Ex-Christian, ex-pastor here. I can only speak from a Christian-centric perspective, but I think that although religion can make people better, I've seen it make people far more depraved than they would otherwise be. "God told me to do this wicked thing" or "God loves me in a special way, so it's okay for me to do this" is an often unstated, but implicit sentiment.
The biggest problem that I saw was the concept of temporal spiritual authority -- that God gave special authority to certain people to "shepherd" other people. Defiance to the shepherd is defiance to God. An unwillingness to be exploited by the earthly representatives of God leads to damnation. This principle is more overt in obvious cults, but still a quiet voice present in more bland and pedestrian forms of Christianity.
Does religion make someone better or worse? Overall, I'd say that it's a wash. Some better, some worse.
Call me a prude, but I have a problem with men molesting 13-year old girls. Yes, he should be extradited and incarcerated.
As for the notion that he didn't know that the girl was underage: he received modeling waivers from the girl's mother. What did he think that they meant?
This is absolutely true.
The biggest problem that I saw was the concept of temporal spiritual authority -- that God gave special authority to certain people to "shepherd" other people. Defiance to the shepherd is defiance to God. An unwillingness to be exploited by the earthly representatives of God leads to damnation. This principle is more overt in obvious cults, but still a quiet voice present in more bland and pedestrian forms of Christianity.
Does religion make someone better or worse? Overall, I'd say that it's a wash. Some better, some worse.
As for the notion that he didn't know that the girl was underage: he received modeling waivers from the girl's mother. What did he think that they meant?