Mar 19, 2012
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A California newspaper owned by a well-known animal rights advocate is calling on authorities to file criminal charges against a group of Christian teenagers and their leaders after they held a pig chase and then barbecued the participants.
“The actions against these pigs was pure savagery, behavior certainly not Christian,” The Santa Barbara News-Press declared in a lengthy editorial titled ‘Barbarism in the Name of Jesus in Santa Barbara.’ “Can you just imagine the horror and fear the pigs faced suffering such cruelty?”
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Wendy McCaw is the co-publisher of the newspaper. On her website, she is described as a “staunch defender of wildlife preservation and animal welfare.”
The pig rodeo occurred at a weekend youth retreat for Reality Santa Barbara, a 4,000-member evangelical church that meets in three locations. It was first reported by the newspaper which learned of the event from the parent of a friend of one of the teens.
The youth retreat was held at a ranch. The weekend event included Bible studies, worship and prayer. Church officials said the pig chase involved two pigs purchased from a shop that legally sells the animals to the public.
At some point the teenage boys painted their faces and chased down the grease-covered pigs. Afterwards, licensed hunters were on hand to slaughter and butcher the animals. The hunter explained to the boys how to use each cut of meat so nothing was wasted.
“These acts had nothing to do with Christianity and everything to do with sick, depraved behavior,” the newspaper wrote, suggesting the church should have its tax-exempt status removed and calling the barbecue “third world barbarism.”
George Torres, the executive pastor of Reality Church, told Fox News he regretted the way the weekend youth retreat had been described in the newspaper.
“In retrospect, looking at the weekend as a combination of the greased pig contest and the barbecue at one time and one location, along with the painted faces unfortunately created a bad perception and one we regret,” he said.
But he also accused the newspaper of having an agenda and said he was stunned by the paper’s harsh editorial.
“The agenda is obviously anti-Christ,” he told Fox News. “They highlight what they thought was an opportunity to give the Bride of Christ a black eye.”
The Santa Barbara News-Press suggested the church was a cult, “what with replicating third world savagery complete with malicious torture.”
“One would think reading about Reality Santa Barbara’s senseless and barbaric pig slaughter that we’d stepped back in time to the days of the Neanderthals,” the newspaper wrote.
Torres also accused the newspaper of publishing the photographs of teenagers, many of them minors, without parental consent.
“They took them (the photos) off Facebook without permission,” Torres said. “Now they’re calling these kids names.”
Scott Steepleton, the city editor for the newspaper, defended the use of the photos and said they were fair game.
“We don’t have any regrets publishing them, not at all,” he told Fox News.
The Santa Barbara District Attorney’s office said they were aware of the incident but so far no case has been referred to their department. Any criminal investigation would have to originate with the sheriff’s department.
However, a spokesman for the district attorney told Fox News that as far as they were concerned the church did not violate any laws – and the pigs were not slaughtered inhumanely.
Torres said it is deeply disturbing that the newspaper misrepresented the weekend retreat and Bible study. He said what the reporter did was unfair.
He said some of the students involved in the pig chase were members of the Future Farmers of America. No students had weapons and the slaughter was done by a trained hunter.
“He wanted to educate the kids – teach them how you get bacon, ribs,” Torres said. “What he thought would be educational turned out to be something that we never intended it to be.”
Gemma Vaughn, a spokesperson for People For Ethical Treatment of Animals, said she was disturbed by the treatment of the pigs.
“Certainly this event must have been a miserable and terrifying experience for the pigs,” she told Fox News. “It makes it all the more tragic.”
She said PETA would welcome an investigation into the case by local authorities.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Dept. did not return calls seeking comment.
With reporting from the Associated Press.
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Chasing a greased pig is sometimes part of rodeo events for kids. Can't imagine what they have to say about rodeos though…
This animal rights group gives me yet another reason to not live in California, as if I needed another one.
Not all native Californians are loons, remember those who are the "offenders" are also in California people! I grew up in California and though I never took part in a pig chase, I would have thought it sounded like good farm fun. It seemed to be the point, to educate the kids about farm life. And if that included slapping some war paint on and painting their faces, while chasing the pigs (before they were slaughtered) so be it. PETA people and politically correct people will always be around. It's disgusting how they've turned their attention to the churches–and I suspect it's going to get worse as it's uber politically correct to bash evangelicals. Churches need to STOP apologizing while understandably trying to maintain good relations with their neighbors. It's a tough balance.
I grew up where greased pig contests were a common enough occurance at county and town fairs. It's all good clean (although very dirty) fun. As for the butchering after, it sounds like they had people around who know how to do it. There is nothing like fresh pork BBQ. Hope you kids had a blast!
Hey, I've got no problem with this. If these kids want to chase a bunch of pigs around and then watch while they're butchered? More power to them! (I can guarantee you a few new Vegetarians will come out of the process though)!!
Kay Effby Kids are so resilient! How many of us think of the process for killing animals when we eat them? Hardly. I remember I used to gag when taking the insides out of the turnkey for holidays. hahahhaha. Not so much anymore. I just get the turkey breast and roast that. No one eats the rest of it anyway. If people would just learn to respect each other's views, we could get along much better. But respect means various things for people, as we both know.
Oh yes! I'm finding that out! If you've been following my posts/snarky arguments with T. Sand-Livingston I'm sure you've noticed. It isn't so much her views I dislike it's the dismissive attitude and hypocrisy! Periodl!
More typical extremist animal rights propaganda – perhaps the church should ask any advertisers in the paper to use a different means of advertising?
Bob Van Fleet http://www.godeatsredmeat.com.
so dramatic! Pigs die everyday… just because pigs are killed doesn't mean people are Neanderthals. Eating meat doesn't make people Neanderthals.
(And at that if we care so greatly for the animals then vegetarians wouldn't eat all their grass.
; P ).
Christians that are posting here and insulting others' intelligence: please see Matthew 5:22:
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. New International Version (©1984).
Why can't we treat each other with respect even when we disagree?
It seems to me that many of the same people that rationalize such cruelty to animals are also more likely to be more verbally aggressive with their fellow humans.
this is ridiculous… Jesus basically shewed a whole heard of pigs over a cliff. Animals are food, these animals were not tortured, they just got a workout, before dinner. Remember, if your cat was big enough he'd kill you!
As someone who doesn't eat meat this doesn't really bother me. If you think about it the pig was probably killed more humanely than in some factory where the animals bleed out in shock and die minutes after their throats are slit. What I find dumb is the whole idea of people thinking chasing a greased pig down and then killing it is some sort of way to bond. It seems like whoever thought of this didn't step back and think about what this would look like to the public eye, after all, you are representing a church.
PETA….this organization is made up of a bunch of morons! How do they think that the steaks, bacon, pork chops etc. get on our store shelves?
I'm pretty sure they were dead before they were packaged. THEY ARE ANIMALS AND THEY ARE ON THE FOOD CHAIN!
PETA…You all need to get real jobs. Why don't you indulge yourselves with the real problems in the U.S.