Churches aren’t allowed to use sarcastic humor to drive a point home, are they?? YOU HEATHENS!! Technology is the devil!
Check out this hilarious video of Satan talking about money. Well done to Craig Groeschel and our friends at Lifechurch.tv! Way to keep things fresh.

Also, check out last year’s edition: Satan’s SexEd

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Check out this week’s video podcast. I talk about having 2439572093475 items on our schedule but only the energy/time to accomplish 2.

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An excerpt out of unChristian (some emphasis mine). This post requires a response from YOU.

It’s not just our lifestyles that have gotten us [Christians] in trouble; it’s the very way in which we convey the priorities of being a Christian. The most common message people hear from us is that Christianity is a religion of rules and regulations. They think of us as hypocritical because they are measuring us by our own standards.

The most compelling research we did on this is a recent study in which we asked Christian adults to identify the priorities Christians pursue in terms of their personal faith. We did not prompt any answers; respondents were able to mention anything that came to mind.

What do you imagine was the most common response?

Whaddaya think?? I’ll give the answer plus my two cents manana.

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In the past few months, I have noticed non-religious groups encouraging others to be more outspoken on their beliefs. However, it seems as if some non-religious people are spending much of their time mocking others for their religious beliefs. For example, the Rational Response Squad started this idea called the Blasphemy Challenge where people were challenged to send in a tape that blasphemed against the Holy Spirit to prove that they weren’t scared of eternal damnation. I can understand some of the reasons (i.e. a cathartic release from a lifetime of religious oppression) but I wonder about those who seem to be just as ignorant about the majority of Christians but then act as if they are more “enlightened” and “rational” than the rest of the world. Personally, to mock an entire group of people’s beliefs (especially those shared by a large percentage of people who don’t even act like complete tools) to build up another group doesn’t seem to be the rational approach (pun intended) to promote atheism.

Challenges like these make me think of other areas where the Christian faith is mocked.

Now when I mean mocked, I don’t mean calling out certain discrepancies in the Bible or saying that there is an inconsistency with the God of the Bible and the God that people talk about. Critiques like these don’t bother me. It’s when people resort to disrespectful mocking that makes me angry.

For example, in the movie Saved, I was offended when one of the characters comments about the guy playing Jesus in the crucifixion with his loincloth and him being “hung” on the cross. Double meaning intended. I mean why was this necessary if it was suppose to be a satire on Christians (as said by the actors of the movie)? Or the T-shirt that says “Your God is an atheist. (What they mean is that since God does not believe there is not a higher power since He IS the higher power, then by definition He is an atheist. If you have this shirt, I’ll just go ahead and say that it doesn’t make you look witty or clever. It makes you look obnoxious. Not saying that you are but you look like a tool.)

Now before you start to say I don’t have a sense of humor, I do. But sometimes I feel like people take it too far to prove a point. And it doesn’t help in the long run. Not too long ago, I took a public speaking course and I learned about “trigger” words. These words are suppose to be so controversial that the audience would not focus on the rest of the speech and only focus on these words. I have a feeling that certain tactics like the “trigger” words do more harm than good. If you want people to listen, speak out. By all means. Just don’t be a jerk about it.

And yes I am very aware that Christians do the same thing as well so this post also goes out to them too. Christians, PLEASE for the love of all that is holy, stop trying to argue the idea of atheism more likely breeding amoral heathens who rape babies to compare the holiness of Christ and his followers. Those arguments suck and they don’t prove jack.

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If you haven’t read hoverfrog’s post from yesterday, do so now. What stood out the most to me isn’t the fact that Westboro was acting like a bunch of bozos (again), but rather the reaction of the author of the post.

One of the things I appreciate most about FriendlyChristian.com is that it gives me (and others) a chance to show the world that Christianity isn’t about hating gays, arguing over religions, acting like you’ve got it all figured out cuz “I’m blessed, brother!” Say what you want about me and/or this site, but the facts are facts: walls are being torn down, people are learning from each other, relationships are forming, both Christianity & Atheist are being show in new lights, etc.

Christianity, though, is taking a severe beating from a small minority with a loud voice. It’s time to do something about it.

Let’s put words into action. Christians, what do we do about churches who select domain names such as GodHatesFags.com (I’m not linking there. Go there yourself if you’re interested). What do we do about our neighborhood “bullhorn preacher” that tells every passerby that he/she is gonna burn eternally? How do we combat the countless high-profile preachers that are falling into sinful lifestyles, making the news, and inevitably changing how the world perceives Christians/Christianity? What’s the solution? Do we just continue to love and serve one act of kindness at a time? Or do we follow the advice of this comment that Sara left yesterday?

What needs to happen is for Christians nationwide to get together and SPEAK OUT VERY LOUDLY against this trash.

I’d love to hear what you guys think. Like it or not, we seem to be digging ourselves deeper and deeper. It’s sad.

hoverfrog/everyone else: For what it’s worth, on behalf of all us Friendlys, I apologize for the actions of these radical “Christian” organizations. I hope you can see through their BS.

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In recent days I have been commenting on various forums about how I have grown tired of being referred to as an atheist. Atheism is not a good way to describe someone. It indicates something that I don’t stand for rather than something that I do. I prefer the term secular humanist.I’ve changed my mind though. Heath Ledger died a few days ago. His death, though sad, has little direct effect on my life. I was never a great fan of his films so his passing would have been a mere footnote to me but for this:

Thanks to Friendly Atheist for the image. I don’t know where the hatred comes from. I do know that Christianity needs to stand against it if it wants to shed the negative image that it has gained. I’m sorry to say that I haven’t seen that. That is why I am proud to call myself an atheist.

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American author and feminist Alice Walker once said,

“People do not wish to appear foolish; to avoid the appearance of foolishness, they are willing to remain actually fools.”

Let me give you an example. Warning, it’s a bit gross.

The main office restroom at my place of employment has four stalls in it; 3 regular stalls and one handicapped stall (or as I like to call it, “a little slice of heaven”). When you have to go #2 (I warned you), believer or not, you whisper a little prayer to God. “God, I have to go #2. Will you please make the handicapped stall available for me?”

See, the 3 other stalls are small. When you sit down on the toilet your face nearly touches the uncleaned stall door. The person next to you is so close that you could literally reach down and grab his shoe. It’s uncomfortable to say the least.

The handicapped stall, on the other hand, is HUGE. It has it’s own sink, paper towel dispenser, and even it’s own shower! You can relax, read the paper (if that’s your thing) and not have to worry about anybody/anything else while you’re going about your business. When you’re through, you wash your hands using the sink and the soap that is available to you in your stall, the paper towel from your local dispenser, and discard your wet towels into the trash can, all w/o having to leave the huge stall. Once you are through, you are free to leave the stall and exit the restroom.

Problem.

From an outsider’s view, you just took a crap and walked out of the bathroom w/o washing your hands. I’ve struggled with this for a few years now (pretty funny to read, sad to experience). I know that I washed my hands in the handicapped stall, but to everyone else all they see is me walking past the sinks and exiting the restroom. I know that I washed my hands…yet I’m bothered by the fact that everyone else think I didn’t.

I feel the same way in church all the time. If I’m sitting down…should I be standing up? What if I don’t feel like singing? What if somebody sees me not singing. What if I want to step out into the isle and really give it up to God? What if I want to get on my knees? What if somebody looks at me? What if I don’t laugh at the preacher’s joke?

What if I’m having an extremely personal moment with God, but to everyone else it just looks like I’m not interested in the message? This stuff really gets in the way of my worship experience. I try to tell myself not to think about anybody else. But wouldn’t you agree that it’s nearly impossible to do that?

In the end it looks like I didn’t wash my hands.

or

In the end it doesn’t matter what other people think.

You choose.

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A few minutes before my English class started today:

Me: What are you studying?

Classmate: Computers. I want to get into [blah blah blah].

Me: Oh, cool! I just left the computer industry after 8 years.

Classmate: Why? There’s so much opportunity and money to be made. What are you going into now?

Me: Trust me, I know. I’m a communications major.

Classmate: Sweet. My sister was a communications major. Then she, for whatever reason, decided to become a preacher or some sh*t like that (puts fingers to throat as if pointing a gun). I don’t effin know why. She’s always preachin’ to me & telling me that I’m sinning. I’m like, “yeah, I’m already gonna burn in hell, so why the F not?”

Teacher: Ok class, let’s go ahead and get started.

Saved by the bell?

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Off-topic for the site, but could you guys please do me a favor and vote for one of these? I’m doing a speech and need some info ASAP. I’ve never used a poll in a post before, so if it doesn’t show up for all you RSS people, please click here to vote. I really appreciate this!

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMflS_pRnVo[/youtube]

YES, YES, YES!! This is the exact cause I want to fight for!!! I’d love to work with these guys.

For those who’d like to join me, grab a copy of unChristian, accept these sad truths for what they are (truths), put on your badge and get to work.

“In our national surveys with young people, we found the three most common perceptions of present-day Christianity are antihomsexual (an image held by 91 percent of young outsiders), judgmental (87 percent), and hypocritical (85 percent). These ‘big three’ are followed by the following negative perceptions, embraced by a majority of young adults: old-fashioned, too involved in politics, out of touch with reality, insensitive to others, boring, not accepting of other faiths, and confusing. When they think of the Christian faith, these are the images that come to mind. This is what a new generation really thinks about Christianity. (unChristian 27)

Check out the unChristian website.

Check out the unChristian book.

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