Last Fall, Vice News came to our home here in Ney, Ohio, to interview me for a video titled QAnon Conspiracies Are Tearing Through Evangelical America. So far, the video has been viewed 1,500,000 times.
As one might expect, the comments, 11,000+, have been quite entertaining. Evangelicals have attacked me in every way possible. (And there have been a number of complementary, supportive comments too.) I knew this would happen. After all, the video exposed Trumpist Pastor Greg Locke as a nutjob and conspiracy theorist. YouTube comments can be vicious. Jesus’ followers seem to set their Lord’s commandments aside when commenting on social media. That’s why they find Locke so appealing. He’s a vicious, nasty, violent liar. Personally, I find their comments quite entertaining (and sad), reminders of what lies in the heart of many Evangelicals.
Recently, a man (maybe a woman) left the following comment:
I am a former pastor who is a Satanic, gay atheist. 🙂
I AM a former pastor, and I am an atheist, but gay and Satanic? I am an atheist, so not only don’t I believe God exists, I don’t believe Satan/demons exist either. As far as being gay? Evidently, my rainbow-colored suspenders are a sure sign I’m g-a-y. 🙂 (I do occasionally wear them because I know they irritate the Hell out of Evangelicals. Other times, I wear them to show my support for the LGBTQ community. And, quite frankly, I like these suspenders. I have thirteen pairs of Perry Suspenders. I am a fashionista.) 🙂
Calling me “gay” is meant to be a slur, a way to personally attack me. Juvenile behavior by middle school boys who think it’s okay to call people fags, queers, or pussies. When, oh when, will God’s chosen ones grow up?
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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A Satanic atheist? Is that like violent pacifism? Enlightened ignorance?
I saw a sign for a “dismissal entrance “ at a school where the tuition is more than I’ve made in all but two years of my working life!
It could be argued that the members of The Satanic Temple are “Satanic atheists”. My understanding (admittedly never met any of them) is that they are a religion what doesn’t actually believe Satan exists but look to his depicted character as a… role model? archetype?… for fighting authoritarianism, especially of the religious sort.
Kadeph–Good point. People idolize and emulate all sorts of fictional characters.
This is true. Most modern Satanists look upon Satan as an inspirational figure or symbol, not as a deity which exists independently in the sense that Christians believe their God does. Satan is a symbol of (or “the deity of”) rebellion against unjust external authority over the individual. They would say worshiping Satan would be a contradiction in terms, in that the point of Satanism is to reject any external authority higher than oneself. It’s not a religion, but it definitely can’t be confused with humanism or liberalism either.
(I used to be a Satanist for about fifteen years, though I never joined any of the groups.)
1.5 million views, amazing! Bravo, Bruce! 👍
Keep up the good work riling up those fundies!
I love your rainbow suspenders, and I love your support of the LGBTQ community.
Production values in this video are very good and Almighty Bruce is well-represented. Rev. Locke is a true worker and says honestly that he will stand by his ‘staples’. The money is pouring in and the poor, disillusioned Amurkans come in droves to be harmed by Locke. The drug problem does not begin and end with substances that the authorities attempt to control. The drug problem is also this kind of fanaticism, so full of rushes and that stupifying peace that passeth understanding….
Pass that Kool-Aid, I’ve had a tough week and those gas prices! Biden’s a baby-eater! Yahoo! Hit me again!
Watch an ISIS fanatic rant on about the evil USA and then watch Locke… Drugs are drugs are drugs…. Hit me!
I take myself back to the time that I ate up Hal Lindsey’s craziness and I had a certain smug certainty that I was on the side of right and someday the non-believers would get what was coming to them. If the internet and social media had existed back then I can’t imagine how obsessed and crazy I might have become. It’s a lot easier to give into fear and conspiracy theories than to exercise critical thinking.
Comments can be hilarious, but also a bit sad. It would seem insanity is part of the zeitgeist.
Warning! Sarcasm and snark alert. Mr. Gerencser, can you say that at least 29 people who opposed you during your pastorate met terrible deaths.http://menwhosawrevival.blogspot.com/2010/10/men-who-saw-revival.html. If not, you were never an actual pastor. Supposedly at least 29 people who opposed J. Frank Norris wound up dying terrible deaths, or at least so claims the the person who wrote this article about him. Also, ( and I’m being sarcastic again here) have you ever considered becoming a Qanon conspiracy theorist yourself, if only to cause your one son to stop being a Qanon theorist. Sometimes if the parent acts one way the offspring will go in the opposite direction just to rebel or spite the parents..
I’ve noticed that some fundies regularly conflate “atheist” and “gay”. It’s as if they don’t understand that those are two distinct concepts. To them, everything “anti-God” is the same, just different tentacles of the same octopus.