How To Drive Someone Away From Christianity — Indeed, Any Kind Of Religion

Regular readers know I'm something of a skeptic regarding formal, church-based religion: I have never been a Christian, and as a UU, I exercised the broad latitude extended by that religion to its fullest extent. But heretofore I have been, in my own estimation, very tolerant of other people's religious beliefs, even as I am utterly disinclined to engage in anything one could reasonably call "faith" myself: if something can be demonstrated satisfactorily by proof, example or repeatable experiment, it is at some level "true"; if not, I'm not interested... that thing may be harmless, but it is also useless.

On that basis, I've been tolerant of the religious beliefs of fundamentalist evangelicals I know. But the nature of fundamentalism has been radically altered by the likes of preachers like John MacArthur, pastor of Grace Community Church in the San Fernando Valley and radio Bible-thumper extraordinare:



When a "man of God" asserts that parents must disavow their own children, "turn them over to Satan," etc. just for being gay, that's where I must definitively part ways with him: frankly, anyone who is that ready to "turn [adult children] over to Satan" apparently perceives very little difference between God and Satan, and very little difference between himself and a prison guard prepared to inflict torture.

Condemned to an eternity
of Really Bad Hair
and Fraktur Type

In short, if God is not good or if God not only condones but encourages hateful behavior, what possible basis is there for worshiping Him/Her? Right... there's no basis whatsoever. We don't need any more hatred in humanity's already mean‑spirited, afflicted world. And so I say to Hell, perhaps literally, more likely figuratively, with damnation-fixated preachers like MacArthur.

Aside: FWIW, I've been damned to Hell by so many self-satisfied fundy Christians in my lifetime that if you wish to comment for that purpose only, you're wasting your time.

Afterthought: here's Ricky-boy Perry saying that being gay is like being alcoholic. This isn't the first time he's said that. Consequently, this isn't the first time he's been wrong about it. Alcoholism comes in several flavors, some of which are amenable to various kinds of treatment, and there are compelling health reasons for addressing treatable alcoholism. OTOH, as straight guys go, I've probably known more gay guys (and a few gals) than most, and not only do all of them assert that gayness is intrinsic, inborn, but I've yet to see any compelling reason for attempting to modify the behavior... certainly not because a radio preacher or a GOPer state governor thinks you should.

(H/T Christian Dem in NC at Daily Kos.)