What follows is an excerpt from a blog post written by a Fundamentalist Christian woman named Sue Botchie. Botchie has no interest in intellectual pursuit outside of reading the inspired, inerrant, infallible King James Bible. Botchie takes great pride in her ignorance about the text and historicity of the Bible. I remember thinking this way back in my Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) days. I considered the Bible to be a flawless, perfect book. Anything that didn’t square with my peculiar interpretation of the Bible was wrong. Of course, when people challenged my assumptions and assertions, I responded, hey your argument is with God, not me. I later learned that the God and me in this story were one and the same.
Here’s Botchie words in all their wondrous kindergarten glory:
Well, help yerself! And yeah, i know you [Bart Ehrman] went to big-time colleges, and published numerous thick books…i get that! Still, i also get the fact that, throughout the ages, smart men (men, smarter than you, who wrote volumes with quill pen AND by candle-light…) [a common false assumption that the men who translated the King James Version of the Bible were more educated and smarter than scholars today. This is patently untrue.] stayed the faith. Ya’ know, they didn’t have so much as a manual typewriter.
And yeah, reading the Scriptures does often leave a person with more questions than answers. Oh, but could it be, because the Lord is ultimate smart, and we’re all wetards! I.e., His ways, as compared to our ways…yeah, that’s one bitter horse-pill to swallow! Anyway, to go on claiming that the Lord’s Book is erroneous, is [factual, according to the information at hand, a rational conclusion reached by using critical thinking skills] to defame His character. Not smart! [How does Botchie knows Ehrman has defamed the character of her version of the Christian God? Did he tell her? Send her a text or an email?]
Call me a typical fundie moron [self reflection is good]. Have at it, fella. Frankly, i don’t give a flying royal rip what you think. In conclusion, i have ZERO respect for high-end professors who intellectually-bully 20 year-olds. My age talking, but 20 year-olds are kids.
–– Sue Botchie, NoWonderPeopleWalk, Hey Bart! So ya’ think the Bible is one big error-factory, June 22, 2018
U.S. Attorney Jeff Sessions, while praising the Supreme Court’s favorable ruling on the Trump Administration’s Muslim ban, said he hoped that this latest ruling would put an end to courts impeding the President’s agenda. The President, and I quote, “is just doing what Americans asked him to do.” My response, was a very loud BULLSHIT!
Fact: U.S. population (2017) — 326 million
Fact: People who voted for Donald Trump — 63 million
Fact: 263 million Americans didn’t vote for Donald Trump
Fact: Donald Trump lost the popular vote
Fact: Forty-two percent of eligible voters did not vote
Fact: 226 million eligible voters
Fact: 131 million Americans voted in the 2016 presidential election
Fact: Of the 131 million who voted, less than half of them voted for Donald Trump
Fact: Less than thirty percent of eligible voters voted for Donald Trump
Fact: Less than twenty percent of Americans, out of 326 million, voted for Donald Trump
So, no President Trump is NOT doing what Americans asked him to do. He’s doing what a small percentage of Americans — mainly white, rural Christians — asked him to do. Let’s remember this come election day. There are more of us than there are of them, and if we VOTE we will run Trump’s enablers out of office. It starts with the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it will end when the President is evicted from office or impeached.
About Bruce Gerencser
Bruce Gerencser, 61, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 40 years. He and his wife have six grown children and twelve 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. For more information about Bruce, please read the About page.
Bruce is a local photography business owner, operating Defiance County Photo out of his home. If you live in Northwest Ohio and would like to hire Bruce, please email him.
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Many cars are being recalled today because of manufacturing defects. Here is another recall: The Maker of all humanity is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to a serious defect in the central component of the heart (Jeremiah 17:9). The defect is known as S-I-N and this defect will eventually ruin every unit that is not repaired (James 1:15). The original unit was extremely well-made (Genesis 1:31). The serious defect is due to a later malfunction in the original prototype, code name: Adam. This resulted in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units (Romans 5:12). [Following Zeller’s analogy, this means that the manufacturer, God, is responsible for the defect, S-I-N.]
The defect is not limited to only one part of the unit; the problem has affected every part (Isaiah 1:6). Some of the symptoms include loss of direction, uncontrollable acceleration to do evil, and foul vocal emissions (Mark 7:21-23). Even though the Manufacturer did not cause the problem [Yes, he did. He did, after all, manufacture the car. Your product Ford-Lincoln-Mecury God, so you are to blame for its defects.] He has offered a repair for every single unit (Luke 19:10). And this factory-authorized repair is provided absolutely free of charge (Isaiah 55:1), and is guaranteed to correct the defect. The Repair Technician has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs. He didn’t pay in cash, nor with silver or gold, but with His own precious life blood (1 Peter 1:18).
The human being units not responding to this recall action will have to be consigned to a furnace and suffer eternal consequences (Matt. 13:42). The S-I-N defect will not be permitted to enter Heaven in order to prevent contamination of that facility (Rev. 21:27). [This means, then, that there will be no Christians in Heaven. I don’t know of one auto that has been totally repaired. If complete and total repair is required to enter God’s garage in the sky, it’s going to be mighty empty. Come join us in Hell, Evangelicals. The weather is grand, and junkers are welcome.]
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is a psychopath. Duterte’s approach to drug abuse and trafficking brought the praise of American sociopath Donald Trump, but most governments rightly condemned him for murdering addicts and traffickers alike. Duterte sees himself as a Filipino version of President Trump. Trump admires thugs, autocrats, and dictators, and I suspect if it weren’t for the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law, the president would likely behave as Duterte does. Imagine how Trump would resolve the immigration problem if he were unencumbered by law and public opinion.
Last Friday, Duterte riled up Catholics and Evangelicals in a televised speech shown on CBS News when he said:
Who is this stupid God? This son of a bitch is then really stupid. How can you rationalize a God? Do you believe?
[Duterte lamented that Adam and Eve’s sin in Christian theology resulted in all the faithful falling from divine grace.] You were not involved but now you’re stained with an original sins [sic] … What kind of a religion is that? That’s what I can’t accept, very stupid proposition.
Perhaps Duterte knows the Christian God better than offended Christians think he does. You know the old adage, it takes one to know one. Duterte, a psychopath, knows a fellow psychopath when he sees HIM.
Filipino Catholic Bishop Arturo Bastes had this to say about Duterte:
Duterte’s tirade against God and the Bible reveals again that he is a psychological freak, a psychopath, an abnormal mind who should have not been elected as president of our civilized and Christian nation.
Ponder, for a moment, what Bishop Bastes is saying here; that people who don’t believe in the existence of the Christian God and don’t buy the notion of original sin have abnormal minds and are uncivilized. Evidently, Bastes has never read anything about the history of his church; especially the days when people were tortured and murdered by the church, and secular powers blessed by the Catholic church pillaged countless villages, raped women and girls, and murdered thousands of people.
Duterte is an interesting psychopath to the degree that he doesn’t see religion as a tool to use for the advancement of his cause. In this regard, Duterte is different from the American Psycho. The president, every bit the atheist that I am, understands how valuable certain Christian sects — namely Evangelicals, conservative Catholics, and Mormons — are to the advancement of his anti-human agenda. Trump knows as long as he pretends he cares about abortion, religious “freedom,” and other hot-button cultural issues, Evangelicals, Catholics, and Mormons will continue to support him. Trump, I’m sure, is paying attention to the outrage over Duterte’s comments. Just say the right things, Donald, the president says to himself, and take care of My Evangelicals®, and they will make me dictator for life! Praise Jesus, right?
This is the one hundred seventy-eighth installment in the Songs of Sacrilege series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a song that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please send me an email.
Today’s Songs of Sacrilege is God is On Our Side by Roxanne Cote.
Can’t you see the starving child?
Can’t you see the corpses piled?
A comedy of dirt and blood
And God is on our side
Sex slaves and trafficking
Broken homes are for bidding
Love at a price to buy
And God is on our side
Day and night
I yearn for you
by the dimmest light
And I know
I’m bearing my greatest fight
Where religions were made to divide
My brother and I
For all the love we tried and
Prayers we lied and
God is on our side
Monks and kings are born heartless
Living in wild circus
But your myths are here to guide
And God is on our side
Governing a red madness
Fruiting a black sadness T
he faith in me has died
And God is on our side
Christopher Hitchens Monologue
Is it good for the world to appeal to our credulity and not to our skepticism? Is it good for the world to worship a deity that takes sides in wars and human affairs? To appeal to our fear and guilt, is it good for the world? To our terror, our terror of death, is it good to appeal? To preach guilt and shame about the sexual act and the sexual relationship, is this good for the world? And asking yourself all that while, are these really religious responsibilities, as I maintain they are? To terrify children with the image of hell and eternal punishment, not just of themselves, but of their parents and those they love Perhaps worst of all, to consider women an inferior creation, is that good for the world? And can you name me a religion that has not done that?
Are you gonna hide forever?
Are you gonna hide forever?
Are you gonna hide forever?
Are you gonna hide forever?
Are you gonna hide forever?
A Sunday morning in June in New Jersey can often be warm, sunny, and beautiful. Many people are outside biking, walking, running, gardening, walking their dog, or just sitting outside enjoying the day. I’m a runner, and in the running community, one typically plans one’s longest run of the week on Saturday or Sunday morning when one is most likely to have two to four hours to spend on a run. We even have a phrase for it for those who choose Sunday — the Church of the Sunday Long Run.
This past Sunday, I went out for a nice run and took a slightly different route that led me past a small Lutheran church. About thirty to forty people were outside in folding chairs listening to the minister conducting the service. It makes sense when you have a small congregation to take them outdoors on a nice day. But what struck me were the automatic split-second thoughts and reactions that entered my brain.
First, there was a sense of guilt and shame for not going to church on Sunday morning. I haven’t attended church services (outside the occasional funeral) in more than 10 years. I stopped believing in God and Christian doctrines several years ago as well. My husband is also an agnostic atheist, and we have raised our now-teenaged kids without religion. But somehow, that quick jolt of guilt and shame flooded my brain. This was followed by the second thought: “Oh, crap, I’m wearing a tank top and shorts and am running during church time in front of all these religious people.” I don’t believe there is anything bad about someone wearing a tank top and running shorts while they are running. It’s appropriate attire if the weather cooperates and the runner feels comfortable in that attire. But I recognized the deep-seated “indoctrination” surrounding appropriate attire for church and for “religious people” to see.
These thoughts were a bit of a shock for me, but they indicate just how thoroughly indoctrinated people can be, especially when they are brought up in a religious setting from childhood. From the time I was three years old, my family attended Southern Baptist church twice on Sundays and once on Wednesday evenings. If you didn’t go to church at one of these times, you’d better be throwing up or in a hospital. There were rules about appropriate attire for each type of service. Sunday morning attire was the most formal, as Sunday morning church service was the week’s first worship event, where we showed God our reverence for Him by donning our best clothing and (theoretically at least) donning our most submissive and humble spirits. Sunday and Wednesday evening services were more casual — I suppose one could say that “business casual” was the appropriate attire for those services. A tank top and shorts would not have been deemed acceptable for any of these services.
In the fields of education and psychology, it is well established that children develop abstract reasoning skills during the age range of 11-16, with most children developing abstract thinking around age 13-14. This is why children in seventh grade are often tested to find out if they are ready to take algebra in eighth grade (about 13-14 years old) or if they should wait. Abstract thinking involves the ability to think about objects, concepts, or ideas which are not physically present. Within abstract thinking is the ability to think critically, to use the scientific method, to use reasoning skills, to be able to conceptualize and manipulate objects in one’s mind, and to develop spatial skills. Most religious groups understand that it is vitally important to indoctrinate children in the 4-14 age group because once they reach the stage of abstract reasoning, many will reject religious indoctrination. As many of Bruce’s readers who were indoctrinated as children know, it is VERY difficult to undo doctrines that were taught to us during those critical years. Conversely, my nonreligious kids read all religious stories in the same vein that they read “Harry Potter” or any other literary works of fiction. Religious folks understand that if you don’t indoctrinate them when they are young, you have to wait until people are at their most vulnerable and then approach them with a “cure-all” salvation message.
In 1977, the song “Easy” by the Commodores (written by Lionel Richie) became popular. Before my mom became more religious, we used to listen to the easy listening radio station that played this song a lot. As a kid, I never understood the chorus. Sunday morning was never easy. How could the Commodores claim that Sunday morning was easy? We had to get up early – not as early as for work and school, but early still – eat breakfast and get dressed in our best for an hour of Sunday school and at least an hour of worship service. Afterward, we would go home and have pot roast or whatever else Grandma was able to put in the oven to cook slowly until we returned home for Sunday dinner. Sometimes, as a special treat, my Grandpa would go to Kentucky Fried Chicken and pick up a bucket of chicken and sides for us. We would be home for a few hours before having to go back to church for Sunday evening worship. For being a day of “rest,” Sunday was pretty busy. Only heathens, apostates, atheists, Jews, Seventh Day Adventists, and backsliders did not go to church on Sunday, so I figured the Commodores must fall into one of those categories. That was too bad, because I kind of liked Lionel Richie.
As a deconvert, I learned that the Commodores were right – Sunday morning CAN be easy.
“Easy” by Commodores
Chorus:
That’s why I’m easy
I’m easy like Sunday morning
That’s why I’m easy
I’m easy like Sunday morning
How many of you who were raised in a very religious household still experience a sudden pang of guilt or shame in reaction to some religious stimulus? [I call these experiences Fundamentalist hangovers. Ten years after my divorce from Jesus, and I still occasionally have guilty feelings such as the ones mentioned in this post. – Bruce]
This is the one hundred and seventy-ninth installment in The Sounds of Fundamentalism series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a video clip that shows the crazy, cantankerous, or contradictory side of Evangelical Christianity, please send me an email with the name or link to the video. Please do not leave suggestions in the comment section. Let’s have some fun!
Today’s Sound of Fundamentalism features a video clip of Evangelical Bill Wiese talking out how he evangelized a dying atheist. Wiese, a con-artist for Jesus, is best known for his claim of having an out of body experience that landed him in hell for twenty-three minutes. Wiese has made a lot of cash off of this con, so there is no reason to believe that his atheist story is true either, or at the very least it happened as exactly as Wiese says it did.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
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.
Retired Christian and Missionary Alliance pastor Henry Clarke found himself with some explaining to do after it was reported that sexually abused three boys in the 1960s. Clarke admitted his crimes, saying that he abused the boys, but after moving from Ireland to Canada in the 1970s, he has not abused any children. I assume Clarke was not prosecuted for his crimes, not an uncommon outcome in the 1960s.
Henry Clarke, who served in the Christian and Missionary Alliance church for over 30 years, admitted in interviews with BBC North Ireland and CTV Saskatoon that he had abused three young boys in the late 1960s.
Clarke claims the abuse took place in his home country, and he has not abused any children since immigrating to Canada in the late ‘70s.
He moved to Smithers in 2001 and served at the former Alliance church until 2006, when the district shut the church on Upper Viewmount Road down due to “internal disagreements.”
….
He moved to Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, where he now lives in retirement.
Documentation of a confession Clarke made to the North Irish authorities in 1985 resurfaced in 2016, and BBC North Ireland tracked him down to his Saskatchewan home in March of the following year.
“They arrived at my door without any warning and handed me a letter and… you know, I had already spoken to the [North Ireland] police in the 1980s, and was quite surprised about the way the thing was handled,” Clarke told The Interior News.
“I mean, I said yes,that I had behaved in such a way. But the [BBC North Ireland] interviewer put his own slant on the whole story. He had suggested that I’d used coming to Canada to run away from everything; that was not true at all.”
….
“I put in over 30 years as a pastor, and I believe that I’d done an honest job. It has been difficult. Certainly there have been those that have been very supportive, and there have been a number of people who have not been supportive. But I belong to a very supportive church here, and the community here has been very supportive.”
“I’m surprised that it’s well over a year now that this is coming up again, you know? I certainly am very sorry that I’ve hurt anybody, but I certainly take responsibility for my behaviour, which is over 50 years ago,” Clarke said.
“I mean, it’s one of those situations in life, if you had it to live over again you’d know better, but … that’s where I’m at, and I’m trying to live my life now the best I can.”
Only Clarke knows whether he has abused children since the initial report of abuse. At the very least, Clarke should have told the churches he pastored about his past, and he should never have been permitted to be around children. What I want to know is this: Did the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination know of Clarke’s past? If they did, I would love to hear their explanation for allowing him to pastor.
What follows is a typical example of how many Evangelicals view history and the world.
“Baby boomers are the generation that inherited a prosperous country and leave behind a country bankrupted and drowning in debt. They inherited strong nuclear families and leave behind a long, sad trail of divorce and broken homes. They inherited relatively strong churches and leave behind decaying and empty ones. They decimated our political and social institutions, and now, in their final act, will try to place the blame on the generation they failed to raise.” (Matt Walsh)
I am from the baby boom generation. My parents were the last decent generation. Most of them grew up in intact families, the majority of people worked hard (they had to or they would starve) and only bought what they could afford, mothers were full-time homemakers, and everyone knew what was right and what was wrong.
Then came the sexual revolution in the 60s. Monogamy was boring, women needed to become like men and get away from their homes and children, government “owed” them free stuff, and if one wasn’t happy in the marriage, then divorce and sadly, all of these things have infiltrated the churches. It was a poison (sin) that has continued to grow stronger, more evil, and more pervasive.
My parents had no clue what the “parties” were like when I was in high school. The kids were sleeping around, smoking pot, and getting drunk. Sure there were people in my parent’s generation that did these things but not on a massive scale like in my generation and every generation since then and everyone in my parent’s generation knew these things were wrong.
So our country is now like Sodom and Gomorrah. Many of us are like Lot: “For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed (tormented) his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds” (2 Peter 2:8). I was watching the playoff basketball game the other night for a few minutes and saw two wicked commercials during the game. One promoted gay marriage and had two women kissing and the other one promoted the women’s basketball league by showing pictures of the Women’s March, gay pride, and sponsored by Planned Parenthood. This torments my righteous soul (and yes, I am righteous because I am clothed in Jesus Christ).
I am grieved when I see a show (This is Us) that many Christians “love” that began with a scene of a man’s naked behind, a threesome going on in a bed, and some women standing around in bras and underwear. I quickly decided it was not the show for me since we are to dwell on the pure and lovely and “abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Do you abstain from ALL appearance of evil or are you entertained by it?
How bad is it going to get before Christians get rid of their televisions? How bad are public schools going to have to get before Christians pull their children out? If your children are in public schools, they are being influenced by the children around them and what these children are seeing on screens. Men kissing men will be completely normal behavior for them and so will men wanting to be women and vice versa.
— Lori Alexander, The Transformed Wife, The Baby Boom Generation Started the Depravity, June 12, 2018
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.
Daniel Staats, a Christian counselor at Helping the Hurting and fill-in pastor in Dalton, Georgia, pleaded guilty today to sexually assaulting a female client. The Times Free Press reports that Statts fondled a client’s breast, exposed himself, and received oral sex during a July 2017 visit.
Numerous women have accused Staats of inappropriate behavior, but the police do not consider his behavior criminal. Creepy, yes. Criminal, no. Staats was given a twenty year sentence, with eighteen years suspended. Staats is no longer permitted to work as a counselor.
Staats should never have been a counselor to begin with. Because Staats was a Christian counselor, neither licensure or state oversight was required. Thus, other victims have no path by which to report Staats behavior. I guess they could take their allegations to the Lord in prayer or leave their burdens at the altar. I am sure most reader will agree, church counseling ministries and counselors should be required to operate under the same laws and regulations as secular counselors. Jesus should not be grounds for exemption from government regulation.
Victims of Daniel Staat have set up a web page detailing Staat’s crimes and inappropriate behavior.
Many cars are being recalled today because of manufacturing defects. Here is another recall: The Maker of all humanity is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to a serious defect in the central component of the heart (Jeremiah 17:9). The defect is known as S-I-N and this defect will eventually ruin every unit that is not repaired (James 1:15). The original unit was extremely well-made (Genesis 1:31). The serious defect is due to a later malfunction in the original prototype, code name: Adam. This resulted in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units (Romans 5:12). [Following Zeller’s analogy, this means that the manufacturer, God, is responsible for the defect, S-I-N.]
