Cross post from Religion

[intaglio]

Via The Friendly Atheist
This is a long read but well worth it for all that.

as posted on Christian Nightmares Too: An Interview with a Gay Former Southern Baptist Pastor

A few months ago, I got a nice email from Larry Pate, the man behind the blog Holy Fucking ShitBalls. It included the following:

As a seminary-educated, former Southern Baptist pastor, I’ve witnessed (and embarrassingly participated in) the scam known as organized religion from the inside out. Hence, I have no qualms about exposing it for what it is.

/snip

Can you tell us a little about your background? Where did you grow up? Were you raised as a Christian?

...I held a number of leadership positions at the BSU and at the church during the four years in which I earned my Bachelor’s degree, finally becoming paid staff my senior year at the church. While this was uncharacteristically a “high church” tradition for Baptists and far from the little country church in which I was raised with its emphasis on Biblical literalism, it was still a safe haven for me to escape peer pressures and a college culture that, at the time, I considered to be hopelessly hedonistic.

/snip

In your first email to me, you referred to organized religion as a scam. What do you mean by that?

The Abrahamic religions—Christianity, Islam, and Judaism—have been institutionalized to such a degree through elaborate buildings, salaried professional staff, print and electronic media productions, and partisan political activities that the tribal roots of all of these Bronze Age traditions are long lost. Christianity, which I know best, has become corporatized, most especially in America. It requires revenues over expenditures, i.e., profits, in which to perpetuate and inculcate the culture with elaborate, even theatrical messages of salvation and redemption. One need look no further than the emergence of televangelism during the last quarter of the 20th century, the slick studios, adoring audiences on their feet, and of course, “all major cards accepted” by all of these predatory, proselytizing rackets....

[Warpy]

1. Nice ink, too

although he could use a color tune up.

Marjoe Gortner said all the same things 40 years ago and in film. His film is on You Tube in its entirety, covering his last tour of the tent revival circuit and trying to expose what a scam it all was. I will never forget their counting up the huge pile of "offerings" from rural people of very limited means, "Glory Gee to Beezus!"

Unfortunately, the film was shown only once on PBS and never got wide distribution.

[mr blur]

2. That's Hellboy, isn't it?

Very interesting read, thanks.

[defacto7]

3. His early years stunningly

parallel my own. I almost feel like I know this guy. We took different paths but the spiritual ends and conclusions are exactly the same right down to the wording. I came out as an atheist much earlier though and my doubts go back to childhood but the picture he paints is like looking in a mirror.