불륜을 조장하는 인터넷 사이트인 애슐리 매디슨에 가입한 사실이 들통난 것에 자책하던 미국의 한 목사가 스스로 목숨을 끊었다.
9일(현지시간) CNN 방송을 비롯한 미국 언론에 따르면, 미국 미시시피 주 펄링턴의 제1남부 침례교회 목사이자 루이지애나 주 뉴올리언스의 침례교 신학대학 교수인 존 깁슨(56)은 지난달 24일 집에서 숨진 채 발견됐다.
7월께 애슐리 매디슨의 모회사인 아비드 라이프 미디어를 해킹한 단체가 3천200만 명에 이르는 애슐리 매디슨 가입 회원의 정보를 무차별로 인터넷에 폭로한 지 엿새 만의 일이다.
해킹으로 폭로된 명단에서 자신의 이름을 확인한 그는 이 사실이 널리 알려져 직업을 잃을까 고심한 끝에 조용히 생을 마감했다.
유서에서 그간 자신을 괴롭혀 온 것을 시기 순으로 나열한 깁슨 목사는 애슐리 매디슨에 대해서도 빼놓지 않았다.
유서를 살핀 그의 아내 크리스티는 CNN 방송과의 인터뷰에서 "우울함에 대해 얘기하던 남편은 공개된 애슐리 매디슨 회원 명단에서 이름을 발견하고서 너무나 미안하다고 적었다"고 전했다.
그는 "다른 사람들에게 품위 있고 늘 자상하며 자비를 베푸는 데 모든 것을 쏟아 부은 남편이 자신에게만큼은 관대하지 못했다"고 덧붙였다.
취미로 자동차를 수리하던 깁슨 목사는 학교에서 학생의 차량을 무료로 고쳐준 훌륭한 교수이자 상냥한 이웃이었다고 미국 언론은 소개했다.
그러나 과거에 겪은 우울함과 약물 중독으로 힘들어한 것으로 알려졌다.
크리스티는 "사랑하는 사람을 잃은 가족으로서 무척 힘들다"면서 "사랑의 힘을 절대 과소평가하지 말라. 아빠이자 남편이며 친구를 잃는 것만큼 가슴 아픈 일은 없다"며 애슐리 매디슨 사태로 고심하는 이들에게 극단적인 선택을 피하라고 조언했다.
깁슨 목사의 사망 소식을 접한 아비드 라이프 미디어는 위로 성명을 발표했다.
이 회사는 "깁슨 목사의 사망은 해킹이라는 범죄 행위가 순박한 사람들에게 얼마나 큰 영향을 끼쳤는가를 떠올리게 하는 참담한 것"이라고 애도했다.
지난달 중순 해킹 단체가 애슐리 매디슨 회원 명단을 공개한 뒤 미국 텍사스 주와 애슐리 매디슨의 본사가 있는 캐나다 토론토 등에서 최소 4명 이상이 자살을 택했다. 아비드 라이프 미디어는 해킹 단체를 기소할 수 있는 정보를 제공하는 이에게 50만 캐나다달러(약 4억5천만 원)를 주겠다고 밝혔다. (연합)
<관련 영문 기사>
US pastor commits suicide after Ashley Madison hack
A US pastor committed suicide six days after his name was exposed by hackers of the Ashley Madison adultery website, his wife told CNN Wednesday.
Canadian police have said that at least two suicides were linked to the leak of 32 million customer profiles from the Canada-based site last month.
It’s not clear if John Gibson’s death was one of them as police released no details.
Christi Gibson discovered her husband’s body -- and a suicide note which chronicled his demons and his shame at being exposed -- in their New Orleans home on August 24.
“He talked about depression. He talked about having his name on there, and he said he was just very, very sorry,” Gibson said as their adult son and daughter sat next to her in a New Orleans studio.
“Nothing is worth the loss of a father and a husband and a friend. It just didn’t merit it. It didn’t merit it at all.”
In addition to his work as a pastor, Gibson, 56, taught at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Gibson said her husband, who had struggled with depression and addiction in the past, was worried that he would lose his job.
“It wasn’t so bad that we wouldn’t have forgiven it, and so many people have said that to us, but for John, it carried such a shame,” she told CNN.
“What we know about him is that he poured his life into other people, and he offered grace and mercy and forgiveness to everyone else, but somehow he couldn’t extend that to himself.”
Ashley Madison, launched in 2001, is known for its slogan: “Life is short.
Have an affair.” It helps connect people seeking to have extramarital relationships and is owned by Avid Life Media.
According to authorities, the company became aware of the hack on July 12 when staff were greeted in the morning with a message on their computers threatening to leak client information unless the Ashley Madison website was “shut down immediately, permanently.”
The message was accompanied by rockers AC/DC’s song “Thunderstruck.”
Ashley Madison ran into more trouble when tech news site Gizmodo looked at the leaked data and concluded that it showed little if any activity from the site’s purported female members, suggesting many accounts were in fact fake.
Avid Life Media rejected the analysis and said the site has registered hundreds of thousands of new members -- including real women -- in the wake of the hack, which has garnered massive media attention.
Tributes to Gibson poured in from students and faculty who remembered him as a kind, generous man who would repair student’s vehicles in his spare time.
“John was a popular member of our Leavell College faculty,” seminary president Chuck Kelley said in an obituary posted on the school’s blog.
“He was particularly known for his acts of kindness to the seminary family.
John was the quintessential good neighbor.”
His son alluded to Gibson’s troubles at an August 28 memorial service.
“My dad was a great man. He was a great man with struggles. Everyone has struggles. Everyone is broken,” Trey Gibson said in a video of the service posted online.
Students and former classmates took to the seminary’s Facebook page to mourn his loss.
“Amazing man and teacher. I do not hold anything against you, Dr. Gibson.
We all have shortcomings,” wrote Robbie Combs.
“Hoping the very grace and mercy and forgiveness he taught of with such vigor will comfort his family and all who knew him,” wrote Dore Atwill Kesterson.
Gibson, whose wife Christi is also a minister, comes from a long line of Baptist ministers.
He was pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Pearlington, Mississippi
-- about a 45 minute drive from his home on the seminary grounds.
He obtained a doctorate of theology from the seminary and was elected to the faculty in 1998, the obituary said. (AFP)
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