One day, Sue drove to the local McDonald’s to order lunch.
Worker: Hello! Welcome to McDonald’s. When you are ready, please give me your order.
Sue: Thank you! I would like to order a Whopper.
Worker: I’m sorry, Ma’am, we don’t sell the Whopper.
Sue: Well, you should.
Worker: I’m sorry, Ma’am, but Whoppers are sold at Burger King. Would you like a Big Mac or a Quarter Pounder with Cheese, instead?
Sue: No, I want a Whopper!
Worker: Again, we don’t sell the Whopper. i suggest you go to Burger King if you want a Whopper. Have a good day.
Click.
Sue, of course, is quite silly and unreasonable to expect McDonald’s to sell her a Whopper. If Sue wants a Whopper she should drive to a Burger King and buy one.
Remember this story as you read a comment I received today from a Christian woman named Sue. My response follows.
Off topic: It’s obvious you hate Christianity.
I don’t hate Christianity, or any other religion, for that matter. And, for the record, I don’t hate the practitoners of Christianity either. I do, however, hate the harm — both psychological and physical — caused in the name of the Christian deity.
This blog focuses on Evangelical Christianity. My goal is to help those who have questions and doubts about Christianity or who have already left the faith. Why? I live in a country dominated by Christianity. Evangelicalism is the dominant religious force in many areas in the United States. I know it is where I live. Not content to live and let live, Evangelicals are determined to establish Jesus as Lord and King, and the Bible as the law of the land. Are you paying attention to what is going on in Washington D.C.? Evangelicals are running wild in the halls of the White House, using the Idiot King to enable Project 2025 and establish a theocracy.
It is for these reasons, and others, that I focus on Evangelical Christianity. I have six children and sixteen grandchildren. I worry about what awaits them if Evangelicals get their way. I don’t see Muslims, Jews, Hindus, or Buddhists trying to take back America for their God. I don’t see them trying to enforce their religious texts as the law of the land. If these religions posed a threat, I would write about them. But, they don’t, so I see no need to spend much, if any, time on other religions.
What about other religions? What about Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists? What about other far eastern religions such as Taoism? Are you afraid to criticize other religions, because you think you will be seen as a bigot of sorts?
See above.
I am not afraid, period. I am not, by nature, a fearful man. I was raised in the Evangelical church, attended an Evangelical college, married an Evangelical preacher’s daughter, and pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years. Evangelicalism is my area of expertise. It is what I know well. Why would I write about religions I know very little about?
I have zipped through many of your posts, I have never (correct me if I am wrong) seen you criticize any other religion but Christianity. I have never seen you criticize the Kohran, the Jewish texts, the philosophies of Buddha, and the Hindus with their array of gods, many which are human/animal hybrids. What do you think about reincarnation? If you are an atheist/humanist shouldn’t you hate all religions equally?
See above.
As mentioned above, I don’t hate any religion. I couldn’t care less about what religious people believe as long as those beliefs don’t cause harm. But, they do cause harm, don’t they? And that’s why I focus my writing on Evangelicalism.
All religions are false, but not all religions are benign. Want to see the harm caused by Evangelical preachers? Check out the Black Collar Crime Series — more than 1, 000 reports of crimes (mostly sexual) committed by Evangelical preachers.
Sue, this store sells Big Macs. Please stay around, if you are interested in Big Macs. If you want a Whopper, I suggest you visit your local Buger King. I’m sure they will meet your Whopper need.
Saved by Reason,
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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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Hey… you used a parable. Just like Jesus!
Yes, no other religion imperils the U.S. republic like evangelical Christianity.
I’ve read where you have commented on the bad actions of Muslims and Jews, and the beliefs behind those actions, specifically the October 7th massacre of Jews by Hamas and the massive bombing of civilian targets in Gaza by Israel. So Sue is wrong, in my opinion.
Sue’s comments masquerading as questions is classic “what-aboutism”, usually employed to misdirect valid criticism of an institution or ideology by bringing up the bad behavior of another (usually opposite) ideology. Of course the accusation of what-aboutism itself can be abused, resulting in the claim by some that it is a “made up term used to defend hypocrisy”.
Since Sue brought up Buddhism, I was reminded of a passage from the Dhammapada, the early proverbs of the Buddha. It goes something like this,
“This, Sariputra, has gone on through the ages.
They criticize the talkative ones, they criticize the silent ones (etc).
There is no one who can escape criticism.
There has never been, is not now nor will there ever be the wholly criticized, or the wholly approved”.
You will never make everybody happy, even hardcore atheists/anti-theist accuse of you of not going “far enough” because you advocate respectful co-existence with your neighbor who may happen to be religious, so long as that neighbor respects you. So it is also with the evangelical Sues of the world. They will never be satisfied with your explanation because they don’t want to be satisfied, they want to annoy and hector you until you just give up, sigh and let them have their way. I know this myself as a Catholic. They just keep needling and the best thing you can do is exactly what you did- explain that you run a personal McDonalds, not a Burger King. You come to my restaurant, you get food made my way, not your way. Don’t like it? Then go somewhere else.