Pastor only receives a 12 year sentence for the statutory rape of an underage teenage girl. Not nearly enough, not by a long shot.

More from the Chicago Tribune:

 In a statement, the victim wrote that Schaap would text her from the altar during his sermons. In another statement, written as a letter to Schaap, she wrote: “When you first kissed me I was shocked. . .When I asked you if it was wrong, you said ‘No.’ You told me that I was sent you from God, I was his gift to you. You made me feel special.” 

Schaap entered a guilty plea last September in a deal with federal prosecutors, admitting to allegations that led to his ouster from the highly conservative Hammond Baptist Church that his late father in-law, Jack Hyles, had built into one of the area’s largest churches. 

But at sentencing today, U.S. District Court Judge Rudy Lozano said a 10-year-deal hammered out by both sides did not meet the 12-year-minimum required under federal sentencing guidelines. Schaap stared at the judge without emotion. 

While Lozano lauded Schaap for quickly pleading guilty last fall before the complaint was even filed, Lozano said he did not want to set the example by "giving a 25 percent discount" for that cooperation. 

While Schaap eventually took responsibility for his actions Schaap initially denied the allegations when he was confronted by church officials, Lozano said. In explanations for the stiffer sentence, the judge pointed to Schaap's attempts to get rid of evidence by deleting text messages and photos of him with the girl and that the pastor also fired at least one church staffer who had questioned the pastor's relationship with the girl, Lozano said. 

"Schaap initially denied the allegations when confronted." How Christian of him.

So this sleazy piece of shit used the trust of this child to convince her that the God which she believes in, and who she also believed he spoke on behalf of, had provided her to him to violate? That one of the most hateful things that I can imagine a person doing to a trusting. deeply religious child.

You know I don't believe in hell, but once in a while I wish I was wrong. Because in this case it simply does not feel that this sentence is nearly enough.

Perhaps the most disgusting part is how his congregation made excuses on his behalf.

More than 100 letters of support were sent to Lozano, attesting to decades of good works by the pastor, and claiming that stress and health problems— including prostate troubles and “low lithium levels”— led Schaap to stray during a romantic relationship with the vulnerable teen.

That is the kind of loyalty that only comes when somebody has been convinced that a person is "special" and has some unique insight or relationship with a higher power.

They are conditioned to trust him, and so trust him they do. As did this poor young girl, who now will forever fear to trust anybody EVER again.