On Wednesday morning, a woman in West Virginia called 911 saying her husband had tried to drown her and their two children, ages 3 and 6. They were thankfully able to escape. When cops came, all three were outside the house, soaking in water.

36-year old Leslie Kelly was quickly arrested, and his excuse? You can guess where this is going…

He said, ‘God told me to do this.’ God’s not going to tell somebody to drown their own kids,” said Deputy Barry Mynes Jr. of the Logan County Sheriff’s Department. He said, ‘I held them under water because I want them to go to Heaven.” Deputies entered the residence and when they found Kelly they said he told them, “I’m ready for it. I know what I have done.”

So he was trying to baptize them so they’d go to Heaven… thinking he’d get credit for that so he could also go to Heaven. I’m not sure how baptism would allow you to go there when multiple murders would likely punch your ticket to Hell.

Kelly has now been charged with attempted murder and more:

[Kelly] is charged with three counts of domestic battery, two counts of child abuse creating risk and three counts of attempted murder, according to a news release from the Logan County Sheriff’s Office.

There’s no indication that he was suffering from any mental illness. And since baptism is meant to be a symbolic cleansing, his excuse is hard to swallow; no baptism involves immersion in water for long periods of time.

For now, his bail is set at $100,000.

One additional point: Deputy Barry Mynes Jr. was quick to dismiss Kelly’s excuse:

“We said were they not crying and screaming, trying to get away from you? He said ‘yeah they were, but I was just holding them under water, trying to baptize them, because I want them to go to heaven'” Mynes said, adding: “He made remarks that God told him to do that. I have a close relationship with Jesus Christ and there’s no doubt in my mind that is false what he said.”

It’s never a good idea for a government official to start playing armchair theologian. God commanded Abraham to murder his son. God committed acts of genocide. It’s not like murder is out of the question for the Christian God, regardless of what Jesus did. To say that Kelly’s excuse is flimsy because the deputy is a better Christian is just asking for trouble.

(Thanks to Jaynee for the link)

