Someone at the National Post in Canada isn’t exercising much due diligence these days concerning sources for news articles posted at the newspaper’s Web site.
An “uncategorized” article titled “Priest whose church was burned by mob jailed for breach of building code” was picked up by the Post on Thursday from the blog of a fugitive sex offender wanted on a warrant issued for his immediate arrest in the United States.
Former US resident Anton Hein is hardly a credible source for much of anything, but he runs a blog and assorted Web sites for profit from the Netherlands. Hein relies upon his Internet presence to sell Google ads and other assorted advertising for an income.
The article picked up by the National Post isn’t an original news story and relied heavily upon other sources such as Compass Direct News.
Interestingly, Crosswalk (an evangelical Christian Web site) chose to go with the report by Compass Direct News rather than Hein, an evangelical and self-proclaimed “expert”.
So why did the secular National Post favor this fugitive sex offender with a link advising its readers to go there if they wanted to “Read the full story”?
Thousands on Twitter follow a convicted sex offender wanted by authorities in the United States.
Anton Hein, a self-proclaimed “expert” and “minister” dispenses religious news and advice from Amsterdam. However, the preacher is a probation violator with a warrant issued for his immediate arrest.
Mr. Hein was convicted for a “lewd act upon a child”, his 13-year-old niece, and served jail time in California before being placed on probation. Shortly after his release Hein chose to violate probation by leaving the country to relocate in Amsterdam without permission.
Hein uses his Web site “Apologetics Index” and assorted blogs as profitable platforms for Google ads. The former US resident and Dutch citizen has also managed to collect disability payments in the Netherlands, though he seems to be quite able at managing his Web business.
Despite pleading guilty to sex charges Anton Hein incredibly claims that he is innocent of any crime and calls comments about his criminal conviction “ad-hominem attacks”.
However, Mr. Hein has been listed as a registered sex offender in California. And he also has the dubious distinction of being named at a Web site as one of the “ministers who have sexually abused children”.
New York Times editors and researchers have selected a fugitive sex offender as an official resource about polygamists.
Anton Hein, a former U.S. resident and registered sex offender with an outstanding warrant issued for his immediate arrest regarding a parole violation, runs a Web site called “Religion News Blog.”
Hein recently announced that his site “has been selected (see listings under “Warren Jeffs Navigator”) as a resource by researchers and editors of the New York Times (selection by NY Times seems to have been removed since this report appeared on-line).
Sure enough a hyper link at Hein’s blog takes visitors to a page about polygamists within the New York Times proclaiming his site at the top of its “list of resources about Warren Jeffs as selected by researchers and editors of The New York Times.”
Isn’t it just a bit ironic though that the man supplying news about polygamists who allegedly have sexually abused minor girls plead guilty himself to the charge of a “lewd act upon a child” in 1994? Hein then served jail time, but was eventually released to serve probation (see photo).
Self-styled “counter-cult” crusader Anton Hein runs websites from Amsterdam in the Netherlands that are supposedly devoted to enlightening people about groups he calls “cults.” Hein preaches his particular brand of religion and leads a so-called “house church,” though he is not an ordained minister or recognized as an authority about anything. His main website where […]
Cult watcher Steve Hassan is specifically recommending and promoting a fugitive sex offender through his Freedom of Mind website. Hassan recommends through numerous links, the website of convicted pedophile and wanted fugitive Anton Hein. CultNews has previously reported about Anton Hein, who is a self-proclaimed expert and supposed lay minister. Hein runs a website called […]
Last month CultNews reported about a fugitive sex offender wanted in the US that runs a religious “counter-cult” Web site from Amsterdam in the Netherlands.That webmaster Anton Hein was convicted for a “lewd act upon a child,” his 13-year-old niece and served jail time in California before being placed on probation, which he subsequently violated. […]
Anton Hein, a former US resident and registered sex offender with an outstanding warrant issued for his arrest runs a counter-cult Web site called “Apologetics Index” from Amsterdam. Hein also runs the affiliated Web sites Cult FAQ and Religion News Blog. Hein plead to the charge of a “lewd act upon a child” in 1994, […]
