Religious Cult Leader Faces Death Penalty For Murdering Two, One Due To Suspected Homosexuality

Peter Lucas Moses, 27, of Durham, NC faces two charges of murder stemming from his time leading a cult.  One, a woman, was allegedly killed in retaliation for leaving their group marriage.  Even sadder, the other death was a four year old boy that Moses suspected might be gay.

The cases came to the attention of the police when a woman escaped the house where the organization lived, to include Moses, four other women, and eight foster children.  The women were considered to be in a marriage-type situation and called Moses "Lord."

The victims: Jadon Higganbothan and Antoinetta Yvonne McKoy.

"Sometime in October 2010, Smith told Moses that Jadon had hit another child's bottom, and Moses became angry and started walking around the house with a gun that belonged to Sisk, prosecutors said.

"'He starts screaming, "I told you to get rid of him!"' and told Sisk, "How am I going to do this?"' Cline recalled the witness' account.

"Moses ordered two of the women to set up computers and speakers in the garage, prosecutors said they were told by the witness. They said he started playing music with the Lord's Prayer in Hebrew, took Jadon in the garage and shut the door, and the women then heard a gunshot."

This is depraved.  I normally shy away from knocking religion-- I'm religious myself-- but this illustrates perfectly how religion can be abused to exploit, oppress, and harm people.