Menu Close

Category: Evangelicalism

WWYD? What Would You Do?

6 Comments
guest post

A Guest Post by Matilda

A friend and I are both deconverted Christian fundamentalists. We both wonder what we might do in the situation I’ll describe below. I’d love for the wonderful commentariat here, or our leader, Bruce Almighty, to give us some very clever — or witty — responses to this.

We live in a town that has the longest High Street in Wales. Like most High Streets, the main shopping streets in UK towns, it’s a sea of closed up shops these days. This one has only 30% of its shops still open. The city fathers have appointed a ‘czar’ to revitalise it. The local newspaper reported this and asked shop-owners how they are faring. They replied — badly. It’s unusual for anything Evangelical to be reported on in the UK. Still, prominence was given to the owner of the ‘Heavens Above’ Cafe on the High Street, whose picture had him smugly sporting a sweater with John14:6 on it. He claimed they were thriving and said, “We hold a monthly healing service and lots are healed.”

I commented that if this is so, why didn’t he and his fellow god-botherers travel two miles to our local large hospital and empty it and send patients to their cafe instead. Just think how wonderful our country would be if it didn’t have to finance the National Health Service (NHS). Patients could go along to ‘Heavens Above’ and, for the price of a sandwich and a coffee, get healed. My comment was up for about two hours, then it was deleted as ‘not adhering to community guidelines. ‘ So, apparently, lying-through-your-teeth for Jesus does adhere to them.

My friend has waited six months already for a major operation under our very overstretched NHS. She would love to go into ‘Heavens Above’ to challenge this arrogant assertion, but she can’t bring herself to give them any custom by even buying one coffee. But we’d both love to just go along and challenge their claim to miracles of healing and for them to explain to us why they aren’t down at that hospital.

Any witty repartee, any snarky put-downs, or irrefutable arguments that we could use would be most welcome. We’re open to suggestions from all you clever people! Help us out here!

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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

UConn Star Jesus H. Christ Leads Team to Win in National Title Game

3 Comments
jesus basketball

Paige Bueckers credits God for the UConn women’s basketball team’s win over South Carolina in the national title game:

If I could say one thing, it would be to stand firm in who you are. There’s a lot of people who write you off, there’s a lot of narratives that could be trying to put you in a box, tell you ‘you got to do this,’ ‘you got to do that,’ ‘you got to more like this player,’ ‘you got to be more like that player.’

There’s people that doubt you because they think you’re doing it on your strength alone. We lean on God’s strength here. We’re for God’s power, for God’s purposes. We’re not doing this alone, and we have the village that we lean on.

This sort of thinking is common among college and professional athletes. Athletes raised in religious cultures that teach them that “without Jesus you can do nothing” typically give God/Jesus credit for their physical abilities and wins. I usually ignore such religious utterances, seeing them as the product of indoctrination and conditioning. Bueckers is an outstanding player because of two things: genetics (natural ability) and hard work. God has nothing to do with it.

If God was behind UConn’s win, that means he willed South Carolina’s loss. The latter naturally follows from the former. The same goes for Christians who credit God for healing them. Such statements imply that God is in control of everything. If God heals, it necessarily follows that God chooses NOT to heal.

Claims of God helping teams win ballgames trivialize Christianity; that God is more interested in the outcome of a basketball game than he is the suffering all around us. Woo! Hoo! Our team won! Praise Jesus! And what about the thousands of children who will die today from malnutrition, starvation, war, and disease? God says, “They should have played basketball for UConn.”

I’m sure Bueckers meant well, and that her pronouncements reflect her religious upbringing. However, I see no evidence for the claim that God helped UConn win their latest title.

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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Questions About the Black Collar Crime Series Answered

3 Comments
i have a question

The Black Collar Crime Series focuses on criminal misconduct—primarily sex crimes—by clergy members. Started in 2017, the series has more than 1,000 stories as of today.

Today, a reader sent me the following email:

I have some questions for you. When you submit story of someone being arrested and having charges against them, do you believe it is your responsibility to later report if the charges were proven and what the sentence is or if the charges were dropped. Do you believe in innocent until proven guilty or do you feel charges are enough for guilt to shame someone whether or not the court finds them guilty? I’m very curious on your thoughts about that.

Here’s my response:

When you submit story of someone being arrested and having charges against them, do you believe it is your responsibility to later report if the charges were proven and what the sentence is or if the charges were dropped?

Charges are rarely dropped. When they are, they are typically dropped because victims refuse to testify. This does not mean the perpetrator is innocent. All it does mean is that victims do not want to relive the horrors of the crimes perpetrated against them. Often, papers do not report what happens after a clergy member is arrested. I use Google Alerts to track these cases. I receive 100-250 alerts per day, many of which are duplicates or fake news.

I should note that just because a clergy person is found not guilty does not mean he or she is innocent. All it means is that the judge (in a bench trial) or a jury found the evidence insufficient to convict the perpetrator.

Yes, clerics are, on rare occasions, accused of crimes they did not do. Our legal system generally does a good job of separating guilt from innocence. Not perfect, but it is the best system we have. Keep in mind, far more acts of sexual misconduct go unreported than are prosecuted. Clerics often wield a lot of power and control. Victims know this. Fearing retribution, they often suffer in silence. That’s why some victims wait until they are adults to report their attacks and assaults.

Do you believe in innocent until proven guilty or do you feel charges are enough for guilt to shame someone whether or not the court finds them guilty?

Of course I believe in innocent until proven guilty. Every Black Collar Crime post starts with this disclaimer:

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

I only know of a handful of preachers who were found not guilty. Many of them plead guilty, angling for reduced sentences. Since most of these crimes are sex related, prosecutors tend to take their time building a case against the alleged perpetrator. On occasion, prosecutors make mistakes. Our legal system is not infallible.

I rarely make personal comments about Black Collar Crime stories. I just report what credible newspapers and other institutions write. If I make a mistake, I promptly fix it. If someone is found innocent, if the alleged perpetrator asks, I will remove the story or add an addendum that shows they were found not guilty. The perpetrator must show proof of the not-guilty verdict.  

On occasion, lying preachers (and their supporters) will contact me, saying they are innocent or their charges have been dismissed. Not wanting anyone to be wrongly accused, I ask for evidence for their claim — news stories or court orders. More often than not, no evidence is forthcoming. Why? The offending preacher is a liar. hoping that I will remove the story about him so it will no longer show in search results.

It is impossible for me to keep up with the disposition of every case. If the disposition shows up in a Google Alert, I will update the relevant post. On occasion, readers such as Brocken will track down what happened to a specific preacher, and I update the post. The goal is to always report the most accurate information possible.

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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Why You Should NEVER Let Your Children Attend an Evangelical Church Without You

18 Comments
jesus-children

Sadly, many people think Evangelical churches and preachers are pillars of virtue — places and people who can be trusted to care for children. These people are typically unaware of the fact that the goal of Evangelicals is to evangelize children, using aggressive techniques, manipulation, indoctrination, and conditioning. Parents might think that these kind, thoughtful, loving Christians just want to be nice, but little do they know that their unsaved children are viewed as enemies of God and children of Satan. Little do they know that their “lost” children will be threatened with judgment and Hell if they don’t get saved.

Church children are encouraged to invite their schoolmates, promising them fun, food, and fellowship. Most kids want to hang with their friends, so they say yes to attending church with their Evangelical classmates. As promised, churches dish out sumptuous helpings of food, fun, and fellowship. What churches are less inclined to make known is that children will also be exposed to adults trying to convert them. Fear and guilt are often used to coerce children into asking Jesus to save them. Once “saved,” the child typically becomes a member of the church. Often, children are baptized after getting saved. Sometimes, these baptisms take place without parental permission.

Recently, a Catholic grandchild of mine went to an Evangelical church for fun, food, and fellowship. This church (Compassion Church in Toledo, Ohio) is charismatic, so high emotional states are common. Can you imagine what happened next? My grandchild — who is in middle school — came home all excited about getting “saved.” Needless to say, Grandpa Bruce was pissed. If she had been older and had carefully examined the claims made by this church before getting saved, I would understand (while still being disappointed). However, this is not what happened. She was surrounded by friends and subjected to a high-emotion service/preaching/music and manipulation. It is not surprising she got “saved.” I hope that her salvation is temporary, and, in time, she will mature in her understanding of religion. I am not anti-religion. I am, however, adamantly opposed to religious coercion and manipulation.

Have you had a child or grandchild go to church and come home “saved?” Please share your experiences in the comment section.

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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Songs of Sacrilege: Your God (God’s Dick) by Laura Jane Grace

1 Comment
Laura Jane grace

This is the latest installment in the Songs of Sacrilege series, which I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a song that is irreverent toward religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please send me an email.

Today’s Song of Sacrilege is Your God (God’s Dick) by Laura Jane Grace.

Video Link

Warning! Explicit lyrics

Lyrics

[Intro]
Does your god have a big fat dick?
Cause it feels like he’s fucking me
Are his balls filled with lightning?
Do they dangle like heaven’s keys?
Does your god have a big fat dick?
Cause it feels like he’s fucking me

[Chorus]
Does your god have a big fat dick?
Cause it feels like he’s fucking me
Are his balls filled with lightning?
Do they dangle like heaven’s keys?
Does your god have a big fat dick?
Cause it feels like he’s fucking me

[Verse 1]
Does his D go deep
So deep it puts an ass to sleep?
Who’s the 6 to his 9
And what are his other kinks?
If he grows all the trees
Does he taste every peach?
Is your god fucking you and fucking me?
I know creation must get lonely
After all he’s one and only
And his son was so well hung
I think the big man deserves one

[Chorus]
Does your god have a big fat dick?
Cause it feels like he’s fucking me
Are his balls filled with lightning?
Do they dangle like heaven’s keys?
Does your god have a big fat dick?
Cause it feels like he’s fucking me

[Verse 2]
When he whips out his meat
Does your world fall to its knees?
Does he shoot wads of honey
And cum twice on Easter Sunday?
What’s his favourite position?
Missionary? Magic bullet?
We all give him no lover
Just a hand and a mother
Can he cum a shotgun blast
And shoot salvation up your ass?
Does he chew cunt like bubblegum
And give blowjobs like a vacuum?

[Chorus]
Does your god have a big fat dick?
Cause it feels like he’s fucking me
Are his balls filled with lightning?
Do they dangle like heavens keys?
Does your god have a big fat dick?
Cause it feels like he’s fucking me
Does your god have a big fat dick?
CAUSE HE’S FUCKING YOU AND ME!

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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Bruce, Did You Have a Personal Relationship with Jesus?

4 Comments
personal savior

I’m often asked if I had a personal relationship with Jesus — the Evangelical gold standard for what it means to be a Christian. Many Evangelicals think that I can’t have had a personal relationship with Jesus; that a true relationship with Jesus stays steady and sure until death. That I am now an atheist means I never had a super-duper personal relationship with the second part of the Godhead. If this claim is true, it means that I spent the first fifty years of my life as a deceived Christian. No matter what I point to in my life that suggests otherwise, Evangelicals say I was deceived. Imagine the sheer level of deception required for me to pull off such a feat. This should be enough for Evangelicals to see that their claim that I was (and still am) deceived is wrong, but their soteriology keeps them from doing so. You see, my story poses a big problem for Evangelicals who believe in once-saved- always-saved or eternal security. By necessity, they must conclude that either I never was a Christian or I am still a believer. Both claims are, on their face, irrational, contradictory, and absurd. As I have told such Evangelicals countless times before, “Just because you can’t square your peculiar theology with my story is your problem, not mine.” I know what I know. I once was saved, and now I am not.

Over the years, I have asked people who claim I never was a Christian for evidence for their claim. The only evidence forthcoming is proof texts from the Bible — as interpreted by my critics. However, doesn’t the Bible say that we judge a person by the fruit he produces; that good works are the measure of a man or a woman? Have you never noticed that judgmental, hateful Christians always want to focus on theology, not how they live out their beliefs? They know their behavior betrays their beliefs, so they focus on theological or philosophical arguments instead. However, the Bible is clear: the measure of a person is how he lives.

According to this standard, I measure up quite well. I spent most of my adult life loving and serving others, including the poor, the imprisoned, and the homeless. I invested myself in the lives of my parishioners, at times at the expense of my partner and children. I preached with or without pay. Why? Because I believed I had a higher calling to preach the gospel to the unsaved and teach the Bible to Christians. What mattered was the work of the ministry. I selflessly devoted myself to this calling for twenty-five years.

If I never was a Christian, how do my critics explain the aforementioned evidence to the contrary? I have repeatedly challenged my critics to find one person who knew me at the time I was a pastor who would say they knew I never was a Christian. I’m confident that no evidence will be forthcoming. I am not perfect, not now, nor when I was an Evangelical pastor. I “sinned” just like every other Christian, yet the bent of my life was towards holiness. At best, I was an imperfect, falible man who sincerely wanted to help others. And that, my friend, is what I still try to be today.

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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Peace Using Ungodly Means 

7 Comments
guest post

Guest Post by John 

I have been in a better place mentally and emotionally since I left my religious beliefs behind me. I’ve had more peace as well. I’m not saying that I don’t have problems, down days, or worry. It’s just that I have fewer worries, fewer down days, more effective methods of dealing with life’s problems, and a little more peace overall. Looking back at my life, I realize that I’ve gone through bouts of depression here and there, probably since I was a child. I grew up in an abusive home where I rarely felt safe. I never got any counseling or was put on any medication that might have helped deal with that stress. It just wasn’t something that was widely accepted back in the 70s. So, I developed whatever coping skills I could. I stayed busy with hobbies like reading, art, music, and martial arts. We considered ourselves Christians in my home, but we didn’t attend church regularly, read the Bible, or pray.  
 
One thing that often bothered me growing up was the question: What am I supposed to do with my life? I got through college and worked a couple jobs that I really hated. I lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the time, surrounded by Christians, many of whom were Bible college students. They seemed happy and excited about life, so eventually, I started attending a large church there. This church told me that God has a good plan for my life, and all I have to do is ask him what he wants me to do and follow his directions. For a rule follower like me, that sounded great! 
 
I wound up going to Bible school and eventually in part-time ministry as an associate pastor and youth pastor and traveling minister. Things were great for a while. I had arrived at a place where I thought God wanted me to be. Eventually, I became unhappy and depressed. I went through the worst depression of my life during this time. I prayed, spoke in tongues, read the Bible constantly, and was prayed for in every way you can imagine. And nothing helped. I finally found a good psychiatrist who diagnosed me properly and got me on some medicine that helped. During this time, I started noticing things in the Bible that just didn’t line up. I started asking questions. Also, during this time, a friend of mine sent me a short booklet on how the brain works and how to get out of the rut of depressing thoughts all the time. Basically, I had to retrain my brain. Another friend recommended a book called Living Buddha, Living Christ. I was hooked! I started learning more about mindfulness and meditation. I studied secular Buddhism and Taoism. I started seeing more improvement in my life doing a few simple things than I ever did with all the prayer and Bible study. There is no more magic in any of these practices than there is in me eating healthier and exercising to lose weight. 
 
Fast forward to where I had left my Christian beliefs behind. I’m still mostly a closeted agnostic/atheist; not even my wife knows the extent of my deconversion. She is still a very devout Christian. Maybe more so than ever. I have not attended church in years. So far, we’ve made it work. I used to hate the jobs I worked, thinking they were just temporary until I could go full-time in the ministry. Now that I no longer believe that I have some sort of divine calling on my life, I can focus on where I am now and how good I really have it. My job gets pretty stressful sometimes, but I’m good at it and mostly enjoy it. I used to be pretty uptight. Depending on my mental and emotional state, little things could easily stress me out. But now that I use the tools available to me, I’m much more chill. I try to apply Buddhist principles like the understanding that there is suffering in this life, but there are ways to not add to my suffering. I know that the only constant in this world is change. I still don’t like change, but I’m getting better. Less attachment. Seeing situations as not good or bad, just as they are (as much as I can). I still take medication that helps me, but without the guilt of “If I just had more faith” bullshit. These things help me so much, where religion left me high and dry, so to speak. I also have much less fear in my life. Religion is so full of fear! Life is not perfect, but it’s better without religion. My wife asked recently, “How do you stay so calm now?” I mentioned the practices that I wrote about above. She gets confused because these things are “ungodly” — basically meaning that god doesn’t seem to be in these practices. I get that. When I was full on drinking the Kool-Aid, I wouldn’t have understood how those things help someone either. Or, I would think that yes, they might help, but they still need Jesus on top of that.  
 
Nope. Not anymore. 

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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Invisible Trans

10 Comments
person in white top standing behind the plastic
Photo by MART PRODUCTION on Pexels.com

Guest Post by MJ Lisbeth

You should not be reading this. 

In fact, this piece should not appear on your screen or any form of paper.  It should not exist at all. If you believe that the words you are reading—and the person who wrote them—are real, you are suffering a delusion or actively denying reality.  Perhaps you are drunk or high.  Or, maybe, those illicit, uh, transformative, substances you took in your youth produce flashbacks for even longer than you ever imagined possible. 

Whatever the case may be, you must disabuse yourself of the notion that what you are reading is real.  It isn’t because its author isn’t. 

That’s right.  I do not exist.   

Who made such a determination?  Not the folks who investigate paranormal phenomena.  Nor did the American Psychiatric Association or American Medical Association.  Members of both august bodies, in fact, have confirmed my existence share your delusion. 

Understandably, they would.  After all, they don’t know what the highest authority in this land knows.  He’s had more hands-on experience than all of them put together.  So, who is more qualified to say whether or not I exist? 

According to the FuhrerTan Fuhrer President of the United States, I—and people like me—don’t exist.  Whatever a doctor decided I was on the day I was born, that’s what I am.  Now, to be fair, that OB-GYN on a military base where my father was stationed late in the Eisenhower Administration had no other means but my external anatomical features for determining my sex.  He would have had no way of knowing about the hormonal imbalances and other “problems” that would manifest themselves later, sometimes much later, on.   

Of course, our Dear Leader, with his Bachelor of Science in Economics, and such respected advisers as Dr. Oz, knows more than that army doctor could have.  (Oh, and he has more military training.) Moreover, he has seen more of those “immutable biological realities” of female anatomy being a woman than, well, most people.   

So who better than a self-proclaimed king a duly elected leader to tell you what’s real and what isn’t. 

According to him, I don’t exist.   

That means, not only this article, but everything else I’ve ever written, is an illusion.  So are all of the knowledge and skills my students acquired in my classrooms, or later when they applied them in the “real world.”  Oh, and I never worked the other jobs I had before I became a college instructor: artist-in-residence, high school teacher, journalist, copywriter, publicist, tour leader, bicycle messenger (in New York City), bicycle mechanic, and sales clerk.  And my service in the Army Reserves never happened.  No, all of the work that got done and all of my interactions with students, colleagues, co-workers, editors, clients, and customers is as illusory as I am.   

Of course, that means I never earned the degrees and diplomas or won the citations and awards that have my name on them.  And that child my parents thought they were raising—well, I was as much an illusion then as I am now.  That means they must have been just as delusional in believing that I was their child as you are for thinking that you are reading something that, because I don’t exist, can’t exist. 

So, remember:  You didn’t read this.  Even if the previous sentence is self-contradictory. 

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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.