Ohh,ohh,ohh. Someone got an ass reaming. I believe that Was Rush Limbaugh. If the Muslim's were to have outrage toward these atrocities and hypocrisies they might be more successful at convincing people that theirs is a religion of peace. But if I were to continue with this I suppose I would be an intolerant bastard who hates all Muslims. I digress.
As for Christians, just this past year I was in a bible study class at a Methodist church (a more liberal denomination of Christianity) and we were talking about the abuses of prosperity doctrine preachers. One of the men in the class who is a very kind and decent individual -he doesn't like to ruffle feathers- was talking about the church that his maid attends (he is an elderly man with a seriously handicapped wife to care for, he needs help where he can get it). Anyway it came out in a conversation that his maid recently had her electricity shut off due to the non payment of her bill. Yet this man knew that she put every spare dollar she had (and obviously some money she couldn't spare) into the collection plate at her church. Her pastor is fabulously rich. He owns a house that, by the looks of it, appears to be around 110000 sq feet or more. It sits on a couple acres of high priced land. He calls the place a "religious retreat" for tax evasion purposes. Recently he wanted a private jet and his congregation barfed up the money.
Anyway when I criticized him and some other prosperity doctrine preachers that I know about I got my ass reamed by someone else in the group. Though no one else joined in, no one else backed me up either. I was the intolerant asshole for criticizing "what I didn't know" as he said. Mind you I did know, I looked up the facts, but this fact landed on deaf ears. Anyway, this shocked me because the church was such a liberal church by comparison to most cf churches.
Recently I saw a flyer from some traveling prosperity doctrine preacher who was to preach in a city nearby. I wondered what would happen to me If I started a "don't waste your money on this guy campaign." At the time I was still attending church. Technically I was still a Christian. I would have been doing my part to help the religion self regulate. I had a feeling that If I ever did do this thing I think I had better check whether my home owner's insurance covered arson.
Now that I can't exactly call myself religious I suppose I'd be just another lost soul who didn't know any better. Or perhaps I would be a damned Atheist who wishes to destroy all religion by criticizing the abuses in a particular religion.
Religion and catch 22's. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
As for Christians, just this past year I was in a bible study class at a Methodist church (a more liberal denomination of Christianity) and we were talking about the abuses of prosperity doctrine preachers. One of the men in the class who is a very kind and decent individual -he doesn't like to ruffle feathers- was talking about the church that his maid attends (he is an elderly man with a seriously handicapped wife to care for, he needs help where he can get it). Anyway it came out in a conversation that his maid recently had her electricity shut off due to the non payment of her bill. Yet this man knew that she put every spare dollar she had (and obviously some money she couldn't spare) into the collection plate at her church. Her pastor is fabulously rich. He owns a house that, by the looks of it, appears to be around 110000 sq feet or more. It sits on a couple acres of high priced land. He calls the place a "religious retreat" for tax evasion purposes. Recently he wanted a private jet and his congregation barfed up the money.
Anyway when I criticized him and some other prosperity doctrine preachers that I know about I got my ass reamed by someone else in the group. Though no one else joined in, no one else backed me up either. I was the intolerant asshole for criticizing "what I didn't know" as he said. Mind you I did know, I looked up the facts, but this fact landed on deaf ears. Anyway, this shocked me because the church was such a liberal church by comparison to most cf churches.
Recently I saw a flyer from some traveling prosperity doctrine preacher who was to preach in a city nearby. I wondered what would happen to me If I started a "don't waste your money on this guy campaign." At the time I was still attending church. Technically I was still a Christian. I would have been doing my part to help the religion self regulate. I had a feeling that If I ever did do this thing I think I had better check whether my home owner's insurance covered arson.
Now that I can't exactly call myself religious I suppose I'd be just another lost soul who didn't know any better. Or perhaps I would be a damned Atheist who wishes to destroy all religion by criticizing the abuses in a particular religion.
Religion and catch 22's. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
