An Alabama court has permanently barred an ex-pastor who admitted sleeping with his flock while he had AIDS from his church. Deacons at Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church sued to get Rev. Juan Demetrius McFarland tossed when he refused to step down despite an 80-1 membership vote to fire him. McFarland claimed he had been given the job for life, then changed the locks on the doors and tried to take over the church bank accounts.
Montogomery County Circuit County Judge Charles Pierce ruled Friday that the deacons had the right to give McFarland the ax after a series of shocking Sunday sermons in which he confessed he used drugs, misappropriated church funds, had AIDS and carried on sexual affairs with church members on the grounds. "It is uncontradicted that Rev. Juan D. McFarland was not performing his service as a pastor satisfactorily," the judge wrote. "When Rev. Juan McFarland was asked questions concerning his woeful misdeeds as a pastor, he pled the Fifth Amendment."
McFarland was ordered not to return to the church, to turn over all church property and to give up any claim to the church-owned Mercedes-Benz.
IN-DEPTH
- Court Tosses Alabama Pastor Juan McFarland in AIDS and Adultery Scandal
- Alabama Pastor Juan McFarland Sued After Confessing to Adultery With AIDS