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IFB Pastor Patrick Holt Thinks I Hate Christians, God, and the Bible

bible baptist church grover hill ohio

A local man by the name of Patrick Holt from Grover Hill, Ohio, responded to my May 25, 2016 letter to the editor of the Defiance Crescent-News concerning the transgender bathroom use issue. Holt pastors Bible Baptist Church, an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church in Grover Hill. I featured his church in the On the Road Looking for God’s True Church series. Here’s what Holt had to say (spelling and grammar in the original):

This is a reply to the May 25 letter by Bruce Gerencser.

In his letter he implied that someone, like myself, who objected to a male using the same bathroom that my mother, wife, daughters, and granddaughters were using was hateful. So, basically, if you disagree with someone, then that, according to Bruce, is hateful. Using that same logic, then Bruce Gerencser, must hate Christians, God and the Bible. Would that not be a proper statement?

Patrick Holt, Grover Hill

Holt would like people to think that the transgender bathroom use issue is all about differences of opinion. It’s not. Holt knows that many Evangelicals — himself included — hate LGBTQ people. Many Evangelicals — especially those at the far extreme right of Evangelicalism — want sexual perverts (code for non-heterosexuals) to be punished for their deviance. Some Evangelicals even go so far as to call for the incarceration and execution of such people. I think I am on firm ground then when I say that many Evangelicals HATE, not just the sin, but also the sinner.

Holt, as most people who hold to his version of sexual hysteria, sees the transgender bathroom use issue as one of men using the women’s restroom. He fails to understand that most of the “men” using the women’s restroom are in the process or have completed chemical/surgical gender reassignment. This means that the “men” Holt is so worried about look like women.

Why doesn’t Holt mention “women” using the men’s restroom? I have yet to hear a peep from Holt’s crowd about transgender people using the men’s room. Again, most of the transgender “women” using the men’s restroom look like men. One of the reasons Evangelicals focus on “men” using the women’s restroom is because they view their mothers, wives, daughters, and granddaughters as weaker vessels (1 Peter 3:7) in need of protection. I suspect if a man actually went into the women’s restroom while women were present, well . . . he would likely run screaming from the room, minus his testicles.

Holt’s attempt to paint me as a hater falls flat on its face. People who know me know that I am not inclined to hate anyone. I hate certain ideas and beliefs. I despise Holt’s Evangelical beliefs because I think they lead to intellectual stagnation and can and do cause psychological harm. And in some instances, these beliefs can cause physical harm. Politically, Evangelical beliefs are the theological currency that drives the move towards establishing a Christian theocracy. Denying the separation of church and state, many Evangelicals will not rest until King Jesus is sitting on a throne in the Oval Office. Socially, Evangelical beliefs lead to cultural stagnation and impede progress. Evangelicals, armed with an ancient religious text they believe is inerrant and infallible, have waged war against women, undocumented workers, abortion doctors, atheists, humanists, secularists, Democrats, non-Evangelicals, liberal Christians, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and those who have sex outside of monogamous heterosexual marriages. Scientifically, many Evangelicals are determined to teach young-earth creationism and Noah’s flood in public school classrooms. You see, there are plenty of Evangelical beliefs to hate, but unlike Holt with LGBTQ people, I don’t hate Evangelicals. While I think people such as Ken Ham, Steven Anderson, the Phelps clan, and a cast of thousands, are first-rate cretins, dolts, morons, halfwits, loons, numbskulls, schmucks, or numb nuts, I don’t hate them. If anything, I pity them, knowing that religious ignorance keeps them chained to the Bible with its fables and contradictions.

Holt — like many Evangelicals — thinks atheists hate God — God being, of course, his peculiar version of the Christian deity. If Holt were sitting across the table from me I would ask him if he hated Harry Potter, Santa Claus, or Darth Vader. Holt would surely reply, Of course not. These characters are fictional. I wonder if Holt would see the irony in his response?  Atheists don’t hate the Christian God — or any other deity for that matter — because he is a fictional being. Suppose in 2055, the followers of Harry Potter have turned J.K. Rowling’s books into divine texts read each Monday at Potterite churches. Taken literally, these divine texts lead people to do all sorts of mischief, often leading to physical harm or death. Atheists in 2055 would likely hate the beliefs of the Potterites. Does this mean these atheists think Harry Potter is a real person? Of course not. So it is with the Christian God. I don’t hate God for one simple reason — he doesn’t exist. What I DO hatehowever, is what is done in the Christian God’s name.

As far as hating the Bible, Holt surely knows that the King James Version he holds dear is an inanimate object, right? Hating inanimate objects is a waste of time. What I DO hate is what is done with inanimate objects. Guns are used to wage war and murder. Cars are used by drunks and others to kill and maim. And the Bible is used to indoctrinate and enslave. I hate how the Bible is used in our modern world to promote ignorance, often leading to bloodshed and loss of freedom. So, yes, Patrick Holt, I hate God, Christianity, and the Bible, but NOT in the ways you think I do.

Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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44 Comments

  1. Avatar
    Monty

    “Evangelicals, armed with an ancient religious text, have waged war against….. and those who have sex outside of monogamous heterosexual marriages.”

    Except of course, when it’s one of their own.

  2. Avatar
    Brian

    “In his letter he implied that someone, like myself, who objected to a male using the same bathroom that my mother, wife, daughters, and granddaughters were using was hateful. So, basically, if you disagree with someone, then that, according to Bruce, is hateful. Using that same logic, then Bruce Gerencser, must hate Christians, God and the Bible. Would that not be a proper statement?”
    No, it is not a proper statement. It is not even logical. Because Gerenencser reveals the underlying hatred of your Christian caring, you squirm, in a very very similar way to the Reverend Steven Anderson. You fall short of Anderson’s holy name-calling hatred though and I wonder why that is…. Why don’t you follow his manly lead and call Genencser names to serve God? Would you not agree that Pastor Anderson makes proper statements from the KJV? (We are now playing a little to and fro called ‘baiting’, Pastor Holt.)
    Do you really want to go down this road because Bruce Genencser will continue to reveal what you are really saying and not what you think you are sharing… I should caution you that he tends to play a short, hard game and doesn’t seem to enjoy going over the same old same old but it is up to you.
    Listen to your fellow pastor, another man who follows the KJV exclusively and ‘disagrees’ with things. Listen to his ‘disagreement’ with homosexual people and how he screams that they will never be welcome in his church and so forth. This is Jesus speaking, isn’t it Pastor Holt, through the KJV and the good Rev. Anderson? Is it not a proper statement?

  3. Avatar
    Neil

    D’y’know, I’m reaching the point of saying to these imbeciles, “yup, I do hate your God (damn stupid concept), your bible (scurrilous book of myth and make-believe) and all you self-righteous types who force your beliefs on the rest of us while denying others their basic rights. What’s not to hate?”
    They want hate, let ’em have it.

  4. Avatar
    JR

    I have no problem with transgender people identifying themselves as a different sex to how they were born and believe they have the right to change their bodies and live as a new person.

    But I do think there is an outpouring of politically correct hysteria the moment anyone raises biological / philosophical questions surrounding the legitimacy of their transformation.

    Look up the reaction when Australian feminist Germaine Greer questioned whether trans people were really a new sex. She was condemned as promoting hatred when in reality she was trying to make us think.

    If there is no such thing as a soul then biologically how can you be born in the wrong body? How much of a transformation needs to occur before somone is classed as a different sex? Would a pre op transexual be permitted to shower with women at public baths if she still had a penis? Does someone feeling like they are the wrong sex mean they are? Or do we need some proof? If I feel that I am a west indian trapped in a white man’s body does that make it so?

    No hate intended. Respect to all. I just think society is forcing us to accept that people can be born in the wrong body without providing scientific evidence.

    • Avatar
      Michael Mock

      “If there is no such thing as a soul then biologically how can you be born in the wrong body?”

      I don’t think we really understand the biological basis, but I’m reasonably sure there is one. I know a number of trans people (two in person, maybe six or eight more online) and I have some idea of that they go through just for being trans, and… it’s not the sort of thing someone would put themselves through if they felt like they had any real choice in the matter.

      You may be right that there are some questions, even legitimate questions, that get very negative responses — to the point of essentially shutting down discussion — whenever anyone tries to raise them. However, a lot of those — including your examples — are very close echoes of the kinds of things that people say/ask to dismiss, de-legitimize, and exclude trans-people. Even if the person asking is well-intentioned, the reaction that you’re describing as “politically correct hysteria” is actually a legitimate defensive response that’s been trained into a lot of people by years and years of bad experiences.

    • Avatar
      Neil

      Does it really matter whether we cis-folks understand it? Isn’t it kind of presumptuous to think we’re somehow entitled to? I don’t understand what it’s like to be a woman, but that doesn’t mean women should be restricted until such times as I do. Trans-people, like women, don’t actually need our approval nor our endorsement.

      Surely, even without understanding it all, we can empathise with trans-people. We all know what it feels like to be a fish out of water in our own different contexts. It isn’t necessary to ‘understand the science’ in order to do so and to help make life easier for those who feel they’re in the wrong bodies.

      • Avatar
        JR

        Good points well made.

        The questions I was raising are separate from the issue of whether transexual people should be respected, enabled and empathised with. That goes without saying. We don’t need to ‘understand’ it to treat people as they deserve. Nor should their happiness be based on our understanding.

        But I do think that as we progress as a society it is worth thinking about what it means to be a man or a woman. At what stage of someones transition are they able to, for example, compete in the mens events in the Olympics as opposed to the womens? If Usain Bolt has always been a woman at heart and began the brave process of identifying as a woman and not a man, when would she be allowed to race with women? Who gives a shit – you may say. Stupid question! You are right. But I reckon that as we progress and become more accepting there will be a time when seemingly stupid scenarios like these actually become big issues. It is worth as a society to think them through and not just be told what to think.

        But perhaps the golden rule should be: people have only one life on this miserable earth and they should be helped to live the life that makes them happy and fulfilled.

  5. Avatar
    Connie

    My Facebook feed is loaded with memes – women ‘packing’ to protect themselves in the potty; evangelical men wearing wigs and robes forcing their way into the women’s room because rights…. Or something.

    A question was put into the atmosphere – if there is no soul then how can a person be born into the wrong body? It is a legitimate question, one that dovetails into gender identity, sexuality, and what makes a person themselves. Because there are so many flavors of people I have to go with the “it’s complicated” response.

    Humans still don’t know much about how the brain works. We’ve scratched the surface enough for ‘some people’ to pontificate in absolutes, but in reality we know nothing.

    My biggest fear/worry is what happens when the evangelical men trying to prove a point encounter the packing ladies. My higher side is aiming for the good of all and may it harm none while my dark side is hoping for blood, death, and mayhem.

    This wasn’t a big deal until some Domionists got their panties in a wad. Grins. Perhaps they need to unclench a bit and learn to share.

  6. Avatar
    gimpi1

    This whole “men in the ladies’ room” meme is weird. First of all, Ladies’ rooms toilets are all in enclosed stalls. If you go into a ladies’ room, what you’ll see is fully-clothed women washing their hands, putting on lipstick or changing babies. That’s it. Second of all, if a man wanted to dress as a woman and go into the ladies’ room for some sort of predatory reason, there’s nothing to stop them doing that now. It’s only if they act out in some way that we’d even find out that they were men. Trans-women using the ladies’ room changes nothing on that front.

    Personally, I think they are using the “threat” of “men in the ladies’ room” thing the way in the past white people used “threats to white women.” It’s using a supposed vulnerability of someone (women or girls) as a way to batter a group you don’t like, and claim that you’re being noble and protective in doing so. It’s a con.

    • Avatar
      Patrick Holt

      You are entitled to your opinion. You see my mother taught me to be protective of women. Thats what a real man does. You see I am the one that Bruce wrote about. He never responded to me back via the Crescentv News. I only found this by accident or I would have responded a lot sooner. It is what you call a “Gentleman.”

      • Avatar
        Bruce Gerencser

        I don’t respond to letters in the Crescent-News. I have a time or two, but doing so is a waste of time. Your letter was short and didn’t need a newspaper response. I chose, instead, to respond to your letter on my blog. Your letter was seen by more eyeballs on this blog than the Crescent-News website, so I would think you would be okay with that. Getting out the word, right?

        I love your passive-aggressive attack on those who differ with you on transgender bathroom use. Those who agree with you are “real” men who are protective of women. Someone’s view on this issue has nothing to do with their gender, to what degree they value women, or whether or not they are a “gentlemen.”

        I have nothing more to say on this issues. Perhaps other readers might engage you. If so, please stick to the context of the post. You’ve made your opinion of me known, so there is no need to continue down that path.

        Bruce

        • Avatar
          Patrick Holt

          Bruce, I agree with you. I was responding to someone else’s reply that said that it was a “con”, and that we didn’t really care about the safety of women. If you thought that I was saying that only men disagreed with men using women’s bathrooms then you misunderstood. That’s not what I meant. I was merely stating that men are protective of women.

          • Avatar
            Bruce Gerencser

            You implied, since the subject at hand is Transgender bathroom use, that real men protect women from Transgenders using the women’s bathroom. I totally disagree. Someone’s manliness — whatever the hell that is — plays no part in the Transgender discussion. Transgendered people have been using the bathroom long before Evangelicals found yet another “sin’ to be outraged over. I suspect most of us have shared a bathroom with someone who is Transgender, and that we survived with out being raped, molested, or propositioned.

          • Avatar
            Patrick Holt

            Bruce, if you want to twist or add to what I say then go for it. Be my guest. Oh by the way, maybe you grew up with bigoted and hateful people, but I didn’t. Speak for yourself. I still await the answers to the two questions that I have asked two times.

          • Avatar
            Bruce Gerencser

            Asked and answered. I’m not going to play whatever word game you are playing, Patrick. I’ll leave to others to interact with you if they are so inclined.

            I hope you have read the commenting rules. The focus of this post is Transgender bathroom use. By all means, share your views on Transgenderism/gender/sexual identity/sexuality. I’m sure you’ll find more than a few people who will challenge your Biblically based beliefs, assumptions, and assertions.

            If you are intent on playing this silly word game of yours, please keep on moving. I have no interest in playing.

          • Avatar
            Patrick Holt

            Mr. Bruce. I did not attend any College. My first Pastorate was a small Bible Church in Junction, Ohio. I was licensed by my home church outside of Oakwood, Ohio. So yes, I am just an illiterate uneducated Redneck, I suppose. You mentioned that you know how I feel about you. I respect you as a person who has different opinions than my own.

          • Avatar
            Bruce Gerencser

            I will make this offer to you…if you believe I have misstated your view on transgenderism and transgender bathroom use, I will gladly allow you the space to set me straight. Write a post and I will publish it as written. You will, of course, open yourself up to comments from readers.

            If you wish to write a post, please send it to me via the contact form.

            https://brucegerencser.net/contact/

          • Avatar
            Bruce Gerencser

            I also went back to the Crescent-News site to refresh my memory about the various letters to the editor written about the Transgender bathroom issue.

            On 6/26/2016, Brian Barnett answered the questions you posed to both of us. Brian wrote:

            I am writing in response to Patrick Holt’s letter of June 22 in which he asserts that I did not “answer the one question that was asked” in his letter of June 2.

            I would assert that I did in point of fact answer the question. However, let me do so more emphatically. No, disagreement does not unconditionally mean that one has hatred for the person expressing the opposite opinion. As stated in my original letter, I think Mr. Holt simply is ignorant of the nuance of the situation.

            Transgendered people have already been using the bathrooms that align with the sex they identify with. Mr. Holt has probably never noticed, because they appear to be using the facility that they outwardly appear they should be using.

            This does not mean that I hate Mr. Holt, it merely means that I think he isn’t fully informed on the issue upon which he opines.

            Brian Barnett
            New York City, N.Y.

            I don’t hate you as a person. I do, however think your views are hateful and promote hate.

            Now, for sure, I have said all I can say on this issue. ?

        • Avatar
          Patrick Holt

          Bruce, Greetings to you. I read where you suffer from “Fibromyalgia”. I am sorry that you are afflicted by this. I have several friends who have this and I know how it affects their lives. I would tell you that I would pray for you, but I don’t want to offend you, so I will just tell you that I hope that you can get better and have many more “Good” days than”Bad” days. Whether you believe it or not, I do care. From A friend, Patrick Holt

  7. Avatar
    Appalachian Agnostic

    We may not have souls per se, but we have minds. I have a transgender daughter who has the misfortune to be six foot six and living in a small town in Redneckistan which just last month tried to make an ordinance limiting trans folk’s bathroom access. The mayor vetoed the ordinance, not out of concern for trans rights, but because it would inconvenience disabled people who needed help from their spouses in public restrooms. At least he has compassion for some. The way I understand the condition, the person’s mind and body just don’t feel right together. One commentator compared a trans person going through puberty to Pinnochio turning in to a jackass-suddenly the body they have seems to have a mind of its own. I am still trying to get used to saying “she” instead of “he”. It is hard for me to make this change after 26 years. She is having a lot of anxiety and depressive episodes which she, ironically doesn’t think are connected to the local hostility. But then, she has always been better at ignoring assholes than I am.

    • Avatar
      Tammy

      I empathize with you greatly. I have a transgender daughter as well. She is 24 years old, and we live in a smallish, mostly Christian area. Our governor recently told our public school educators not to listen to the federal government’s directive allowing students to use the restroom with which they identify. (I did not vote for this ignorant bigot, btw.). Anyway, I hope your daughter has some friends who support her as well as a good counselor and/or doctor to help with her anxiety and depression. Many hugs to both of you, if that’s okay.

      As to the discussion above, I do not think a cis person can understand what a trans person is going through. And more importantly, we don’t need to. We just need to know that we all are. Just ask yourself if you chose the gender you are? I know I didn’t choose my gender. I just am. Alternatively, there is an excellent post written a while back by Mel at When Kids and Cows Collide ( I think that’s the right title of her blog?) that can give specific insight to the biological processes happening after conception and how so many things can go awry that may give understanding to how complex gender truly is.

      As to the original post, I think Patrick Holt needs to believe Bruce hates Christians. It gives him an excuse to play the martyr card. “Wah, wah, evil atheists hate me. I’m gonna go eat worms.” ? Sheesh.

    • Avatar
      Michael Mock

      I don’t know if this would be of any help to your daughter, but I think it’s also worth noting that being transgender (and a lot of the issues associated with it) is not even remotely new. The best-documented historical case that I’m aware of is the Chevalier d’Eon, who was a soldier, diplomat, and spy, and even managed to essentially blackmail the King of France. She might or might not find that bit of history interesting; for myself, I found it fascinating.

      • Avatar
        Appalachian Agnostic

        Thanks for the link. It does help to learn about people who dealt with similar conditions in earlier times.

  8. Avatar
    J.D. Matthews

    Since when did evangelicals start being so concerned about the safety of girls?

    After centuries of covering up rapes and molestations, telling rape victims they have to carry their rapists’ baby to term, fighting tooth and nail against women’s rights, and telling women they’re only good for being birth machines, suddenly they’re so concerned with what’s going to happen to women in the restroom?

    • Avatar
      Brian

      J.D. Matthews points out that the age-old harm done to women in the name of religion has a grand legacy. The fact is not quite that these ‘bathroom defencemen” want to protect their women from harm because they have done harm to them religiously forever! The real issue is that allowing open washrooms exposes the owned women to new venues, new experience and perspectives that could lead them to want to escape the torture of evangelical abuse. They might even talk to a real human being who is not incarcerated as they are and begin to develop ideas of their own! May our dear Lord and Saviour save us from a way out of narrow belief. May He punish anyone different and unworthy of our bathrooms. May He protect us from questioning! Lord, Lord, I hate myself and only you can help me die! We must keep our theology pure at any cost! The devil is behind all change!

  9. Pingback:Patrick Holt Thinks I Hate Christians, God, and the Bible – FairAndUNbalanced.com

  10. Avatar
    Patrick Holt

    Bruce, I have a question. You first submitted a letter to the Crescent News and then I responded with a brief letter to which you refer to in this article. Did you respond to my letter in the Crescent News. I may have missed your response. If you did, what was the date that your response was published? You see I just accidentally found this article by mistake on the internet. I wait for your response please. Thank you and have a good day. Patrick Holt, Grover Hill, Ohio

  11. Avatar
    Bruce Gerencser

    Based on the news, the people screaming about Transgender bathroom use, same-sex marriage, homosexuality, and any other human behavior deemed sinful are indeed hateful. If Evangelicals want to live according to the Puritanical anti-human morality of the Bible that’s fine, but attempting to impose that morality on others is an acceptable and contrary to the freedoms Americans supposedly have. People practicing these sins in no way affect the Patrick Holt’s of the world, yet they demand moral conformity and obedience. From a political and governmental perspective, what matters is fairness and equal protection under the law. Who people screw when, where, and how is of no importance, and neither is sexual identity.

    Both of us were trained in a religious environment that encouraged hatred and bigotry. If you have now abandoned your Independent Fundamentalist Baptist King James-only social and theological views would be good news to my ears. However, I doubt that is the case. I remain firm in my commitment that the IFB church movement is a cult that causes untold psychological harm (and in some cases, physical harm).

    You will find that most of the readers of this blog hold similar views.

    • Avatar
      Patrick Holt

      Bruce,Thank you for your response although you didn’t answer my questions. You stated that I hated transgender people several times in your article. I am still asking the question, how can you know what is in my heart and thoughts? Also, you stated that YOU can hate ideas and beliefs without hating the person. How is it that you can do that and Christians are not able too? Are you “Supernatural” or something?

      • Avatar
        Bruce Gerencser

        My determination of “hate” is based on your theological beliefs. Granted, I have never heard you preach, but I suspect your views on Transgenders are of typical Evangelical/Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) fare. Are you saying your views are not typical of these groups? If they are, then yes, I consider you a hater, as was I for much of the twenty-five years I spent pastoring Evangelical churches.

        • Avatar
          Patrick Holt

          Bruce, Thank you for your last response. Do I believe the Bible and that it says that there are things that are right and wrong? Yes. Do I believe that God says that there are things that people do that are sins? Yes. Now I have worked with homosexual men and I treat them with as much respect as I do any other person. You can ask them. I have officiated at funerals where there were same sex married couples that attended. I treated them no different than any other person. Now do I believe they are wrong? Yes. So according to you, that is hatred right?

          • Avatar
            Brian

            Patrick Holt, you are a hateful man. You do harm by opening your mouth and suggesting that your imaginary friend holds some sway in matters of human politics. You hate yourself and thereby hate others. You are you believe, a fallen creature unworthy of each breath you take and harming others gives you meaning, personal sway. According to me, your black and white thinking is hatred, yes…. That you speak respectfully to people who do not live your black and white life is very impressive, even if you think in your heart that Jesus will burn them up. Well done, big fella. Now go fuck yourself. I hate your stupid views but I love you as a man, a black and white shallow vision. I love your willingness to reveal how very ugly the human heart can be and call it love. Your Bible is hatred in your hands.

  12. Avatar
    Patrick Holt

    I just found this article just a few day ago accidentally or I would have responded in a timely manner. I hope you folks don’t mind if I state a few facts. Bruces’ title, “Patrick Holt thinks I hate Christians, God, and the Bible” is not truthful. What I did was use Bruces’ logic, that if you disagree with someone then it is hateful. Only using Bruces’ logic. Any of you really believe that you or Bruce or anyone can actually know what is in someone’s heart. I know I don’t. Any person with a functioning brain would not be a fool enough to tell someone else that they knew what was in that person’s heart or thoughts. The “hate” card is used like the “race” card is used trying to force someone to buckle under to their way of thinking. But that old song and dance doesn’t work anymore and people are tired of being called “haters” when they know that is a bald faced lie. Now Bruce says that he can hate ideas and beliefs without hating the person. I believe that is possible. But the only problem is according to Bruce, he is the only one that can do that, I guess that is because he is perfect. You see Christians have been saying that you should hate sin and love sinners all along. But Bruce says that he is so special that he can know what is in Pat Holt’s mind and heart. How is that, Bruce that you can do that?

  13. Avatar
    John Arthur

    Hi Patrick,

    In my experience with Evangelicals on the internet, many do use the language of hate. There are different points of view in the bible and those predisposed towards hate use the bible like a weapon of oppression, while others quote those passages that are full of compassion and loving kindness. Now, I don’t know you so I don’t know exactly which group you fall into, but both groups selectively use the bible even when they say they believe in its inspiration and inerrancy, The problem lies in the bible, itself. Some try to masquerade their hate by saying that unless they tell you the truth (really their interpretation of the bible) they do not love you. So by quoting the texts of hate, they claim that they are telling you “the truth” and therefore showing their love.

    Fundamentalism versions of Evangelicalism have often encouraged theologies that whose implications are saturated with violence (.e.g. Penal Substitutionary theory of the atonement, corporal punishment, a violent god of wrath and judgment, hell as everlasting torture) and a puritanical view of morality and retributive punishment), then use passages that seem to support such views to say “I didn’t say this. God said it. I love you because I am telling you the truth.”

    This is a long way from the view that God is compassionate (kind) towards those who are considered unjust or wicked. Instead of focusing on true evil such as much Stalin or Hitler’s rule, economic injustice perpetrated on the poor and the powerless by the powerful, Fundamentalists concentrate on minor issues by attacking same sex oriented persons because they are considered easy targets.

    Shalom,

    John Arthur

  14. Avatar
    velovixen

    The only reason to hate an inanimate object is if it doesn’t taste good. And, of course, hating a fictional personage is the flip-side of loving an imaginary friend.

    Seriously, though, the whole bathroom issue is just a smokescreen for Evangelical misogyny. As Bruce points out, Evangelicalism (and most of Christianity) is predicated on the notion that women are the “weaker” sex and have to be protected–unless, of course, the man making such a declaration wants to have sex with her.

    I am a transgender woman who, thankfully, hasn’t had any issues in using a women’s bathroom in a long time. If anything, I would face more danger in a men’s bathroom than any other woman would countenance from me.

  15. Avatar
    Yulya Sevelova

    Patrick Holt, why do you simply assume that Bruce hates all Christians,the Bibles,and God, when he plainly states that it’s the AMERICAN version of the above ??? Turns out there’s PLENTY of good reasons for this. The proof is in the numbers of the youth that desert churches as soon as they’re old enough, and all the ” nones” who are afraid to dump the faith but dumped church. I didn’t even get around to the athieists yet,lol. There clearly is something wrong with how things are done !

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