From time to time, I approve comments from a Fundamentalist Christian man who uses the “Revival Fires” pseudonym. He uses numerous other names and fake email addresses, but I change the name on his comments to Revival Fires. I don’t want people to think Jim, Bob, James, et al are different commenters. They are not. Revival Fires has a style, so as much as he tries to hide who he is, I can spot his comments as easily as a pink elephant standing in the middle of my living room.
In the past, I have deleted comments from the Revival Fires of the world (after their first comment). Of late, I have dialed my moderation back a bit, choosing to let Revival Fires and other Christian zealots whip out their metaphorical dicks and expose themselves to the world. I do this for one reason: I want readers to see firsthand the ugly, vicious, vile underbelly of Evangelicalism. And most importantly, I want readers to understand that Revival Fires is not an outlier, an exception to the rule. Millions of Evangelicals believe just as Revival Fires does. Oh, they are not as uncouth and ill-bred as Revival Fires, but their beliefs are similar to his. Most Evangelicals have learned the fine art of hiding their hate, homophobia, and bigotry. Most Evangelicals support Trumpism and establishing a Christian theocracy governed by the Bible (as interpreted by them, of course). Privately, they disparage LGBTQ people, call abortion murder, and support all sorts of racist policies. The only difference between them and Revival Fires is that they have an outward form of manners, the equivalent of “bless your heart” in the deep south. Behind closed doors, they promote all sorts of beliefs and practices which, if allowed, will cause untold harm to people different from them. The most dangerous people in America are not Muslims. That title goes to Evangelicals, especially those who live on the far-right edge of the Evangelical tent. Left to their own devices, Evangelicals will take over America for God — their God — enact Christian sharia law, and drag our nation back to the good old days of the 1950s. (Please see The Evangelical Plan to Return the United States to the 1950s.) We trust them at our own peril.
Back to Revival Fires’ comments. Do his comments bother you or make you less likely to read this blog? I think his (he is a male) comments are instructive and help expose Evangelicalism for what it is, but I don’t want to drive regular readers away.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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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As long as you delete the really nasty stuff, I think we can stand it. And you are already doing that.
I have not engaged with him much because, really, I don’t see the point in doing so. If I do say so myself, I know the Bible better, am generally better informed and have a better command of English (and, probably, two or three other languages). His main skills seem to be in launching ad hominem attacks (as feeble as they are) and some name-calling that doesn’t even rise to schoolyard level. What fun is it to argue, let alone talk, with such a person.
I am, however, glad that Bruce posts his remarks for the reasons he stated. It’s good to have a glimpse of what goes through the mind of someone like RF.
I suspect that Revival Fires wouldn’t be satisfied with forcing America back to the 1950’s. He’s way more comfortable with the late 1500’s, or perhaps 1619 New England !!
I think exposing their viscousness, hatred and bigotry for what it is, is ok with me. I know you will delete the truly vile and horrible comments made and personally, I have pretty thick skin. I can only speak for myself, though. Others may not see it through my personal lens.
I have to admit, I do get a little glimmer of satisfaction telling them how much they collectively have harmed me, starting from childhood and continuing into early adulthood. I never felt I had a voice when I was younger and would walk away in tears, many times, while being judged and ridiculed being metaphorically beat over the head with their bibles.
I am glad you explained the name thing. I really thought that was their chosen pseudonym. I feel a little guilty for making fun of it now, so my apologies.
I’m already a demon possessed gay loving baby murderer in his eyes, I would miss all of the fun opportunities to tell good old dumpster fires to fuck off in several different ways and also the rent free space in his head’s🍆🍆closet(which he can take any way he chooses😉😉😉) that I, his personal gay sex demon, currently occupy. Of course, if Bruce Almighty🎅tires of this creep’s continued presence, he can then bring down the banhammer. It is his blog after all and we are here at his discretion.
Let me qualify my ‘yes’ vote with some qualifications. For the most part I’ll just skim through ramblings. Some reasons to consign them to Gerencser Hell is if they are redundant, obviously cut and pasted, unnecessarily verbose/long winded. Just like an NPC in a video game, when they start saying the same thing, it is time to stop listening to them. Maybe a new blog category “Babble Study”?
I’m more likely to read the comments than your post re: Rerun Fire. Depends on my mood. It gets to the point that we’ve heard it all a kazillion times and I just have to leave “them” to their “God.” There are a few times that I think of reconverting in order to rebuke them in the name of their Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
I have no problem with you posting his vile comments but I think readers make a mistake by responding to him as they generally do. Trolls like this guy feed on the outrage of others and use this outrage to legitimize their beliefs. It would be better if readers would leave the responding up to you since you do this so well.
I wonder if Revival Fires will vote yes or no in your poll? Will knowing that he is free to post remove the thrill of thinking he has outwitted the notorious atheist Bruce Gerencser? Will he find another home for his bigoted grammatically-incorrect mean-spirited Jesus-drivel? Time will surely tell.
They all tend to trigger my sometimes, not entirely successfully treated preaching virus: I stumble into my great commission to bring them into the shining free light of Almighty Bruce! I begin to perspire and shout-ahh! I leap and moan-ah!
If you ban then all, what will happen to the preacher!
How many times will Revival Fires try to vote?
I honestly don’t have an opinion. If I see a nutcase comment (and yes, I know that’s a slur), I skim and ignore.
The poll plugin sets a cookie when someone votes. One person, one vote. He could, however, clear his browser cookies and vote again.