This part of the article stuck out to me:

At the No on 71 gathering in Everett, Pastor Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church called the outcome ‘a victory regardless of the vote,’ pointing to a series of what he called impossible victories by Referendum 71 opponents throughout the campaign.
‘We’re praying that the vote comes through for us,’ he said. ‘If the vote doesn’t come through tonight, we’ll try again.’

Isn’t he basically just saying “We were asking for God to decide in our favor and if he doesn’t swing it the way we want, we’ll ask again”? And doesn’t that logically lead to something like “Trust God, as long as you get what you want”?

Text of Nate Phelps speech at the 2009 American Atheist Convention

Yes, one of the Phelps “family”…but one that was able to get out and shed the fundamentalist armour (if you will). A hell of an insight into the mind of a warped, disturbed family.

Who made you who you are?

Someone had the greatest influence on the person you are today. Who was that?

That person could have been someone that was a positive role model. Or, that person could have been someone who inflicted great pain.

There is probably at least one person from both categories that make us who we are. I’d like to explore that.

And you can’t answer God or Jesus. In this discussion, that answer doesn’t count.

God may provide, but the state may not when it comes to unemployment benefits for employees laid off by churches, synagogues and other religious groups.

Carol Bronson discovered that a few months ago after she lost her secretarial job at Temple Emanuel synagogue in Virginia Beach. Bronson assumed she could draw unemployment benefits, but when she filed a claim, she was denied.

It was a hard way to learn that under Virginia law, as in many states, tax exemptions for religious organizations include freedom from paying unemployment taxes, though the IRS requires they pay Social Security and withholding taxes.

“I had no idea that there would not be any benefits for me after leaving my job,” said Bronson, who worked at the synagogue for two years.

I discovered this about 10 years ago when a church let me go because of financial struggles they were facing, and when I went to collect unemployment I found out there was none for me. Churches are not required to pay into unemployment (although they can if they so choose) so pastors and staff in most churches are not covered. The kicker is most of them do not realize this because they are never told.

Churches choose to save money by not paying into unemployment and I think that’s really lame. This is just a warning to any and all pastors and church staff out there. The church may be your “family” but when it comes to money… it’s all business.

I was talking to a friend from home the other day via Facebook and she said something very sad to me that made me get angry. I wasn’t angry at her but at Christianity and the myths that are perpetuated that, in my opinion, don’t lift people up but actually seem to enslave them.

We were sharing about searching for answers and understanding about spiritual things. She told me how she had prayed to God and asked him to make himself real to her, to reveal himself to her and show her he existed…something to that effect. She was frightened after she prayed it because she immediately thought of her children and how God might use something in their lives to show himself, but she says her children were spared. She then told me that in a very short time God did reveal himself to her and he did so by giving her cancer.

We didn’t have a long time to break this down and discuss why she felt it was God that would be involved in “giving” her cancer. Nor did we get a chance to really talk much about anything more because she had to leave. But she was of the mind that “everything” that happened in her life – good or bad – came from God.

The next week, again on Facebook, I read of a former student of mine who was involved in a bad car wreck locally. He was badly injured and it was certainly a close call. This had him and his wife sharing many times over how thankful and grateful they were for God sparing his life. They were praising God for his goodness. Certainly I am glad that he is alive today and with his family, but I just don’t see how one can attribute his being “spared” to God’s goodness.

I know this topic is nothing new around here, but I bring it up again because as far as I feel I have become removed from these types of beliefs, it astounds me that the majority of Christians still believe that God “gives” them everything in their life – good or bad. Now I share this without wanting to disparage or mock these friends of mine, and I don’t want to be mean-spirited about these and other beliefs. I understand that these things that happen to people are difficult to understand and fathom, but I am wondering why when we can’t make sense of the world we have the need to place God actively in the midst of these events.

Since 2005, I’ve been to one degree or another venting my frustrations with the offenses, excesses and inanities of America’s evangelical religious personalities. Once a virtual card-carrying member of your ranks, I’ve been for the last few years a constant critic. I can say that the most measurable impact of my little personal culture war has been on myself. What faith I have left bears little resemblance to what I started with. My marriage has lost one of the legs that it was built on. And to the point, I have become more of–to quote my wife–”an asshole.” And she didn’t say that in a mean way. Just an honest one. And she’s right.

I suppose I’m just coming to realize that in some way we really do become how we act, and I have just gotten snarkier over the years. Less patient. Less forgiving. And I think that’s due not to the abandonment of evangelical practice, or because I’m not praying enough, or what have you. It’s because I gave myself permission to be a jerk in dealing with your excesses. I’ve learned that you just can’t compartmentalize anger and resentment. It works its way through the rest of you like… well, like yeast, to borrow an analogy.

So I’m challenging myself to be a Nice Guy again. I’m sure there’s a way to do that while staying in integrity and calling you out on your BS. I’m pretty sure anyway.

I may even go back to church if for no other reason than to practice patience and forgiveness with you. Not sure if I’m ready for that just yet. We’ll see.

You are a stupid church person if….

1) You go to church now.

2) You’ve gone to church anytime in your past.

3) You no longer go to church, but instead talk about the (C)hurch being more important than the (c)hurch as justification.

4) You go to an Emergent style church (this makes you a church person with arrogance feigned as humility).

5) You are a pastor, pastor’s spouse, work at a church (unless you are the janitor), or have EVER been one of the above. (This is a guaranteed lifetime membership).

6) Have a book on your nightstand or shelves by Rick Warren, Mark Driscoll, Joel Osteen, Rob Bell, Tony Jones or any other pastor pretending to be an author for that matter.

7) Visit Stupid Church People™, or SCP Nation, or have listened to our podcasts, or are named Steve Chastain.