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Tag: Evangelicalism

Why I Left Christianity After Twenty-Five Years of Preaching the Gospel

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good question

Recently, a young Evangelical pastor emailed me and asked me two questions:

  • What made you leave the faith?
  • Why [would] you would leave a faith that you defended for a long time?

I am frequently asked these or similar questions. Usually, I refer people to the WHY? page for answers to their questions, but there’s something about this pastor — maybe it is his age or proximity to where I live — that interests me, so I thought I would attempt to answer his questions.

I was raised in an Evangelical Christian home. From the time I was a child until I was fifty years old, I attended church every time the doors were open. Saved at the age of fifteen and called to preach two weeks later, I was a devoted follower of Jesus Christ. Imperfect, to be sure, the bent of my life was towards holiness (without which no man shall see God).

At the age of nineteen, I moved to Pontiac, Michigan to enroll in classes at Midwestern Baptist College — an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) institution. While at Midwestern, I met Polly, and two years later we married. Polly and I spent the next thirty years faithfully serving Jesus. Whether between churches or pastoring them, our lives revolved around the ministry (for good or ill). If I counted my entrance into the ministry from the first time I preached to when I deconverted, all told I preached for thirty-three years. (Unlike most of my fellow college students, I regularly preached all through school at a drug rehabilitation center in Detroit.)

After leaving Midwestern, I began a ministerial journey that took me to churches in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. While I entered the ministry as an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist, my path later led to ministry opportunities at Southern Baptist, Christian Union, Sovereign Grace Baptist, and Non-denominational churches. Along the way, we were blessed with six children, including a daughter with Down syndrome.

Fast forward to 2004. I decided that I was done with the ministry. The reasons were many, but not the focus of this post. Suffice it to say, these reasons played an insignificant part in my loss of faith. Polly and I decided that we were at a place in life where we wanted to help a congregation without being its pastor. We spent the next four years visiting churches in Ohio, Arizona, California, Michigan, and Indiana. We cast a wide theological net, but after visiting over one hundred churches, — attending some of them for months — we concluded that the only difference between the churches was the name over their doors. After buying in home here in Ney in 2007, we primarily attended mainline churches — a sign of our increasingly liberal politics.

As my politics and theology evolved, I asked myself what it was I truly believed? What were the non-negotiables of my life? This led to me carefully and comprehensively reexamining my political and theological beliefs — a process that continues to this day. Polly and I spent countless hours talking about our beliefs. I read aloud to Polly passages from books written by men such as Dr. Bart Ehrman. We talked about what it was we really believed about the Bible. These discussions, and my continued investigation of core Christian doctrines, led me to conclude that the central claims of Christianity were false. Teachings that were once dear to me, no longer made sense. (Please see The Michael Mock Rule: It Just Doesn’t Make Sense.) On the last Sunday in November, 2008, Polly and I attended church for the last time.

These days, I self-identify as an agnostic atheist. Polly is an agnostic, indifferent, and, at times hostile, to organized religion. Our life experiences were very different — even in the ministry — so it should come as no surprise that what motivated our deconversions might be different. Same zip code, to be sure, but different journeys. I am the intellectual of the family. I spent most of my life reading, studying, and preaching the Bible. My experiences are necessarily different from Polly’s, and that’s why our reasons for leaving Christianity vary.

Let me conclude with answering this pastor’s second question: Why [would] you would leave a faith that you defended for a long time?

I am sure this young preacher struggles to understand why I would leave something I dedicated my life to for so many years. Makes sense, right? Most men or women who leave the ministry do so when they are young or youngish. They enter the ministry and find out it is not what it is cracked up to be (and boy, it’s not!) or they had some sort of crisis of faith, and after a few years they decided the pastorate was not for them.

It is rare for men or women to leave the ministry in their 50s. It happens, but not very often. Why are older people hesitant to leave the ministry? Two things come to mind:

  • Commitment bias, also known as the escalation of commitment, is the tendency to remain loyal to a previous decision, behavior, or course of action, even when it leads to negative outcomes. This often occurs as a result of a desire for consistency with one’s past words and actions, especially when that commitment was made publicly. 
  • Sunk Cost Fallacy, the phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial.

I struggled with these things too. I had spent my entire life in the church. I had spent most of my adult life pastoring churches. Polly, a Baptist preacher’s daughter, and I had committed ourselves to the work of the ministry, regardless of financial renumeration. Both of us, at one time or another, worked outside of the church to provide for our family. Not one time did we doubt that this was God’s will for us — until we did. How could we throw everything away? For what? Atheism?

Only those who have walked in our shoes can understand and appreciate our emotional struggles with leaving the ministry and our later deconversion. Many a tear was shed before we walked away. We asked ourselves, Are we sure? What if we are wrong? Do we really want to throw in the towel and walk away? Does this mean we wasted our lives in the ministry? Wouldn’t it be better for us to fake it — it’s not hard — for the sake of family and social connections? What would we do if we weren’t in the ministry?

While the struggles in the dark of night were painful and real, I eventually concluded that I had to be honest: I no longer believed the Bible was the Word of God. I no longer believed the central claims of Christianity. This meant I wasn’t a Christian in any meaningful sense of the word. (Some Baptists think I am just backslidden, and I am still a Christian. This is absurd.) Truth mattered more to me than the ministry and our Evangelical way of life. This was true when I was a Christian, and it is true today. I am open to having my beliefs challenged, albeit I haven’t heard a new or persuasive argument for Christianity (or any other religion) in years. Ecclesiastes says that there is nothing new under the sun, and that is especially true when it comes to Christianity. I am confident that no new evidence will be forthcoming; so much so, that I am, when it comes to the Christian deity, an atheist. To paraphrase the book of Daniel, I have weighed Christianity in the balance and found it wanting.

Do I miss the ministry? You bet. I miss preaching, teaching, and ministering to others, but whatever yearning I may have, it cannot overcome my desire to know and live the truth. While there was certainly an emotional component — how could there not be? — to my deconversion, the primary reasons for my loss of faith were intellectual in nature. I desperately looked for a place to stop on the proverbial slippery slope, but I slid all the way to the bottom, and, in the end, I concluded I was no longer a Christian. And seventeen years later, I remain an unbeliever. Labeled an apostate, reprobate, or follower of Satan, I am routinely pilloried by God’s chosen ones, ever present reminders of Evangelicalism’s ugly underbelly. If I had any doubts about the veracity of Christianity, I no longer do, having experienced seventeen years of character assassination, threats of violence, and attacks on my family.

Please leave any questions you might have or email them to me. I will do my best to answer them.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Blacks Should be Glad for Slavery, Says Evangelical Pastor Joel Webbon

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joel webbon

The greatest moment in history for any brown or Black country is the moment that the White man’s ships arrive and n your shore. He brings the gospel of Jesus Christ, he catechizes you and your children, he brings exports, he brings hospitals, medicine, life expansion increases, GDP and resources increase, medicine increases, and most importantly, you get taught the gospel of Jesus Christ so that you can live longer on Earth and then go to Heaven instead of Hell.

And for those who are of non-European descent, but live in the Western world, you are exceedingly blessed. And the response shouldn’t be, ‘Let’s push back against wokeness and just say nobody talk about race.’ No, the response should be: Stop whining, stop throwing a fit, get it together. God has blessed you, and he blessed you in large part through White people. So stop doing it. And also, as for you and your house, do your part to change the FBI crime statistics and stop killing people.

— Evangelical pastor Joel Webbon, as reported in The Root. Webbon, a Calvinist, pastors Covenant Bible Church in Georgetown, Texas

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

LifeWise Academy Takes Students to Visit Ken Ham’s Monument to Ignorance

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lifewise academy bus

— Megan Henry, used with permission from Ohio Capital Journal

At least nearly a dozen LifeWise Academy Ohio programs have taken public school students on field trips to the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter in Kentucky, which claims humans lived alongside dinosaurs and the Earth is only 6,000 years old.

LifeWise Academy is a controversial Hilliard-based religious instruction program for public school students on “religious release time,” that operates in 34 states and plans to enroll nearly 100,000 students this school year, according to its website.

It will also be in almost half of Ohio’s public school districts this school year.

LifeWise Academy programs in Adams County, Holgate Schools (Henry County), Continental Schools (Putnam County), Antwerp Schools (Paulding County), Wayne Trace Schools (Paulding County), Paulding Schools (Paulding County), Central Local (Defiance County), Van Wert (Van Wert County), and Tinora (part of Northeastern Schools in Defiance County) have all taken field trips to the Ark Encounter this year, in 2024 or 2023, according to Facebook posts from those LifeWise programs. [Central Local is our local school district and we have grandchildren who attend Northeastern Schools]

Pandora-Gilboa’s LifeWise Academy Program (Putnam County) has visited the Creation Museum every year from 2021-2025 and Upper Arlington’s LifeWise Program (Franklin County) visited the museum in 2023, according to Facebook posts from those LifeWise programs. 

The Creation Museum promotes young Earth creationism, the belief that God created the universe and everything in it in six 24-hour days 6,000 years ago. 

This comes from a literal interpretation of Genesis 1 where God created the universe. 

The museum in Petersburg, Kentucky depicts humans and dinosaurs living together and characterizes the Earth as approximately 6,000 years old. 

“LifeWise teaches Bible lessons, plain and simple,” Christine Czernejewski, a spokesperson for LifeWise, said in an email. “As such, kids are taught what Genesis 1 actually says — that God created all things and that He created them over the course of 6 different days.” [I bet that children aren’t taught about the divine council or the multiple deities mentioned in Genesis 1-3.]

Scientists have determined Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old. 

“The science (at the Creation Museum), it’s just appalling,” said Daniel Phelps, a retired geologist based in Kentucky.

“They depict dinosaurs and humans as living together. They have many, multiple attacks on the standard view of science, especially things like geology and biology and paleontology. … They misinterpret a lot of the human fossil record, and the Art Park especially has a display that disputes climate science.” [Thanks for speaking the truth, Daniel.]

LifeWise Academy is a non-denominational Christian program [see Letter to the Editor: Lifewise Academy Hides Its Evangelical Beliefs By Saying They Are Non-Denominational] that teaches the Bible to public school students during the school day at a special release time.

“We tend to teach the Bible kind of as it teaches,” said LifeWise Founder and CEO Joel Penton. “We do talk through the six days of creation as outlined in Genesis 1. However, developing a systematic theology of young Earth versus old Earth, we leave that to local churches.” [Most, and I mean MOST, Evangelicals are young earth creationists.]

In January, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a law passed by Republican lawmakers that mandates public school districts create a policy allowing students release time for religious instruction.

It concerns Phelps that LifeWise programs are taking students to the museum and the ark. 

“I would like to call this educational malpractice,” Phelps said. “It simply is not science, and the students are being misled. They’re basically learning to distrust science and follow an extremely fringe version of Christianity.” [Yep.]

A 2019 Gallup poll showed that 40% of U.S. adults believe in creationism, the belief that God created humans in their present form within roughly the past 10,000 years.  [actually it it almost 7 in 10 when you add theistic evolution to the equation]

“Most Christians don’t accept the fundamentalist version of creationism,” Phelps said. “… It’s also going to hurt kids that want to have a future studying science and are going to learn all these things that just simply are not true.”

The Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter are both operated by Answers in Genesis, a fundamentalist Christian apologetics organization that promotes young Earth creationism. 

The Creation Museum opened in 2007 and the Ark Encounter, 510-foot wooden ship intended as a replica of the biblical Noah’s Ark, opened in 2016. 

LifeWise said all field trips require parental permission. 

“LifeWise programs have taken field trips to museums, local parks, sporting events and area churches,” Czernejewski said. [Nice dodge. the focus is on trips to an explicitly Evangelical business that promotes science illiteracy.]

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Youth Leader Lindsey Whiteside Pleads Guilty to Having Sex with a Minor Girl

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lindsey whiteside

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.

Lindsey Whiteside, a youth pastor at Getwell Church in Hernando, Mississippi, and high school basketball coach, was accused of having sex with a minor girl under her care.

Whiteside’s church bio states:

My deepest passion is for everyone to experience Jesus in the same way I have. Through student ministry, missions, or any other ministry, I am so thankful that the Lord has called me to Getwell Hernando where I can pursue that passion both inside and outside the walls of the church. It is an honor that the Lord calls us all to participate in His Kingdom, and I am grateful to be able to do it within and alongside the community of Hernando.

“For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26-28

Channel 5 reported:

A grand jury has returned an indictment charging a former DeSoto County youth minister with having sex with a child under her guardianship.

Court documents allege Lindsey Aldy Whiteside, 26, intentionally and knowingly had sex with an underage girl between May 14 and November 6, 2024.

An indictment was returned earlier this month, charging Whiteside with one count of felony sexual battery of a minor.

Prior to the indictment, Whiteside worked at Getwell Church Hernando as a student and outreach coordinator, and also previously served as an assistant basketball coach at DeSoto Central High School.

“We can confirm that the December Grand Jury of DeSoto County has indicted Lindsey Whiteside on the charge of sexual battery of a minor child by a person of trust or authority,” DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton said in a statement. “Prior to this indictment, Lindsey Whiteside served as a youth ministry leader and basketball coach—positions that carry a profound responsibility to protect and guide others.”

Whiteside served as the assistant girls’ basketball coach at DeSoto Central High until she was hired by Getwell Church Hernando in August 2022.

Church members claim she was terminated after the sexual battery allegations arose.

Getwell Church did not immediately answer Action News 5’s calls for comment.

Whiteside faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

Recently, Whiteside pleaded guilty and was sentenced to house arrest. House arrest? She was facing thirty years in prison, yet the judge gave her a slap on the wrist, with NO PRISON TIME. Sadly, all to often judges give lesser sentences to women than they do men. I suspect that is the case here. The victim and others are rightly outraged by the light sentence. The district attorney stated: “This sentence is an absolute abomination of justice. It is not right; it is everything that’s wrong. This is why people actually question whether our institutions actually serve people.”

Fox-13 reports:

There will be no immediate jail time for a female youth pastor who admitted to the sexual battery of a teenager who attended her church.

Lindsey Whiteside’s case first came to light in November 2024. On Monday, the former youth pastor for Getwell Church in Hernando pleaded guilty to a single count of sexual battery, a charge that could mean up to 30 years in prison.

But Whiteside left the DeSoto County Courthouse sentenced to a decade of supervised release, beginning with three years of house arrest, virtually the complete opposite of the sentence sought by DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton.

“We, the State of Mississippi, and frankly, I am extremely disappointed,” Barton said. “The sentence ended up being three years of house arrest, followed by seven years of post-release supervision, for a total of ten years of supervision. This sentence is an absolute abomination of justice. It is not right; it is everything that’s wrong. This is why people actually question whether our institutions actually serve people.”

Whiteside’s victim was nearly 17-year-old at the time of the sexual battery, which by the former youth pastor’s own admission occurred multiple times, though she only faced a single count.

Those crimes occurred while the victim was being mentored and counseled by Whiteside, in her role of trust within the church the victim was attending.

The victim’s family was outraged Whiteside didn’t receive any prison time. Pam Pegram, a member of that family, spoke on behalf of the victim and her family following the sentencing.

“Let me be clear: no adult should ever engage in sexual contact with a child. In no way, shape, or form is the victim ever at fault,” Pegram said. “This adult could at any time have said, ‘Mom, help me; pastor, help me; friend, help me.’ She never did. She plotted and she planned, she deceived and she manipulated so that she could have her way.”

The district attorney said that, as shocking as the sentence was, so was the fact that educators and even a sitting school board member offered letters and even testimony in support for Whiteside, which he said is detrimental for the victim.

“It is true that when you support the abuser, you victimize the victim, and for that, that’s part of the reason that I was so disturbed by the amount of pedophile sympathizers that wrote into the court, and specifically Michelle Henley is an elected member of our school board,” Barton said. “Our victim at the time was a student at one of the schools that Michelle Henley is supposed to help govern. And yet she wrote a letter in support of the defendant; she testified on behalf of the defendant’s good character. Which I submit: there is no good character to someone that would sexually abuse a child.”

Just before handing down the sentence, the judge said no one was going to be happy with the decision. In addition to the ten years of supervised release, Whiteside will also have to register as a child sex offender for the rest of her life. She will face jail time if she violates any of the terms and conditions of her house arrest..

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Kevin Jones Accused of Soliciting a Minor

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pastor kevin jones

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.

Kevin Jones, pastor of Summit Church in Elkins, West Virginia, stands accused of soliciting a minor.

The Inter-Mountain reports:

A nearly three-hour preliminary hearing Tuesday afternoon for the former pastor of the Summit Church resulted in probable cause being found for the felony charge of soliciting a minor via computer.

The charge will now proceed to the grand jury, after Tuesday’s ruling by Randolph County Magistrate Michael Dyer.

Kevin Curtis Jones, 33, appeared in an orange prisoner’s jumpsuit in Randolph County Magistrate Court Tuesday afternoon, represented by attorney James Hawkins Jr.

Jones is also charged with one felony count of distribution and exhibiting of material depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit activity. A hearing on that charge has been continued to a later date.

Jones is currently being held at the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on two separate $50,000 cash-only bonds set by Magistrates Benjamin Shepler and Dyer.

The courtroom was full with approximately 20 people for Tuesday’s hearing, including family members of the alleged victim and a witness. Assistant Randolph County Prosecutor Leckta Poling represented the state.

Hawkins brought forward two motions, asking for a reduction in Jones’ bond and for a dismissal of the charge. Dyer denied both of Hawkins’ motions.

Poling also made a motion regarding Jones’ bond, asking for additions such as, if Jones were able to make bond, he should not be permitted to have contact with anyone under the age of 18, and that there should be restrictions to Jones’ access to electronic devices. Dyer approved Poling’s motion.

Dyer found probable cause after more than two-and-a-half hours of testimony from a witness, the alleged victim and the investigating officer, Deputy and Task Force Officer D.A. Cale with the Barbour County Sheriff’s Office and the Mountain Region Drug And Violent Crime Task Force.

During the witness’s testimony, a member of the courtroom’s audience stood up and began to shout at Jones and Hawkins. The audience member was then taken out of the room by courtroom security. The audience member could be heard continuing to yell and shout as they were escorted out of the Randolph County Magistrate Court building by court security and officers with the West Virginia State Police and Elkins City Police, who were also present for the hearing.

There was an unusual level of security present for the hearing, with two Randolph County Court Security officers stationed outside on the sidewalk questioning people who approached the magistrate court building. No one was allowed to bring a cell phone into the building during the hearing. No photographs, and no video or audio recordings of the hearing were allowed to be made by media representatives covering the hearing.

According to the first criminal complaint against Jones, filed by Cale, on Oct. 1, Cale assisted Cpl. C. Parks, also with the Barbour Sheriff’s Office, with a soliciting investigation involving Jones.

Parks told Cale he was “investigating Pastor Kevin Jones for soliciting a minor with a computer,” the complaint states. The alleged victim was an attending member of the Summit Church in Elkins. Cale applied for a search warrant in Randolph County to seize relevant cellular devices, flash drives, storage devices, computers, etc.

On that same day, Cale located Jones in an RV at the Smokey Bottom Camp Ground, off Route 33, the complaint states. A “large amount” of cellular devices and storage devices were seized. Cale also made contact with the alleged victim, who came out of the RV to speak with him.

The alleged victim stated that Jones was their pastor and that they recalled an event where they and other juveniles went to Jones’ house in Randolph County around Christmas of 2023, the complaint states. The alleged victim told Cale that Jones began communicating with them over the phone about being in a “clandestine relationship” with the alleged victim once they turned 18.

According to the complaint, Jones was the pastor of Summit Church “where the (alleged) victim attends, making (Jones) a person of trust over the victim.” Cale writes that he explained to the alleged victim what solicitation of a minor via computer was defined as under West Virginia State Code, and then asked the alleged victim if they thought Jones had solicited them. The alleged victim said, “Yes.”

“It is evident that Pastor Kevin Jones used a communication device to contact the victim to solicit, entice, seduce or lure (them) into a clandestine relationship while he remained married and was a person of trust,” Cale writes in the complaint.

According to the second criminal complaint, also filed by Cale, on Oct. 1, Cale issued a search warrant for digital evidence from Jones’ cellular devices.

Cale allegedly located several images of a juvenile on Jones’ cellphone, the complaint states. The images depicted the alleged victim “in (their) underwear with (their) arms shrugged.” Cale writes that, in each of the known images of the alleged victim, the alleged victim was wearing different color underwear. He writes that one of the photos has a text overlay depicting, “Does this Match?”

Though the alleged victim is no longer a juvenile, the timestamps on the images allegedly found on Jones’ cellphone show that the alleged victim was under 18 years old when the photos were taken, the complaint states.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Youth Pastor Zachary Radcliff Accused of Sexually Abusing Children

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zachary radcliff

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.

Zachary “Zach” Radcliff, a youth director at Oakwood Church in Ypsilanti, Michigan, stands accused of dozens of sex crimes. Radcliff’s father is the pastor of Oakwood.

In October 2024, CBS News reported:

A 29-year-old Washtenaw County church employee was arraigned on several charges, including criminal sexual conduct and charges related to child sexually abusive material. 

Michigan State Police began investigating Zachary Radcliff, a former music and youth director at Oakwood Church in Augusta Township, on Oct. 2, after they were notified that Radcliff had solicited child sexually abusive material from a minor. A search warrant was executed at his office and residence. 

Police say they have identified multiple victims and that victims range in age from 12 to 17 years old. It’s alleged that the crimes have been occurring since 2011. MSP says church leadership has been cooperative during the investigation. 

“The information that we received was shocking,” Oakwood Church said in a statement. “We were told that Zachary had been soliciting inappropriate photos and possibly videos from teens. We have also heard other stories. This information has ripped our hearts apart. The safety and protection of the individuals in our church is what is paramount to us. We are devoted to doing what we can for the care of the victims of these crimes.”

Radcliff, who is the son of Oakwood’s senior pastor, was first suspended with pay on Oct. 3 but eventually fired on Oct. 12. 

“The State Police were notified by families that were involved and our church staff,” the church said. “We are not aware of the full extent of his crimes, and we are doing everything we can to cooperate with the ongoing police investigation.

“We have counseling that is being set up and provided for any youth or adults who have been impacted by this crime. What is being done will be provided to our church family in the next few days. Like you, our hearts are broken. We have a desire to serve our Master in this community, with the understanding that the church family should be one of the safest places we can be involved in. Part of that trust has been broken. Our commitment is to be completely transparent and do what we can to help with this investigation.” 

Radcliff is charged with one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of aggravated child sexually abusive activity, two counts of child sexually abusive activity, five counts of using a computer or the internet to commit a crime and one count of using a computer to commit a crime. 

In March 2025. CBS News reported:

A former Washtenaw County church youth group director will now stand trial on 60 charges connected to sexual abuse after a judge added 30 more counts following testimony Tuesday. 

Zachary Radcliff, 29, appeared Tuesday in a courtroom for a preliminary examination, where several young men testified against Radcliff. Following testimony, 14A District Court Judge J. Cedric Simpson added nine counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and 21 counts of child sexually abusive activity. In all, Radcliff faces 60 charges related to first-degree criminal sexual conduct, child sexually abusive activity and using a computer to commit a crime. 

“What I saw with them, they need to be believed, and they ought to be believed. Whether anyone does, that’s maybe for the future. But I believe them. I believe everything they told this court,” Simpson said. 

“I don’t say this lightly at all. Not how I operate my life and certainly not how I operate as a judge. But in my 25-so-plus years, I’ve seen a lot. This ranks up with one of the most egregious predators that I have ever seen as it regards individuals.”

Radcliff is the former music and youth director at Oakwood Church in Augusta Township. Michigan State Police began investigating Radcliff on Oct. 2, 2024, after they were notified that he had solicited child sexually abusive material from a minor. Police executed a search warrant of Radcliff’s office and residence.   

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Let’s Talk about Religious Indoctrination

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indoctrination

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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You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

My Religion is True, Yours is Not

6 Comments
want truth read bible

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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You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Letter to the Editor: Lifewise Academy Hides Its Evangelical Beliefs By Saying They Are Non-Denominational

12 Comments
letter to the editor

Submitted to the Defiance Crescent-News

Dear Editor,

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.

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

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One Bible Verse Most Evangelicals Ignore

6 Comments
bible has all the answers

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.

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.