"...if I didn't have my friends at church, knowing they are going through the same thing as I am. I'd feel so alone. I'd feel like I'd give up." And so the trap is set, peer pressure to stay in the church and not open their minds and hearts to other options.

This is so far beyond creepy... I mean I get the pledge to stay a virgin until you are married. If that's your wish, then go with it, but this is carrying that well beyond what is reasonable. I'm almost cool with the idea of trying to get the father's approval, though that shouldn't be an absolute, as the girl isn't the father's property. She still should have the right to choose on her own... This is one of the things I don't get about these sort of movements, removal of choice, the key thing that God set up for us, when you force that choice, then you remove it from the person and say God is too weak to convict the person of the wrong choice. It is partly why I moved from Republican to Libertarian because I couldn't deal with the idea of telling people how to live their life, as it made God seem weak, as if He couldn't convict them.

I'd like to hope that even at the height of my evangelical life that I would have found this too creepy. Even when I was in Promise Keepers and traveling great distances to Promise Keepers meetings, and to see Benny Hinn and other evangelical preachers. I fear sometimes I would probably find it creepy but would be willing to dismiss it too easily...

Where's the purity balls for moms and sons? Of course, the woman has no authority in these types of homes.

Reminds me of Benny Hinn healing people by hitting them with his coat.

http://videosift.com/video/BENNY-HINN-Let-The-Bodies-Hit-The-Floor-2

benny hinn is benny hill in an alternate universe

this still doesnt beat Benny Hinn and his Jacket of Doom tho

You got it, that's how Benny Hinn is able to fly around in a private jet. Tithings/donations from 20,000 members of a mega church and however many TV rubes is a lot of $. Hmm, let me get back to you...I've got to get a church going.

>> ^HollywoodBob:
>> ^Winstonfield_Pennypacker:
They just want it to dwindle away naturally once all the perks religion has on behalf of nonbelievers are banished.
Naturally dwindle away once perks religion has on behalf of non-believers are banished... I don't understand that sentence. What does it mean exactly?
Regardless, the central position of some of these atheists seems to be that religion ISN'T just dwindling away. In fact, they seem quite alarmed by the fact that the opposite is happening. Therefore they are wanting to suppress/oppress religion in order to prime the dwindling pump so to speak.

I don't want to ban religion, I think it's dangerous and I've given examples why, but if you practice a religion because you think it makes you a better person and in doing so don't deny others their chance at a full and happy life, that's fine.
I'll settle for two simple things:
1) Get religion out of school curriculums. I don't care if kids want to pray or don't believe in evolution, so long as the Church hasn't forced the school to provide time for prayer and label evolution as "Just a theory". And if you don't want your kids having sex fine teach them not to have sex, but if we're going to have any kind of sex ed programs they should be comprehensive not abstinence only (which we know doesn't work).
2) Strip religion of it's political power. When a piece of legislation's only basis is Bible verse, it shouldn't even be allowed on the ballot. Faith based governmental programs, they can go too. And lets also get rid of tax exempt status for churches, if they've got the millions to spend on advertising and propaganda campaigns they can do their part to pay for our government.
The above suggestions aren't terrible or drastic. I won't expect to see them ever put into practice, but it'd be nice to see more people advocating them.


1) Religion is and has been out of public school curriculum for quite some time now. As per sex ed, well I havent been in High School for almost 10 years but when I was we were NOT taught abstinence only. It should be noted that I graduated from Sapulpa, OK, THE buckle of the Bible Belt.

2) I am 100% FOR separation of Church and State. I'm pretty sure this is just an over the top statement but, "When a piece of legislation's only basis is Bible verse, it shouldn't even be allowed on the ballot" if you actually believed this is what happens then perhaps our government and system of laws is FAR more muffed up than we realize.

Rid tax exemption from religion? I'm positive now that this is an angry rant rather than a constructive, thought out, criticism. Firstly, take away religious tax exemption and probably more than half of non profit charities bankrupt overnight. My dad was a minister for almost 40 years. I think the largest congregation he ever pastored was somewhere around 400. Most were 50-200. You may not be familiar with pastoral income which is understandable but NO ONE gets into the ministry for the money. That's not to say that the "megachurches" dont bring in a substantial amount of income. They do. And yes, there are churches or pastors who DO take unfair advantages of these exemptions (most notably Benny Hinn and his nutjob squad).
From a business standpoint, a Church is a nonprofit organization. Take for example my dad. The money he received as "salary" came from the offerings of the congregation. My dad being a good steward took a small fraction of it as his pay. The bulk of it went to bills. It costs money to lease a building to hold services. It costs money to power and heat/cool this building. What was left after that went to community outreach programs. Food drives, house care services, holding services for the Nursing Home (at their request) etc etc. If we wanted to attend things such as church camps or youth conventions, that money came out of our pocket or from fundraisers.
In fact most pastors that I know, and I know a whooooooooole lot, have 2 or 3 jobs. Pastoring is a part time job for most BECAUSE of the "pay".

Anyway, it's understandable the frustration, it really is. I am not exempt from this. But feeding off of one's emotions and acting out of anger are no ways to solve problems

and for thsoe fans of Benny Hinn, don't forget this videosift gem
http://www.videosift.com/video/Benny-Hinn-Surprise-Hes-another-greedy-televangelist

The only problem with this video is that it doesn't contain my favorite Benny Hinn move. The one where he takes off his jacket and uses it to slay whole rows of people. That's when he's on his "A" game.

What exactly is "God's work" in this context? I don't care much for Pat Roberson and the 700 Club, but at least they claim to spend a lot of money doing charity work, and I suspect they do.

I'm not familiar with Benny Hinn, but does God's work for him consist solely of his "miraculous" healings?

Don't people have local churches where they pay their tithe which supports their own clergy, perhaps comfortably, but not extravagantly, and are obviously, visibly doing the real work of God, helping to support their community providing consul to those in need as well as organizing and conducting various charity efforts?

It makes me sad that people, good people, with honest and noble intentions are taken in by scum like this. He's going to have a lot to answer for in the afterlife. You don't buy miracles, they aren't for sale. You sure as hell don't sell them.

You don't need a one word metaphor for this situation. You're right on with this: "a trip you make to Africa to capture slaves, ... [described as a] trip they made overseas to secure business partners."

Spot on!

In reply to this comment by djsunkid:
I can't believe that he calls his trips "Crusades".

I'm trying to think of a metaphor, but its hard to come up with one. Probably the best example would be if there were a word for a trip you make to Africa to capture slaves, and somebody used that word to describe a trip they made overseas to secure business partners. Unfortunately such a word doesn't seem to exist, so the metaphor lacks a certain punch. The word "holocaust" might be almost as loaded as crusade, but I actually *have* seen it used in ways that I find inappropriate. But for some reason "crusade" continues to be used positively.

Ooh, I know- what if he chose to call his trips "pillages" instead of crusades? Do you think people would still have the same feeling about them?

>> ^rottenseed:
Hmmm...I think I've found my next career path. Exploit faithful sheep and make a pretty penny doing it. It's almost TOO perfect.


That the next best cash cow, create a MMORPG.
I think I'll go with the second.

Chaser's is, as usual, damn funny. Not that it's hard to turn such obvious scams for a laugh. It's hard to believe people continue to fall for such bull. I don't know much about the others, but Benny Hinn is a con artist of the first degree.

Sometimes I wish there was a Hell, just so people like Benny Hinn had a place to go.

Benny Hinn(my hero) says "If you don't like him, kill em", "I wish god would give me a holy ghost machine gun, I'll blow your head off."

Can I get an amen my sheeple.
=p

Benny Hinn is just a fucking thief in December 2006, he sent out a mailing asking for donations towards a new Gulfstream G4SP jet valued at an estimated $36 million.