a ceremony not take place.
Shirley Casillas said when two men came to her door asking if her daughter Jessica could go the church for games and activities, she gave her approval. But she testified that when the men asked if Jessica could be baptized, she gave a stern no. She said she told them her daughter had been baptized in the Catholic Church.
Eight children have sued Cornerstone, alleging they were forced to be baptized during church carnivals. They are seeking unspecified monetary and punitive damages.
Jessica Casillas attended the church four times. She was baptized during her third visit. "They peer-pressured me and told me it would be good," Jessica testified Wednesday.
The men who went to Casillas' home testified that Casillas never told them not to baptize Jessica. One of the men, Phillipe Jaramillo, a Cornerstone bus driver, said, "It's the parent's responsibility to tell a child not to be baptized before they come to the church."
Another church member, Richard Haley, testified that even if a child is told not to be baptized, they could be influenced by the Bible.
"The kids may want to follow the Lord," Haley said.
Jurors were expected to hear closing arguments today. Deliberations could begin Friday.
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Original date of publication: June 4, 1997
Kids suing church possibly manipulated, witness says
The Gazette
A Michigan psychologist testified Tuesday the children suing Cornerstone Baptist Church might have been manipulated into believing they were harmed during baptisms at the church.
Melvin Guyer, who specializes in memory, said if children are asked to recite the same story several times, they might tend to embellish.
"Children who are continually asked about a story tend to tell a more fantastic story each time it's told," Guyer said.
While cross-examining Guyer, the attorney for the children suing the church asserted several of the youngsters involved have not been repeatedly questioned about their baptism experiences.
Guyer also discounted testimony given last week by an 11-year-old boy who said he was sexually abused during his baptism. Guyer said without proof the alleged assault actually occurred, there's little chance of tracing the child's suffering to it.
"Symptoms can't prove the event," he said. "The event must be proven first."
Nine children are suing Cornerstone Baptist Church for allegedly luring them to the church under the guise that they were attending a carnival and then forcing them to be baptized once they arrived. They are seeking unspecified monetary and punitive damages.
Parents of the children were removed from the suit after 4th Judicial District Judge Steven Pelican ruled that under Colorado law, they were not entitled to civil damages. The parents said the church had undermined their authority over their children's religious upbringing.
The trial has focused exclusively on whether the children were harmed by the church's actions.
During cross-examination by plaintiff attorney Patric LeHoullier, Guyer acknowledged that in general, persistent adults could persuade children to agree to be baptized.
After five days of testimony, the plaintiffs rested their case and the defense was on the verge of completing its own case.
Defense attorney Bill Ritter called his last witness Tuesday.
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Original date of publication: June 3, 1997
Church disputes baptizing 5,000 kids
The Gazette
Cornerstone Baptist Church, defending allegations it harmed children by baptizing them without their parents' consent, baptized nearly 5,000 children in a five-month span in 1995, plaintiffs alleged Monday.
A church member who tracks baptisms for Cornerstone, however, testified far fewer children were baptized during that time.
As the civil trial involving Cornerstone's practices moved into its fifth day, plaintiffs attorney Patric LaHoullier told a defense witness the church performed nearly 5,000 baptisms from January to May 1995. LaHoullier said the information came from a religious publication to which Cornerstone submits information.
The church conducts a "bus ministry" in which it brings kids to carnivals staged at the church, where baptisms are offered. Nine children are suing Cornerstone Baptist Church for allegedly luring them to church carnivals, then forcing them to be baptized. They are seeking unspecified monetary and punitive damages claiming they were harmed by the church's actions.
Under questioning by defense attorney Bill Ritter, church member City Holt said carnivals held four and five years ago attracted anywhere from 500 to 900 children - enough kids to populate two small to medium-size elementary schools.
During the carnivals, Holt said, church members baptized only about 20 to 30 children.
None of the attorneys disputed those figures during testimony Monday.
The defense spent a large portion of the day trying to recover from allegations made on the witness stand last week by an 11-year-old boy who said he was sexually abused when he was left alone with a pastor who also baptized him.
But Holt testified that she was present with the pastor during all baptisms - to avoid such allegations.
"We wanted to make sure there was never a question as to what was going on up there," she said.
Psychologists called as witnesses by both sides testified regarding the boy. Allen Rountree, a clinical psychologist who said he currently treats the boy in Virginia, said the child had suffered several problems, ranging from depression to social withdrawal, because of the alleged church incident.
Patricia Aletky, a clinical psychologist for the defense, testified she believed the boy's problems stemmed from an unstable family environment, not the Cornerstone incident.
Testimony is scheduled to resume today.
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Original date of publication: June 1, 1997
Church's baptisms under fire/ Cornerstone Baptist's pastor unapologetic for methods in face of lawsuits.
Bill McKeown; The Gazette
Dean Miller's life was in a shambles in the early 1960s. He was living in Montana, working as a parts guy in a garage. He had little direction, joy or happiness. He was living a life of "sin."
"I was an alcoholic, a cusser, a carouser," Miller said.
That portrait of Miller - sketched this past week in a courtroom by himself and his lawyer - is in stark contrast to the Dean Miller of 1997. Today's Dean Miller is well-barbered. His suits are conservative and well-cut. His shirts are bright white and starched.
This Dean Miller leads a devoted flock at a church on a hill overlooking the eastern plains. This Dean Miller is a man of substance. A leader. A man bathed in the Light.
So why is he sitting in a 4th Judicial District courtroom, listening to people say bad things about him and his Cornerstone Baptist Church?
Because he's a fervent follower of the Bible that he says saved his life. He believes that the King James Version is the literal word of God - including the verse about "suffer the little children to come unto me."
For Dean Miller, that verse means one shouldn't wait for the little children to come unto God. So for the past decade, he has sent his followers out in 10 yellow school buses every week to bring children from around the city to the fundamentalist church he founded in 1976.
There, according to both church members and critics, the children are taught about the Bible and eventually asked if they accept Jesus as their savior. If the children answer yes, they're separated by sex and taken to individual changing rooms, where they're told to don gowns. They're then immersed in water and baptized.
The parents of nine children, who say they didn't give permission for baptisms, are suing Miller for money damages. They argue that Cornerstone had usurped their authority over their children's religious upbringing. The issue in the case, however, is not parental rights but whether the children were harmed by the church's actions.
After a string of complaints arose in the mid-1990s, church officials said they began giving parents of children who were to be bused to the church a "rider permission form."
The form, while not directly seeking parents' permission to baptize their children, does say the church's mission is to "teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." Many parents who have complained about the church - even up to last week - say they signed no forms.
Miller took the stand Friday to defend himself against the civil charges. He acknowledged the church uses "incentives" - such as the promise of a carnival - to get children to the church. But, he said, not all children who are bused are baptized.
He was unapologetic about the ones who are: He said finding salvation in Jesus and showing that faith by being baptized is a personal choice - not the choice of anyone else, including a parent. He said he once baptized a child of 4 after determining the youngster grasped the meaning of the rite.
Miller himself was baptized in a cold Montana lake in 1965, at the age of 26. The immersion, he said, signaled a change in the direction of his life, saving his marriage and assuring that his three children had a dad at home. That experience, he told jurors, is why he holds so fast to a mission that has, since 1993, spawned two lawsuits, with a third on the way.
Mike McDivitt, a Springs lawyer who is planning to sue Miller on behalf of a dozen clients allegedly baptized by the church, thinks Miller and his church are the epitome of religious arrogance.
"So many actions throughout history have been perpetrated by those who are well-meaning, who think they know better than other people - who think they have the answer," he said. "Well, they've stepped across the line. They have supplanted their judgment for the parents' of these children."
Anita Schlier, who teaches teens about God at Gideon Baptist Church, wishes Miller would stop what his critics call a continuing pattern of unauthorized baptisms.
"We disagree with what Cornerstone does," she said. "We send home a permission paper for baptism of all children up to the age of 18. Until then, we feel very strongly that the parent must know what is going on. . . . We don't treat it like a circus."
In her view, unauthorized baptisms might turn off people to the message other churches are trying to send.
"We have a bus ministry, too, and their constantly doing this hinders us because parents get leery about all churches. It's real difficult for us. When we go door to door, we're always being asked, `Are you from Cornerstone?' "
Tony Silengo, the staff evangelist at the Hilltop Baptist Church, which has run a bus ministry for about 15 years, said it always requires parents' permission for the baptism of a child.
"Independent Baptists do believe in the doctrine of salvation, and it's important that we as Christians share the Gospel. I agree with (Cornerstone's) desire to share the Gospel. But anytime we look at numbers and treat it as a contest, it is very dangerous."
Stan Lightfoot, pastor of the independent Rustic Hills Baptist Church, doesn't agree with Cornerstone's methods. His church has children meet with deacons before they're baptized to make sure they know what will happen and what baptism symbolizes. Then, and only then, are baptisms scheduled - and always with the parents' permission and, hopefully, with their involvement.
But Lightfoot thinks some of the claims the plaintiffs' lawyers have made against Miller and his church are a stretch.
"I think the thing he (Miller) is guilty of is zeal," Lightfoot said. "And unfortunately, people like that are often attacked by others who don't share their views. Frankly, I think it's refreshing to see a person stand up for what he believes in."
Miller's lawyer, Bill Ritter of Denver, told jurors last week that what the case is really all about is money.
"People sue for everything today. Would Jesus have been sued in 1 B.C. for baptizing a small child in a river? We've come a long way," he said.
"To understand this case, you have to understand the members of the church and their pastor. There is a soul-winning part of this ministry, there's no doubt. . . . They're interested in the salvation of the souls of these little children.
"But this is no fly-by-night operation. Cornerstone is not a cult."
Miller himself told jurors Friday that the Scriptures demand that he and his church do three things: "Get them saved; baptize them; teach them the entirety of the Bible."
It is expected that by midweek, the panel of seven jurors will pass judgment on the actions of Dean Miller.
@QUOTE: "People sue for everything today. Would Jesus have been sued in 1 B.C. for baptizing a small child in a river?"
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Original date of publication: May 31, 1997
Baptized kids considered old enough to give OK/Cornerstone church pastor denies children threatened, but defends `saving' them
The Gazette
The pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church on Friday steadfastly endorsed his church's biblically inspired mission to baptize children, even without their parents' permission.
"We apologize for their `upsetness,' but not for their children being saved," Pastor Dean Miller said from the witness stand.
In the third day of testimony in the civil lawsuit against Cornerstone Baptist Church, Miller said young children can understand the Gospel and therefore they knew what they were doing when they agreed to be baptized.
"The Gospel is the simple plan of salvation of how one can know he is saved and on his way to heaven," he said.
Nine children are suing Cornerstone Baptist Church for allegedly luring them to several church carnivals without telling them they would be baptized after their arrival. In a lawsuit filed by their parents, the children claim they were harmed by the church's actions and are seeking unspecified monetary and punitive damages.
The well-dressed, well-spoken Miller quoted the Bible repeatedly throughout his testimony. He said his church was commanded by the Bible to save people, baptize them and teach the Gospel.
"I'm obeying the Scripture and fulfilling the calling of a pastor," he said. Miller said the church used to require children attending its carnivals to supply permission slips signed by their parents. The practice was discontinued before the carnivals at issue in the lawsuit, he said, because they "slowed us down."
Miller disputed earlier testimony from eight children that they were told by church officials they would be stung by bees and go to hell if they refused baptism.
"We didn't threaten anybody with bee stings," he said. "We don't believe that."
Miller said all children who came to the church were given the choice of whether they wanted to be baptized, and no force was used against them.
"We ask the children `If you die tonight, are you 100 percent sure that you would go to heaven?' " The children's response, he said, determined whether they should be baptized.
He said unless a person is genuinely saved - by taking Jesus into their hearts - they are not baptized at Cornerstone.
"We don't want false pretense. It gives them a false assurance," Miller said.
While plaintiff attorney Patric LaHoullier suggested the church-sponsored carnival was a guise concealing the church's true intent, Miller said the carnival was simply an incentive.
"I would consider them (carnivals) to get the attention of the young people," Miller said.
He said he did not believe fliers advertising the event were deceptive. Because they included the name of the church, he said, parents should have known baptisms would be taking place.
LaHoullier questioned Miller's credentials, saying that although he sometimes refers to himself as Dr. Miller, his doctorate is actually honorary and was given to him by a friend.
Since the church is independent, there is no higher organization to make sure it operates correctly.
"This Bible is my higher authority," he said.
Also Friday, the defense tried to cast doubt on testimony offered by an 11-year-old boy Thursday that he was grabbed in the groin by man performing baptisms for Cornerstone.
The boy's father testified Friday he was at home at the time of the alleged incident. But defense attorney Bill Ritter pointed out that in a earlier deposition, the father said he was out of town.
The father also said his son had become afraid of blue buses - the kind he said took his son to the carnival. But Pastor Miller testified that none of his church's 10 buses are blue.
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Original date of publication: May 29, 1997
Kids claim baptisms preceded by threats/ Church denies allegations
The Gazette
Why did 10-year-old Shaun MacNeil-Loving agree to be baptized by strangers more than four years ago?
"They said if we didn't, they'd sting us with bees and we'd go to hell," the youngster testified Wednesday as testimony began in the civil trial of Cornerstone Baptist Church.
Three other children - barely able to peer out from the heavy, wooden witness box and their tiny voices nearly inaudible - told essentially the same story of what happened at carnivals held by Cornerstone in 1992.
Nine children are suing the Cornerstone Baptist Church for allegedly luring them to the church under the guise that they would attend a carnival, then forcing them to be baptized once they arrived.
They are seeking unspecified monetary and punitive damages.
"I only agreed to let Shaun go because his friend was going. The flyer didn't say a word about baptism," testified Wendy Loving, Shaun's mother.
At least one flyer advertising a carnival did mention baptism as part of the church's mission, but did not say children attending the carnival would be baptized.
The parents claimed the church had undermined their authority over their children's religious upbringing.
But parents of the children were removed from the suit after Fourth Judicial District Judge Steven Pelican ruled that under Colorado law, they are not entitled to civil damages. The trial is focusing exclusively on whether the children were harmed by the church's actions.
Eight civil claims were filed against the church, including outrageous conduct, fraud, assault and false imprisonment.
In opening statements, the children's lawyer, Edward Farry, said the religious beliefs of Cornerstone members are not on trial.
"It's not their words we're here to try - it's their conduct," he said. The evidence, he said, would reveal trickery, deceit and breach of trust.
"Our case is simple. The adults were tricked into letting their children on the bus, and the kids were tricked into being baptized," he said. "What they did was against civil law."
Farry said the children were made to strip naked in a room in front of all the other kids, put on underwear and robes issued by the church, and lined up.
Two children testified that when they tried to leave the line, they were forced back into it.
Farry said because of the baptisms, some of the children have suffered physical and emotional problems ranging from bedwetting to nightmares.
Melissa Buckner, 12 years old and one of five children to testify Wednesday, said she went through with her baptism because she too was afraid she would be stung by a bee and would have to spend eternity in hell.
Loving said since her son Shaun is allergic to bees, the notion of being stung by one scared him deeply. She also testified that Shaun is now afraid of churches and men in suits. All of the men in the church during the baptism wore suits.
Cornerstone's attorney, Bill Ritter, opened his defense of the church by telling jurors that baptism prepares a person for continual growth.
"You start with salvation, and you grow from it. Baptism is the first act of obedience," he said.
He said there were no false motives and the children were given the choice whether they wanted to be baptized.
"There was no coercion, only persuasion and encouragement," Ritter said. "There's nothing tricky about what they do. It's in the book."
He said the church was solely interested in spiritual matters and only wanted to insure that the children would go to heaven.
"They are commanded by this book to give everyone a chance at eternal life in heaven," he said. He also read read several passages from the Bible.
Annie Peterson, whose daughter Martha was baptized by Cornerstone in 1992, testified that when she called the church regarding the matter, she was told parental consent was not part of the Bible's definition of baptism.
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Original date of publication: May 28, 1997
Trial over child baptisms begins in district court
Bill McKeown; The Gazette
A long-simmering civil lawsuit against Cornerstone Baptist Church over its controversial practice of baptizing children - allegedly without their parents' permission - goes to trial today.
Beginning more than four years ago, parents complained that Cornerstone had usurped their authority over their children's religious upbringing. But as the case goes to trial, the parents find themselves on the sidelines. Instead, jurors will focus solely on whether the children were harmed by the church's actions.
"The issues of this case revolve around claims of injuries or damages to children. It is not about parental rights," 4th Judicial District Judge Steven Pelican told dozens of El Paso County residents summoned to his courtroom Tuesday for jury duty.
Pelican, in the months leading up to the trial, removed more than a half-dozen parents from the lawsuit, ruling they were not entitled to civil damages under Colorado law. That leaves nine children as plaintiffs suing the church for unspecified monetary and punitive damages.
The church's practice became the talk of the town more than four years ago, when parents began contacting the media to report that Cornerstone had distributed fliers in their neighborhoods promising a carnival and the "world's largest water fight." But after being bused to the church, the children allegedly were subjected to hellfire-and-brimstone sermons, told to take off their clothes to their underwear and don robes. Then theu were baptized.
The parents say the permission slips they signed did not explicitly state that baptisms were planned. Their allegations drew numerous letters to the editor supporting the concept of parental rights and led Fort Carson to ban the church's buses from the post.
The lawyers for the children, Edward Farry and Patric LeHouillier, are seeking money from the church, Pastor Dean Miller and assistant Pastor Dan Irwin on a civil complaint alleging battery, negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, assault, outrageous conduct, false imprisonment, fraud, and breach of fiduciary obligation.
Miller has said his church is following the Bible's "great commission" by spreading the Gospel and baptizing as many people as possible.
On Tuesday, the jury pool was winnowed to 17. This morning, each side will be allowed to disqualify five each, bringing the final jury to seven, the number needed for a civil jury trial. The potential jurors were asked to fill out a detailed questionnaire on their religious beliefs and their knowledge of the case gleaned from newspaper stories and TV news accounts. Attorneys on both sides then spent the remainder of the afternoon asking them questions to determine possible bias - or sympathy.
Farry asked questions designed to elicit from jurors whether any had a problem with a lawsuit against a church or pastors - and whether they could award money damages if he and LeHouiller prevail.
Bill Ritter, the Denver-based attorney for Cornerstone, spent most of his time questioning jurors about their attitude toward religion - and the particular fundamentalist beliefs espoused by Cornerstone. He asked potential jurors, by a show of hands, how many believed the Bible was the literal word of God. He wanted to know their reaction to being approached - in the street or in their homes - by people preaching religion. He asked if jurors thought there was any harm done if a child of 7 makes a decision - presumably to be baptized - and then later changes his mind.
He dwelt so long on potential jurors' religious attitudes that a Catholic school teacher and mother of seven asked Pelican to clarify whether the trial would be about religion.
Earlier, Pelican made it clear it wouldn't be.
Opening arguments are expected this morning, with the trial running through next Tuesday or Wednesday.
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Original date of publication: May 13, 1993
Kids lured to carnival, baptized/ 8-year-olds' mother hadn't given consent
Warren Epstein; The Gazete
Pastors at a local church have angered at least one parent by baptizing her children without consent, a common practice at the fundamentalist church.
Cornerstone Baptist Church, 3615 Vickers Drive, attracted children to a carnival May 1 with fliers that promised "extra prizes and candy for those who bring 1st time visitors!"
Two of those first-time visitors were Melissa and Chelsie Buckner, 8-year-old twins who have been raised Methodists. Friends had told them about the free carnival rides, candy and water-balloon fights, and their mother gave them permission to go.
But their mother, Paulette Lamontagne, says she didn't give the church permission to baptize her daughters before the carnival.
"My understanding was they were going to a carnival," Lamontagne said. "When they came home they said, `We baptized today.' I feel that's false pretenses."
But Dean Miller, pastor of the independent fundamentalist church, makes no apologies.
"We do what the Bible talks about as the great commission," he said, spreading the gospel and baptizing as many people as possible.
Parental consent is not always practical, added his assistant associate pastor, Dan Irwin.
"If you had to get permission from every source before you could write a story, would you be able to put a newspaper out?" Irwin asked. "It's like if a child who's diabetic goes into King Soopers, gets a candy bar and then goes into shock. They don't ask for parental permission before they sold the candy bar."
But Lamontagne doesn't think those analogies fit the gravity of what should be a lifetime decision.
"This is definitely something they should get permission for," she said.
Lamontagne also was concerned about her daughters' claim that a female church worker undressed them and changed them into special church underwear and robes.
"There's a lot of weirdos in the world," she said. "It worried me because you never know."
But Miller said all the children changed their own clothing behind a curtain. And he said that if there was a misunderstanding, it was on the part of the parents.
"If parents had carefully read the advertisements (for the carnival) they would have seen that there was a possibility baptisms would take place," Miller said.
A carnival flier did print in small type the goals of the ministry, including, "To baptize new Christians in obedience to God's word."
But some parents didn't think that made it clear that children would be asked to immerse themselves in water and proclaim their faith before they enjoyed the water fights and carnival games.
Lamontagne said a Fort Carson chaplain told her he had received complaints from several other parents whose children were shuttled from the post and baptized before the carnival. Calls to the chaplain went unreturned.
Police spokesman Rich Resling said Cornerstone pastors apparently broke no laws in baptizing without parental consent. And even if they had undressed the children, that wouldn't necessarily be considered illegal, Resling said.
"But there could be a civil issue if the parents wanted to pursue it," he said.
Other Baptist pastors say baptizing young children without parental consent is not widespread.
"I don't think that's common," said Benjamin Reynolds, pastor of Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church. "We certainly believe that you're not at the age of accountability until you're 12.
"Before that age, a parent would have to give their consent, and even after 12 years old we ask," Reynolds said. "We're concerned, and I think most pastors are concerned, that those who do it understand the commitment they're making."
Lamontagne's daughters told her they agreed to the baptism because a pastor said bee stings would kill them if they weren't baptized.
Irwin says the girls misunderstood his sermon.
"I was talking about the sting of death," he said, "how what Jesus had done had taken the sting out."
Irwin said his church baptizes hundreds of children each year and gets only a small number of complaints. He said his church also baptizes many consenting adults, including those with mental disabilities.
