I’ve had a horribly crazy week at work. Equipment failures and emergency shipments suck. I usually try to get posts ready days in advance, so since I’ve run out of scheduled material (except for Tuesday Science) this week will be a bit more off the cuff and on the fly. I did work on this post a bit on Thursday while I was passing the time waiting for a freezer alarm I was expecting before going to bed. If I’m not all that coherent, it’s because of sleep deprivation.
This time watching the in line videos before reading my commentary is not required, but it is recommended.
I hate to say it but I have to agree with O’Rilley here and so does Alonzo Fyfe of Atheist Ethicist.
A scam is when someone is peddling a product or service that the person selling it knows to be false. It is fraud. Some pastors and religious leaders are despicable, cowardly scam artists, others are as equally duped as the people they’re trying to sell it to.
The two summers I spent working with Adventist churches, most of my preaching, and the witnessing I did as a believer was not a scam. I believed it and thought it would help people.
The evangelistic series I tried to preach in Mexico was a much different situation. I didn’t believe a damn word that came out of my mouth. Those sermons were a scam because I was peddling something I didn’t believe in. I felt like a hypocrite and rightly so, so I quit. Even though I didn’t tell the people I had been preaching to that I was quitting or that I didn’t believe the bull shit I had been preaching to them, I do wonder what they were told about what happened to “El Pastor.”
I have no beef with honest Christians who try to spread their message. I think their wrong and that their message enslaves people’s and is harmful to the world, I will oppose them, but I think they’re honest people with good intentions. On the other hand, religious leaders who keep in the ministry after they have lost their faith, people who do what I found I couldn’t do in Mexico, are cowardly scam artists.
Sure, they’re trapped. Their families, careers, communities, and entire live revolve around something they no longer believe in. It’s hard to start a new career in this economy and to do anything other than ministry would pay a lot less with no where near the tax benefits. They would also probably be facing divorces and loosing their kids. Starting life over sucks. While I didn’t have a relationship or children to loose, I did have to walk away from my entire life and start everything over, so I know it sucks. But to live a lie, to preach empty words that keep people trapped by the thing that traps you…that is just despicable.
I know I have at least one reader who falls at least somewhat in this category, so the message for her and anyone else it applies to is stop scamming people, have some integrity, and move on. Yes it sucks, but life is so much better once your free of the shackles, it is well worth the pain.
Update 01/13/11 – I am sorry for being so harsh on those who are truly trapped by their situations. Please read my follow up post.
Now as far as O’Riley’s’s argument that the tides prove there is a god, well obviously he’s an idiot, but I’m quite shocked that Silverman didn’t have a response. Watch here to see Neil deGrasse Tyson remind us of what we all should have learned in fourth grade.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Bill O’Reilly Proves God’s Existence – Neil deGrasse Tyson | ||||
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(Video via Atheist Media Blog for O’Riley and Colbert)