LBN thread (Rep Sen's son commits suicide) link below made me think

[karlschneider]

about something from years ago.
Here's the link if anyone cares,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=104743&mesg_id=104743

I have to wonder about the motivation, and here is why. I grew up in Tulsa as a neighbor of Oral Roberts. (If you don't know who this is, don't bother reading any more.)

His son Ronnie and I were in the same class at Edison High School from 1957 to 1959 (senior year.) We were 'friendly', but not really
"close" friends. Think back to HS and you'll know what I mean.

By the time I became a Senior in High School, after having been exposed to several flavors of religion, I had essentially realized it was all bullshit. A good education, which I actually got back in those days, enables one to separate myth from fact. Ronnie was on the same track and was embarrassed by the actions of his father who had no compunctions about accepting huge sums of money from gullible people (one of whom was my own aunt who lived in Illinois, and interestingly, another friend of mine, Chuck Ramsey, was the son of the guy who actually opened up the huge bags of mail containing money and checks for Oral which arrived daily.)

Well, to shorten this story, in 1961, I believe it was, Ronnie committed suicide. (This is well documented.) I have believed ever since then it was because he was unable to deal with the essentially criminal and scumbag behavior of his unfortunately still living father.

I have to stop now.

[Systematic Chaos]

1. You've posted about this before, I think....

And I remember responding to that post. All I can say is that the people who submit their kids to hyper-religious upbringings and completely screw them up in the process need to be locked up somewhere far, far away.

It's such a shame, isn't it? One of my best friends from high school has been totally ruined by his parents too, although I think he's still alive. But I wouldn't know as I've fallen out of touch with him for a number of years. He got to be too much for me to take. :shrug:

[karlschneider]

2. Yes, I have mentioned it before. Maybe I should let it go, but it's

something that continues to grate on me 40 years later. I have no objection to people believing in deities, purple flying pigs, Santa Claus(es), tooth fairies or leprechuans. Whatever floats their boats. What I do find offensive is them using mythology to generate cash (and as we see recently) political power.

I know how tough it is, but you might do a little poking around, see if you can find your old friend. I recently looked up someone I hadn't been in contact with since 1962 (email)...it's a kind of nice feeling.
Your mileage may vary of course. ;-)