Waco's Baylor Bashes Gays - God Kills Waco Pastor Performing Baptism : Coincidence?

Note: This post is getting a lot of attention - more than I intended or neccesarily wanted. Please read the entire post and a few comments at least before you respond with comments. And please don't post a prayer announcement. If you want to pray for me, then fine. But there is no need to announce it.

For all the talk that the conservative Southern Baptists give about God's wrath on the wicked, one might wonder what message God is sending them now. Is he perhaps upset about their hate-filled agenda against homosexuals? A very interesting pair of news items from Waco, Tx, home of the largest Southern Baptist university.

Baylor Boycott 'Pro-homosexual' Starbucks Cups

Texas Pastor Electrocuted During Baptism

Mon Oct 31,12:42 AM ET

A pastor performing a baptism was electrocuted inside his church Sunday morning after adjusting a nearby microphone while standing in water, a church employee said.

The Rev. Kyle Lake, 33, was stepping into the baptistery as he reached out for the microphone, which produced an electric shock, said University Baptist Church community pastor Ben Dudley.

Water in a baptistery usually reaches above the waist, said Byron Weathersbee, interim university chaplain at Baylor University.

Lake was pronounced dead at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, nursing supervisor Pat Mahl said. The woman being baptized apparently had not stepped into the water and was not seriously injured.

Pastors at University Baptist Church routinely use a microphone during baptisms, said Jamie Dudley, the wife of Ben Dudley and a business administrator at the church.

"He was grabbing the microphone so everyone could hear," she said. "It's the only way you can be loud enough."

About 800 people attended the morning service, which was larger than normal because it was homecoming weekend at nearby Baylor University, Dudley said.

Lake had been at the church for nine years, the last seven as pastor. He had a wife, Jennifer, a 5-year-old daughter and two 3-year-old sons.

At a remembrance attended by about 1,000 people Sunday night at First Baptist Church, Ben Dudley told the UBC congregation that they would move forward as a church.

"I don't know how, when, why, where or what's going to happen, but we will continue as a church in the community because that is what Kyle would have wanted," he said.

God kills a pastor in front of 800 faithful including children. I suppose these believers' faith will only be strengthened. Perhaps at the prayer vigil God will send a bolt of lightning or a sudden tornadoe and kill a few hundred more devout worshipers. Will the survivors still get on their knees and worship their God? How anyone could believe in a God who electrocutes his servants in front of 800 of his flock is just beyond me. How wonderful to be faithless so that events like this can be viewed as what they are; horrible accidents that have nothing to do with an imaginary 'God'.

Tagged As:
baylor
baptist
homosexual
religion
irony

3 School Girls Beheaded

Stories like this make me more determined than ever to spread the message of reason and reality to those whose minds are in the fog of superstition.

Christian Girls Beheaded

Solutions to the Problems of Faith

In a recent post, vjack of Atheist Revolution made this call to atheist bloggers:

In this post, I call for the beginning of a shift toward a greater focus on solutions to the problems we have identified. We are right to continue addressing the problems until they are more widely acknowledged. However, religious belief endures through the ages in part because it satisfies human needs that are not easily met by the alternatives. Thus, I believe that increased attention to solutions is required to achieve real change.

I have been concerned that as atheists we are often stereotyped as just angry, pissed off malcontents who will nit-pick theism without offering alternatives. Perhaps this stereotype is deserved in some instances, but I believe any anger that we express is out of a sense of frustration and not out of hatred or malice. It is mind-blowingly frustrating to witness the carte-blanche free pass that religious organizations get when it comes to their illegal and immoral practices while we are labeled as 'evil' or without morals.

Take the case of the Catholic Church pedophilia epidemic and coverup. Imagine any other organization, public or private that sent known pedophiles into communities where they knew the pedophilia would be in close and private contact with children. Imagine that this organization paid bribe or hush money to silence victims and continuously moved these pedophiles from one city to another, not warning the future victims or their families. If any organization did this, other than a religious organization, then all involved from the bottom to the top of the organization would be in prison. The organization would simply cease to exist.

This is just one example of the double standard applied in the United States and most of the world to religious organizations. I think that reminding members of these groups about the actions of their leaders and members is an important job for us. 'God' knows that the media aren't going to do a good job of it. Furthermore, it is very hard for those of us who can view these organizations from a rational viewpoint to simply ignore what is going on. It does make us angry and definitely makes us frustrated to hear believers excuse these horrible actions.

In my view, bringing these things to the attention of believers and challenging their beliefs and preconceptions are, in their own way, solutions. We certainly are never going to be able to compete with the promise of a paradise after death or dozens of virgins waiting for you when you die. I think that the best thing we can do is to encourage believers think, to get them to question aspects of their faiths that they may never have considered. Someone who has been in a deep sleep may not be awakened by a light touch on the shoulder, they may need a good shake. There is a lot at stake, our very survival as a species, and a subtle approach to our message may not get through in time.

Living your life without faith and lies is much harder than living your life believing in fairy tales and a magical friend who is always there to help you. We non-believers will never be able to compete with that. What we can do is to show believers that there are 10's of millions of us who are living happy, productive and moral lives without the need for faith and to point out that the credit they give their faith for the positive aspects of their lives is not deserved. We need to show them that they are the reason that good things happen to them; that they are in control of their lives.

Let's face the facts. For most people, believing is easier than being skeptical. I know it doesn't make sense to us, but for them it does. If we are going to make any difference, it is going to be gradual and on a one by one basis. In my own case, my journey from religious faith was triggered by a very small event. We are basically planting the seeds of reason within the minds of our readers. Whether these seeds take root or not is unknown. While it may not seem we are winning the battle for reason over ignorance, I don't think it is going to be an easy thing to measure. All that we can do is to chip away at it little by little.

Tagged as:
faith
religion
atheist

Atheist Revolution: Let's Get Solution-Focused

Atheist Revolution: Let's Get Solution-Focused

An interesting idea from vjack at Atheist Revolution. I will be posting my view on this later this weekend.

Sulu is Gay!

Actor George Takei who played helmsman Sulu in the original Star Trek series has come out as a homosexual. This post may seem off topic for an atheist blog, but I did a bit of research and found a 'lost episode' of Star Trek.

In the episode "Sword of Exodus", Sulu comes out of the closet when a mysterious entity removes the crews inhibitions. Uhura, secretly working for a Christian organization, Exodus Interplanetary, attempts to use her many charms to 'cure' Sulu of his affliction (see photo). She is unsuccessful in her attempt which prompts Sulu to perform the 'Polished Saber of Gayness' dance around the decks and corridors of the Enterprise.

As a consolation to Uhura, she is later nailed by Captain Kirk who, ironically, is actually gay also.

Tagged as:
parody
homosexuality
Exodus International

Intelligent Design of our Founding Fathers

'Enough Jesus Already' say Republicans

Another Republican dares to speak out against the Christian extremist in his party. I have never understood how moderate Republicans can stomach these guys running the show. I think that more moderate Republicans will be taking this stance against the theocratic wing of their party as the 2006 election cycle gets closer. Perhaps this is the beginning of the end of the Christian Right's seize of power.

Danforth Criticizes Christian Sway in GOP

By DANIEL CONNOLLY, Associated Press Writer

Former Sen. John Danforth said Wednesday that the political influence of evangelical Christians is hurting the Republican Party and dividing the country.

Danforth, a Missouri Republican and an Episcopal priest, commented after meeting with students at the Bill Clinton School of Public Service, a graduate branch of the University of Arkansas on the grounds of the Clinton presidential library.

"I think that the Republican Party fairly recently has been taken over by the Christian conservatives, by the Christian right," he said in an interview. "I don't think that this is a permanent condition, but I think this has happened, and that it's divisive for the country."

He also said the evangelical Christian influence would be bad for the party in the long run.

Republican National Committee spokeswoman Tracy Schmitt declined to comment on Danforth's remarks.

Danforth, who recently served as ambassador to the United Nations, made similar criticism of the party in an opinion article published by the New York Times in June. In that article, he called for religious moderates to take part in public life.

Danforth, considered a conservative on social issues, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1976 and served three terms.

Tagged as:

religion
politics
republican

51% of Americans Are IDiots

A recent poll indicates that 85% of Americans are ignorant and 51% are IDiots when it comes to the subject of evolution.

The telephone poll conducted Oct. 3-5 suggests 51 percent of those asked believe God created humans in their present form. Three in 10 believed while humans evolved, that God guided the process, and 15 percent said humans evolved independently. UPI

While my opening sentence may seem harsh, please consider the following scenario.

What would the 51% who dismiss all the overwhelming scientific evidence for evolution have believed if we went back into history?

If we were to go back in time to the early 1600's, our 51% IDiot majority would be cheering the Catholic Church as it decried the scientific theory put forth by Galileo that the Earth revolved around the sun and not vice-versa. If you look at the ranting of the church at the time, there are obvious similarities to the rhetoric that we now hear from those opposed to evolution. Galileo's theory was called 'Atheistic', geometry was condemned as 'of the Devil' and Galileo was personally insulted and denounced. The church could not have science contradicting religious teachings. Sound familiar yet?

If we were to go back, say another 500 years, our 51% IDiot majority would still be clinging to the notion of a flat earth. Although the concept of a round earth had been accepted by people as early as the first century, our 'IDiot Majority' would have sturdily opposed such a blasphemous notion. The Holy Bible is filledwith references that indicate that the earth is flat so why would our IDiot majority believe Atheist scientists?

The scenario we have today is no different than those we see throughout history. Science continues to progress and religion has to adapt to stay relevant. Scriptures have to be ignored or conveniently reinterpreted to conform to the accepted wisdom.

I for one am proud to be in the 15% who would have been standing with Galileo as he faced the inquisition. Where do you stand?

Tagged as:
evolution
intelligent design
religion

If You're a Christian, Muslim or Jew - You are Wrong

How wonderful see someone write so boldly on this subject. We need more of this.

Sample:

We live in a world full of insane people. Sanity is an island battered in an ocean of frothing delusion. The people who believe in science are the minority. The people who believe in bloody fairytales are the overwhelming majority.

Link to entire article

What Did Naples Do?

Perhaps some of you Christians would like to explain to me what Naples, Florida and the surrounding areas did to bring about "God's Wrath" this time? Seems to me another direct hit on New Orleans would really have put the fear of himself into all of those wicked sinners. When do you suppose Las Vegas will be hit by one of God's Holy Hurricanes? It proudly claims the title of 'Sin City'.

Is Joe a Christian?

A post at Atheist Revolution inspired me to post this.

I have a friend, Joe, who is a self-proclaimed Christian. I have known him for over 10 years and, previous to just a few years ago, I had no clue that he was a Christian. We had conversations in the past specifically about spirituality and our thoughts on the afterlife and he never even mentioned Jesus Christ.

When Joe began going to a local Methodist church it peaked my curiosity so I asked him about his beliefs. He was very vague about it until I really pressed him about specifics of what he believes.

Here are his specific beliefs:

God?
Joe doesn't believe in the God of the old testament. He believes there is 'something else' but does not believe in any specific God.

Jesus?
Joe does not believe Jesus was the son of (a) God. He does not believe he was born of a virgin. He does not believe he rose from the dead. He does not even necessarily believe that Jesus actually existed, this after I pointed out the lack of evidence for an historical Jesus.

So my questions are as follows:

In your opinion, Is Joe A Christian?
If you believe he is not, why?
What do you believe motivates Joe to wish to be identified as a Christian?
If you believe he is a Christian, then please offer support for that belief.

Please let me know your religious affiliation, if any, when you reply.

I am sincerely interested in hearing the opinions of as many as possible, including religious folk, so please let me know what you think.

Tagged as:

christianity
religion

The Christians are Coming, The Christians are Coming!

Many of you may have heard of a group of Ultra-Conservative Christians which calls itself Christian Exodus. This group, founded by Californian Cory Burnell, intends to take over the government of South Carolina and convert it into a 'Christian' State - governed by their interpretation of the Bible. Burnell and his family, by the way, still live in sunny California. The group recently held their convention in Greenville, SC, 20 miles from where I grew up and where all of my family now lives.

Link to full details in local paper here.

I would strongly suggest reading the entire article, but I have pulled a few jewels to comment on from the article for now.

"Bob Hervieux of Simpsonville, who moved from Massachusetts last month, said the group's focus on the rights of states and "their desire to glorify God in all that they're doing, within government" attracted him. "We've got church, we've got family, we've got government, so government shouldn't be excluded. They want to tie those things together."

Comments like this one from flag-waving, gun-toting, red-state Americans always amaze me. The absolute ignorance of the basic framework of our constitution is incredible. Of course, some speakers of the group had more than just the complete abolishment of the 1st Amendment in mind.

"Burnell said that with national power, Christian Exodus would seek to determine whether the 14th, 16th and 17th amendments to the U.S. Constitution were "ratified properly, and if not, put them up for proper ratification."

Considering that life's only certainties are 'death and taxes', I think the 16th amendment is probably safe, but what problem do they have with the 14th? Perhaps they want African Americans to again only count as 3/5 ths of a human being. This certainly would help the conservatives and christians in elections, considering the voting patterns of African Americans.

A hint at the motivations for this objection are voiced by this speaker, John Cobin, at the convention:

"We like guns -- they're part of our checks and balances against the evils and intrusions of an interventionist state. That's right to shoot them when they come down your street in South Carolina. I hope you'll have the courage to die for liberty," he said.

"They're going to come up with a SWAT team and ask for your weapons, and you should pull it out immediately, take aim, and fire," Cobin said.

Lincoln, Cobin said, "didn't free a single slave. He was a maniacal, shifty politician who's responsible for the (Civil War) deaths of 600,000 people."

The last view I have heard many times from my own brother, a fundamentalist Christian who lives and works near Greenville. He also is a slavery apologist, a conservative revisionist movement to divest slavery as a cause of the Civil War and to propose the notion that 'slaves didn't really have it that bad". This revisionist history is being offered in many Christian schools.

The only positive aspect of this convention, from a secular point of view, is that interest from followers of this group seems to be waning. From most newspaper accounts, there were never more than 50 individuals at any one time in the audience and I imagine a lot of those may have been children. Another positive aspect is the attention and almost unanimous ridicule that this group is getting from sensible people across the nation.

This story, as I have mentioned, hits close to home for me. Each time I return to see my family in the Upstate of South Carolina I am astounded at the attitudes I encounter in the newspapers, television reporting and simply from the people who live there. I am somewhat ashamed to admit that my home state could not be a better candidate for takeover by religious zealots and bigots.


Tagged as:

christian exodus
South Carolina
religion

Many Questions Raised by S.F. Child Murders

So many things are wrong in this story from San Francisco.

Of course the first question anyone would have would be 'Why'?
It seems clear already that the mother of these children needed psychiatric care and was not receiving it, or at the very least was not being fully treated. The mother has indicated that 'voices in her head' told her to kill the children. Does anyone out there think that it could have been 'God' telling her to do this? How would we know if it was 'God' or not?

But knowing that the mom was not well, you have to ask yourself why she was still having children. One of the children was 2 years and another 16 months. Was there no one in her family or friends who encouraged her to abstain from giving birth to more children until she was well? If her diagnosis of schizophrenia was after her last birth, was their no concern for the well being of her children? Did anyone consider that she might not be in the best mental state to care for them?

From the interviews conducted with family and friends, it seems clear that most of them were aware that she talked to herself and was not well. What amazes me is that in the same interview a friend is quoted as saying that 'I know she would never harm her children. I KNOW'. Isn't absolute certainty and denial of the obvious a wonderful thing? Her friend has just killed her three children, yet she 'knows' that she would never hurt them. Wake up honey, she just killed her kids.

And finally, there is the family who are witnessed at the pier holding hands and praying. How exactly, do you suppose, that prayer went? What do you say to your 'God' when your daughter, sister, aunt or niece murders her three children because 'God' felt fit to make her mentally ill? The family clearly knows at this point that she needed mental health services and was denied them. They are at least somewhat rational in seeking a secular solution to her problems. But why pray? I just don't get the believers need to pray when their 'God' has just caused absolute tragedy in the family.

If the prayer was, as many are, for 'God's will to be done', then how can we question what the mother did? If it was 'God's will' for this to happen, then the mother did exactly what 'God' wanted her to do. For that matter, how can believers question any tragedy that occurs since it is all a part of 'God's plan'. So again, what is the point of praying about it?

When something like this occurs, I am certainly glad to be free of religion so that I don't have to face the absurdity of pretending there is divine design behind this terrible event and I don't have to come to terms with the emotional betrayal of a 'Loving God'.

prayer
religion

Is Religious Indoctrination Child Abuse?

Once the veil of religion was lifted from my eyes, so many things that I had never considered suddenly seemed glaringly apparent. I am sure this is not news to anyone who has come out of a rigid or even liberal religious background to a position of unbridled freedom of thought. There are so many aspects of what I had been taught was ‘right’ and ‘good’ that I am sure I will be busy for many months writing and posting my thoughts.

One of the major concerns that I now have as a free thinker is the entire concept of children being indoctrinated into religious thought at a young age. To a westernized Christian, the idea that church ideology could harm a child is not even considered. But this same group of people would no doubt cringe at the site of Muslim boys sitting crossed legged for hours memorizing the Koran, rocking forward and backward like some automaton. This is what passes for education in many places in this world.

I would have no way of knowing what Christians today choose to allow their young children to know of the Bible’s blood lust, but I hope that most use some discretion. Most Christians that I know have major blind spots or complete ignorance of most of the Bible which would indicate to me that they never were taught these parts or at the least that they were conveniently overlooked.

But this begs the question; why use the Bible as your guide to child-rearing if you have to ignore large portions of what it teaches? I could list dozens of passages that are not fit to be heard by children, but I will refrain for now and limit by choices to one; the wonderful father and son adventure of Abraham and Isaac.

Once upon a time ….

‘God’ decides to tempt Abraham to test his faith and willingness to murder his son. Why ‘God’ would have to tempt Abraham is odd considering that he should already know whether Abraham had faith or not. And the method that Abraham receives this command isn’t defined. If Abraham receives his messages from ‘God’ as most believers do, then I assume it is a voice in his head.

To get on with the story, The Voice in Abraham’s Head tells him to go on a trip with his son, load up some asses and couple of servants and head off to commit murder on top of some yet to be disclosed mountain. When they get within sight of the mountain, Abraham leaves the servants and asses and heads up the mountain with Isaac. First, Abraham loads up Isaac with the wood that will be needed to burn him and he gets some fire, maybe a book of matches from one of the servants, who knows. By the way, Abraham lies to the servants about where he and his son are headed, he tells them they are going to go to yon mountain and worship. He isn’t exactly honest in saying that he is going to yon mountain to murder my only son.

At this point, Isaac asks his father where the lamb to offer as a sacrifice is. Abraham again lies and says that ‘God’ will provide that. He could have been honest and said, “Lamb, I don’t need no stinking Lamb”.

Abraham and Isaac get to the top of the mountain and build the alter of sacrifice. Abraham binds Isaac. Evidently, Isaac can not be trusted to simply lie on the alter and be slaughtered willingly. Like most sensible people, he would probably try to avoid being murdered by his father.

Without hesitation or even a second check of that voice in his head, Abraham raises the knife to murder his son. What Isaac is thinking at this time or doing is not specified in the holy texts. My guess would be that having been bound and laid on an alter, he was probably screaming something to the effect of “WTF!”.

Just at that moment, one of ‘God’s’ flunkies, a nameless angel (who at least does speak out of the clouds as we would expect them to), commands Abraham to put down the knife and tells him that the whole deal was pretty much just a little joke ‘God’ had played upon him. ‘God’ evidently was too busy to speak directly to Abraham at this time. He may have been destroying Sodom and Gomorrah or turning someone into a pillar of salt.

Abraham notices a goat that is now in some bushes and decides to kill it instead of Isaac. Abraham is praised for being a really cool servant of God for his willingness to murder his own son and is promised to get the ‘God’ version of Viagra to go and spread his wonderful seed all over the land.

I am not really sure what kind of relationship that Isaac and Abraham had after that. It doesn’t seem to be important to ‘God’. I can only guess that Isaac slept with one eye open and avoided going on vacation with dad after that.

…and they lived happily ever after?

This passage is the subject of unknown numbers of sermons in churches every week. Can you imagine the fear that it must put into the minds of children? I wonder if any of the kids ask their fathers what they would do if ‘God’ instructed them to do such a thing.

What would you Real Christians do if instructed by ‘God’ to murder your children and what would you expect your secular counterparts to do if you acted upon this instruction from a voice in your head?

The problem that True Believers seem to have is that they want to credit their holy book for any morality they may have, but their true morality is based upon secular values, not those condoned in the bloody Bible.

These people should think about what they are doing before they send their kids off to Sunday school or to a religious school. Damage is being done.

There is no God and you know it

I know this is being linked at a lot of atheist sites, but I am going to list it here also. A great piece by a great writer.

"There is no God and you know it" by Sam Harris on The Huffington Report

Natural Born Skeptic : My Journey from Faith Part 1

When I was an infant, my family would regularly travel the 20 miles or so to my father’s grandmother, Granny Rogers, the woman who raised him from an early age. This trip took us past a classic old south single structure white washed church sitting high upon a hill. It was hard not to notice the church from some distance away.

I was very late in my development of speech as a child to the point of it being some concern for my parents. I simply had very little to say and rarely spoke. On one of our trips to see Granny Rogers as we approached the church, I suddenly said in a loud lisped voice, "Ut Oh, Dars a chuch". After the initial shock of my sudden speech, the family roared at the content of my verbal outburst.

Of course, I cannot remember this event, but it is clear to me that at that early age I already knew that going to church was not something that I wanted to do.

My family attended a local Southern Baptist church of a very fundamentalist nature. Our pastor was of the ridiculously theatrical bent - jumping up and down, slamming fist on the pulpit, falling to his knees, running up and down the aisles of the church, even locking to door to the church to keep Satan out. This being a Southern Baptist church, there were of course no black members. Our pastor even used the 'N' word occasionally from the pulpit for comedic effect.

While these theatrics were entertaining, there was some part of my young brain that still told me that this guy had a screw or two loose. I got nothing out of his sermons. Not a thing. But at least he kept me from falling asleep.

When the time came that everyone felt I should "Come under conviction", I began to be pressured to succumb to an alter call and be 'saved'. I eventually did one Sunday morning. I remember the pastor kneeling with me on a pew and asking me some questions. I really had no idea what he was talking about and luckily they were of the 'yes/no' variety. So I bluffed it.

I did pretty well until one question when I said 'no' instead of 'yes'. The pastor startled at the answer so I quickly changed my answer and he seemed OK with this. So I was saved. My family could now rest easy that 'if I should die before I wake' that god would take my soul.

More to come.

Why I Need To Do This (Blog)

I can't believe that I am actually going to blog.

Not only am I going to blog, but I am going to blog about being an 'evil' atheist in the bible belt of God's chosen land, the good old U. S. of A. How has it come to this?

The first reason is pity. I pity my poor friends and wife who have to listen to my rants against that particular brand of christianity known as fundamentalism. Emphasis on the 'mental'. Perhaps ranting to everyone and no one on the net is a better and more humane way to vent than to be the equivalent of 'Debby Downer' on Saturday Night Live.

The second reason is simply that I can. I live in a country that, for the time being, a person of any religious or non-religious persuasion can say what they think. I thought perhaps that I should use this right while I can.

The third reason is that since I have become an out-of-the-closet atheist, I have been stunned at how many people I have met seem to think they have never met an atheist before. It is highly unlikely that this would be the case considering that roughly 1 person in 10 is openly atheistic and many more are some weaker version of atheism.

The fourth reason is to perhaps offer some support for those who are too afraid, intimidated or uncertain to embrace their own disbelief. The web is a wonderful tool for those whose voice has been suppressed by 'the powers that be'. My own research and interaction with others on the web has helped to solidify my conclusions about my own beliefs.

And finally, the last reason is because of the current state of affairs in my country. Religion has run amuck. Religion is being taught as science in our schools. Religion is preventing victims of rape from being given emergency contraception. Invisible men are telling presidents to invade countries and start wars. At the same time, those who do not believe are being maligned and defamed daily. Failure to acknowledge a theistic God will get an Eagle Scout thrown out of the Boy Scouts. Father Bush is even quoted as saying that an atheist couldn't be considered a citizen or a patriot. I have simply had enough.

So here's to another new experience in my life and hopefully to new friends and not too many new enemies.