Triple murder: ‘Ritualistic Presbyterian killing planned to coincide with the Blue Moon’

Last updated on: August 6, 2015 at 4:24 pm by Fred Clark

Triple murder: ‘Ritualistic Presbyterian killing planned to coincide with the Blue Moon’ 2015-08-06T16:24:37-04:00 Fred Clark

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

When confronted with horrific evil, our first presumption, regardless of evidence, should be to blame the Presbyterians. Presbyterians, after all, are evil, monstrous others and we should fear them:

On Friday, July 31, three residents [two brothers and their mother] were found murdered in their home on Deerfield Drive in the coastal city of Pensacola. …

Their throats were slit, and [one victim] had a gun shot through his neck. As has been reported, the family was killed on Tues, July 28. and their deaths were caused by blunt force trauma by hammer. The police have ruled out robbery and are currently investigating.

This gruesome reality turned media frenzy after the department held an Aug. 4 news conference. During the opening speech, Sheriff David Morgan called the case “odd at best,” describing the family as reclusive. Then when he was asked about motive, he responded:

… initial research has led us to believe that there is a potential that it was a ritualistic killing … The method of the murder, blunt force traumas, slit throats, positions of bodies and then our person of interest has some ties to a faith or religion that is indicative of that.

When asked for more, Sheriff Morgan noted, “Well, again, the time of the blue moon every three years, the method of the murders and also our person of interest is known to practice this.” He was then asked directly “What religion?” Sheriff Morgan responded, “It is Presbyterianism.” The full news conference was uploaded to You Tube.

That was all it took. Within minutes, the local, national and, eventually, international media were reporting on the triple murder. “Presbyterian suspected in savage murder of family” reported the local CBS affiliate WKRG. The Washington Post announced, “Florida triple murder tied to ‘Presbyterianism’ and blue moon, police say.” And NOLA.com asked,”‘Presbyterianism’ and ‘blue moon’ behind Pensacola triple homicide?”

Shortly after, NBC quoted ECSO’s own Sgt. Andrew Hobbes saying, “It appears that this might be connected to some type of Calvinist ritual killing and possibly tied to the blue moon.” Presbyterianism suddenly changed to Calvinism. Several ABC and CBS affiliates around the country picked up the wording change. For example, one in Texas reported, “Reformed ritual may be motive behind deaths of three family members in Fla.” And, the UK’s Daily Mail announced, “Florida family murdered with a hammer in ‘ritualistic Calvinist killing planned to coincide with the Blue Moon‘ ”

The weird leap by law enforcement and media to attribute this brutal crime to Presbyterianism is wholly unfounded. For one thing, the killings took place several days before the full moon or “blue moon” on July 31. And in any case the sheriff just pulled that full moon stuff out of his backside — there’s no ritual or ceremonial importance to a blue moon in Presbyterianism. Nor is there any Presbyterian or Calvinist ritual that involves lethal violence, let alone — as the sheriff bizarrely suggested — a specific type of lethal violence involving a hammer and the particular positioning of the bodies of these victims.

There was absolutely nothing about this crime scene that should have made any police officer or journalist imagine that this crime had anything to do with Presbyterianism at all. That’s just a nonsense claim fabricated out of whole cloth by a panicked sheriff who seems utterly ignorant about Presbyterianism and Presbyterians.

Granted, Presbyterianism, like all forms of Christianity, is rooted in ancient practices of animal sacrifice. And most Calvinists do subscribe to a theory of atonement that teaches their God once demanded the human sacrifice of a first-born son. But that was just the one time, and you won’t find any Presbyterian text or practice today that supports the idea of ritual human sacrifice. The millions of Americans who practice this “faith or religion” unanimously reject such things as morally abhorrent.

So where did this sheriff get the idea that this family-annihilating spree killer was motivated by religion? What made him leap to the unfounded notion that the use of a hammer during a waxing gibbous moon suggested a Presbyterian killer? And what made all those media outlets go along with that strange assertion?

Well, as you’ve probably guessed, Sheriff Morgan didn’t actually say “Presbyterian.” What he said was “witchcraft,” and then, later, “Wicca.” The link and long excerpt quoted above are from a post by Heather Greene on the terrific Pagan blog, the Wild Hunt. I went through and replaced every mention of “witchcraft” with “Presbyterianism” and every mention of “Wiccan” with “Calvinist” or “Reformed.” I did that to highlight the absurdity, offensiveness and bigoted ignorance of the way Sheriff Morgan and all those media outlets rushed to turn this crime scene into a literal witch-hunt. (Please click over to read Greene’s full original post without my editorializing changes.)

This [three days before the] blue moon stuff has nothing to do with witches or Wicca. Nor does a family-annihilation triple murder carried out with a hammer, or the position of the bodies, or any of the other imaginative nonsense spewed by the sheriff and amplified by multiple media organizations. The idea that any of that has anything to do with Wicca or witches is just ignorant garbage.

There’s only one religious ritual at work here, and it wasn’t the horrific acts of the killer. It was the religious ritual being performed by Sheriff Morgan and all the newspapers and TV reporters eager to spread his fantasies.

It is an ancient, long-practiced Christian ritual — the same ritual that we Christians have performed in witch-hunts and inquisitions and blood libels. The same ritual that is being performed, even now, in my Twitter feed, by good Christians pretending to believe they’ve seen proof that some coven of witches is selling baby parts to buy Lamborghinis. Given the choice between following Jesus and working ourselves into a self-indulgent froth of indignation over imaginary witches or other Satanic baby-killers, we always seem to choose the latter.

Previous Post

August 6, 2015

Let time forgive the past and go and make some other plans

Next Post

August 7, 2015 Left Behind Classic Fridays, No. 45: 'Rule No. 4'

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category class warfare evangelicals Iraq Left Behind Mammon music Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

David Isaiah Paul God