Lay Theism

I was watching TV tonight and an ad for “Right from the Heart Ministries” came on…  I first met Bryant Wright back in 1991 when Johnson Ferry Baptist Church (JFBC) was just a little tyke, at least compared to the huge monster it is now.  He was always an affable fellow, and I attended his church for several years as a member.  While I attended with my family, the church started to really grow (and grow) and the monster had an ever increasing appetite for money.  Religion quickly fails without a steady stream of funds… faith may last, but organized religion is dead without cold, hard cash.

Over time, that aspect of church life among others really wore on me, intellectually and financially.  We were driving more than 20 miles one way to attend his little slice of heaven, and I was amazed at how little our attendance, time, and money was appreciated.  It was more of an expectation of a good Baptist.  Bryant frequently reminded the congregation about his business background before he was “called” to Johnson Ferry.  He was not so subtly making the point that for the church to prosper, it had to be run like a business.  Um, duh.  That’s how this stuff works.  It was an important lesson for me and one of the many curiosities that interfered with the worship time that might have kept me in the flock.  N-E-Way… I thought I would do a quick search for Pastor Wright and the second hit on Google was this nut case from Flickr.

I couldn’t help but think, “Hey, that looks just like Bryant Wright!”  What do you think?  Twins?  Separated at birth?  Long lost, pissed off brother?

Bryant Wright?

I thought it would be a fun thing to write about.  In the course of my “research”, I ran across this:

Belief in the Lordship of Jesus Christ
Baptists believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation and eternal life. We believe a personal decision must be made by each individual to repent from sin and trust Him as their Lord and Savior. We do not inherit our Christianity from our parents.

I disagree.  The vast majority of people inherit their beliefs from their parents.  Maybe he’s just pandering to the latest Pew survey that indicates many people switch faiths implying that if you find “Christianity” or “Baptistness” that you must truly have found salvation.  Sigh.  Honestly, I am shocked and saddened that it took me so long to wake up and walk away.  Seriously, read this with fresh eyes and an open mind:

Baptists believe all Christians should read and study the Bible. We are not a creedal people. Our only creed is the Bible. In 2000, the Southern Baptist Convention adopted a revised confession of faith entitled “The Baptist Faith and Message” which says this about the Bible: “The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which human conduct, creeds and religious opinions should be tried.

Come on! No error? Totally true and trustworthy? The Bible is masochistic and misogynistic garbage with a little of grandma’s tall tales and common sense mixed in written by primitive men with approximately zero scientific knowledge of the world.

Holy crap is what it is.

Additional search terms for those seeking common sense and a new church or intellectual home:

Marietta, Atlanta, Kennesaw, OTP, burbs, suburbs, transfer of letter, pain and suffering, adultery, farce, directions to Johnson Ferry, phone, contact, prayer request, fools and zealots, random thoughts, Brian Wright, Brain Wright, good people, kids, wonder, merriment, seeking truth, puppets, monkeys, firefighters, pencils, humanism, alliance, atheists, off the map, secular, mehta, hemant, friendly atheist, tragic, sold my soul, flurg, olly olly oxen free.

Good luck in your search for truth.

Agnostic, Atheism, Religion Atheism, Baptist, Christian, church, faith

In David Waters latest Under God column he posits that McCain is with some likelihood not a believer in God.  I would only add to that… Duh.  Look at his life.  Why would he believe in God? I won’t drag you through the entire history. I’m just saying, it seems unlikely given what he has been through.  Hell, I’ve been through a whole lot less and I don’t believe in God. I have never been witness to a miracle or even had a credible account of someone experiencing one.

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It’s interesting here in the US how much freedom we have to do or say what ever we wish with regards to our speech and religion. However, I think it’s unhealthy the number of people who cloak themselves in religion to literally steal your money. Some, like Peter Popoff, don’t believe their own bullshit, and are bilking people out of millions of dollars.  Others, like our local Baptist preachers, seem to believe their rhetoric, but they are nearly as aggressive with extracting money from their congregations.  Sitting in a Baptist service as a non-believer now blows my mind.  The Emperor has no clothes, there is no wizard behind the curtain, and religion is like politics without the elections.  It’s truly appalling to listen to these preachers go on about their new sanctuary, and faith-based school, and their mission trips to convert the unwashed masses, and yet leave in a new Mercedes. Since I no longer attend church, I am able to direct my money into charities that actually do good works for people without fear of conversion.

Anyway, I started thinking about it because of the bombing in Pakistan and the recent treatment of religious groups in China.  These events and other less notable happenings occur every day, but isn’t it interesting that so many people have a warped, and certainly different interpretation of their religion? I hope I live to see the day where the majority of us look at the remaining, shrinking minority of pious people left, and say –won’t it be nice when their eyes open and they stop killing, persecuting, and condemning in the name of a myth.

Atheism, History, Politics, Religion Baptist, bible, bullshit, fakes, James Randi

After seeing the best SNL opening I have seen in a while, I was inspired to blog about it.  First, Tina Fey nails Sarah Palin… in the theatrical sense.  Then, they whipped out (oops) the whole MILF thing. But they couldn’t leave it at that.  Amy Poehler doing Hillary (stop that) says that she doesn’t like being referred to as a “flirj”. Yeah, I had no clue, so I “Gergled” it like Hillary did.  Who would have known that there’s something Google doesn’t know?!  At any rate, the best I came up with was FLIRG = First Lady… I’d Rather Jack-Off.  Supposedly IRJ is a common suffix, so it follows that we would end up with flirg (vs. flerg, flerge, flerj, flerje, flirg, flirge, flirj, flirje, flurg, flurge, flurje, flurj, or flurdge which are clearly ridiculous and just plain wrong).

Actually, what made me laugh was later in the show when Alaska Pete (which harkins back to Produce Pete — not this douche, this douche) pointed out that Sarah Palin is not just a MILF, but is soon to officially be a GILF.  Kinda funny, and had not occurred to me… although I had already heard VPILF elsewhere.

Anyway, as you may or may not know based on the general ideology of this blog, I do not share Gov. Palin’s view of the world having been created in six days because God thought it was a good idea.  Nor, do I think that her youngest son was born with Down’s Syndrome because God thought that would be swell too.  In fact, I think it’s sad that McCain felt he needed to add that particular contrast to his ticket. On the other hand, she has shaken up this campaign in a way that was badly needed.

I still think McCain is to be the next president, and it scares me less than Obama.  I will reluctantly cast my vote for the screwed up, broken, Republican party once again.  If the Democrats can ever get their shit together and start to act like they will be responsible with our money, they’ll have my vote in a heartbeat (I am not implying that I think the Republicans have been responsible with our money, but they don’t overtly want to take as much of it away).  Until then, I feel like I have no choice but to deal with crazy Christians and the rest of the right outside of the political forum.  At the end of the day, I guess I worry more about my checkbook than I do my kid’s textbook.

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I have been wanting to post on Dr. Pausch’s death by pancreatic cancer and his religion, but really couldn’t find much to say beyond the other extensive reporting, and thought I was getting out of control with the obituaries (Snow and Carlin). 

Richard J. Radcliffe on the Law Religion Culture Review has an excellent post on Pausch and his religion (or lack thereof). I will point out that Pausch comes very close to embracing atheism when he says:

I was raised Presbyterian and attended church regularly until I was about 17. I like the fact that [Unitarian Universalism] appeals to reason and thought more than dogma.

I think this was a man who had sworn off religion much the same way I have.  If I found myself in his situation, I would conduct myself in the EXACT same way (well, I don’t teach, so it would be unlikely for me to give a last lecture).  My children do not know that I am a non-believer.  Many of the things I tell them have a universal non-religious wisdom just as the things Randy left for his children.  It’s possible he folded in more religion privately, but the philosophy he shared publicly is what will endure and be repeated thus defining who Randy Pausch was.  This will be what everyone, including his kids, will remember.

The best things I have seen come from him in his last few months of life are:

Never lose the child-like wonder. It’s just too important. It’s what drives us.

Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you.

Do not tell people how to live their lives. Just tell them stories. And they will figure out how those stories apply to them.

We’re not going to talk about spirituality and religion. Although I will tell you that I have experienced a deathbed conversion. I just bought a Macintosh.

I’ve heard this said before and strongly subscribe to the notion:

The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people!

He was an impressive man and it gratifies me a great deal to see what an effect he has had on others. 

Kudos, Randy, and thanks for speaking out publicly for your kids.  It made us all better people.

Atheism, Religion, Science cancer, death, obit, pauch, paucsh, pausch, paush, Religion