Patrick Holt is an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist preacher. Stuck in the 1950s, Holt thinks America would be great again if we just returned to the homophobic, racist, misogynistic 50s; a return to the days when Evangelical Christianity ruled the roost. Holt looks at our culture and sees decline, decay, and godlessness. He blames these failures on the removal of Bible reading, prayer, and the Ten Commandments from public schools. If only our progeny were led in daily prayer and Bible reading by their teachers and taught the Ten Commandments, our culture would magically return to the glory days of the 1950s.
That ship has sailed, never to return. The 1950s were hardly what Holt intimates them to be. Racism. Homophobia. Misogyny. Patriarchalism. McCarthyism. Criminalization of birth control and abortion. Shall I go on? Those of us who value social progress, equality, and equal protection under the law have a very different view of the world. We intend to push back when Evangelicals try to drag us back to the “good old days.” Evangelical Christianity is dying on the vine. Younger Americans are abandoning organized religion in record numbers. The number of atheists, agnostics, and nones continues to grow, now equaling Evangelicals as a voting bloc.
Holt would have us believe that the only thing keeping him from being a thief and murderer is Jesus. Is that not the conclusion we must come to when he says “Godlessness leads to lawlessness?” I don’t know about Holt, but I murder all the people I want to. I burglarize as many of my neighbors as I want to. I just don’t want to. The unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of the world have moral and ethical values — no God needed.
This Saturday, Defiance will have its first Pride Walk. I have no doubt that Holt will see this event as yet another sign of decay and depravity, a sign of the soon return of the dead Jesus. I plan to be at the Pride Walk. I am sixty-five years old, by all accounts a curmudgeon. Yet, I know that a better tomorrow requires justice and equality for all. I have thirteen grandchildren. I want a better future for them. I understand Holt’s beliefs. I once was an IFB preacher, an Evangelical pastor for twenty-five years. I also know that it is possible to break free from the narrow, bigoted, anti-human beliefs of Evangelical Christianity.
Bruce Gerencser Ney, Ohio
Lorraine Schaefer, a resident of Payne, “responded” to my letter. Here’s what she had to say:
Lesson one about extraction. There are two such procedures, medical with label “embarrassment, inconvenient or choice” using a longer instrument to enter the cavity, the uterus.
The dental procedure entitled “infection uses a small instrument to enter the cavity named “mouth.”
Both procedures may require crushing the crown, ugh and looking at a picture of an extracted molar you sometimes see four roots. Christian “bigots” might equate them to the medical procedure as two legs and two arms. Hands at the end of those teeny weeny arms once were pictured encircling a surgeon’s finger during a pre-natal surgery.
Suction is always necessary during these procedures — no bits of molar left in the gums to cause problems and often the patient feels a thump, thump there, the same feeling holding a medically extracted red thing you see on Feb. 14 cards called Valentine’s stating “I love you.”
Just as dental, medical suction pieces must be counted and accounted for, even that tiny double sack. Remember your first accordion lesson when no music came out, only air? Those pieces counted prevent infection and sometimes death after a medical procedure.
Neither procedure is a happy one, and some memories last forever.
Two years after adding two beautiful babies to our family I was blessed with another beautiful daughter from my womb. Years later I cried at the grave of my fourth beloved child’s biological mother’s grave in undying gratitude that she had the courage to give my son life and to me.
Mr. Gerenscer, your “dead Jesus” is very alive in our family.
Lorraine Schaefer
Schaefer, who is in her nineties, ignores the bulk of my email and focuses, instead, on my brief mention of abortion. Of course, if she is a regular reader of the Crescent-News over the years, she knows that I support women’s bodily autonomy and reproductive rights. She knows that I am no friend of forced birthers.
Most abortions occur in the first trimester, (Abortion Facts, Lies, and Contradictions) at a time when the human tissue growing in a woman’s womb looks like this:
Two WeeksFive WeeksEight WeeksThirteen Weeks
Schaefer, as forced birthers are wont to do, ignores the medical abortifacients and goes straight for the procedure that often elicits heightened emotional response from people: Dilation and Curettage (D&C). Oh my God, they are hacking the baby to death! forced birthers such as Schaefer say. I’m surprised she didn’t try to graphically describe late-term abortion. Regardless of Schaefer’s graphic description, the fact remains that no woman should be forced to carry tissue/fetus to term.
Schaefer objects to me suggesting that Jesus is dead, yet she provides no evidence to the contrary except personal faith. Further, she bristles at being called a bigot, but forced birthers, along with anti-LGBTQ crusaders ARE bigots, so I intend to keep labeling them this way until they show that I am wrong. I’m done playing nice with hardcore Evangelicals, conservative Catholics, and Mormons. I have received countless emails, comments, and social media messages from Christian zealots who object to something I’ve written about abortion and LGBTQ issues. Most of them were nasty, violent, and hateful people uninterested in honest, open, thoughtful dialog. Such people are bigots. If such Christians don’t want to be called bigots, I suggest that they change their tack and humbly LISTEN to people different from them.
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.
Recently, Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) preacher Patrick Holt, who pastors Bible Baptist Church in Grover Hill, Ohio, wrote a letter to the Defiance Crescent News decrying the decline and depravity he sees everywhere he looks. He blames these things on “liberals,” saying if we just allowed school teachers to lead children in (Christian) prayers and (Protestant Christian) Bible readings and taught them the Ten Commandments (which Holt doesn’t keep), the United States will magically return to the glory days of the 1950s. Never mind the fact that most Americans are Christians, so if he wants to place blame, I suggest he look in the mirror.
Here’s what Holt had to say:
Liberals got what they wanted
It is definitely a tragedy with the recent and past mass shootings at our public schools. Debate continues on about guns being the problem.
I graduated in 1967. Guys driving their pickup trucks to school may possibly have had a gun rack with a shotgun or a rifle in the back glass. Semi-automatic guns had been invented by that time. But there were no mass shootings in our public schools.
During the 12 years of my schooling, the day would start as a student read a Bible verse and then followed by another student reading a prayer over the PA system. Then Mr. Dunlap would make the announcements. But along that time there was the liberal left party which said it didn’t want the Bible, prayer and the Ten Commandments in our public schools. And they got their wish.
Shortly after that they said they didn’t want those terrible three in our society. And they have been fairly successful at that. So what they were asking for was a godless school system and a godless society.
Now you have the right to choose what you want or don’t want, but you cannot choose what the outcome will be. You can choose to drink and to drive, but then you shouldn’t complain about the results of your choice.
The liberal, leftist party said, “We don’t want that commandment that says, ‘Thou shalt not kill’ taught to our children in school.” Toss it out. You got your request and the results.
Remember when you point your finger and say, “guns are the problem,” you have three fingers pointing back at you. Those three fingers are: no Bible, no prayer and no Ten Commandments. You got your wish and the results.
You see, if we are godless, then we are lawless. Own up to who is at fault. The problem is not what is in a person’s hand, but what is in their heart.
Patrick Holt
Grover Hill
Here’s my response, which I submitted to the newspaper today.
Dear Editor,
Patrick Holt is an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist preacher. Stuck in the 1950s, Holt thinks America would be great again if we just returned to the homophobic, racist, misogynistic 50s; a return to the days when Evangelical Christianity ruled the roost. Holt looks at our culture and sees decline, decay, and godlessness. He blames these failures on the removal of Bible reading, prayer, and the Ten Commandments from public schools. If only our progeny were led in daily prayer and Bible reading by their teachers and taught the Ten Commandments, our culture would magically return to the glory days of the 1950s.
That ship has sailed, never to return. The 1950s were hardly what Holt intimates them to be. Racism. Homophobia. Misogyny. Patriarchalism. McCarthyism. Criminalization of birth control and abortion. Shall I go on? Those of us who value social progress, equality, and equal protection under the law have a very different view of the world. We intend to push back when Evangelicals try to drag us back to the “good old days.” Evangelical Christianity is dying on the vine. Younger Americans are abandoning organized religion in record numbers. The number of atheists, agnostics, and nones continues to grow, now equaling Evangelicals as a voting bloc.
Holt would have us believe that the only thing keeping him from being a thief and murderer is Jesus. Is that not the conclusion we must come to when he says “Godlessness leads to lawlessness?” I don’t know about Holt, but I murder all the people I want to. I burglarize as many of my neighbors as I want to. I just don’t want to. The unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of the world have moral and ethical values — no God needed.
This Saturday, Defiance will have its first Pride Walk. I have no doubt that Holt will see this event as yet another sign of decay and depravity, a sign of the soon return of the dead Jesus. I plan to be at the Pride Walk. I am sixty-five years old, by all accounts a curmudgeon. Yet, I know that a better tomorrow requires justice and equality for all. I have thirteen grandchildren. I want a better future for them. I understand Holt’s beliefs. I once was an IFB preacher, an Evangelical pastor for twenty-five years. I also know that it is possible to break free from the narrow, bigoted, anti-human beliefs of Evangelical Christianity.
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.
Letter to the Editor of the Bryan Times. Published January 3, 2003. I thought posting this letter here might help readers understand how much my religious and political views had changed by the early 2000s.
Dear Editor,
What a wonderful and beautiful Christmas Day! The ground is blanketed with six or so inches of snow and all is peaceful and quiet. There is nothing more beautiful than a crisp winter morning after an overnight snowfall. This wintry scene causes me to reflect on the glory of Christmas Day and its meaning. Christmas is about redemption. Christmas is about Jesus, the Son of God, taking on human flesh and being born of the virgin Mary in the city of Bethlehem. Jesus came into the world at the appointed time to bring redemption to all men. He came to proclaim peace and justice for all. He is called the Prince of Peace. Later in His life, Jesus would declare that peace and justice were to be character traits of those who profess to be followers of Him.
It is my thoughts of peace and justice that now begin to cloud my mind on this Christmas Day. Jesus came to bring peace, yet there is no peace. Jesus came to bring justice, yet there is no justice. Those who claim to be His followers show little concern for peace and justice. It seems they are all too busy with eating, drinking, and being merry to bother themselves with such weighty notions of peace and justice. But, concern ourselves with them we must.
I have been reading of late the Social Essays of the Catholic monk Thomas Merton. These essays were written at the height of the cold war and the Vietnam war. I am amazed at how timely Merton’s essays are for today, though they were written 40 years ago. In his time, Merton had to constantly battle censors within the Catholic Church who attempted to silence his anti-war message. Merton was quite creative in the ways he got his message to the public. His voice still speaks loudly today.
Merton’s essays on nuclear war, unilateralism, and preemptive war should be required reading for all Americans. Merton reminds us of the lunacy of the notion that a nuclear war can be fought and won. Once the buttons are pushed, the world as we know it ceases to exist. Thoughts of non-defensive, unilateral, preemptive war, Merton reminds us, are immoral and should be condemned by all Christians.
Today, America sits on the precipice of nuclear world war. We have become the big bully who thinks he can get his way by bluffing and threatening. Every once in a while the bully even whips some weakling to show who is the toughest. Such is the case with Iraq. But now we have added North Korea to our list of nations we are intent on bullying. Unfortunately, North Korea does not quiver and shake at our threatenings. They well remember an America who could not defeat them during the Korean War. Since then, the North Koreans have added nuclear and biological weapons to their arsenal. According to recent newspaper reports, the North Koreans are quite willing to use what weapons they have to defend themselves.
What troubles me the most in all of this is the silence emanating from the pulpits of America. It seems the only voices that are heard come from warmongers such as Jerry Falwell. Does he, and those of his ilk, speak for the rest of us? The German Church silently sat by while Hitler put into force the plans and programs that would later give us World War II and the Holocaust. Now the clergy of America sit by silently as George Bush and Company put into force programs such as the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Act. George Bush threatens war and destruction on any nation that opposes him. Our insane notion of national superiority, coupled with immoral capitalistic greed, is leading us down a path that is certain to have catastrophic results, yet nary a word is heard from our pulpits.
The Scriptures are clear: Christians are called to be people of peace and justice. We are to be peacemakers. It is absurd to suggest, as George Bush does, that by waging war we will have peace. War always begets war and history bears this out. Only peace begets peace. It is time for all nations, including America, to lay aside and destroy ALL weapons of mass destruction. Our nation needs to repudiate its doctrine concerning preemptive first strikes against other nations. The world needs to know that America will be a peacemaking nation that desires peace and freedom for all men. While we must leave place for the need of defensive war or even what the theologians call “just war,” we must forsake attacking and killing others just because we do not like their government structure or way of life. Muslims have a right to live as they choose without America interfering in their affairs. It is time we stop exporting Western civilization as the answer to the world’s problems. Better for us to concern ourselves with our own moral, ethical, and civic failures than trying to fix the problems of the world.
Fifty or so years ago the phrase “better dead than Red” was coined. Unfortunately, that philosophy is still alive and well. The proponents of this notion believe it is better for us all to be dead than to have any other government or civilization than we have now. We had best think about the reality of such a notion because when the nuclear bombs start falling, it will be too late. The Reagan/Bush Star War notion of missile defense will not save us once the bombs begin to fall. It will only take a few bombs to render this world unlivable. Those who survive will wish that they had not.
It is not too late. Voices need to be raised in opposition and protest to the war policy of the Bush administration. Protesters need to make their voices heard via letters and public protest. Conscientious men and women in the military need to say “I will not” to their leaders who want to slaughter them on the altar of political and economic gain. Politicians need to get some backbone and be willing to stand up to the war-mongering hawks on Capitol Hill. They have been raised up “for such a time as this!”
Time is running out.
Rev. Bruce Gerencser Alvordton, Ohio
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.
Published on August 17, 2000. At the time, I was the pastor of Our Father’s House in West Unity, Ohio. This is a good example of how I used to think about life, God, the Bible, sin, and culture. This was not a Letter to the Editor. I wrote it for the Community Voice editorial column on the editorial page of The Bryan Times.
It is time that we make some radical changes to our printed money and the pledge of the Allegiance. Both our printed money and the Pledge of Allegiance give testimony to the historical truth that the United States was a country that believed in God. Not just any God, but Jehovah God, the God of the Christian Bible.
Sadly, we as a nation no longer believe in Jehovah. Due to misguided thinking about pluralism and tolerance, we have become a nation of many gods. Those that dare assert that we were founded as a Christian nation (and a Protestant Christian nation at that) are labeled narrow-minded, bigoted, intolerant miscreants.
The God attested to on our printed money and in the Pledge of Allegiance is no longer allowed to be mentioned in our Country. Recently, a young girl wanted to sing the song Kumbya at a camp talent show. She was not permitted to sing this song because it mentioned the word Lord. Government schools have eradicated every vestige of God from the classroom. The very schools that were founded on Christian principles (Just look at a set of McGuffey Readers) have not only left that foundation, but try to insist such a foundation never existed. School officials are so afraid of God (or is it the god called the ACLU) that children no longer have Easter break. Instead they have spring break. Children are given two weeks off at Christmas, yet they are never told what Christmas is. Attend the average government school Christmas program and you will come away with the conclusion that Christmas is all about snow, Rudolph, Frosty, et al. Pages could be written on the deliberate banishment of Jehovah from every aspect of public life.
What are the reasons for this happening? They are several. First, there is the mythical, so-called “separation of Church and State.”The separation clause is routinely quoted by government and school officials when they want to dismiss the religious requests and activities of others. Truth is, what is really happening is that Jehovah is the only God not welcome. All other gods are quite welcome.The god of humanism is quite welcome.The new age god is welcome.This past school year, in a Williams County elementary class room, a teacher took class time to teach the children about serial killers. Our children can be taught about such perverse things but they can not be taught the solution to serial killing (faith in God)? Schools try to enforce a moral and ethical code yet they fail. Why? You cannot have morals and ethics without a religious foundation. Morals and ethics demand an answer to the question “WHY is this wrong?” Why is it wrong to have sex before marriage? Why is it wrong to steal? Without God and His standard, the Ten Commandments, we have no foundation for morality and ethics.
Another reason is the myth called toleration. Liberals and conservatives alike bandy about the thought of toleration. The foundation of toleration is that all truth is equal and that all viewpoints are valid. Our country has become one big comparative religion class. Truth is, there is no such thing as true toleration, nor can there be. Christians believe the Bible to be their standard of morality and ethics. They believe the Bible to be, not just one truth among many, but THE TRUTH! Christians are called on to love what God loves and hate what God hates. Yes, we are a narrow, intolerant bunch because we dare suggest there is but one God, one way to heaven. We dare suggest there is but one moral and ethical code, the Bible. We dismiss arguments couched in words “well that’s your opinion“ and we reply by saying “Thus saith the Lord.” Matters such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, drunkenness, abortion etc. are not matters for political debate. The Bible is clear on such matters.
It is amazing how we have redefined that which God calls sin. Homosexuality is called an alternative lifestyle. Drunkenness is called a disease. The adulterous partner is now called the significant other. On and on and on it goes. God said “Be not deceived…For whatever a man sows that he will also reap.” We are reaping our harvest in America. The foundations are crumbling. Is anyone paying attention?
It’s time we either admit that Jehovah is dead and remove His name from our money and the pledge of allegiance or perhaps it is time we reassert the kingdom rights of the true and living God. God’s people need to stand up and be counted. Not in Marches for Jesus, but in the workplace, the school. the government and in every public arena of life. We need to sound forth that name which is above every name. That name, and only that name, by which men shall be saved.
Notes
This article might shed some light on why local Christians don’t know what to do with my defection from Christianity. I was a leader, a spokesman for the faithful. I wrote what they wished they could say. And now? An atheist? How can such things be?
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.
Recently, Evangelical pastor Greg Locke held a book burning service that led to consigning to flames of a metaphorical Hell the Harry Potter and Twilight books, along with other books deemed Satanic. School boards and public libraries are receiving increasing numbers of requests to remove “offensive” books from their institutions — especially books that present LGBTQ people, premarital sex, atheists, and socialism in a positive light. Most of the people objecting to these books are Evangelical Christians.
I agree with them. Any book that presents an alternate worldview besides Christianity should be removed from the shelves. The same goes for books that teach any other religion except Biblical Christianity. Since all humans are heterosexual and it’s a sin to engage in premarital sex, there’s no need to have books that educate teens about gay, transgender, and non-binary people. The Bible tells us we should shelter our children from the “world.” They mustn’t see or engage with people different from them. Public schools are government indoctrination centers. Children would be better off if they were homeschooled or sent to Christian schools that will teach them the “truth,” including the fact that the earth was created in six literal twenty-four-hour days, 6,024 years ago.
Recently, I was at the Defiance Public Library and I was astounded to find a book on the shelves filled with all sorts of vile behavior: homosexuality, incest, rape, fornication, adultery, murder, and genocide. This book called for the execution of people who were gay, worshiped false deities, or were disobedient to their parents. This book was loaded with bloody violence, including the story of a man who chopped up his daughter and sent her body parts all over the country. Worse yet, this book taught that women are second-class citizens, consigned to lives of dutiful marriage, bearing children, cooking Hamburger Helper, and obeying their husbands’ commands.
This book is available to children, teens, and adults alike. I am calling on the Defiance Library to immediately remove this book from its shelves. Our children must not be exposed to this book. It’s name, you ask? The Bible. Using the standard promoted by Evangelical pastors such as Greg Locke, it’s clear that the Bible, in all its versions, must be immediately removed from library shelves.
Of course, what I have written above is sarcasm. I encourage local school boards and librarians to reject all attempts to ban books.
Bruce Gerencser Ney, Ohio
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.
Published on March 18, 1999. At the time, I was pastor of Our Father’s House in West Unity, Ohio. This is a good example of how I used to think about life, God, the Bible, sin, and culture. I encourage readers to read a letter to the editor I wrote on January 19, 2016, about the same the subject. You will quickly see that my viewpoint has changed a wee bit over the past 17 years.
Bryan Times:
I am writing in response to the recent editorial that suggested evolution is not being taught in public schools because teachers fear right-wing religious zealots. The zealots are portrayed as being anti-science and intellectually stunted. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Evolution is a theory. Even the writer of the editorial admits such. Yet, just a few paragraphs later, he advocates teaching the theory as fact. He then states that man cannot understand biology without evolution.
What arrogant presumption and distortion of truth. Evolution is a theory of “how” things came into existence. It is, at its root, a faith religion that suggests a random existence apart from a divine being. Evolution demands that there is no God, no creator, and that man is nothing more than the most evolved of creatures. Man becomes nothing more than an animal that has evolved to a more mature state than that of other animals.
Evolution is incompatible with Christianity. Christianity begins with the premise that God is, and whatever God says is true. The Bible is God’s revelation to man, and he reveals in the first three chapters of Genesis how this world came into existence. To deny the biblical record is to deny God and his revelation, and the result is eternal damnation. Christians fear being viewed as ignorant if they deny the teachings of evolution. They become just like the schoolteachers who fear the religious zealots. If God is who he says he is, and he meant what he said in the Scriptures, then let us not fear, but instead declare boldly “Thus saith the Lord.”
Bruce Gerencser, Pastor West Unity, Ohio
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.
Published on January 13, 2002. At the time, I was pastor of Our Father’s House in West Unity, Ohio. This is a good example of how I used to think about life, God, the Bible, sin, and culture. This was not a Letter to the Editor. I wrote it for the Community Voice editorial column on the editorial page of The Bryan Times.
The anniversary of the famed Supreme Court decision Roe vs Wade has just passed. Almost 30 years ago the Supreme Court ruled that abortion on demand was legal in the United States. Since that time, a battle between the forces called pro-life and pro-choice has raged without abatement in our country. We truly are a nation divided when it comes to abortion. Both sides have taken to the legal and political arena in an attempt to stifle or crush their opposition. In the case of the pro-life movement, some on the far extreme of the movement have taken to murdering clinic workers and the doctors who perform the abortions. Several men with such beliefs are on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.
How are we, as Christians, to respond to the continued murder of babies in abortion clinics, private doctors’ offices, and hospitals? Some may suggest that I am asserting that the word Christian and pro-life are synonymous. Such observation is correct. Christianity and pro-choice are not compatible one with the other. I have written a number of times over the years on this issue, and each time I receive letters from supposed pro-choice Christians. Perhaps such folks are well-intentioned, but it is theologically impossible to square being a Christian with also being pro-choice. To be a Christian is to walk in the steps of, and follow after, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was pro-life and the Law of God states very clearly “Thou shalt not kill.”
The command “Thou shalt not kill” has a positive precept attached to it. That precept is “thou shalt preserve life.” If we are not to kill, then we are to preserve life instead. This preserving of life extends to not only the abortion clinic, but also the prison and countries where we are engaged in war. The Bible teaches and permits capital punishment, but it also prescribes when and who it is to be carried out. The Bible permits just war, but it also prescribes when and how such war is to be carried out. We must always remember that the killing of other human beings shows the baseness of human society, not its superiority. As Christians, we have a duty to preserve life at every opportunity. We must stand against abortion. We must work to outlaw the practice in the United States and the rest of the world. We should also be actively working to promote justice for those in prison and to insist that God’s law be followed in the execution of those guilty of first-degree murder. We must hold our government and military accountable for its actions in Afghanistan. Find the terrorists. Punish the evildoer, but in doing so do no harm to innocent men, women, and children.
We must continue to wage the war of words with the pro-choice crowd. They speak of the “woman’s right to choose” and yet they are rarely challenged to the assertions they make in regard to this statement. I too, support a “woman’s right to choose.” She makes a choice to have sexual relations with a man, and she must live with the consequences of such an action. The pro-choice movement is at the forefront of the “right to have sex whenever with whomever movement” and then with the quickness of a magician they deny any accountability for the choice that is made. There are many choices a pregnant woman can make, but far too often abortion is the only option given because it is the easy way out. Adoption is an option. Extended family assistance in raising the child is an option. Our government needs to streamline the adoption process making it easy for families to adopt these unwanted babies
We must do more than just object to abortion. We must also put our words into action. We must help support women in their pregnancy and provide the means for their care. Every unwanted baby needs a home. My wife and I are the parents of six children, yet if needed, we would take on the responsibility of another child. It would not be easy, but our words must be backed up with action.
We must continue to oppose the fringes of the pro-life movement that advocates violence and murder in the name of God. Murdering a baby via abortion is a sin but so is murdering an abortion clinic doctor. We must not bear the sword. God gives government the responsibility of bearing the sword to punish evildoers. As we stand against abortion we must work to change the laws of the land. Abortion must once again be illegal. We must work to enact laws that make it criminal to participate in any part of the abortion process. We need to stop the tax flow to organizations that promote abortion. Let Planned Parenthood get its money from its liberal constituents, but not from the American taxpayer. There is much work to do and killing an abortion doctor will not stop the abortion mills. There will always be another to take their place. Instead, we must make abortion illegal thus removing the financial incentives that continue to fuel the abortion mills.
It is easy to become complacent in the matter of abortion. As I watched the events of September 11th my heart was grieved. I mourned and wept for days over the tragic loss of life. Yet, keeping it all in perspective, the loss of life at Ground Zero equals one day of work in the abortion clinics of America. Our hands are covered with the blood of millions of babies that have been aborted since that fateful day when Roe vs. Wade became law. We must not rest until justice for all once again prevails in our Land. May God give us the grace and strength necessary to not waver in this battle of battles.
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.
Letter to the Editor of The Bryan Times. It was published on July 8, 2021.
Dear Editor,
Evangelicalism is one the most hated religious sects in America, and they only have themselves to blame. Not that they care. Evangelicals have a persecution complex like no other. Forty years ago, the late Jerry Falwell, started the Moral Majority. Its purpose was to turn America back to God by waging a war against our culture. This war has now reached a fever pitch. As more and more people self identify as atheists, agnostics, or indifferent towards organized religion, Evangelicals fear that they are losing their hold on our culture. Instead of praying, evangelizing sinners, and doing good works, Evangelicals have turned to attacking those they oppose, both physically (the January 6 Insurrection) and with words.
The Bryan Times has become a platform for Evangelicals to verbally savage people they believe are their enemies. Pastor Luke Nagy’s vitriolic attack on transgender people several weeks ago is a prime example. I am sure those who think like Nagy shouted AMEN when they read his column, but for those of us who are not religious (I was an Evangelical Christian for fifty years), Nagy’s words are yet another example of why Evangelicalism is one of the most hated sects in America.
In 2016, eighty percent of white Evangelicals voted for Donald Trump. I was astounded by the fact that Evangelicals knew how immoral Trump was and voted for him anyway. Four years later, eighty-four percent of white Evangelicals voted for Trump again. The very same people who raged against Bill Clinton’s sex scandal in the 1990s, demanding his resignation, now think such behavior is okay. Why? Political power. Unable to win the culture war with prayer, evangelism, and good works, Evangelicals have turned to politics to slay their secular enemies. And in doing so, they have sold their souls for bowls of pottage.
I was an Evangelical pastor for twenty-five years. The Evangelicalism of my early days in the ministry no longer exists. The theocrats have won the day — for now. As with all political power grabs, such victories are shallow and short-lived. Evangelical pastors will one day wonder what went wrong. Where did their members go and why are their churches closed? They need only look in the mirror. The reflection they see will tell them who is to blame for their demise. Preaching hate and savagely attacking those different from them will not succeed over the long run.
Bruce Gerencser Ney, Ohio
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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This post is a depository for letters written by Christians to the Defiance Crescent-News about one of my Letters to the Editor covering 2009-2019. The responses are sorted newest to oldest All spelling, grammar, and craziness in the original.
October 2019
There is no such thing as separation of church and state, and anyone who claims there is is not telling the truth.
The Constitution was ratified in 1787. The very first mention of this myth was in a letter from Jefferson to the Baptist detractors in 1802, 15 years later. It was never mentioned before. To change the Constitution you need a constitutional amendment, not a letter or a decision by the Supreme Court.
Bruce Gerencser claims Trump paid off a porn star, and yet there is no evidence in any form of this. The porn star actually lost her case for lack of evidence, which means even she couldn’t prove it. Every one of the claimed sexual assaults that he claims happened has been disproved or thrown out of court with prejudice.
One of these claims was disproved by American Airlines as the plane it was claimed to have been committed on was not even in service at the time of the “assault” and the armrests on the plane when it was in service were welded down so they couldnt be moved. Gerencser still has not answered why since Trump had a private plane, why he would have been flying commercial.
Even Mueller’s report said there was no treason committed. But people like Gerencser would try to have you believe all their myths. As for Ms. Singer, she might want to pay attention to reality. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on March 21, 2016 that the Second Amendment protected all forms of weapons and ammo and add ons if they affected the operation of said weapon.
The decision is 577 U.S. (2016) — Jaime Caetano v. Massachusetts, meaning you can’t ban/tax/demand they be moved or made inoperable or regulated out of existence.
Daniel Gray Defiance
April 2017
Regarding Bruce Gerencser’s letter to the editor of March 29 (“agenda has been exposed”):
He has taken a statist liberal position (one that favors government involvement in all aspects of our lives with economic central planning, particularly in health care — as opposed to a classical liberal position that favors limited government/liberty and a free market economy.)
He has essentially said that the classically liberal position is evil, uncaring and not good for the working class. He implied that Ayn Rand, the Koch brothers, Paul Ryan and the Republican Party are all no-good-nicks, and he sees himself on a high moral plane.
I’ve read items by both Ayn Rand and the Koch brothers, and I try to keep pace with the Cato Institute’s publications — a Koch brothers’ creation that I support and donate to on a regular basis. I’ve found them to be reasonable, sensible, civilized and concerned with human flourishing and advancement. To berate them is to do them a great injustice.
The Democratic Party with its statist liberal stance has given our society legalized theft and enslavement with their various programs of wealth redistribution and defacto extortion with their labor laws, all under the guise of helping the common man, but causing all manner of social pathologies and distortions of labor costs.
This socialist/communist claptrap has been tried many times in many places, and it just doesn’t work. Unconstrained central government with the power to solve everyone’s problems didn’t work in the USSR, Red China under Mao or Cuba, and it is now collapsing in Venezuela with unparalleled trauma for the common man.
At the end of World War II, England found itself controlling India and Hong Kong. The bureaucrats in India chose socialism; the ones in Hong Kong chose liberty and free markets. India had an abundance of natural resources; Hong Kong had none. India starved for decades; Hong Kong developed a living standard commensurate with the U.S.A.
All this brings to mind the thoughts of C.S. Lewis: “Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It my be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent busybodies.
The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
Bruce Grerencser proves you can have a very good mind and still get things badly screwed up.
David Teitlebaum Defiance
November 2016
I have a challenge for Bruce Gerencser. I want him or anyone else from his group to show us where in the U.S. Constitution any mention of a “separation of church and state” exists. It does not and never has.
The Constitution was ratified in 1787, the very first mention of this myth was in 1802 in a letter from Jefferson to his Baptist detractors. Now Article 5 of the Constitution is very clear on how you add to or remove from same. And it does not include an illegal decision by the Supreme Court back in the 1960s.
And article 3 of the Constitution (powers of the judicial branch) does not give the courts the right to “interpret” anything, they can only go by what is written. So Bruce and his group are mistaken both legally and historically. And the 10th amendment clearly says if a power is not mentioned to belong to the government, then it belongs to the people. So the village should replace the sign and tell both of these people to have a Coke and a smile and hush.
Daniel Gray Defiance
October 2016
It seems Bruce Gerencser is completely ignoring the fact that the person who would be the First Husband has been accused of sexual assault and rape by no less than six women. You want that in the White House?
I find it very amazing that Gerencser would believe any of these women. The latest one is coming forward because Trump refused to loan her money for her failing food business in California, and this is a way to get back at him. The first one claimed to have been groped on a Braniff airline on a 707. Problem is there were no 707s at that time, only 727s, and the arm rest in first class is bolted and cannot be moved. Not to mention that $500,000 was deposited into her account after making the claim and it came from a high ranking Clinton campaign officer. Let’s not forget the $8 million worth of furnishings that Clinton had to return when the Secret Service caught her taking them from the White House.
Let’s not forget that she has used racial slurs against minorities or the Bimbo eruptions and her violation of the federal Anti-nepotism Act of 1968 when she tried to take over health care. The emails that show she is the one that ordered the stand-down of the rescue team for Benghazi and the 600 plus times she ignored ambassador Stevens when he begged for help. Or the simple fact that pay-to-play has been found in the recent Podesta emails.
What’s worse is that Hillary has told Goldman Sachs that her dream is to have a hemisphere-wide NAFTA from Chile to Canada. That would cut the union’s throats and yet they still want to endorse her. Say goodbye to GM and JM.
Isn’t it just strange that Gerencser, and his ilk want the government out of the bedroom, but then turn right around and demand that the government says who can and can’t get married? You can’t have it both ways, either they are not in the bedroom or they are. Mr. Gerencser’s letter is so full of half truths and myths that it would be better to be placed in the fantasy section of the public library.
People should vote for who they want, but just remember you may get what you asked for and there is no way to return it.
Daniel Gray Defiance
August 2016
A recent letter to the editor on July 20 entitled, “Creation museum draws questions” had an absolute opposite effect on my life. The museum is an awesome experience that answers and defends the Word of God.
In this life when we make decisions there are ultimately two starting points on what we believe. Either we start with God’s Word or you start with man’s word and human reasoning. On the basis of these two starting points we build either a biblical worldview or man’s worldview belief.
Bruce Gerencser, the gentleman from Ney, was critical of both the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter located in northern Kentucky. As stated by him, the Bible is full of myths. Creationism is a lie and both the Creation Museum and Ark are monuments to ignorance. This is a perfect example of man’s word/human reasoning worldview vs. the biblical worldview.
Another comment was that evangelicals bore easily and few return once they tour the Creation Museum and Ark.
First of all, all Christian growth is not boring. The most purposeful life both here and in eternity is to love and serve Jesus Christ. I have visited the Creation Museum over 30 times and have found the museum to be a treasure chest of biblical truths that will help me deepen and defend my faith. Besides the museum my biggest resource is the huge amount of creation material that can be taken home to study.
People return because even with a two-day pass it can’t be covered, especially if you do the shows, workshops,, planetarium, petting zoo, etc. There’s so much to do that I don’t have the space to share. Most repeaters bring guests and then the guests bring new people to experience the museum. This is the reason revenues have finished in the black every year at the Creation Museum.
It was indicated the Ark was built on speculation. Genesis 6:15 states the exact dimensions of the Ark and that is exactly the measurements of the Ark Encounter. It was also mentioned that it would be doubtful if the Ark would safely float. That is a non-issue because God promised there would never be another judgment by a flood. The rainbow is that reminder. However, there will be another judgment from God in the form of fire.
Jack Fetter rural Grover Hill
July 2016
Yet again Mr. Gerencser takes to these pages to spew his bias and bigotry. How else do you explain his constant attacks on Religion? He has no more proof that the Creationists are not correct then the Creationists have that he is not correct so why all the vitriol? I guess he intentionally ignores the teachings of parents everywhere “If you cant say something nice, then dont say anything at all” Or the golden rule “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Mr. Gerencser can now understand why his writings are met with the disrespect and contempt that he shows others. What a sad example he shows to his grandchildren by doing this.
anonymous (comment on newspaper website)
June 2016
This is a response to the letter published on June 12 from Brian Barnett. In his letter he made mention of the letter that I had written concerning a statement made by Bruce Gerencser; that if a person disagreed with a male using a female bathroom then it was hatred.
Otherwise, if a person disagrees with another person, then it must be because of hatred. I then made a statement, using the same logic, that Mr. Gerencser then must hate Christians, God and the Bible. So I guess my response to Mr. Barnett’s letter would be, Why in his five-paragraph letter did he not respond to my one question that I had made in my letter to Mr. Gerencser?
Since he did reference my letter, then I would think that a person would actually at least answer the one question that was asked.
Pastor Patrick Holt Grover Hill
May 2016
This is a reply to the May 25 letter by Bruce Gerencser.
In his letter he implied that someone, like myself, who objected to a male using the same bathroom that my mother, wife, daughters, and granddaughters were using was hateful. So, basically, if you disagree with someone, then that, according to Bruce, is hateful. Using that same logic, then Bruce Gerencser, must hate Christians, God and the Bible. Would that not be a proper statement?
Pastor Patrick Holt Grover Hill
February 2016
To all of you who do not believe in creationism, where will your spirit be when you have died? Mine will be in heaven with my Father, Savior and the Holy Spirit.
I, by faith, accept the Bible to be the inerrant, infallible word of God. The fact is this earth and all of the universe had a beginning. I accept by faith that God created it, and by interpretation, it included the heavens and the earth.
I choose to stake my future beyond my life here on earth on this. The only alternative I have is to spend my spiritual life beyond death, in hell if I do not choose to accept Jesus as my Savior. Jesus is the answer to heaven, and my choice is to accept Him into my life.
We are living in a time when all that our founding fathers crafted in the Constitution is being thrown out. My prayer to my God is, come Lord Jesus. When he does we had all best be ready.
John Wilson Archbold
January 2016
Only problem that you have Gerencser is that you have yet to prove evolution is fact or disprove that there is a deity. So you really dont know any more then anyone else.. And isnt it so strange that you claim to be a minister from a diploma mill in Washington state and yet this is how you respond? Hows that working out for you since Ohio does not recognize this diploma mill? Hope you have not tried to marry anyone as the JAG of Ohio would not look too pleased if you did.
anonymous3371
Not telling a lie if its the truth. According to the state of Ohio’s own webpage, Gerencser is clearly listed as a member of the Universal Life Church Pastor out of Seattle Washington http://www.themonastery.org/ a place where anyone can get a pastoral license inside of 10 seconds and for $250. they will tell you how to use it. Our own Sec of State Jon Husted has said this is a diploma mill and Ohio is in the middle of revoking any and all who claim to be part of this fake church and Congressman Latta is looking into banning them from isuing these fake diplomas. And anyone can see this is a diploma mill just by looking at the link. Mr Gerencser is just upset that the truth has come out showing he is no more a legal Pastor of any church then the rocks in his front yard. Mr.Gerencser can complain all he wants but its not smearing anything if it is truthful and factual and here is the link to validate it directly from the Sec of States own webpage ; where it clearly shows Mr Gerencser is exactly what I said he was. A fake pastor from a diploma mill “church” in Seattle Washington.
anonymous3371
July 2015
I am penning this editorial in response to the ‘Sins routinely ignored’ contribution. I take issue with the quote, “The Bible sure has a lot to say about adultery and fornication, yet those ‘sins’ are routinely ignored. Only homosexuals and same-sex couples are singled out for discrimination and abuse. Why is this?”
Perhaps Mr. Gerencser recalls the woman who was about to be stoned for adultery (yes, a ‘sin’) when Jesus stepped in. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
The last three words of Jesus are the reason why Christians must defend traditional marriage. Yes, adulterers and fornicators are issued marriage licenses and they can choose to heed or ignore Christ’s words and “sin no more.” However, for a Christian government official to issue marriage licenses to homosexuals and same-sex couples he or she would have to alter Jesus’ three words to read, “go and sin some more.”
I for one am not “homophobic” nor am I an adherent to a “religion of hate.” If Mr. Gerencser would like to label me, and other Christians, perhaps ‘sinophobic’ is a bit more accurate than his chosen adjectives.
Jim Hoops Pettisville
June 2015
Yet again Mr.Gerencser seems to use fundamental christian as a form of insult. He claims that a letter writer that provided documented evidence against pot being legalized is somehow a scourge against humanity. The letter writer never once has identified themselves with a religion as Gerencser claims yet somehow Gerencser seems to think it is ok to toss out childish insults? And then he doubles down on the insults by saying that Jesus would agree with him? The same person he claims there is no proof of existing? I suspect gerencser’s train has run off the rails quite a while ago, and this just proved it.
Daniel Gray (online comment)
June 2015
After reading numerous “ventings” by Bruce Gerencser in the letters to the editor, I must admit my confusion. Apparently, Mr. Gerencser is horribly offended by a God he doesn’t believe exists.
In addition, any person who does believe in God is labeled a “fundamentalist” whose beliefs are “better suited to the dustbin of human history.” Perhaps, Mr. Gerencser is correct; maybe there is no eternal life (or eternal suffering) after death, but perhaps Bruce, the “committed humanist,” is incorrect.
Me? I’ll keep walking daily in faith, trusting in the Lord, and trying desperately to love others as myself. “And if Jesus were alive today, I suspect he’d agree with me” (Gerencser).
Jim Hoops Pettisville
December 2014
This letter is in reference to a letter Bruce Gerenscer had written about suffering.
Mr. Gerenscer stated that no one has come back from the dead to testify to the fruits of suffering, but Jesus did. The Catholic Church, which teaches the fullness of the Truth, teaches that suffering is allowed by God to happen for a greater good. Like Jesus who suffered for mankind, we too, are to offer up our sufferings for others or ourselves. He told us to take up our cross and follow Him.
Our suffering may help someone to have a conversion of heart. It may be for our own good so that we realize God’s love for us which manifests itself in a variety of ways. Or, maybe by the way we endure our sufferings, we inspire others to have hope and courage in their sufferings.
Through suffering, we gain virtues such as faith, hope, charity, humility and fortitude. We all know it’s especially difficult to watch those we love suffer, but we can offer their sufferings up just as Jesus’ mother offered up His sufferings. She chose to silently endure and offer up watching her Son die knowing that it was for a greater good, the salvation of all the world past, present, and future.
Since God is love, we know that He doesn’t enjoy seeing us suffer but He allows it for a greater good. We all can relate to this when we must watch our loved ones experience situations such as painful medical procedures, corrective measures for physical problems, grueling practices, disciplinary measures, etc. but we allow them to go through those difficulties for their good.
In reference to Brittany Maynard who was suffering from a brain tumor and then killed herself, it’s an offense to God because He gave each of us a life with a plan. Who are we to decide when that plan is complete? God alone sees the whole picture.
Diane Hammon Mark Center
October 2014
After reading Bruce Gerencser’s letter to the editor I was thinking to myself that this person has nothing but contempt for “fundamentalists”. Unfortunately, he needs to define what a “fundamentalist” is because I want to understand where he is coming from, but for now I’ll assume he means someone who loves God, reads the Bible and trusts in Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sin and strives to live life according to the scriptures — to love one another and share the gospel of Christ to those who are perishing eternally.
That being said, I was also wondering what source he used to substantiate his claims that biology, archaeology, astronomy, and geology contradicts the creation story, when in fact they support it. I have studied the Bible and attended classes in college on both creation and evolution, plus invested in many secular and Christian works on the subject, and wonder how he can be so absolute in his assumptions without any substantiating support.
Regardless of who he quoted in his letter, here are some scientific facts from “Answers In Genesis” located in southern Ohio supporting a young earth: 1. Very little sediment on the ocean’s sea floor; 2. Bent rock layers; 3. Soft tissue in fossils; 4. Faint sun paradox; 5. Earth’s rapidly decaying magnetic field; 6. Helium in radioactive rocks; 7. Carbon 14 in fossils, coal, and diamonds; 8. Short-lived comets; 9. Very little salt in the sea; 10. DNA in ancient bacteria.
Every one of these facts is substantiated and confirmed by science. Evolution is taught in our public schools as if it were fact, but in reality it is only a theory that falls very short in many areas, and is a religion in itself. So, why is it taught at all in schools? We have evidence for the truth of the Bible that can be confirmed by history, archaeology, science and letters of antiquity; that Christianity is not a blind faith, but one that is supported by the knowledge the Creator of the universe has made known to us through His Word, the Bible.
It is a crying shame that a house bill has to be submitted to bring God back into the lives of our young people. I remember in the 1950s when we were taught the Bible in school and were able to pray and pledge to our country’s flag — a place where morality was instilled in students based on the Ten Commandments. Back then there were no school shootings, drug dealers, teen suicides. Every boy wanted to be a fireman or a policeman, and girls wanted to be mothers and child raisers, but now that God’s moral bearing is nowhere to be seen in our schools or public forum, all we have is the bad stuff.
I’m at my 500-word limit and would be more than happy to have an open, honest discussion about this issue with anyone.
Lawrence Smith Sherwood
September 2014
I wonder if Willie Pack or Bruce Gerencser have heard of the Big Bang Theory (not the television show). Maybe they have heard of the Theory of Evolution, the Theory of Relativity or the RNA Universe Theory. It doesn’t really matter what scientists have been able to accomplish in the last 600 years because they still cannot prove many of the fundamental theories their work is based on.
People like Willie and Bruce put their faith in “science” despite the fact that science cannot explain how life began on Earth, how the universe came into existence (before the “big bang”), or what happened to the fossil record of failed evolutionary species.
I choose to put my faith in God. His book fully explains the things science cannot. Darwin’s book, The Origin of Species begins after life somehow, miraculously, appeared on Earth. It does not explain what happened to “create” that life! Science has to rely on a theory that life somehow, mysteriously, came to be from a pool of RNA. I do not put my faith in that kind of mumbo-jumbo.
Mr. Pack told us that there is no proof that the authors of the Bible were inspired by God. I would remind him that there is no proof that they weren’t inspired either. So, we should concentrate on what they wrote., Mr. Pack also criticized the Bible because it doesn’t reveal anything about diseases, medicine or human health. So what? One could just as easily ask what science has taught us about morality, charity or brotherly love. The answer is nothing as well.
Mr. Gerencser wants the theories he believes in taught in schools exclusively even though there is no fundamental proof that they are accurate. He then faults “creationists” for wanting to do the same thing. Isn’t there a name for people like that?
I’d like to remind readers that Mr. Pack has failed to cite any scientific information to refute what I mentioned four months ago. All he and Mr. Gerencser have done is criticize my belief in God despite the fact that I listed seven scientific facts that led me to believe that the campaign against anthropogenic global warming is political rather than scientific or humanitarian. I am not denying that our climate changes periodically, nor am I fighting science. I am embracing it. There has been no recorded global warming since 1998 (16 years). That’s just one of the facts I cited, and no one has refuted it, nor any of the other facts I listed last May.
Willie and Bruce have made it abundantly clear that we disagree with each other on religious matters. No amount of discussion about religion in this column will resolve that difference of opinion. However, I feel we are close to resolving our disagreement on man made global warming because they have failed to defend their position. If their failure to do so continues, I’ll consider the issue settled (in my favor).
Randall Peabody rural Defiance
September 2014
This letter is a response to Bruce Gerencser. The first question is why he is so hateful toward Christians and their belief in the God of the Bible.
I first read his article in the Sunday, Sept. 7 opinion page. It really gets frustrating to read his responses to Christians. His arrogance toward the word of God is nothing short of sheer stupidity. He acts like he knows more about God than God Himself.
Is Gerencser an atheist? If God’s word is just a joke and only stupid idiots believe it, why is Gerencser so interested in destroying it? What is he afraid of? Indeed, he should be afraid because if he dies without Christ in his life, he is in for a major shock. Why is he taking such a huge gamble with his life? I’ve been a Christian for over 40 years and don’t regret one second of it.
As far as creationism in schools, what’s the problem? I let people see both sides. Did Gerencser evolve from a monkey? What does he believe? How did we get here? There has to be a divine creator, to believe otherwise is to empty your brain of any rational intelligence.
Gerencser should turn his life over to Him before it’s too late. He could be a modern-day Apostle Paul.
Gary Grant Paulding
September 2014
In response to Mr. Gerencser’s rebuttal, I am asking the same challenge in my original letter. What scientific evidence is there to support the position he is taking?
Empirical science is a good thing for our education, because it is provable and observable. Science that happened in the past is not observable and is considered historical, but the real issue here is, are we going to rely on man’s wisdom, which is focused on self, or God’s wisdom, which is focused on the only witness at the beginning of time? It’s opinion v. reason.
It would seem he is a little confused about the issues, because as he states himself, he is an atheist, agnostic, secularist, humanist, liberal, Bengals fan, and evangelical pastor that has, in my own words “seen the light” as far as what the real truth is, but in reality is blinded by his own prejudices.
I gave ten scientific evidences that are researchable and verifiable why the earth is believed to be young, but it receives no recognition on his part. It’s like answering someone’s question, but there is no response, just another question or opinion.
Just for the record, I’m going to give 10 of my own reasons why science and history show life did not evolve on its own and the Bible can be trusted:
A complex cell must be completely formed to produce another cell. In other words, it cannot evolve one part at a time and is called irreducible complexity.
When bacteria are viewed under an electron microscope it is a complex machine with many functioning parts that someone built (can’t evolve).
The design of many animals that have their own intricate parts, which allow them to function, and they could not exist without these parts. Some examples are the sponge in a giraffe’s brain that keeps the brain from exploding when it bends down to drink (can’t evolve).
The bombardier beetle’s flame thrower that mixes chemicals without blowing up (can’t evolve).
The woodpecker’s design of the beak and head so it does not kill itself hammering trees (can’t evolve).
Measuring tools to determine the age of organic and inorganic objects all give varying results that are in many cases very inaccurate by many so-called millions and billions of years.
Mt. Saint Helen’s eruption in 1981, which formed a 1⁄40 scale Grand Canyon overnight (evidence for the worldwide flood).
Complexity of the human body (can’t evolve).
Documented historical and archeological evidence that supports the historical narrative in the Bible.
The ability to reason and the common sense that God gives humans created in His image.
I’m amazed to read Mr. Gerencser was a pastor for 25 years. All I can say is he has lost his way and turned from the faith, or maybe he was never in the faith to begin with. In any case, he has not supplied any credible scientific support for his position that evolution is true.
Lawrence Smith Sherwood
July 2014
Using the Bible basis you and I and Willie Pack and Bruce Gerencser are made by God “a little lower than the angels” (Psalms 8:5), which means that all humans have hidden potential. When something is “discovered” by science some give credit to a “discoverer,” even though God’s Word — the Bible — tells us that all knowledge comes from God (Colossians 2:2-3) and that all living things were created by God so, therefore, God “reveals” what is hidden when it is discovered, meaning it was there all along.
Bible basis says God has limited our knowledge because previous to the worldwide flood, humans and animals lived to be much older, much larger in size, were vegetarians and had greater inherent knowledge. But with a tropical world they became perverted because there was one language, no nations, no boundaries and no laws so humans were free (like the angels) to do anything they could imagine when God “looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted His (God’s) way upon the earth.” (Genesis 6:12)
By contrast Willie Pack writes: “Our knowledge, medical care and most of the comforts we enjoy are directly attributable to science.” Without God?
For example, Neanderthal skeletons are noticed to be physically different than present-day skeletons. Science with God says Neanderthals are remnants of those who lived to older ages after the flood (e.g. Abraham, 175). Science with God using true scholasticism tells students that the word “pre-historic” wasn’t in dictionaries until the 1890s.
Now many in our nation are being deceived by Satan into believing lies about Jesus and God’s Word because money dominates knowledge and research in the U.S.A. Public education is now a federal monopoly under a bureaucracy called “Department of Education” with its’ major competitors being Christian Catholic and Protestant schools.
The word “cancer” is in the Bible as “canker” in II Timothy 2:15-17: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, as workmen that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker …”; and verse 21: “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified and meet for the master’s use … .”
Why is it so necessary for a federal education department to deny knowledge of our nation’s Christian heritage when they claim they are for knowledge? What if cancer is caused by profane and vain false words? By coveting “chariots and slaves and souls of men,” “empiricism” is omitting the sixth sense; e.g. “pharmacy” (drugs) comes from the Greek “sorcery.”
Larry Tonjes rural Hicksville
March 2014
This letter is in regards to Mr. Gerenscer’s letter about Christianity when he mentioned in an earlier letter that the Bible is full of contradictions. That is why we need an authority, the Roman Catholic Church, to help us know how to interpret the Bible. In regard to faith and morals, the Bible is not for self-interpretation (2 Peter 1:20).
If we look to the Church Fathers such as Saint Ambrose of the fourth century, saints Augustine and Jerome of the fourth to fifth centuries, and Saint Gregory the Great of the sixth century, they explain who Jesus Christ is and His message. Also, the Doctors of the Church such as saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen of the fourth centuries and Saint John Chrysostom of the fourth and fifth centuries answer questions about Jesus as to who He is, what He taught, what He wants from us and how to be more like Him.
If you have questions or arguments about the faith and want to be in dialogue with someone who will explain the fullness of the Truth, there are several call-in radio programs available. During weekdays 6-8 p.m., Fort Wayne’s Redeemer Radio 1450 AM or 89.9 FM and Leipsic’s Holy Family Radio 88.9 FM have listener call-in shows. Also, 3-5 p.m. on weekdays, Toledo’s Annunciation Radio 89.7 FM has a listener call-in show, too.
I am so happy to see all the religious discussions in the newspaper. That means that Christianity, the greatest author of love, still has an importance in people’s lives.
Diane Hammon
July 2013
So the atheists believe that there is no God and that they can put a monument in the form of a bench beside the granite stone with the Ten Commandment signifying that it is empty and there is no God.
We believers serve a God that cannot be seen with the carnal eye. God is so holy I believe, if we see him, we would surely die. Our God is invisible, he is a spirit and spirits cannot be seen. Who is to say that the Lord God didn’t work it out for them to place that bench beside the granite stone so he could sit there, relax and admire the granite stone with his Ten Commandments on it?
On judgment day, they are going to wish they had believed on him who they cannot see. By then it will be too late. May the Lord have mercy on them.
Joe Trevino
April 2013
It’s true I don’t know Bruce Gerencser. His own words explain as I never could. Bruce wrote that “I object to any attempt to codify the teachings and commands of the Bible into the laws of the United States.”
Doesn’t he know that our system of life, government, laws and three branches was designed based on the Bible?
He objects to Christians trying to make biblical morality the law of the land. It’s been unwritten and in some instances written law until atheists and liberals started outlawing God in the 1960s.
Separation of church and state didn’t exist until 1947 when the atheistic ACLU and a supreme court justice, with approval of our Democrat-controlled House, Senate and presidency forced it on us. We’re losing our foundation. Government-controlled medicine is forced today.
The rights of church and state were always flexible and tolerant of the other until liberal domination in recent years. Bruce isn’t for tolerance. He wants organizations like the Christian-backed Boy Scouts to be forced to lower their moral standards to accept homosexual leaders.
Bruce wants to put the fox in the henhouse. He cares for the rights of gay persons, but not of those whose moral values lie with biblical teaching. He would destroy thousands to attain this and be happy about it. It would destroy the Scout oath.
He wrote: “I live by the precept of not doing harm to others, but be respectful of them.” Facts prove homosexual behavior is destructive to families, especially youth, and yet Bruce wants laws placing homosexuals in the their midst, hurting and destroying many. Hypocrite and disrespect come to mind.
I don’t consider any person moral who attempts to destroy Boy Scout high moral values. Bruce calls the Bible antiquated and irrelevant. Being an ex-pastor he knows God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their immoral homosexuality. If you or he think God won’t bring judgment on us, you’re wrong. This is about destroying the Boy Scouts, not equal protection for gays. His immoral atheistic ideals will bring national suicide.
The further we drift from Christianity and moral values the closer national death comes. We must stand strong behind the Boy Scouts. If homosexual leaders are permitted, the Cub Scouts, Brownies, Girl Scouts, 4-H, Campus Life and all other youth organizations will be forced to accept this immoral lifestyle and America will die.
Death is knocking on America’s door. America is like a 100-year-old barely holding onto life. If Bruce’s immoral desires don’t kill us, government’s anti-God attitude and subsidized medicine will. We must return to God now; tomorrow will be too late.
Richard Mastin Hicksville
March 2013
I wonder what reality Bruce Gerencser is in as it obviously isn’t where the rest of us are.
First, no one can be called a “bigot” if they are against homosexuality. Every dictionary and encyclopedia classifies bigotry as as having a bias or hatred against a group or person because of their religion-race-creed or disability, it says nothing about homosexuality; as such it is a lifestyle.
You cannot be bigoted against a lifestyle no matter how much Gerencser wishes as there is no medical nor scientific proof that homosexuality is genetic or people were “born that way”. As such, it isn’t genetic by all available present scientific and medical standards; that leaves it to be a lifestyle. Thus Gerencser’s left-wing wishes are just childish schoolyard name calling. I expected better.
Second, it is not just northwest Ohio as he claims as the U.S. Supreme Court rule that the Boy Scouts do not have to associate with homosexuals and cannot be forced to do so. That is nationwide. The state of Ohio’s constitution clearly defines marriage as between a man and a woman, as does federal law (The Defense of Marriage Act).
Sadly, for Gerencser, it takes the U.S. Congress to overturn these as the president is banned from any executive orders as per Article 1, Sec. 1 of the U.S. Constitution which clearly states only Congress and its designates can make a law or give weight of law, no one else. It is called the Separation of Powers Act.
Also, Article 3, Sec. 2, paragraph 2 clearly shows that Congress could overturn a U.S. Supreme Court decision except when the court shows that this is in the U.S. Constitution. Then it takes a constitutional amendment.
Third, no church is going to stop supporting the Boy Scouts as every religion has a teaching against homosexuality, even the United Way does not dare stop supporting the Boy Scouts. If they do then its donations will shrink.
Gerencser had better hope his wish does not come true as a person of the same religious denomination he claims to have received his pastoral license from could turn him into the ruling body and send clippings of his letters. That ruling body could very well vacate his pastoral license for not following the teachings of the denomination he claims to have been part of, thus making his ability to marry anyone void. There is precedent for this. He could then apply for a justice of the peace license, but I don’t think they give them out anymore.
So, in the future may I strongly suggest to Gerencser that he start checking his facts before going off on yet another repeated tirade, especially since he has been proved incorrect on every letter he has sent so far.
Daniel Gray Defiance
March 2013
Bruce Gerencser’s letter of Feb. 20 spoke of bigotry. It could have been titled Christian bigotry.
He said “there is no place for discrimination against any group of people”. Bruce is one of the blind God speaks of in the End Times. This fallen Christian pastor, turned atheist, can’t see his own bigoted discrimination against Christian morals.
Each time Bruce speaks he pushes atheistic immoralities. He speaks volumes against Christianity and the moral values committed Christians hold dearly.
Bruce left out a few words when he said, “local residents are also free to withhold their giving through United Way to the Boy Scouts”. It should have started, “local atheists, immorals and anti-Christian residents”.
I’m proud to say that I was a Boy Scout and I am Christian. Bruce stands against the Boy Scouts with a reasoning that high morals are evil and destructive, something that must be eliminated at any cost — even America’s death.
Only because Boy scout leaders hold strong moral Godly convictions, Bruce calls them bigots. He views them an evil threat to mankind and his immoral beliefs.
People like Bruce want noticed, so they try destroying something good. If he feels scouting is good for his kind, let him start a new movement called Gay Scouts or Scouts Without God.
As a youth and Boy Scout, I slept in close quarters many nights. Many youth are impressionable and easily ruined. I’m thankful that the immoral homosexuals that Bruce condones were not my fellow scouts or leaders. Homosexuals in youth groups can permanently injure a youngster.
America is failing fast enough without permitting homosexuals guiding our youth. If we can’t follow our Godly moral values, we might as well throw the towel in now.
How can the God of Creation and love be the same as the God who commands, “Kill the infidel Christians and Jews where we find them” or the God of no hope? His statements and actions are designed to confuse and turn America from God.
Atheism, like some other religions, has no God.
Buddhism has no God and offers no hope. All suffering is caused by desires.
Hinduism has a thousand Gods, but they don’t cure or save anyone.
Islam, born of the sword, lives by the sword with no true love for humanity. It’s a religion for men and government domination.
Judaism also believes in the God of Creation and love. I believe their pharisees and sadducees’ selfishness and blindness kept them from seeing God’s light in Jesus.
America has many religious sects claiming to be Christian that are not true and may keep you from God.
The Christian faith is different and above all others in that Christianity is a relationship with God. No others have this relationship. Christianity is the only faith with proof of God’s existence — Jesus.
Christianity is the only faith where you can receive true healing. It’s the only way to heaven.
Richard Mastin Hicksville
January 2013
I am responding to a Jan. 2 letter to ther editor provided by Mr. Bruce Gerencser.
I am amazed that any lucid person would present an argument concerning a person or an entity that doesn’t exist! How can anyone claim to be an atheist under those circumstances? One would have to consider himself a super-intellectual, disregarding his surroundings or be as Psalm 14:1 quotes, ” A fool says in his heart, there is no God.”
I can’t answer that question. It does seem quite hypocritical to me however, that Mr. Gerencser would mention the “proclamation of angels.” Who declared the birth of Jesus still applicable today? We Christians, (born-again ) consider that babe in the manger to be God come in the flesh.
Lastly, Mr. Gerencser alludes to premarital sex among Christians. He seems to have lost all regard to pre-marital sex among ethnic groups. Babies born out of wedlock reach an astounding 73 percent.
Yet Mr. Gerencser considers his personal morality and ethics to be judged by his spouse, his children, his grandchildren, friends and neighbors. I don’t question them at all. I would suggest that he take his family and friends on a one week trip to the beautiful city of San Francisco, eat at some of the city’s finest restaurants and explain how our country is maturing, when at the tables next to them, people are dining completely nude. That’s progress isn’t it?
Kenny Barnes Paulding
January 2013
Responding to Mr. Gerencser’s letter in the Jan. 2 issue of The Crescent-News, I must begin by stating that I cannot respond to all of the statements in his letter with which I disagree in the small space provided here. But let me respond to four of them:
Mr. Gerencser begins, “contrary to Luderman’s assertion, my letter was all about the Republican Party,” and then in the very next words continues “and its infection with rightwing religious extremism.”
There’s that label again.
He states “since the United States is a secular state.” What? The United States is not, and was not, a secular state. Our constitution is not founded in secularism; our heritage is certainly not secular. Most of our common law is not secular. We have chaplains and prayers in our houses of government. Government officials are sworn into office with their hands on a holy book. The Declaration of Independence is based on rights with which we are endowed by our creator. Religious freedom and the wall of separation between church and state are not in the Constitution. These are statements which are intetionally twisted by the left.
Jefferson’s response to the Baptist question stated that there is a separation of church and state, but he went on to explain that it was a one-way separation. The state is separated from religion but not religious involvement in the state. Madison stated that our republic would only survive with a strong religious moral background. So you can take issue with our defending our religious morals all you want.
Mr. Gerencser is quite perplexed when I suggest he has no moral values. If he is an atheist he has no morals and no basis for any morals except for his own, which is exactly what I stated. He follows his claim to be an atheist, and in the next statement he claims he is a humanist. That means he is not an atheist. His highest being to which he looks is humanity — himself — again exactly what I said. He is hell-bent on creating God in his own image.
As for his closing statement of letting his wife, family et al judge his morals, suggesting we should keep out of it, then I would suggest that he stop propagating and revealing his morals in public letters to The Crescent-News.
Finally, I am deeply saddened that a man of God has lost his faith. I would gladly meet with him — to listen — and to understand and, yes, to witness. I do not want to be confrontational, but the Constitution allows and my Savior constrains me to respond and to defend the reason for the faith in which I believe. God be with you.
Gary Luderman rural Hicksville
December 2012
I am responding to an article in the Dec. 12 issue of The Crescent-News by Mr. Bruce Gerencser titled, “GOP is now an ‘extremist party.'”
The title piqued my interest enough that I took time to read the entire article. I take no pleasure whatsoever in stating that I found the letter rather intellectually vacuous. (Wait a minute, saying that didn’t make me feel that badly at all.)
First of all, this was not really a letter against the GOP as it was against Christian morality. Anyway, it appears that Mr. Gerencser does not believe in any moral standards — at least not those of the Christian faith. Not only that, but I gather from the tone of his letter that he feels intellectually and morally superior to people that do. Well, then let me ask two questions:
If Gerencser doesn’t like God’s rules, then whose rules are we to use? His?
Doesn’t Gerencser have any rules or standards at all? Is there nothing that anyone can do that he would not approve of or try to stop? Think about it, if there is just one thing that he doesn’t approve (for example, Christian values), then he is just as bad as GOP Christians. If not, then who is he to set any rules or have any opinions at all? Again, if there is no God, then who makes up the rules?
But there is a much larger issue. His philosophy not only affects you and yours, it is affecting and destroying the heart of our nation. If there are no rules or standards, then no one is free and no one is safe.
Is everybody and everything to be constantly changed and believed by the latest and largest lobby group that arises? Would you like to set up a committee to make moral decisions according to the latest polls?
Mr. Gerencser’s beliefs and thought processes have been around since almost the beginning of mankind. He presents nothing new, modern or enlightened. All he is doing is what mankind has always done — not liking God’s rules, therefore thinking that God is wrong and mankind is right. He takes the place of God and is hell-bent on making God into his own image. As a Republican, I will pray for him.
Gary Luderman rural Hicksville
September 2012
My answer to Bruce Gerencser’s letter in the Aug. 26 Crescent-News: Our god, our gain — your loss.
Sue Flores
June 2012
Mr. Gerencser is trying to undermine the historical importance the Bible played in the building of our country’s government by villainizing it and by stating; “that the moral code of conduct of a particular religion has no business being codified into law within a secular state”.
What is the Bible? It’s a book, an inanimate object. Mr. Gerencser states that; “The Bible has been used in the past to justify all kinds of vile behavior.” The Bible itself is not responsible for any of the reprehensible acts that have been committed throughout history and have been justified by misquoting the Bible. It is the person behind the act that is responsible; not just for committing them but also for using the Bible in a lie to further their own agenda. No one will inherit the kingdom of God, if the Bible is to be taken literally. It is all of us, myself included. Why, because of our sin nature, and because of this we have all of these “vile acts” throughout history. But the Bible is not just a book, it is God breathed, meaning it came from God.
We the United States of America are not a secular state, but a constitutional republic. Our Founding Fathers created our government based upon the Constitution which was based upon three separate documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta and the Bible. Because of this our government is controlled by the Constitution. That is why it is called a, “living, breathing document”. We have been a Christian nation from the very beginning and many of us still are. Because our Constitution was based upon the Bible, that our government is based upon the Bible and the only way to change that is to change the Constitution. Hence, the fight we have been having over the last several decades.
Mr. Gerencser also stated that, “Our legal system should reflect what is best for the American people. How best to live as a pluralistic people in a secular state.”
Do you know what the second sentence in his quote means? Pluralism is the theory that a multitude of groups should govern the United States, not the people as a whole. These groups or organizations include trade unions, civil rights activists, environmentalists and business or financial lobbyists.
We have all been witness to the glowing success of this in action over the last 3½ years. Just look at how certain groups within our government have tried to bail out the automotive industry and the housing market. All they have succeeded in doing is taking over the private market with an already failing model and enslaved our future generations with debt. A secular state remains neutral in matters of religion and treats all its citizens equal regardless of religion. Our Founding Fathers did not want our fledgling country to be sucked back into what they had just left where your religious stance could get you killed, and they wanted God to be the father of our nation. It all comes down to one thing: Do you believe in God?
“It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God.” — George Washington.
Maggie Spangler Holgate
August 2011
his is in reply to Bruce Gerencser’s letter on Aug. 8. There is only one thing he wrote that I can agree with–that is you only have 500 words or less to respond to a letter that is full of untruths and assumptions.
Not everyone believes in God or the Bible. This is where the problem arises. Every other religion in the world talks about how their God or ways are the only way that’s right.Agnostics, from the Greek word agnostos means, “to not know/’ and agnostic is one who admits, “I don’t know.”
There is only one true God. This is the Being who made each and everyone of us in his likeness and gave us a mind and will of our own. This is the same God who inspired the prophets of old to write the Bible, His Word. The Bible may not be a supernatural book, but it is His Word. The last book was written 1,900 years ago and is still as relevant today as when it was written.
There is not one thing in the Bible that has ever been proved to be wrong. There are lots of books that report the Bible is in error, however, nothing in 1,900 years has ever proven it to be untrue. Maybe Bruce kept his Bible on the shelf with his ”classics” the 25 years he was pastor. I feel sorry for any congregation that had to listen to him,especially since he doesn’t believe in God or the Bible to be the divine truth.
lf you are not in the family of God, you belong to the god of this world. This pertains to everyone whose religion does not believe in the one true God. Satan would like each and every one of us to believe that he, hell, and God doesn’t exist. He wants us to believe that all other religions are the only way to go and there is no here-after.
With a humanistic worldview that focuses on the here and now, you don’t have to be good. You can do anything you want, take anything you want, because when you die that’s it. Bruce assumes Christians have no life, no joy, not living and loving. He said they trudge through a wicked world in search of heaven or eternal reward. If this is what he did, no wonder he became agnostic.
God means different things to different people. No two Christians have all the same rules to follow. That’s one reason different views exist. I don’t know about you but I would rather not live in a world that doesn’t believe in God. It would be everyone for themselves, anything goes. If it feels good, do it. You can look and see what is happening in the United States today and it doesn’t take long to figure out we are headed away from God and in the wrong direction.
R.L.Wellman Defiance
June 2011
In response to Bruce Gerencser’s letter of June 20, we are all children of God.
God is there for each one of us, all you have to do is speak to him. I don’t know one Christian who would say we are not children of God. We sin every day and God gave us choices. We can ask for forgiveness.
Before every baby and child knows the difference between right and wrong they are a child of God. Yes you and I have to be born again. God provides everything for us, it’s what you do with it. GOD provides the sun and rain. You can plow and sow, but without sun and rain you will not harvest anything.
I believe there aren’t very many people who do not believe in God. They just don’t practice it until they need help. Even Satan believes in God. Read Revelation (the last book of the Bible). If you’re right it makes no difference, but if God is right you have everything to lose for eternity. Eternity is not today and tomorrow or next week, it is forever — eternity in the lake of fire and suffering or in heaven with happiness and no more sickness. I chose God.
Dean Kosier rural Defiance
June 2011
God is real! In response to Bruce Gerencser’s letter, my initial response was anger. It didn’t take long for pity to replace anger.
Obviously, you are mad at God for something and you are trying to discredit Him and his Word.
Whether you want to admit it or not, God is real and there is coming a day when every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! I am glad this world is not my home, I’m just passing through. I’m looking forward to walking on the streets of pure gold and seeing my mansion He has prepared for me. My prayer for Mr. Gerencser is that he’ll get right with God before it is too late and he spends eternity in hell.
This world has a lot of problems, that much is true. I’m glad God holds it in the palm of his hand and wins the battle in the end.
N. Lang
June 2011
In reference to Bruce Gerencser’s letter of June 1, his honesty and willingness to stand by what he believes is commendable. It puts many of us Christians to shame.
Yes, I am a Christian and declare Christ as my Lord and Savior. God doesn’t need me nor anyone else to defend Him, however, I wish Gerencser knew how much Christ loves him.
His comments show that he does have a knowledge of the Bible. Has he ever questioned how it is that the Bible has survived 2,000 years without being changed or its message diluted? The Dead Sea Scrolls show it, still today, being authentic when compared with these documents.
I do believe in the rapture of the Church, however, I am not overly concerned with end-time predictions. When I breathe my last breath that will be my end of time, so every day is the time to be ready to meet the Master. Yes, indeed, I am going to heaven.
We don’t have the mind of God. Our understanding is like that of a child compared to an adult so, of course, we have many disagreements and misinterpretations. As I Corinthians 13:12 says, “we see in a mirror dimly.” It is like trying to read fine print without your glasses. If you read the entire chapter of I Corinthians 13, loving God and each other is the cornerstone of our faith.
R Thomas
March 2011
John 19:7-8: “The Jews answered him, we have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he (Jesus Christ) made himself the Son of God. When Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid.”
Afraid of the Jews? No. Pilate feared the wrath of God. The Jews practiced capital punishment under Roman law. On March 2 a letter to the editor opposed capital punishment, but confused Old and New Testament law, saying: “I (Bruce Gerencser) am somewhat amused when Christians appeal to the Bible as their justification for capital punishment … .”
At about the same time the highest ranking Christian (a Roman Catholic) in the Muslim theocratic government of Pakistan was assassinated by some Muslims because he opposed capital punishment.
Bruce Gerencser tried to make it sound like Christians are the same as Muslims. Does he fear assassination by Christians? Did Christ ever call for capital punishment under the law? Yes, but it’s in Revelations when He returns to avenge the blood of the Christian martyrs (Revelation 6:10, Zechariah 1:12), saying “For the great day of wrath is come.” (Revelation 6:17, Isaiah 13:6)
When Christ was here 2,011 years ago He had the power to use God’s wrath, but His mission then and now is “not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” (Luke 9:56). So Jesus saved a woman from being stoned to death for adultery (John 8:1-11) but told her to “sin no more” (verse 11).
When Jesus returns He will save those who stop committing adultery and “repent”, e.g. Revelation 2:22. “Behold I (Jesus) will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.” The word “repent” is Strong’s #3340 Greek “metaneo” meaning “to think differently” or Hebrew #5162 “nacham” meaning “to be sorry.”
Much of today’s misinformation on the Bible comes from the Ivy League Universities starting with Woodrow Wilson’s (Princeton) The New Freedom of 1914: “All that progressives ask or desire is permission — in an era when “development” evolution, is the scientific word — to interpret the Constitution according to the Darwinian principle … .” (page 48) President Obama, an Ivy League graduate, then says in The Audacity of Hope, “Implicit in the Constitution structure, in the very idea of ordered liberty, was a rejection of absolute truth …”
The Bible says God’s word is truth (John 17:17, Psalms 119:142) and Jesus standing before Pilate said, “Everyone that is of the truth hear my voice”. (John 18:37)
The Declaration of Independence says that we are created, and that is self-evident truth.
Columbia University students recently jeered an Afghan war veteran who said some people want to kill us. The Ivy League doesn’t fear the wrath of God. Their theologians want to study “comparative religions.”
Larry Tonjes rural Hicksville
January 2011
In reply to Bruce Gerencser’s letter of Dec. 19 that this is a Christian nation, my belief as a “theocrat” is that no matter how determined any human wants to be, including Bruce Gerencser, to run away from God, it can’t be done.
The word “theocracy” is defined as “rule by divine authority.” Yes, America has had “war, torture, homophobia (not defined in the dictionary), amoral capitalism, economic collapse, the destruction of the working class and punitive political policies that punish and hurt the poor” as Gerencser mentions, but name me a nation that hasn’t had these problems.
According to the Bible and science, these problems are products of the human condition. In the insurance industry this used to be called “inherent vice,” meaning that everything in this world has an inherited flaw because it is of this world, a flawed world filled with flawed humans and flawed material to work with. The flawed problems mentioned have been endured through every type of government known to man, including Islam, communism, socialism, Judaism, Hinduism, Taoism, Shintoism, democracy. Bruce Gerencser is looking for a scapegoat because Christianity hasn’t solved all our nation’s problems, so he is looking to the current progressive movement for salvation.
Blame it on Jesus? Under the Caesers of ancient Rome there was war, torture, amoralists, economic collapse, destruction of the working class Jews and Romans, and punitive political policies like crucifying innocent civilians. Those were things that Jesus endured, and He is to be blamed for America’s social problems?
According to Jesus, Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). There are many now in our nation who are not examining or even looking for the truth but rather for the sake of convenience or salary prefer to defend lies. For instance, the separation of church and state is not stated in the U.S. Constitution’s Amendment One. It was in the Soviet Union’s communist constitution. It was added to our constitution through inference in 1947’s Everson Decision of the U.S. Supreme Court through prodding from the American Civil Liberties Union who’s result has been the establishment of secular humanism as our nation’s religion which directly contradicts Amendment One’s establishment clause. Will the progressive secular humanist’s “New World Order” save us from war, torture, etc.? Woodrow Wilson labeled the First World War as “the war to end all wars.”
“The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Word, and against His Christ … And now Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word.” (Acts 4:26 and 29) “This is the stone which was set at the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:11-12)
Larry Tonjes rural Hicksville
August 2010
I cannot help but wonder what would make someone who has read the Bible (assuming the entire Bible from cover to cover), attended a Christian college (attending a Christian college does not make one a Christian) and been an evangelical pastor change his mind and become an agnostic humanist.
Richard Dawkins in his book, The God Delusion, contains a chapter entitled “The Poverty of Agnosticism.”
Dawkins is a renowned atheist, and you are probably wondering why I quote an atheist to make a point. In the said chapter he discusses many points concerning agnosticism but I would like to point out two items of interest. First he observes there is an “agnostic spectrum,” varying degrees of agnosticism, ranging from one — “I believe in God but have a lot of questions concerning his existence” — to seven — “I do not believe in God, period.”
Second, he also mentions two types of agnosticism — a temporary agnosticism in practice and a permanent agnosticism in principle. I wonder where Mr. Gerencser stands.
If he was once enlightened and has fallen as far as agnosticism, then there is still hope. The next step is apostasy on which the Bible is very clear. If he has sincerely studied the Scriptures then he knows what I am referring to (Hebrews 6). If not, then he should, perhaps, rethink his position. And, yes, I know his position on the inerrancy of scripture. However, the Bible is as relevant today as it was then.
Bob Palczewski Defiance
August 2010
In answer to Bruce Gerencser’s letter in Sunday’s paper,he says he is an agnostic and no longer believes.
He said that at one time the Bible had meaning to him and that he pastored an evangelical church for 25 years.Evangelical churches should evangelize. What did he preach ? Did he tell them that God sent His sinless son Jesus to die for our sins? John 3:16. He did. Did he ever truly accept Christ as his Lord and Savior? None of us ourselves will ever be good enough. You cannot prove to me that the Bible is not the inspired Word of God that tells us in Romans 10: 9-10 that if we believe and confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus that we will be saved.
Gerencser asked, What if there is no heaven or hell and we Christians have wasted our lives? If he is right and I am wrong, I have not lost anything. But if I am right and he is wrong, he has lost everything, his soul.
My husband is 85 and I am 82, and neither of us regret the almost 50 years of volunteer service for the Lord. For . 13 years we sang Gospel and ministered with our young family in churches and the migrant camps. Last year after my husband’s bypass surgery and 34 years in the jail and prison Ministry we left it to devote more time to visiting and ministering in our local rest home.
If Gerencser thinks Jesus is not real, he should read our book. He says that we should live and love life. This has not been easy because we supported ourselves in our small businesses. But after 64 years of marriage we are still living and loving, thanks to Calvary.
Gertrude Hitt Archbold
August 2010
In response to Bruce Gerenscer’s letter of June 20, I am one of those right-wing nuts and Christian Republicans that are dominating Ohio. I am proud to be a Christian. I will tell anyone anytime what I believe, but I won’t make you listen if you choose not to.
God gave us all a choice. What Jack Palmer said in his column on June 10 was the truth. He believes what he says. He has a right to say it. Bruce Gerencser has a right not to believe it, that is his choice. The last time I looked we in America have freedom to say what we want to say. That means we have the same rights as Gerencser has. I thank God for Jack Palmer. We need more like him.
God doesn’t leave us. I am thankful for that. The proof is when you feel Him yourself. God didn’t just save my soul, he saved my life. If I didn’t’ have God, I would not be here this day.
God’s heart breaks because of all the suffering in the world. It goes back to unbelief and the choice He made available to us, and when we choose the wrong way.
Gerencser said he gave thanks to his parents and all the others in his life. If it weren’t for God, he wouldn’t have them in the first place, so I thank God for my family.
Gerencser talked about being on the boat, but you can’t abandon ship unless you were on it to begin with. I hope and pray that one day Gerencser will get back on board.
No one is going to get rid of God no matter what he or she says or does. God answers me so gently in a soft and loving tone, saying “I am with you always, you will never be alone.”
Rose Molnar Defiance
August 2010
I am writing in response to Bruce Gerencser’s letter to the editor in the June 20 Crescent-News. Gerencser stated in his letter that he wanted “to give credit to whom credit is due.” Well, I too would like to do that.
First, I am thankful to live in America where I have the privilege of writing a letter to the editor to express my opinion. Thank you to The Crescent-News for setting aside a page in your paper to print even those I may disagree with.
Many, many thanks to my parents and husband for working so hard to provide for us. In addition to those Gerencser gave thanks to, I would also like to thank the farmers who provide the food our nation enjoys. Also, a big thank you goes to those serving in the military, past and present, who are willing to sacrifice their lives in order to help protect our nation.
However, I realize that God is the one who actually provides all these. He gives good health in order to do the work. He gives knowledge to the doctors, teachers, counselors, etc. so they can help others. God provides the sunshine and rain the farmers need in order to produce their crops.
Everything we have or do not have comes from God. So, thank you dear God for all these, but most of all I thank you for my home in heaven.
Connie Elston rural Oakwood
August 2010
Since Bruce Gerencser asked the question, let’s get it answered. Say I believe in a religion and I follow its tenants. I am good to my neighbors and strangers, help the homeless, donate to charities and do the best that I can. Now, when I die if there is nothing, then what exactly have I wasted?
And, if there is something after death, then I will be rewarded for my good works and remembered far longer then Gerencser ever would be. People will remember Mother Teresa or Billy Graham far longer than Gerencser. If you live for today like Gerencser wants and when you die, if there is a creator, you have to stand before the creator and explain why you did not believe and tried to get others to do the same. Somehow I don’t think that saying “whoops, my bad” is going to cut it.
But my other question would be while Gerencser claims to have been a pastor for 25 years and since being an agnostic is one step above being an atheist, as both of them deny the existence of a deity according to every encyclopedia and dictionary out there, is Gerencser now freely admitting that he was living a lie and that his whole life before becoming agnostic was a fraud?
And, if he was a pastor, then what about all the people he was supposed to lead? Is he now admitting that he deceived them as well? And, why bother becoming a pastor in the first place if you were just going to turn your back on your chosen religion, especially one that he has never mentioned? Something about his claim just does not sound correct.
Daniel Gray Defiance
July 2010
This is in reference to the letter by Bruce Gerenscer (sic) entitled, “not everyone thinks the same way,” which was written in response to Jack Palmer’s June 10 column, “Being thankful fights off sense of entitlement.”
My belief is that everyone has the right to his or her belief, but I was so impressed with Jack’s article that I cut it out to save.
I believe in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We should be thankful every single day for all our many blessings. Just to name a few, these include: Our very being, the food we eat each day, the water we drink, the very air we breathe, and family and friends. These are all gifts from God.
To me one of the greatest promises in the Bible is that God will never leave us or forsake us. In the Jimmy Stewart movie that Gerenscer mentions (which I did not see) some things are missing. What if God didn’t send the rain and the sun to grow the food? Without the rain and the sun would it grow no matter how hard we worked to grow it?
Everyone has a choice, and I choose to believe in God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and all of God’s promises in the Bible.
Alice Dunbar Defiance
July 2010
In his recent letter to the editor Bruce Gerenscer (sic) stated that he is an “agnostic” and “there exists an ever increasing number of people in northwest Ohio who do not believe in the Christian God.”
An agnostic is defined in the New Webster’s dictionary as “one who believes that God, life hereafter, etc. can neither be proved or disproved.”
Agnostics do believe that humans exist don’t they, even though a human individual can’t be seen from an orbiting spacecraft? Or they do believe, don’t they, that our earth’s light and heat come from a heat source and light source 93 million miles away? With light traveling at a speed of 186,000 miles per second, it takes 81/2 seconds for a ray of heat to travel through space to the earth, yet the recent weather forecast said that the predicted temperature would be 83 degrees, just two degrees warmer than the average of 81 degrees.
Evolutionists assume that this constant rate of temperature has lasted for millions or billions of years, otherwise the intricate types of life would have frozen or boiled a long time ago. Yet Bruce Gerenscer says that God has “left the building.” We better pray that He has not left the building because if He has, He’s about to turn off the lights.
Agnostics believe that the speed of sound is about 764 miles per hour, but that direct conversation can take place with an orbiting spacecraft thousands of miles away, but they don’t believe they can communicate with Jehovah-God through direct prayer. If we are to believe in human miracles apart from God, then what if God reverses the miracle of the unseen magnetic field? If that happens human technology won’t work and we will be forced into manual labor.
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) I prefer to remain with the faithful who place their faith in the unseen forces of the unseen God that governs all nations, powers and peoples who “causes it to rain on the earth, where no man is.” (Job 38:26) And, yes, I believe in Jesus and the resurrection from the dead. If any agnostic out there wants to know the logic, call me and I’ll explain.
Or, here is a question for you: If all that exists is nature and the natural man, then does might make right? Is politics then just the art or science of governing with no regard for right or wrong?
Larry Tonjes rural Hicksville
March 2009
This is in response to Bruce Gerencser’s letter that appeared in the March 1 issue of The Crescent News.
Mr. Gerencser made some excellent points, especially in reference to two sides searching for the common ground as opposed to the differences that exist. Regardless of one’s personal views regarding abortion, it seems that it is safe to say that it would be wonderful to reduce the abortion rate and hope that every child is a wanted child.
Decisions about having children are among the most monumental that people consider during their lives. For many families, an unplanned pregnancy will be the difference between fulfilling dreams and struggling to survive. The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rates, unplanned pregnancy rates, abortion rates and STD rates of any industrialized country in the world. These figures are not due to permissiveness but rather are due to our failure to provide good, medically-accurate information to our young people on how to avoid unplanned pregnancies and unprotected sex once they become sexually active.
Placing legal restrictions on abortion does nothing to reduce those rates. If we want to reduce abortions, then we must be proactive in our reproductive education while ensuring access to affordable family planning.
We must foster an environment that raises the standard of reproductive care for young families. We need to support federal, state and local policies that support our young people to achieve their reproductive goals and ensure that pregnancies are wanted and appropriately timed. The answer has been in place and extremely effective for nearly 40 years, but it has gotten lost in political rhetoric and moral agendas.
Title X, a federally-funded family planning program, was started nearly 40 years ago during Nixon’s presidency and continues today. Women and Family Services has been a Title X provider since it began in 1970. This program had strong bipartisan support because these tax dollars provided important health care services and saved the government a great deal of money in the process.
Every tax dollar currently spent on family planning saves at least $4 in pregnancy-related Medicaid. These services also prevent 1.4 million unplanned pregnancies each year which would result in an estimated 600,000 abortions annually. Title X is a public health success story. The program is held accountable to high medical standards by the Ohio Department of Health. Local residents get quality health care based on a sliding fee scale and nobody is refused services due to their inability to pay or due to residential status. Education and prevention are the fundamental driving forces of Title X.
We need not reinvent the wheel. Title X has served thousands of families in northwest Ohio over three generations. Our families and our community are strengthened by reducing abortion rates, infant mortality rates, STDs and unplanned pregnancies. Title X works!
Judy Thrasher Defiance
March 2009
President Obama has declared war on the unborn. To make matters worse, he has also proven that his many words, promises and moving speeches usually do not measure up to his subsequent actions and vice versa.
In his recent letter to the editor, Bruce Gerencser claims President Obama has made offers to work with the pro-life community. In reality, however, Obama’s stated beliefs have nullified his recent attempts to bring two morally different groups together, resulting in his continued death grip on the unborn. This is exemplified by his signature on an executive order that repealed the Mexico City Policy.
By overturning the Mexico City Policy, President Obama enabled the federal government to provide funding for clinics that promote abortion as a method of family planning in countries that receive U.S. foreign aid. How can our president claim interest in working with pro-lifers to reduce abortions when his repeal of this policy promotes funding for abortions overseas? Adding insult to injury is the fact that the taxpayers’ hard-earned money is being used to kill the unborn not only at home but abroad.
Furthermore, Obama has stated that he wants to restore U.S. funding to the United Nations Fund for Populations Activities (UNFPA) despite UNFPA’s involvement with the Chinese “one-child” population program that includes forced abortions. As a result, the Democratic leadership in the U.S. House has just pushed through an appropriations bill that gives UNFPA $50 million, regardless of whether it violates any provision of U.S. law, including the ban on promoting coerced abortion and sterilization. This same bill also would cut funding for abstinence-until-marriage education by $14.2 million.
Several of Obama’s appointments have also reflected his support for ardent pro-abortionists. For example, the Obama administration chose Dawn Johnson, the former legal director of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) for a top job in the Department of Justice. Obama’s choice for secretary of Health and Human Services, who will guide health care reform, is Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who not only vetoed numerous common sense pro-life laws, but hosted notorious late-term abortionist George Tiller and members of his clinic staff at a 2007 reception at the Kansas Governor’s Mansion.
How are any of these actions likely to reduce abortions? It seems to me that the only “common ground” that Obama is offering pro-lifers is quicksand.
State Representative Lynn Wachtmann Napoleon
March 2009
This is in response to Mr. Gerencser’s letter to the editor on abortion. Wow! Sir, you are way off the mark when it comes to pro-life. This is what is wrong with the direction of this country. You cannot compromise murder. The commandment is “Thou Shall Not Kill.” It’s quite straight forward. The Bible does not say “Thou shall not kill, unless it is in the first few weeks of a pregnancy”.
If, sir, you are a true Christian, you believe that there is one God Almighty, Creator of All. You also agree that God is capable of anything. So you would have to conclude that if God intended a pregnancy to last in only the final 30 weeks, it would be so. The final weeks are only possible with the first few. This completes God’s cycle. This is how He has said it will be. This is how He has designed it.
By no means am I being your judge. I have four beautiful and talented children that I am extremely proud of. I get quite angry if I see any one of them harmed. I could not fathom having any of my children aborted. The word abort has cleaned it up so much. Let’s replace it with the word butchered or hacked. Could you imagine your children chopped to pieces at any stage of their lives?
If you are a true believer of God and his intentions, you would be appalled by this. I cannot and will not compromise my stand against abortion. A Democrat can’t “throw me a bone” to change my mind. Don’t misunderstand, I am equally upset with the Republicans. The Republican Party wont stop it, they just don’t fund it. I vote Constitution Party. Maybe that party is serious about stopping the killing.
It should make you sick to know that your tax dollars now fund these murders. By repealing the executive order on abortion, your tax dollars as well as mine provide the means to carry out these procedures. This also means that if a religious-based hospital refuses to perform a hacking, the government can take control of the hospital and force the doctor to ‘do the deed’ or face serious penalties. How wrong is that?
On certain issues, compromise is good. Taxes, projects, spending etc. You cannot wheel and deal with a human life. I went to church after reading your letter and said a prayer for you and the number of people you are in contact with who have similar views. I prayed that God would show you the joy of His process of life that He has designed and how wrong it is to stop it. Mr. Gerencser, you can call yourself a Democrat or a Republican, but with views like yours on abortion, you are a far cry from a Christian.
Brett Johanns rural Paulding
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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What follows is a sampling of the letters to the editors of the Bryan Times and the Defiance Crescent-News I wrote between 2015 and 2020. These letters were written after I deconverted from Christianity in November 2008.
March 2015
It’s Time to End the Death Penalty in Ohio
Dear Editor:
It’s time for Ohio legislators to put an end to the death penalty. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, since 2003, twenty Ohio inmates have been removed from death row “through exonerations, clemency, or sentence reductions because of intellectual disabilities.” In December 2014, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer testified before the House Criminal Justice Committee. Justice Pfeifer stated “The death penalty in Ohio has become what I call a death lottery…It’s very difficult to conclude that the death penalty, as it exists today, is anything but a bad gamble. That’s really not how a criminal justice system should work.”
Currently, Ohio legislators are working on bills that would prohibit the execution of those with severe mental illness, create an indigent defense fund, require crime labs and coroners to be certified, and prohibit the execution of anyone convicted solely on the testimony of jail house snitch. While these are great steps in the right direction, it is time for Ohio to altogether abolish the death penalty.
As Justice Pfeifer rightly noted, the death penalty has become a death lottery. Those of means have the ability to hire competent defense attorneys, often resulting in the death penalty being taken off the table. The poor, who can’t afford to hire an attorney, must rely on proper representation from a public defender. In many rural areas, the poor are often assigned an attorney with little capital case experience. While many public defenders do a great job defending indigent clients, there are times when they are not up to the task, lacking the necessary skill and time to adequately defend their client.
When a person’s life hangs in the balance, they deserve competent, aggressive representation. Attorneys who defend an indigent client are paid a pathetic fee and must often wait for months or years to be reimbursed by the state. If we are going to continue to use execution as the means to punish those convicted of a capital crime, then it is morally imperative that we make sure that those facing death have the same access to attorneys, expert witnesses, and crime labs, regardless of their ability to pay.
Currently, 140 men and one woman are awaiting execution in Ohio. Due to controversy over the drugs used in lethal injections, it is unlikely that there will be any executions until 2016. I would encourage Ohio legislators to use this time to find a way to bring an end to executions.
Killing someone because they committed a crime is rooted in the barbaric eye for an eye justice of the Old Testament. While many Christian sects now oppose the death penalty, Evangelicals and conservative Christians continue to demand death for those convicted of a capital crime. I ask, what happened to following in the footsteps of Jesus? Would Jesus, the Prince of Peace, approve of a criminal system that disproportionately punishes the poor and people of color? If Evangelicals, who overwhelmingly vote Republican, would get behind abolishing the death penalty, we can end this abhorrent practice.
Bruce Gerencser
May 2015
Why is the Evangelical God Silent?
Dear Editor:
There seems to be no end to the sermons printed in the editorial section of the Crescent-News. Intractable warriors for the Evangelical God preach against homosexuality, same-sex marriage, abortion, and the evils of socialism, humanism, secularism, and atheism. Letter writers claim to know the mind and will of God on every matter, warning that failure to heed their preaching will result in God pouring out his judgment and wrath on the United States. They warn that two people of the same sex marrying will bring an end to Western civilization. Yet, it seems that their preaching is falling on deaf ears.
Several months ago, St John’s United Church of Christ came out of the closet and declared themselves to be an open and affirming church. This means gays and same-sex couples are welcome at St. John’s. When I read the news report, I could hardly believe it. I thought, have I been beamed away to an alternate universe, to a county where people are not judged for who they love or how they express intimacy? No, right here in Defiance County, a church that is not ashamed to welcome one and all.
Young adults are increasingly gay-friendly and are no longer interested in the bigoted, homophobic religion of their parents. Some of them join the ranks of the nones, those who are atheists, agnostics, or indifferent towards organized religion. On many of the issues that seem to cause Evangelicals great consternation, young adults show that they think love, fairness, justice, and compassion are more important than dogma and literalism.
When I read the letters from Evangelicals, I see an aging group of people desperately trying to regain power and control over a culture that has little interest in what they are selling. Forty years ago, instead of focusing on personal piety and good works, Evangelicals sold their soul to groups like the Moral Majority and the American Family Association. They traded their place in the community for political power. They abandoned reason and rationality and became the purveyors of ignorance and bigotry. And now they are being weighed in the balance and found wanting.
Come June, despite millions of Evangelical prayers, conferences, rallies, and sermons, it is likely that the U.S. Supreme Court will set aside state laws forbidding same-sex marriage. I wonder how Evangelicals will respond? Will they turn to the heavens and ask God why he turned a deaf ear to their prayers? Will they point the finger at their homophobic rhetoric and bigotry? I doubt it. It will be atheists such as myself, liberals, socialists, and the Kenyan-born usurper in the White House who will be blamed for their inability to return America to the love, joy, and peace of the 1950s.
Evangelicals are like the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18. They call out to the heavens asking their God to show his power and act on their behalf. Yet, from my seat in the atheist pew, it seems their God is either deaf or on vacation.
Bruce Gerencser
June 2015
Medical Marijuana and Relieving Pain and Suffering
Dear Editor:
Rarely a week goes by when there is not a letter to the Editor from a fundamentalist Christian demanding their moral code and peculiar interpretation of the Bible be accepted by all. Even when they aren’t quoting the Bible or reminding local unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of their impending doom, their letters reflect an addled worldview, one shaped by an ancient book they think offers them unchanging truth. If their beliefs were kept in the church house, non-Christians would care little and hope that one day they would see the light. However, their beliefs are not kept in the church house, and because of this people of science, reason, and common sense must continue to push back as Christian fundamentalists try by legal and political means to force people to live by a worldview that is better suited for the dustbin of human history.
Take a recent letter writer who vehemently opposes legalizing the use of medical marijuana in Ohio. Even though they didn’t mention one Bible verse, their letter dripped with the fundamentalist presupposition that suffering and pain are in some way noble and good for us. Numerous Bible verses would certainly lead one to conclude that suffering and pain have probative value and make us closer to God and keeps us from clinging too closely to this life. If we buy into this kind of thinking and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, a life after death that is free of suffering and pain awaits us.
Sounds sublime, right? But what if there is no life after death, no divine payoff for trudging through life suffering for Jesus and enduring pain because it will make us stronger? What if the only life we have is this one? Well, that changes everything. If this life is it, and I think it is, then we should try to relieve not only our own pain and suffering, but that of others. As a committed humanist, I would never want to withhold from anyone that which would relieve or end their suffering and pain. Whether it is narcotic pain medications, medical marijuana, or physician-assisted suicide, I want all humans to have at their disposal the means to lessen their suffering and pain.
Any religion that values suffering and pain is one that should be roundly criticized and rejected. And if Jesus were alive today, I suspect he’d agree with me.
Bruce Gerencser
July 2015
The Hypocrisy of Christian Government Officials Refusing to Issue Same-Sex Marriage License
Dear Editor:
Evangelical Christians are infuriated over the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. Granting U.S. citizens equal protection under the law and affording them the same civil rights heterosexuals have is seen as an affront to God, the Bible, and true Christians everywhere. As a result, a handful of Christian government officials are refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, claiming doing so would violate their religious beliefs.
Should government officials be required to violate their religious beliefs in the execution of their duties? They serve the public, and when they walk in the door of their respective place of duty, what God, the Bible, or their pastor has to say has no authority or relevance. The United States is a secular state, and the highest court in the land has determined that marriage laws discriminating against same-sex couples are unconstitutional. Every government official is duty-bound to obey the law, and if they can’t they should either quit, be fired, or removed from office.
Evangelicals and their counterparts in the Catholic and Mormon church have at their disposal all the means necessary to undo same-sex marriage. If they feel the Court acted unjustly, the proper recourse is to work towards a constitutional amendment that establishes marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Empty threats of second amendment remedies, secession from the union, and Sodom and Gomorrah-like judgment from God change nothing. If Christians want real change, a return to Ozzie and Harriet’s 1950’s, then they should work to amend the Constitution. They won’t do this, of course, because they know they don’t have sufficient numbers to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision.
Why is it Christian government officials issue marriage licenses to adulterers and fornicators, but draw the line at same-sex couples? The Bible sure has a lot to say about adultery and fornication, yet these “sins” are routinely ignored. Only homosexuals and same-sex couples are singled out for discrimination and abuse. Why is this?
This question is not hard to answer. Having spent the first 50 years of my life in the Evangelical church, 25 years as a pastor, I know firsthand the rampant hysterical bigotry and homophobia within Evangelicalism. Evangelicals are now known as the religion of hate, and every time people such Franklin Graham, Tim Wildmon, Al Mohler, Ken Ham, or James Dobson open their mouth, the public is reminded of this fact.
Bruce Gerencser
January 2016
Letters from Creationists
Dear Editor:
If I didn’t know any better, based on recent letters to the editor and church advertisements touting young-earth creationism, I would think that we are living in the 1920s — the era of the great creationist-versus- evolution debate.
We are almost 100 years removed from the Scopes monkey trial, yet Christian fundamentalists are still trying to hoodwink unwitting people into believing creationism is a scientific theory. Not only do they want the scientifically ignorant to believe that creationism is a scientific theory, Fundamentalists also want them to believe that it is the only explanation for the biological world.
Readers of the Crescent-News need to understand exactly what Christian fundamentalists are saying. According to them, the universe was created by the Christian God 6,020 years ago, in six 24-hour days. They also want you to believe that 2,000 years later God, in a genocidal rampage, killed every living thing with a flood, save Noah, his family, and two of every animal.
While these stories make for wonderful bedtime readings to children, they have no business being taught, outside of a comparative religion class, in the public school classroom. Creationism, along with its gussied-up sister intelligent design, is religious dogma, not biological science. I am of the opinion that any public school teacher found to be teaching creationism should immediately be removed from the classroom. We owe it to our children to make sure that they are taught sound scientific principles. God did it, is not such a principle.
I am sure my letter will bring howls and gnashing teeth from local Christian fundamentalists. They will, as they always do, cut and paste supposed rebuttals of evolution from bastions of ignorance like Answers in Genesis or The Institute of Creation Research. What they will fail to produce is peer-reviewed studies supporting their creationist claims. If creationists want to overthrow evolution, then I suggest they start publishing papers in non-Evangelical science journals. When the weight of the arguments become so overwhelming that they cannot be ignored, I have no doubt that scientists will declare creationism the winner.
This will never happen, of course, because creationism is theological in nature, not sound biological science. If people want to believe that a mythical God created the universe 6,020 years ago, fine. Ignorance is a permitted vice in a free society. But we should insist that public school children be taught science, and not long-discredited religious myths.
Bruce Gerencser
April 2016
Is the Bible the Objective Standard of Morality?
Dear Editor,
Recently, Cal Thomas pontificated about the need for an objective standard of morality. Of course, Thomas, an Evangelical, believes the moral code found in the Bible is the true standard of morality. Thomas believes America is mired in a moral quagmire. Blaming liberals, secularists, and atheists, Thomas believes America’s only hope is for Americans to once again prostrate themselves before the Bible and promise resolute fealty to its author — God.
What exactly is the Bible’s objective moral standard? The Ten Commandments? Or is it the Nine, since most Christians no longer “remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy?” Or, as dispensational Evangelicals suggest, is just the New Testament the standard for morality? If it is just the New Testament, then why do Evangelicals continue to condemn homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and abortion — none of which is mentioned in the New Covenant? And why do Evangelical pastors continue to collect tithes and offering each Sunday, a practice not found anywhere in the New Testament?
While Evangelicals will point their peculiar interpretation of the Bible to justify the notion that they are the holders of God’s standard of morality, any careful examination of their churches shows that Evangelical moral beliefs are every bit as subjective as their atheist/agnostic/secularist neighbors. There are more than one hundred churches in Defiance County, and not one of them agrees with another about what is considered moral behavior.
On matters of greater importance: salvation, baptism, and communion, local churches fight among themselves, each believing that it has the keys to the kingdom. One church has been running weekly ads in the Crescent-News to remind locals that their church — a Campbellite congregation — preaches the true gospel. Down the street Baptists preachers remind congregants that the heretical followers of Alexander and Thomas Campbell were thrown out the Baptist church mid-19th century. It is the Baptists who have the true gospel. And so the internecine wars continue unabated since the day Jesus was buried in a pauper’s grave.
Atheists such as myself laugh when Evangelicals suggest that the Bible is the standard for morality. Seeing the utter confusion and contradictory beliefs among the various Christian sects, how can anyone know for sure who is right? My money is on none of them being right. As a humanist, I believe it is up to people — not religions — to determine the standards by which we want to govern our lives.
Bruce Gerencser
April 2016
Evangelical Hysteria Over Transgender Bathroom Use
Dear Editor,
Recent news stories have highlighted Evangelical outrage and hysteria over Transgenders using public restrooms. I suspect most Americans at one time or another have taken care of business while in proximity to someone whose sexual identity or orientation is different from theirs. Why all the outrage now over such a banal issue as who and where someone pees?
At the heart of this issue lies Evangelical hatred and disgust, not only for Transgenders, but also for anyone who dares to be different from the God-approved, heterosexual-only, virginal, monogamous-sex-only-within-the-bonds-of-marriage Evangelical belief concerning sexuality. As a Baptist teenager, I vividly remember sermons and admonitions warning teens of the dire consequences of fornication and masturbation. All the scare-tactic preaching did was make us feel guilty when we acted upon normal, healthy human sexual desire.
Evangelicalism is now widely considered a hateful religion by many Americans. Why is this? In the 1970s, Jerry Falwell and Paul Weyrich birthed The Moral Majority — an Evangelical group dedicated to reclaiming America for the Christian God. Along the way new groups such as Focus on the Family and the American Family Association joined with the Moral Majority to fight the war against what they perceived to be the takeover of America by Godless liberals, Satanic secularists, atheists, and humanists. In the 1980s these culture warriors sold their souls to the Republican Party, joining church and state and producing the ugly monster now on display for all to see.
During this same time frame, secularists, their numbers increasing thanks to a growing number of Americans who no longer are interested in organized religion, began to push back at Evangelicalism’s message of hate and bigotry. Atheist groups such as the Freedom From Religion Foundation and American Atheists began challenging governmental preferential treatment given to Evangelicals. Now, thanks to a rising swell of secularism, Evangelicals feel threatened. No longer are they given special treatment. No longer are their blatant assaults on the First Amendment ignored. The more Evangelicals are marginalized, the greater their outrage.
Evangelicals must accept the fact that progress has brought us to place of inclusion and acceptance of those who are different from us. Evangelical preachers are certainly free to keep preaching against what they believe are sinful behaviors. But they might want to notice that many Americans — particularly millennials — are no longer listening.
Bruce Gerencser
July 2016
Ken Ham’s Latest Monument to Human Ignorance
Dear Editor,
Four or so hours away from Defiance, a man by the name of Ken Ham has built a $100 million monument to human ignorance — The Ark Encounter. This monument is a life-sized replica of Noah’s Ark. As one who was raised in the Evangelical church and pastored churches for 25 years, I heard and preached countless sermons about Noah and the Ark. Regrettably, I was in my forties before I learned that this story and many others were myths, having no basis in historical or scientific fact.
According to Ham and his fellow Evangelicals, the universe is 6,021 years old. Everything we see, both on earth and in the skies, was created by God in six literal 24-hour days. According to creationists, the book of Genesis is a science textbook, one that emphatically teaches young earth creationism. Indeed, the entire Bible is infallible and without error, and should be, with rare exception, interpreted literally.
I am sure, just as Muslims who make a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Mecca, Evangelicals will flock to Kentucky to Ham’s monument to scientific ignorance. Adults will pay $40 for the privilege of touring Ham’s Ark, children $26. While there, Evangelicals will be taught “truths” about the historicity and reliability of the Bible and young earth creationism. I am sure most visitors will be awed by Ham’s Ark, ignoring that much of what Ham has constructed is built upon speculation. If Ham built a boat according to Biblical specifications, I highly doubt Kentucky officials would grant it an occupancy permit, and it is doubtful such a boat would safely float.
Ken Ham also operates the Creation Museum, another monument to ignorance. When it first opened, Evangelicals flocked to Kentucky to witness the wonders of the young earth creationism lie. Once witnessed, Evangelicals moved on to other entertainments, resulting in decreasing revenues for Answers in Genesis. Following the script of Field of Dreams, Ham built his Ark believing Evangelicals would visit if he did. And they will, for a time. The problem for Ham lies in the fact that Evangelicals easily bore. Once Evangelicals have seen the Ark, will they return? Probably not, especially if Ham continues to charge King’s Island-like admission prices. Perhaps Ham knows this, and this is why he is already planning a new entertainment venture — a replica of the Tower of Babel. Those who love reason and science can only shake their heads.
Bruce Gerencser
October 2016
Local Evangelical Support of Donald Trump
Dear Editor,
Local Evangelicals often use the Crescent-News editorial page to wage war against sins they believe will cause the destruction of America. If these sins — abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, same-sex marriage, driving while Democrat — are allowed to continue, they believe God will judge our country and remove his blessing. These same writers have spent years reminding readers that electing Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, and now Hillary Clinton will result in the United States turning into a Communist/socialist/atheist/humanist state. Only God and the Christian Bible will do, they tell us. Ignore their words, pay the price.
During the primaries, these same people wrote letters extolling the virtues of various Republican candidates. When the dust settled, Donald Trump was left standing. Donald Trump is a misogynistic, xenophobic, racist, sexual predator with the acumen of a third grader. He offers no policy positions other than his plan to make America great again. Recently, Trump fat-shamed women, calling them names, and last week, a recording of Trump admitting that he sexually assaulted women surfaced for all to see. “Locker room talk,” they say, “just boys being boys.”
Many Evangelicals have decided that while Donald Trump’s a vile, disgusting human being, he’s exactly the kind of person God uses for his glory. “What a testament to God’s wondrous grace that God can even use someone like Donald Trump,” they say. Some believe that Trump is a “baby” Christian and will grow in the knowledge of the Lord. What, I ask, do these people see that the rest of us cannot? Here’s a man who told the world that he’s never asked God for forgiveness, yet we’re supposed to believe he’s a Christian? Please, stop insulting our intelligence.
If God really can use anyone to accomplish his purpose, cannot he use Hillary Clinton just as easily as Donald Trump? According to Evangelicals, Clinton’s the Antichrist. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if God used Clinton to accomplish his purposes? Dare Evangelicals stand in the way of God’s plan for America?
Trump and his followers want to return America to the 1950s — a time when there was no God but the Christian God, Joseph McCarthy found Commies under every bed, men in white sheets ruled the South, abortion was illegal, blacks knew their place, women stayed at home, and gays stayed in the closet. Those of us who believe in progress must not let this happen.
Bruce Gerencser
March 2017
The True Agenda of the Ayn Rand-fueled, Koch Brothers-funded, Evangelical-empowered, Paul Ryan-controlled Wing of the Republican Party
Dear Editor:
The recent attempt to pass what Donald Trump and Republicans dubbed the American Health Care Act has finally exposed for all to see the true agenda of the Ayn Rand-fueled, Koch Brothers-funded, Evangelical-empowered, Paul Ryan-controlled wing of the Republican Party. The white sheets have been torn away, exposing ideological hatred for minorities, the working class, and what the Bible calls the least of these. We now know that these shills for the one-percenters want to destroy the Federal government, roll back the New Deal, and cut the bottom out of social safety net. Their ultimate goal is to return our society to the days of the wild, wild West – days when every man controlled his own destiny; days when the capitalist with the fastest draw and surest aim or the robber baron with the quickest fists ruled the land.
As of the writing of this letter, Republicans have twice cancelled votes on the AHCA. Facing outrage from all corners of the political spectrum, Paul Ryan is increasingly aware of the fact that he never should have made public his agenda to destroy America. While I thoroughly enjoy watching Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, and their surrogates get the public caning they so richly deserve, my joy is tempered by the fact that at the state level Republican extremists are quietly and effectively rolling back much of the social progress of the past century. More frightening than the AHCA debacle is the Koch Brothers-funded plan for a Constitutional Convention. And once a Constitutional Convention is convened, Tea-Party, Libertarian, and Evangelical theocrats will finally have the tools necessary to dismantle the Federal government and turn America into dog-eat-dog capitalist state ruled by men only concerned with their stock portfolios and return on investments. While Evangelicals will certainly make sure that their God is returned to his rightful place as America’s potentate, the real God of these extremists is laissez-faire capitalism.
One positive to come out of electing Donald Trump is the exposure of the true agenda of many Republican officeholders. Now it is up to Democrats, liberals, progressives. democratic socialists, and all who value social progress to coalesce into a movement willing to take on Paul Ryan/Koch Brothers/Ayn Rand Republicans. What lies ahead is a no-holds-barred fight to the death for the future of our Republic. I am ready for the fight. Are you?
Bruce Gerencser
November 2017
I Support the Kneeling Defiance College Football Players
Dear Editor:
I write to lend my support to the Defiance College football players who have knelt during the playing of the national anthem. I commend them for their courage, knowing that most local residents oppose their actions. Their continued protest has brought calls for discipline, including expulsion from school. I commend college administrators and coaches for not bowing to public pressure to silence protest. These students, along with their counterparts in professional sports, need to be heard. Their protests have nothing to do with respect for the military or flag.
What lies behind their kneeling is inequality, injustice, and racism. While these issues might seem to locals to be the problems of urban areas, the truth is that we denizens of rural Northwest Ohio have our own problems related to these things. I recently participated in a forum discussion on racism in Northwest Ohio. Having lived most of my sixty years of life in this area, I can say with great certainty that we are not immune from charges of racism and injustice. We may hide it better, covering it with white, middle-class Christian respectability, but it exists, nonetheless.
Years ago, my family and I walked into a church towards the end of the adult Sunday school class. Teaching the class was a matronly white woman — a pillar of the church. She was telling the class that her grandson was not getting playing time on the college football team because blacks got all the playing time. She reminded me of a retired white school teacher I knew when I lived in Southeast Ohio. At the time, we had a black foster daughter. I had just started a new church in the area, and we were looking for a house to rent. This school teacher had a house available, so we agreed to rent it. When it came time to pick up the keys, she told us she decided to rent to someone else. We later learned that she said she wasn’t going to have a ni***r living in her house.
These stories are apt reminders of what lies underneath our country respectability. It is time we quit wrapping ourselves in the flag, pretending that racism, inequality, and injustice doesn’t exist. Our flag and anthem represent many things, but for many Americans, they represent oppression and denial of human rights; and it is for these reasons, among others, that players kneel.
Bruce Gerencser
March 2019
Why Aren’t Chronic Pain Sufferers Considered Stakeholders When Discussing the Opioid Crisis?
Dear Editor:
Every week articles appear in the Crescent-News about the current opioid crisis. Medical professionals, substance abuse counselors, law enforcement, local government officials, and former addicts routinely are asked for comments or input on how to deal with drug abuse. There is, however, one stakeholder who is never asked to participate in these discussions – the chronic pain sufferer who takes opioid-based medications. Instead, the aforementioned groups speak as if chronic pain sufferers don’t exist. How else to explain the comments by authority figures about medical marijuana? Here’s a drug that can help people with chronic pain, yet law enforcement and government officials in particular go out of their way to make it hard or impossible for chronic pain suffers to access medical marijuana. Republican state legislators, in particular, are doing their best to make it nigh impossible for chronic pain sufferers to access and affordably buy medical marijuana. Local communities, giving into irrational hysteria, have caused harm to suffering locals by banning medical marijuana sellers. Imagine the outrage there would be if local governments banned cancer treatment drugs. Why, they would be voted out of office. Yet, it seems okay to demean, diminish, and harm chronic pain sufferers. Why is this?
One reason for these actions is that chronic pain sufferers are not part of local discussions about opioid abuse and use. Chronic pain sufferers who use narcotics as part of their pain management regimen are now treated like drug addicts. Chronic pain sufferers must jump through numerous hoops put in place by doctors, pharmacies, and government to get their prescriptions filled. Not one time have chronic pain sufferers been asked to have a seat at the discussion table. Instead, they suffer indignity in silence, fearing they will be looked down on if they dare to complain about the increasingly complex process required to get prescriptions filled.
I have read comments by Defiance Mayor Mike “Medical Marijuana is Not Part of Our Brand” McCann that reveal he is clueless about what chronic pain sufferers (and the handicapped) go through every day. The only way to change such ignorant perceptions is to include chronic pain sufferers in discussions about opioid abuse, medical marijuana, and pain treatment in general. Excluding them paints an inaccurate picture, leading to uneducated, ignorant, and irrational conclusions. Thanks to the war on opioids, chronic pain suffers have been pushed into the shadows. We deserve better.
Bruce Gerencser
September 2019
Does President Trump Really Care About “Religious Freedom?”
Dear Editor:
President Donald Trump knows he has no hope of winning the 2020 election without white Evangelical Christians. In 2016, eighty-two percent of voting white Evangelicals cast their votes for Trump. For the President to win the upcoming general election, his conservative Christian base must come out in force. While some of Trump’s moral faux pas have caused base erosion, for the most part, Evangelicals continue to stand by their man.
Why do Evangelicals continue to support President Trump? I was an Evangelical pastor for twenty-five years. There was a time when Evangelical churches and pastors took resolute stands on moral virtue and ethics — especially for elected leaders. I remember my outrage over President Clinton’s sexual misbehavior and lying while in office. From the pulpit and in letters to the editors of local newspapers, I demanded his immediate removal from office. Twenty years later? Evangelicals now turn a blind eye to the behavior of a president who paid off porn stars, allegedly sexually assaulted women, possibly committed treason, and doesn’t go a day without factually and materially lying to the American people. What changed?
In the 1970s, Jerry Falwell and Paul Weyrich birthed the Moral Majority. This small, innocuous group morphed into Hydra — a multi-headed monster. Gaining critical mass in the 1990s, these groups forsook their moral underpinnings, choosing instead to imbibe the sewage water of raw political power. All that matters now is keeping control, outlawing abortion, shoving LGBTQ people back in the closet, and establishing a Christian theocracy. Evangelicals even go so far as to paint themselves as a persecuted religious minority. One need only listen to Trump’s recent incoherent “religious freedom” speech at the United Nations to know he has heard his Evangelical base loud and clear.
While it is undoubtedly true that religious persecution happens in many places — including North Korea and Saudi Arabia — Trump blocking the immigration of the primarily Muslim Rohingya people reveals that his recent “religious freedom” speeches are little more than reminders to Evangelicals that he has their back. I entered the ministry in the 1970s. I didn’t know of a preacher who didn’t believe in the separation of church and state. Today? Scores of Evangelicals deny this wall even exists. For this reason, people who genuinely value religious freedom for all — including unbelievers and non-Christians — must fight the religious right’s attempt to redefine “religious freedom.
Bruce Gerencser
August 2020
The Rotting Corpse of American Capitalism
Dear Editor:
Jerry Bergman’s latest letter to the editor about Karl Marx, Marxism, and atheism would be hilarious if it wasn’t for the fact that his distortions of history are believed by millions of Evangelical Christians. Marxism, socialism, and atheism are the new boogeymen used by preachers to foment outrage and fear among the faithful. Worse yet, many of these same preachers tell congregants that Donald Trump, a fascist, is the only thing standing between them and the socialist/Marxist horde taking over America.
Bergman takes one line from Marx, using it to paint a distorted view of 20th-century history. Here’s the rest of the quote:
“Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.”
As readers can see, Marx’s view of religion is more nuanced and complex than Bergman suggests.
Marx believed that religion provides a fantasy of sorts for the poor and disenfranchised. Economic realities prevent the poor from finding happiness in this life, so religion promises them happiness in the life to come. This Faustian bargain chains the poor to the rotting carcass of immoral American capitalism. It is only when the poor and disenfranchised see beyond the false promises of eternal life and heavenly prosperity that they see their only hope of a better tomorrow rests in casting off the chains of religion and resolutely standing against the political and social status quo.
It is clear to anyone who is paying attention that American capitalism is a failed economic system. Is Democratic Socialism the answer? Maybe. One thing is certain: capitalism is not the answer. Once Trump and his robber baron cronies are voted out of office in November, we can then begin anew to not make America great again, but to make her more fair, equitable, and just for all Americans.
Bruce Gerencser
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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