Church Accused Of Luring Kids Into Baptism With Offers Of Pizza, Basketball
WOBURN, Mass. - A Baptist church used promises of pizza and basketball games to attract hundreds of children, then gave some of them full-body baptisms into a faith that is foreign to many of them, parents charge.
Prosecutors and police in five communities are investigating the complaints against Anchor Baptist Church.
Parents say the church enticed teenagers and younger children onto buses at least twice in July. Instead of getting pizza, the children allegedly were taken to the church in Woburn, made to sit through a long service, then told to undress and put on robes. Those who complied were quickly dunked into a tank of water, parents say.
Many of the children from Woburn, Medford, Stoneham, Cambridge and Somerville are Roman Catholic. At least one family involved is Buddhist.
"They didn't tell us about Mass or anything," said Rosa Vazquez, 14, a Catholic who attended a service but refused the baptism. "They just told us about the good stuff."
No one responded by phone or in person at the white wooden church. Calls to its pastor, the Rev. Chris Pledger, were not returned.
Pledger, who has described his congregation as independent, defended his recruiting practices in an interview last month with the Woburn Advocate.
"Jesus told us to go into the world and preach the gospel. Baptism is doing more than just hearing what the man said, and if it's in the Bible, who am I to say what is right?" he told the newspaper.
The state Department of Social Services has said an 8-year-old boy was emotionally harmed in one of the incidents. The agency wouldn't elaborate.
Most of the children are from public-housing projects.
Twelve-year-old Hieu Nguyen, whose family practices Buddhism, said he didn't understand what was happening when he and his 9-year-old brother, Qui, were baptized. He said he went along because other children did.
It is unclear how many children were baptized, and whether some parents had signed permission slips, police said.