I have firsthand experience with poverty and lacking food or money for lunch at school. Neither of my parents were all that concerned about whether I had lunch at school. Some days, I didn’t eat lunch. Other days, I either packed a lunch (if food was available), stole money from my dad to pay for lunch, or “borrowed ” money from my wealthy friends whose fathers worked for Marathon Oil. What follows is an article by Marty Schladen about the push to make lunch FREE for all Ohio students.
— begin article
Many people might not be aware of this, but a big majority of Ohio’s public-school students already receive free breakfast and lunch at school.
Making free meals available to all students wouldn’t only produce benefits equal to the costs, it would produce social benefits with a net worth of about $520 million a year, according to an economic analysis released last Monday.
Lower-income Americans have lost significant ground over the past 40 years. In some ways, that trend might be accelerating.
More than 1 in 4 Ohioans are now poor enough to be on Medicaid, for example, and their access to education is diminishing.
Even adjusting for inflation, college tuition has tripled. Meanwhile, when also adjusted for inflation, the maximum available Pell Grant hasn’t budged.
The Columbus firm Scioto Analysis examined what would happen if a relatively modest step were taken to help the state’s children.
Already, more than 60% of students whose schools participate in the national school lunch program are getting free meals.
What would happen if the state just paid so all students could get them?
State Sens. Louis Blessing III, R-Colerain Township, and Kent Smith, D-Euclid, earlier this year introduced a bill that would extend free meals to all Ohio school kids. But it was assigned to a committee and died.
At $300 million a year, the program was relatively inexpensive — given that the legislature’s Republican leadership found twice that amount to give the billionaire Haslam family to move the hapless Browns outside Cleveland city limits.
The Scioto Analysis study used the projected cost of the Blessing bill as a starting point and tried to compare the costs to the benefits.
An obvious benefit would be to ensure that more kids had access to healthy meals.
“… a study comparing schools that offered universal free school meals… to similar schools that did not offer universal free school meals found that children in schools with universal free school meals had lower household food insecurity,” the report said.
“U.S. data found that universal free school meals provided through the Community Eligibility Provision would make 3% of previously food-insecure children in participating schools food-secure.”
Another benefit would be that if all kids got free meals, then no one would be stigmatized as poor for getting them.
That one might be hard to measure, but anybody who’s been to school knows how cruel children can be.
With a quarter of kids already chronically absent, the last thing they need is another reason to want to avoid school.
Other potential benefits are easier to quantify: Money and time saved by families, reductions in obesity, greater administrative efficiency for schools that don’t have to keep track of whose meal bills are paid, and improved lifetime earnings by kids who are well nourished and ready to learn.
The analysis said that last benefit would by far be the most valuable, determining it would create $552 million in annual economic benefit.
In all, it said, universal school meals would create $52o million more in annual benefits than the program would cost.
“Based on the available research about the health, educational, and economic benefits of universal free school meals for students of all incomes — even those who are already eligible for free meals through existing programs — I believe universal free school meals are a worthwhile investment for Ohio,” Emily Cantrell, the policy analyst who wrote the report, said in an accompanying blog post.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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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Many Evangelicals wrongly believe that indoctrination and conditioning are tools used by cults to manipulate people into believing certain beliefs. Evangelical churches and preachers don’t indoctrinate and condition people. All they do is preach and teach THE truth, or so the thinking goes, anyway. Indoctrination and conditioning are what false religions do, and not the one true religion — Evangelical Christianity.
Take Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen. Thiessen continues to steal my content and use it on his site. He refuses to provide his readers context when using my writing, and now he has stopped linking to my posts or mentioning my name or the name of this site. Why he does this is unknown. You would think Thiessen would want to be known as a fair, honest man. He knows how he should properly provide attribution, but he refuses to do so. If Thiessen lived in the United States, I could do something legally about his theft, but since he lives in the Philippines, I can’t touch him (and neither can American law enforcement).
As far as I know, Thiessen was raised in Evangelical Christianity, attended an Evangelical Bible college, and has spent his entire life defending the extremes of Fundamentalist Christianity. Whether he actually had a “ministry” or pastored a church is unknown. Thiessen claims to be a preacher, but provides no evidence that he actually is.
There was a time that I thought Thiessen could be reasoned with, but I now know that after seven decades of conditioning and indoctrination, there’s little chance that Thiessen will abandon his peculiar version of Christianity. And I mean it when I say “peculiar.” While I can see an Evangelical framework in his beliefs, it is evident, at least to me, that Thiessen has cobbled together his own version of Christianity. In particular, his many statements about Christian salvation reveal that Thiessen has a warped — sometimes heterodox — view of what is required to be a Christian. Of course, this is no surprise. Put a hundred Evangelicals in a room and ask them to theologically define words such as sin, salvation, and faith, and you will hear different definitions from each of them. Thus, Thiessen’s scrambled eggs beliefs are par for the course among Evangelicals.
Thiessen is upset that I continue to say that Evangelicals are indoctrinated and conditioned, so much so that he wrote a post about the matter. What follows is an excerpt of Thiessen’s post with my response below each paragraph. All spelling, grammar, punctuation, and irrationality in the original.
Thiessen writes (see how easy it is to provide attribution, Derrick?):
Unbelievers like to accuse Christians of doing this when they teach the Biblical doctrines of the Bible, including inerrancy.
….
Indoctrination is found everywhere outside of the truth.
Notice what Thiessen is saying here. Evangelical churches and pastors don’t indoctrinate people, but everyone else does. And with a wave of the hand, he dismisses all beliefs but his own.
Liberals, democrats, progressives, communists, and leftists all participate in indoctrination because they do not want their ideologies questioned. A few examples would be the blind acceptance of BLM, D.E.I., PC, cancel culture, and other favorite ideologies championed by those who do not like right and wrong, etc., unless they get to set those standards.
I am a liberal, Democrat, progressive, and a leftist. While I am not a communist, I am a socialist. I am also an atheist and a pacifist. Have I ever demanded that my beliefs (ideologies) not be questioned? Of course not. I am a skeptic and a rationalist; a seeker of knowledge and truth. Want to challenge my beliefs? That’s what the comment section is for. Or a critic could submit a guest post that I will gladly publish as long as it is not inflammatory.
Thiessen wrongly claims that I do not like right or wrong; that I demand everyone follow my moral standards. This, too, is untrue. As a humanist, I have a moral and ethical standard; one that is superior to Christianity in every way. How I authentically and morally live my life matters to me.
Indoctrination should not be a term used loosely by unbelievers. It can be turned around and used against them in everything they say and teach. When it is, it is then true. But when unbelievers use it against Christians, it is usually a wrong application of the term.
Note what Thiessen says. If he says unbelievers indoctrinate people, he is right, but when unbelievers say the same about Evangelical Christians, they are wrong. And his evidence for this irrational claim? None. It is just so because he says it is.
One cannot indoctrinate in the truth.
Sigh. According to Thiessen, Evangelicals can’t indoctrinate people because they have the truth. Thiessen never defines the word “truth,” but I think I can safely say that, for Thiessen, “truth” = his beliefs — a claim most atheists would never make.
Yes, cults do indoctrinate their members, but then, cults aren’t teaching the truth. They are teaching personal ideologies and beliefs that carry enough truth to con unwary and unknowing people.
All religions, by definition, are cults. From the cradle to the grave, Evangelicals are taught what to think, and not how to think. Sunday after Sunday, preachers reinforce core Evangelical beliefs, as do evangelists, youth pastors, Sunday school teachers, and missionaries.
It amazes me how unaware Thiessen is of the fallibility within his worldview. In his mind, his beliefs are superior to all others. Which is not surprising when you think your beliefs perfectly align with God’s revelation.
When a person teaches the truth, for example, the Bible is inerrant, creation only took 7/24 hour days, there was a global flood, and more biblical events, one is not indoctrinating but freeing people from indoctrination.
Notice Thiessen asserts (without evidence other than Bible proof texts) that his peculiar beliefs are true, and when he preaches them or writes about them, he is freeing people from indoctrination. His beliefs, by the way, are minority positions within Christendom. Most Christians believe differently from Thiessen, including many Evangelicals. This matters not. Thiessen is certain he is right; that his theological beliefs are straight from God. How he knows this is unknown.
Those who disagree with those and other biblical truths are indoctrinating anyone who will listen to them or are forced to listen to them. The Bible says we shall know the truth, and the truth shall set everyone free. This type of freedom is not indoctrination but the good news.
This little ditty explains Thiessen’s worldview: God said it (in the Bible), I believe it (when it is convenient for me), and that settles it for me (unless I have a different interpretation).
When Evangelicals such as Thiessen stupidly and ignorantly believe that the Bible = Truth, there’s not much that can be done to refute their beliefs. Once Evangelicals make faith claims, no honest, thoughtful discussion is possible.
Has the “truth” really set Evangelicals free? All we need to do is look at the behavior of Christians such as Thiessen, Revival Fires, Jaisen, John, and a cast of thousands, to see that, for all their talk about the transformational power of the gospel, their lives are no different from those of the unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of the world. In fact, many non-believers live morally superior lives compared to the likes of Thiessen, Revival Fires, Jaisen, and John. I can confidently say that many of the unbelievers who read this blog are, in fact, outstanding unbelieving Christians.
Unbelievers like to assert that those truths are not true, but they have failed to prove their assertions true. The unbelievers like to say science has proven those biblical truths false, but science is based on assumptions and faulty physical evidence, and does not know the truth because it does not seek it.
Derrick, I once again challenge you to a public debate or a written Q&A about your assertions about unbelievers. I am not a scientist. I am smart enough to stay in my own lane, but I will gladly set up a debate between you and one of my science-literate friends. Time to put up or shut up, Derrick. You claim you have the “truth.” To that, I say, “Prove it.” I will offer you the opportunity to write a fact-based rebuttal article for this site. Factually and scientifically (not Biblically, because most readers of this site don’t give a shit about what a contradictory, errant ancient religious text says). And before Thiessen whines about me not posting his last guest article, I didn’t do so because of his transphobic statements. Two things will get you sent to Gerencser Hell: derogatory statements about LGBTQ people and personal attacks (both of me and the readers of this blog).
Most of science is run by unbelievers who have rejected the truth and seek something to replace it with, even if it is a far-fetched idea like evolutionary processes. Christians do not indoctrinate because they allow people to examine all the information before the latter make up their minds.
That most scientists are non-Evangelicals and more than a few of them are atheists, is evidence to Thiessen that they have rejected the “truth” (truth meaning Thiessen’s peculiar religious beliefs and practices) and have replaced it with science. This, of course, is absurd. More than a few unbelieving scientists read this blog. Perhaps they can explain to Thiessen why they are unbelievers. Will doing so change his mind? Of course not. Outside of some sort of “Come to Jesus” moment, Thiessen is beyond help. He knows what he knows, end of discussion.
Thiessen has said a lot of bat-shit crazy stuff over the years, but what he says in this paragraph takes the proverbial cake. Thiessen arrogantly states, “Christians do not indoctrinate because they allow people to examine all the information before the latter make up their minds.” Is he fucking kidding?
Do Evangelical churches and pastors provide congregants with all the information necessary to make up their minds about Christianity? Of course not. Most Evangelicals become Christians before their minds are mature enough to rationally examine the central claims of Christianity. Most Christians couldn’t define and explain core Christian beliefs if their lives depended on it.
Once people have the truth, they do not need to question it again. They have found it, and their search for truth is over. Only those who reject the truth demand that believers follow their example and continue questioning the Bible, etc.
The questions and the search stop when one has found the truth. One only humiliates and embarrasses oneself by always questioning the truth, then rejecting it for a false gospel or false scientific information.
According to Thiessen, once Evangelicals know the “truth,” there’s no need for them to ask questions or search further. This is common thinking among Evangelicals. Once you know the “truth,” you have been set free.
One is not indoctrinated when they embrace the truth. The truth is God’s objective truth, not the unbelieving world’s idea of truth, nor is it his, her, my, or their truth. The truth stands alone, and it is for everyone to find and receive.
Thiessen says truth stands alone. He provides no evidence for this claim other than his own opinions. If the Bible = truth, then why are there so many errant, contradictory claims within its pages?
Plus, the truth never changes, which is why so many Christians have found peace of mind when they come to Christ. The unbelieving world is never at peace because its scientific and other ideologies keep failing and changing.
The truth remains the same from day one to day last. This is why the Bible is so important. It has never changed and brings not only the truth but peace. People may like science because it is always changing; however, that constant change does not bring peace of mind because no one knows when science will actually find and report the truth.
To Derrick, I say, comprehensively define “truth.” Don’t tell me to read your blog. Write a blog post that sets forth “truth” so we all can know what to believe. Pretend I want to know your version of “truth,” Derrick. What would you say to me? You attack and condemn instead of presenting your brand of Christianity in its best possible light.
Thiessen doesn’t like change, and that is one of the reasons he is so set in his beliefs. Fundamentalists are known for bullheaded certainty (as I was, at one time). As you can see, Thiessen doesn’t know much about the scientific method either. Science is about hypotheses, theories, evidence, and probabilities, and not absolute truth. None of us has absolute truth. The best any of us can do is to examine the relevant evidence and come to a rational conclusion. Thiessen doesn’t do this. He knows he is right, so there’s no need for him to examine evidence or rationally re-investigate his beliefs and practices.
Who can believe or accept what science says when it is always changing? Unbelievers use the thousands of denominations as stumbling blocks to belief in Jesus, yet they embrace the thousands of different scientific ideas that contradict or disagree with each other.
The fact that there are tens of thousands of Christian sects, each with their own beliefs, is an indictment of Thiessen’s claim that the Bible = truth. Instead of addressing and explaining these contradictory claims, Thiessen plays the whataboutism game. Science has competing views, so why can’t Christianity? The problem,of course, is that science never claims to be big T truth as Thiessen claims for his beliefs.
And in closing, I ask Thiessen to list a hundred of the thousands of scientific ideas that allegedly contradict each other. I suspect he is being hyperbolic. Sure, there are competing scientific beliefs, but thousands of contradictory beliefs? That’s unlikely.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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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All of us should be skeptical of not only the beliefs of others, but our own. Sadly, many of us are only skeptical of beliefs different from ours. Put a Mormon and Evangelical in the same room for a discussion, and both of them will claim that their beliefs are true. Evangelicals quickly point out the “errors” in the Mormon worldview, but when the same skepticism is applied to Evangelical Christianity, they deny that there are any errors or contradictions in the Evangelical worldview. Evangelicals will point out all the crazy things Mormons believe, but when it comes to young earth creationism, Noah’s flood, the tower of Babel, a talking snake and donkey, or a virgin birth — to name a few — Evangelical beliefs make perfect sense, or so they say, anyway. Evangelicals cannot or will not rationally examine their beliefs in light of other religious worldviews. They claim, without evidence, that the Bible is the very words of God, and whatever it says is inerrant and infallible. These claims cannot be rationally sustained.
Just because Mormon beliefs are irrational doesn’t mean Evangelical beliefs are not. Every religion must be judged on its own merits and claims. While I have not investigated every religion known to man, I have carefully examined the Abrahamic religions, and I find them to be intellectually lacking. I haven’t heard a new or original argument for the existence of God or the exclusivity of Christianity in years. In fact, I have concluded that no new arguments will be forthcoming. Either you believe or you don’t. I don’t, and until persuasive evidence is presented to me, I will remain an unbeliever. If that means Hell after I die, so be it. However, I am confident that there is no afterlife, so I have no fear of spending eternity in the Lake of Fire.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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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Lifewise Academy has now infiltrated half of Ohio’s public schools. Most local schools release students so they can be indoctrinated and conditioned to believe that the teachings and stories of the Bible are not only true, but written by God himself. Lifewise, an explicitly Evangelical organization, officially believes that the Bible is inerrant and infallible — an absurd statement, if there ever was one. The Bible may offer wisdom to those inclined to read it (and I have read the Bible from cover to cover numerous times), but it is intellectually dishonest to claim that there are no errors, contradictions, or mistakes in the Bible. Granted, Evangelicals can and do explain away these things, but I do not find their explanations compelling.
I recently followed a discussion about Lifewise on a local Facebook group. The amount of misinformation about Lifewise suggests that locals are long on opinion and short on facts. For example, Lifewise supporters hide the fact that it is an explicitly Evangelical organization. Suggesting that Lifewise is non-denominational is a smokescreen. I was an Evangelical Christian for fifty years, a pastor for twenty-five years. I know, as other preachers know, that “non-denominational” is code for “Evangelical.” It is used to distance churches from the increasing hostility towards Evangelicalism. This is akin to Burger King changing its name to McDonald’s. A Whopper is a Whopper, and no amount of subterfuge will turn it into a Big Mac.
I have even read of local Catholics defending Lifewise, as if it is no different from Catholicism. It is, and the goal is to evangelize every child with the Evangelical gospel. According to Evangelical dogma, Catholics preach a false, works-based gospel. This is why many Catholic priests oppose Lifewise.
If you want your children taught young-earth creationism, which directly contradicts what science tells us about the world, then Lifewise is for you. If you want your children taught that the mythical stories of the Bible are factually, historically true, then Lifewise is for you. If you want your children to be taught that premarital sex is a sin (as is masturbation), LGBTQ people are an affront to God, and divorce is wrong, then Lifewise is for you. If you want your children to be taught patriarchal and complementarian beliefs, then Lifewise is for you.
Why did Lifewise sue a local man over the release of internal documents? What are they trying to hide?
Bruce Gerencser Ney, Ohio
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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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Allegedly, Evangelicals are “people of the book.” Most Evangelicals believe the Bible was written by God and is inerrant and infallible. Yet, despite believing the Bible is the very words of God, I don’t know of one Evangelical who believes and practices all of the Bible.
Most American Evangelicals vote Republican. Eight out of ten voting white Evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in three straight general elections. No matter how vicious and vile Trump is, he’s their man. Some claim Trump is a Christian, despite his lifestyle and insane religious statements that suggest otherwise. How can someone who says they believe and practice ALL the teachings of the Bible vote for Trump?
As I was reading yesterday, I stumbled upon a verse that played an instrumental part in my life:
He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8, NRSV)
To Evangelicals who are reading this post, let me ask you one question: What does the Lord REQUIRE of you? Not the church, not the society, but God himself. According to the inerrant, infallible words of God, every Evangelical is REQUIRED to do three things (drumroll, please):
Do justice
Love kindness
Walk humbly with your God
Don’t try to exegete or hermeneutically explain away the clear meaning of this text. What does God (Jesus) demand everyone one of his followers do? Not believe, but DO. As James clearly stated, “Faith without works is dead (lifeless)”.
How many Evangelicals do you know whose focus is on justice, kindness, and humility? Not many. So the next time someone tells you he is a “Bible believer,” ask him if he practices Micah 6:8. Be prepared for lots of Bible gymnastics. If Evangelicals actually practiced Micah 6:8, Trump wouldn’t be president, and many of the Republicans (and Democrats) would no longer be in office.
If Evangelicals can’t or won’t practice the clear teachings of the Bible, why do they expect unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of the world to do what they won’t do?
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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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Evangelical apologists often say that atheism is a religion; that all of us worship something. Both claims are categorically false, but since when did that ever stop Evangelicals (especially Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis) from lying to advance their agenda?
When you think of a religion, what comes to mind? Denominations, church buildings, holy texts, beliefs, rituals, and clerics, to name a few. None of these things applies to atheism. Atheism is a simple statement about the lack of belief in the existence of deities. Atheists don’t have denominations, texts, rituals, or clerics. There’s no temple we can go to worship the god of atheism. Unlike most religions, atheism has no belief requirements other than a lack of belief in the existence of god.
Google AI answers the question this way:
No, atheism is not a religion; it is the lack of belief in any deities and does not inherently involve a set of tenets, rituals, or a system of worship. While some individuals or groups may label themselves as atheists within a specific philosophical framework or even create non-theistic communities that have some religious-like structures, atheism itself is the absence of a belief that would define a religion.
If atheism is a religion, then abstinence is a sex position. 🙂 Need I say more? If you are an Evangelical who still thinks atheism is a religion, please justify your claim. Preaching and moralizing are not welcome. If you can prove that atheism is a religion, I will change my mind. That said, I am confident, thanks to dealing with countless Evangelicals over the years, that your defense of “atheism is a religion” will not prevail.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Grow up in an Evangelical church and you will likely hear sermons about how wonderful God really is; how he hears and answers prayers; how is knows the very numbers of hairs on our heads and is intimately involved in our lives; how God will never leave us or forsake us; how he will provide our needs. What an a-w-e-s-o-m-e deity, right? However, Evangelicals quickly learn that their pastors’ God cheers don’t match reality. Most, if not all, prayers go unanswered, and God is largely distant or absent. Evangelicals say God is ever-present in their lives, yet when asked for evidence for their claims, we quickly learn that their “evidence” is actually personal feelings and opinions.
Let me be clear, I am not opposed to people finding religion beneficial. Believe what you want. However, when people make empirical claims about God doing this or that, they should expect to be challenged by non-believers. Evangelicals have made all sorts of supernatural claims over the years, yet when asked to prove their assertions, believers typically appeal to personal experiences or faith — neither of which provides an evidentiary basis to justify their claims.
Many preachers know they are selling fool’s gold to their flocks, so they develop theological explanations to explain why God seems largely absent from their lives. Remember, “feeling” God’s presence is very different from actually KNOWING God is present. Preachers explain to their congregations that trials, suffering, hunger, starvation, job loss, cancer, divorce, and accidents, to name a few, are trials and tests from God to prepare us for life after death. All of life’s experiences are just pretexts for what’s really important: an eternity in Heaven singing praises night and day to the Christian God. Does that really sound like “Heaven” to you? Not to me. Even if I were a Christian, I don’t relish the thought of spending the next million years repetitively praising a deity who made my life on Earth a living Hell (physically). Now, if there’s a cash bar, rock concerts, and dancing, I might change my mind, but as it now stands, Heaven doesn’t sound appealing to me. Throw in strippers, cocaine, and an endless buffet, I could be persuaded — maybe — to change my mind.
What are we to make of a deity who uses pain, suffering, and loss to see whether people “really” worship him and are worthy to live in God’s eternal kingdom after death? Imagine for a moment, one of your adult children was standing on your front porch. He stopped by to have dinner, only to find out that before he could enter, he must prove their worthiness to sit at your table. To prove his worthiness, he must spend the rest of his life suffering from all sorts of physical maladies. Is this what most of us would do? Of course not. Even Jesus said the father freely, openly welcomed the prodigal son home. The father didn’t demand more suffering from his son before slaughtering the fatted calf and throwing a party for his long-lost son. Yet, the Christian God is indifferent to the suffering of the human race, including people who daily pray to him and spend Sundays praising his name. I pastored scores of good Christian people over the years; people who greatly suffered in this life before they died. They pleaded with God — if it was his will — to deliver them from their afflictions, yet their fervent, tear-filled prayers went unanswered. In the midst of darkness, God was about as helpful to them as a flashlight without batteries. To the person, these folks died believing God was going to reward them for their suffering and loss while alive. They, of course, couldn’t know this, but putting their faith in a God who promised to be with them, to the person they believed that a payout awaited them after death,
I don’t know about you, but punishment before reward is perverse, not something thoughtful people would do. Please leave your thoughts in the comment section.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
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.
Arthur “A.J.” Bass, former worship leader at New Hope Christian Church in Wylie, Texas, and a substitute school teacher, stands accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a child.
A man who was prominent in both Wylie churches and schools has been arrested for the alleged sexual abuse of a child.
He’s a former substitute teacher in the Wylie Independent School District and a former worship pastor at a local church.
Wylie ISD said that none of its students have come forward with any allegations against this former substitute teacher so far.
But the district confirms that for two years, he worked as a substitute at multiple schools, including Achieve Academy, which is for suspended and expelled students.
Authorities said his name is Arthur Bass. But to those who know him, he’s A.J.
The 55-year-old was arrested last week for the alleged continuous sexual abuse of a child.
In a statement, Wylie police said the case came together quickly and that “the arrest stems from an investigation that began on October 1.”
Wylie PD said it received information of a “child making an outcry to her mother.”
Wylie ISD said Bass was terminated from his job as a substitute teacher immediately after authorities were informed by police about the arrest.
In a statement to parents, the district said it was important to share “that this situation did not occur on a Wylie ISD campus, nor did it involve a student the substitute met through our schools.”
The district said Bass began working as a substitute in 2023, with his last assignment in April 2025.
“He has not served in our schools this school year,” Wylie ISD said in its statement to parents. “During his time with us, he worked at multiple campuses across the district, and we received no complaints regarding his conduct.”
On his social media profiles, Bass said he is a worship pastor at New Hope Christian Church in Wylie, which confirmed to CBS News Texas that he was, from 2013 until Bass left the church in February 2023.
In a statement to its congregation, the church said, “The charges are terrible and disconcerting to say the least.”
The church did not say whether the accuser had any connection to the church.
But the school district is urging parents to come forward if they have any information that could help Wylie Police with its ongoing investigation.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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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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.
“The more you lean into every comma that God has created you to be, the more commas you will visibly see in your bank account.”
— Pastor Adrian Davis
Adrian Davis, pastor of All Nations Worship Assembly in Huntsville, Alabama, stands accused of wire fraud and filing a false tax return.
Federal court records show that the former pastor of a Huntsville church is facing charges for wire fraud and filing a false tax return.
Adrian Davis was the lead pastor at All Nations Worship Assembly and also served as a marketing consultant for the church. According to court records, he received a salary and parsonage as compensation.
Davis is accused of using ANWA funds for his personal benefit beginning in or around 2018.
The court documents say Davis used funds to pay his mother’s mortgage, buy vehicles like an Audi A7 and a 2016 GMC Yukon, as well as pay off over $268,000 on his personal credit cards, which were used to make purchases from luxury stores like Louis Vuitton, Flight Club, a shoe store in New York, and other stores over the course of 2019 and 2020.
The documents state that Davis wired $13,663 from the ANWA bank account to pay off his personal credit card in October 2020.
Federal records also say Davis filed a tax return in 2021, falsely claiming he received $138,621 when he received total income in excess of that.
Davis agreed to plead guilty to both charges, court records show. As part of his plea agreement, he would be required to pay restitution to All Nations Worship Assembly and the Internal Revenue Service.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
I recently received the following comment from an Evangelical man named D.E. Wilson (all spelling, grammar, punctuation, and irrationality in the original).
My question is, if your an apostate and don’t believe in God and turned atheist I presume your unconcerned about Hebrews 9:27, you better hope your HUMAN MIND HAS JUDGED CORRECTLY.
Yes, I am unconcerned about anything the Bible says. It’s just a book, no different from the Harry Potter books. For readers not familiar with Hebrews 9:27, it says: “And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once and after that the judgment.” Wilson wants me to know that I have an appointment with death, and after drawing my last breath, I will be judged by God. And as he stated later, if I refuse to repent and get saved, I will burn in Hell forever. However, since I think the Bible has no relevance for today, I couldn’t care less if someone threatens me with hellfire and brimstone. The only person I fear is my partner, Polly, when she is holding a Lodge cast iron 12” skillet over my head.
And let me add, judgment doesn’t immediately happen after death. Most Evangelicals have no idea about what the Bible says about death and judgment. Even preachers often make unsupportable claims about death and the afterlife. According to Christian orthodoxy, after we die, we end up in the grave, awaiting the resurrection of the dead (just and unjust). After the general resurrection, we will be judged by God and sent to Heaven or Hell. Sorry, Granny ain’t running around Heaven. She’s dead, in the grave, awaiting the resurrection. THEN, she will be judged. (A good read on this subject is Dr. N.T. Wright’s book, “Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church.”
Wilson warns me in ALL caps: “You better hope your HUMAN MIND HAS JUDGED CORRECTLY.” I am confident that I have skeptically and rationally judged the central claims of Christianity and found them wanting. I’m betting Wilson has not done the same.
Now I’d like to introduce you to something new, you were never saved,
LOL! Something new? Really? I have been told by more pontificating Evangelicals than I can count that I never was a Christian. This claim is patently untrue. Have you noticed that when Evangelicals claim I never was a Christian, they NEVER, EVER present any evidence for their claim. And I mean none. They can’t wrap their minds around my story, so, with a wave of their hands, they dismiss my story out of hand. This is lazy thinking, to say the least.
I’ve been blogging for eighteen years; thousands of posts and millions of readers. In all that time, only one person who (allegedly) has publicly said that they KNEW I wasn’t a Christian. This person said she knew me in the late 70s and 80s, but refused to give her name. One person, of doubtful reputation. That’s it. If I was such a fake Christian, how is it that no one, including my colleagues in the ministry, sensed I was a fraud? Thousands of people personally knew me or heard me preach, yet to the person they thought I was a devoted, Holy Spirit-filled preacher.
Jesus says His people are given to Him by God and He’s lost none. Maybe the Holy Spirit will never save or draw you to Christ, because unless you’re drawn by God you cannot come to Him when you like. That’s one of the IFB mistakes that you can come to Christ without the drawing of The Holy Spirit.
First, I left the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) TWENTY FUCKING YEARS before I deconverted.
Second, I never, NOT ONE TIME, believed or preached that someone can come to Christ without the drawing of the Holy Spirit. (No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day. John 6:44) Even after I left the IFB church movement, I still believed that the drawing of the Spirit (among other things) was required for salvation.
Wilson, as many Evangelicals do, judges me by his own personal experiences. Thus, he had a bad experience with the IFB church movement, and judges me by what he experienced in the past. This is a bad way to judge anything, especially religion.
Sometimes, my critics pick a singular point on my timeline, and judge me from that point in my life. This ALWAYS leads to bad conclusions. I evolved over the years politically, socially, and theologically. This should be considered a sign of growth and maturity, but many Evangelicals think if you theologically change your mind you are sinful or you have taken the first step down the path of apostasy. I was never afraid to change my mind if my studies showed me I was wrong. Over the years, I changed my mind about all sorts of theological positions. My core beliefs — think Nicene Creed — never changed, but my soteriology, eschatology, ecclesiology, and pneumatology evolved, sometimes dramatically.
I know I worked the bus ministry for years and had hundreds of professions and very few pocessors of a new nature, were you one of the thousands that prayed without seeing yourself as God sees you, a lost ungodly sinner who deserves hell and under conviction who broke down with a repentant heart crying out to God for forgiveness.
I was a true-blue Christian; a devoted, committed follower of Jesus. Yes, I saw myself as God saw me: an ungodly sinner deserving Hell. At the age of fifteen, I repented of my sins and cried out to God for forgiveness. There is literally NO evidence from that time that suggests otherwise. If you have it, Wilson, cough it up.
I did, and instantly I knew I was born again,
So did I. And I professed my newfound faith to my church, my family, and my friends. And when I went to school, I professed my faith to my teachers and classmates. And two weeks later, I told my church that God was calling me to preach. A few weeks later, I preached my first sermon.
To Wilson I say, let’s compare our relative Christian lives. I am confident that my life will measure up to yours. In fact, I’m confident I was likely more committed to following Christ than you are, and as an atheist, I’m a better Christian than many of the Evangelicals I know. Shall we whip out our proverbial gospel dicks and see who was a bigger/better Christian? I am game, if you are.
and by FAITH I became a new creature and it completely changed my life.
The same goes for me. Now what, Wilson?
There is hope but it’s Gods doing all of Grace and none of man. He even gives us our Faith.
And I NEVER, EVER, NOT ONE TIME, said otherwise. You seem not to know or have forgotten that I was a Calvinist. Every Calvinist I know would say, “[Salvation] Gods doing all of Grace and none of man. He even gives us our Faith.”
Try harder, Wilson, try harder. This post is your opportunity to challenge me and provide evidence for your claims.
Saved by Reason,
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
