Rape and Extortion

This article from Singapore tells a disturbing story about some teenage boys who tricked girls into having sex with them by claiming that they were possessed by Chinese gods.  They are being tried for rape.

Now the question I have is that if claiming that gods will commit violent acts if the victims don't perform sex acts constitutes rape, wouldn't the practice of claiming that God will see to it that you are tortured in hell for all eternity if you don't give money constitute extortion?

I'm convinced that this is indeed rape.  Threatening girls or women with violence in order to get sex is the classic definition of rape, and threatening people with violence if they don't fork over their money is the classic definition of extortion.

And yet if the government were to interfere with churches telling people that they will go to hell if they don't give the church any money, then we would see this as an infringement of religious liberty.  Yet when teenage boys rape girls by claiming divine retribution would result from refusing sex, then we see that the government has an obligation to prosecute.  I'm not suggesting that we should do anything different here.  It just seems inconsistent somehow, and yet this is probably what we need to do to hold our society together.