ExChristian.Net - News and Opinion

South Carolina Governor Sanford admits extramarital affair

2009-06-24T17:15:00.003-04:00

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford tearfully admitted on Wednesday he had been unfaithful to his wife, likely ending any chance he might be a Republican contender for the U.S. presidency in 2012.

Sanford resigned as chairman of the Republican Governors' Association and was replaced by Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, another possible 2012 candidate.

"Any aspirations for 2012, if he had any, are certainly out of the question," said Robert Oldendick, a political scientist at the University of South Carolina.

FULL STORY LINK

The Bible says, “Let your light so shine be fore men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father that’s in heaven.“ Hopefully, by the way in which you act. The way in which you make decisions. They’re going to see that some thing’s there. I would also say the Bible says in Revelation, “Be hot. Be cold. But don’t be lukewarm“ [Rev. 3:15]. And there’s too many political candidates who walk around completely in the middle—completely in neutral. With regard not only to faith, but with regard to policy. And that’s what people are sick of. Everything’s gotten so watered down. So I have people come to me frequently saying, “Look, I voted for you. In fact, I completely disagree with you on these different stands over here. But at least I know where you stand.“ And so I would say it’s a mistake to confine one’s belief to only matters of government. If you have a religious view, it’s incumbent upon you and it’s real to have that. The Bible talks about the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithful ness, self-control. There ought to be certain things that are clearly observable by your actions. I remember when I first gave a Christmas address, a candle lighting event on the state house capitol. And people were freaking because they said, “You can’t say Jesus.“ I said, “Look, I’m not trying to offend anybody. But if that’s my personal faith, I can say what I want to say. I’m going to say what I want to say.“ I’m not going to be rubbing anybody’s face in it. But I say you can’t dance around that which you really believe. And so I’d say we need people who are more bold in taking stands on all kinds of different things. -- Gov Mark Sanford in an interview with the Action Institute.

Well known pastor busted in Jamaica for teen sex

2009-06-20T20:36:00.004-04:00

Pastor Dr. Paul Lewis of Brooklyn was busted in Jamaica (the island) for having sex with a 15-year-old girl while a 14-year-old girl watched.

The Rev. Paul Lewis, founder of the Messengers for Christ Ministries World Healing Center, was held without bail on charges of carnal abuse and indecent assault, Jamaican police said.

The Bedford-Stuyvesant evangelist was arrested Wednesday after witnesses saw him hanging out with the girls and then taking them to a hotel, police said. Lewis, 45, who was on the island for a crusade at a local church, is accused of offering the girls between $30 and $60 for the romp.

In February, a 19-year-old Brooklyn woman filed a complaint claiming that Lewis, her former pastor, had raped her in a parking lot nearly a year before.

The teen returned to police a few days later to recant the allegation, claiming she and the pastor had a consensual sexual relationship, police sources said. The young woman said she wanted to end the romance and concocted the allegations. The case was closed and no charges were filed, police sources said.

Lewis' Web site claims he can perform healing miracles. "Only once in a lifetime does someone come along with such a gifting yet humble and caring spirit," his bio boasts.

Lewis' lawyer could not be reached for comment.

STORY LINK

Baptist ministers facing sex charges appear in court

2009-06-20T11:19:00.003-04:00

LIBERTY, Mo. (ABP) -- Southern Baptist ministers in three states facing molestation charges had recent days in court.

Robert M. Black, 40, pastor of New Home Baptist Church near St. Joseph, Mo., pleaded not guilty June 18 to felony counts of first-degree statutory rape and attempted enticement of a child.

Black was arrested April 8 after allegedly soliciting sex over the Internet with a police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl. He is scheduled to stand trial Jan. 14.

A grand jury in Waco, Texas, indicted William Frank Brown, 45, June 17 on four counts of sexual assault of a child and four counts of indecency with a child.

Brown, who resigned as pastor of First Baptist Church in Bellmead, a 125-member Southern Baptist congregation founded in 1945, just before the investigation became public, stands accused of molesting two children in incidents that began about four years ago in another state.

According to media reports, one of the children, who was 9 or 10 at the time, told a school counselor about the abuse, which is alleged to have occurred hundreds of times with multiple victims.

A former longtime minister of music at First Baptist Church in Benton, Ark., did not enter a plea at a court hearing June 15, where his lawyer asked for more time to review evidence in the case.

David Pierce, 56, minister of music at the prominent Arkansas Baptist church for 29 years before his termination in late April, was arrested twice -- first on a single charge of sexual indecency and later on 53 additional counts involving four male teenagers active in the church's youth choir.

While all of the charges relate to incidents that occurred in the past three years, police believe Pierce may have acted inappropriately with youth as long ago as 15 years.

Baptist church sticking by pastor facing sex charges

Prominent Ark. music minister arrested for indecency with a minor

STORY LINK

Think Progress » Gingrich: Americans ‘surrounded by paganism.’

2009-06-08T04:15:00.003-04:00

On Friday, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, and Oliver North visited Rock Church in Hampton Roads, Virginia to give a three-hour long lecture on “Rediscovering God in America.” The speakers warned the audience about the “continuing availability of abortion, the spread of gay rights, and attempts to remove religion from American public life and school history books.” The Virginia-Pilot reported that Gingrich argued that, while Christianity is the foundation of American citizenship, Americans are experiencing a period where they are being “surrounded by paganism”:

GINGRICH: I am not a citizen of the world. I am a citizen of the United States because only in the United States does citizenship start with our creator. [...] I think this is one of the most critical moments in American history. We are living in a period where we are surrounded by paganism.

Huckabee also equated America’s victory against the British in the Revolutionary War with the right-wing’s success in the Proposition 8 fight in California as being miracles “from God’s hand.”"

Gingrich: Americans ‘surrounded by paganism.’

Get on the Atheist Bus -- in Indiana!

2009-04-15T04:00:00.008-04:00

Sent in by Eoban Binder

The Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign has formed in Bloomington to spread the word: “You can be good without God.”

Through advertising on buses across Indiana, the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign has partnered with the American Humanist Association in hopes of promoting a lively and respectful discussion in the community and to counter the stigma against voicing atheist views.

The campaign has launched with a short video (above), which can also be seen at http://INatheistbus.org. INatheistbus.org also features information about atheism and quotes from famous supporters of the idea that people can be good without god or religion.

“If you look at the numbers, about 15% of the population of the US are non-religious,” says Charlie Sitzes, a member of the campaign. That amounts to an estimated 46 million non-religious people in 2008, a number that has been growing over the past two decades.

The Indiana campaign is modeled after the Atheist Bus Campaign, which began in London with ads on buses bearing the message, “There’s probably no God, now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Similar ad campaigns have since sprung up in in cities around the world, including in Canada, Spain, Italy, Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Croatia, and Australia. The Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign is the first group to promote atheist bus ads in the heart of the Bible belt.

“Many closeted atheists need a voice,” says member Caroline Klein. “For me, this campaign tells them that they’re not alone, that it’s OK to be an atheist.”

Church pulls strings in an attempt to muzzle a blogger critical of the leadership

2009-04-12T04:46:00.008-04:00

The Rev. Mac Brunson

A blogger critical of First Baptist Church wants to know why his Web site was investigated by a police detective who is also a member of the minister’s security detail.

Thomas A. Rich also wants the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to explain what suspected crimes led Detective Robert Hinson to open the probe into his once-anonymous Web site.

Rich also wants to know why Hinson revealed his name to the church despite finding no wrongdoing. Hinson obtained a subpoena from the State Attorney’s Office requiring Google Inc. to reveal the author of the blog.

Rich’s unmasking led to an eventual trespass warning banning the longtime member and his wife from First Baptist, despite the fact that Brunson and a top church administrator conceded the blog never threatened violence.

HOW THEY FOUND HIM
In late 2008, Jacksonville Sheriff's Detective Robert Hinson opened an investigation into the identity of an anonymous blogger who had been critical of his pastor, the Rev. Mac Brunson at First Baptist Church. The blogger complains it was a conflict of interest for Hinson to investigate an incident involving his own church. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said Hinson did nothing wrong. A brief look at how events unfolded:

INITIAL REPORT

Sept. 29: The Rev. John Blount files a report citing "an ongoing Internet incident that has possible criminal overtones."

SUBPOENA ISSUED

Late September, early October: Hinson is granted a subpoena requiring Google Inc. to provide all information, including names, screen names and address, of the anonymous writer of fbcjaxwatchdog.blogspot.com.

INVESTIGATION CLOSED

Nov. 13: Finding no criminal activity, Hinson closes the investigation.

TRESPASS WARNING

Nov. 25: Having been informed by Hinson of the blogger's identity, First Baptist issues a trespass warning against Thomas Rich and his wife.

Thou shalt not copy: Playmobil is not playing around

2009-04-01T13:57:00.010-04:00

Sent in by David

A priest has been propagating the Xtian myth by altering Playmobil characters to illustrate Biblical fairy tales. link

This has to be child abuse, akin to creating Kennedy and Krushchev action men that come with a big red button and one of them has to win the race.

It must be wrong to fill a child's mind with mythology like this. Here in the UK, it is not allowed to advertise certain products when the TV schedule is full of kids' programs. Why are the religious nuts allowed to proselytize?

At least Playmobil has the good sense to put a stop to it. Lawyers for the a legal firm based in Zirndorf, southern Germany have demanded 38-year-old priest Father Markus Bomhard to scrap his Playmobil Children's Bible Plan -- despite backing from the Pope -- telling him he has no permission for the project and must no longer use the name Playmobil, dress figures in Biblical costumes, or photograph them.

That said, the modelling is quite cute, nonetheless.

Related: Germany's 'Playmobil priest' faces company's wrath

Pastor charged with setting fire to church

2009-03-15T20:14:00.005-04:00

A Baptist pastor in Belton was charged Monday with setting fire to his own church Sunday morning, according to a warrant and a fire official.

The State Law Enforcement Division charged Christopher P. Daniels, 40, of 1337 Blue Ridge Ave., Belton, with second-degree arson in the fire at Blue Ridge Baptist Church, 1340 Blue Ridge Ave., a warrant said.

Anderson County Fire Chief Billy Gibson said Daniels was the church's pastor. He wouldn't say what made authorities suspicious of Daniels.

"Early on in the fire (investigation) we found evidence that this fire was set, and just working some leads and some facts that we had, we arrived at that conclusion," Gibson said.

He said they have "no idea" what the motive could have been.

Daniels reported the fire at 9:20 a.m., before anyone else had arrived at the church, Gibson said.

The church had been painted with gang-like graffiti a few months ago, and about half of the congregation -- 25 or so people, mostly elderly women -- left the congregation after that, said deacon Bill Davenport.

He said he was surprised and disappointed that his pastor was arrested. "What little I knew about him, he was a good preacher," Davenport said. "He was getting better every service."

Daniels had been the pastor there for about a year, and it was his first preaching job, Davenport said. Daniels also was a teacher at a Christian school, Davenport said.

"What dealings I had with him, I liked him," he said.

Daniels has a wife and two teen-aged children, Davenport said.

Roger Orman, associate executive director of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, said his records show Daniels had been a Southern Baptist pastor since April 2008, but he had no details about his background.

The century-old rural church sustained significant smoke damage but only moderate fire damage, Gibson said.

Members plan to meet in a day or two to decide what to do, but a halfway house for recovering addicts has offered to let the church use its building for services, Davenport said.

Daniels was being held in the Anderson County Detention Center on a $25,000 surety bond, according to Cpl. Chris Burton at the jail.

Second-degree arson is punishable upon conviction by up to 25 years in prison, according to a statement released by SLED.

STORY LINK

Related stories:

Belton pastor arrested for arson faces additional charge

Anderson Independent Mail - ‎Mar 13, 2009‎

By Rick Spruill (Contact) BELTON, SC — A Belton Pastor charged with arson following a fire that destroyed a church now faces an additional charge of breach ...

Bond Increased For Pastor Accused of Burning Church

News Channel 7 - ‎Mar 13, 2009‎

By Mary Lu Saylor A bond hearing was held Friday morning for the pastor of the Blue Ridge Baptist Church in Belton. In the breach of trust w/ fraudulent ...

Belton pastor faces fraud charge

Greenville News - ‎Mar 12, 2009‎

By Terry Cregar • STAFF WRITER • March 13, 2009 More charges have been filed against a pastor who was charged earlier this week with setting fire to his ...

Pastor Charged With Arson Also Faces Fraud Charge

WYFF4.com - ‎Mar 12, 2009‎

ANDERSON, SC -- An Anderson County pastor who was charged with setting his church on fire earlier this week now faces other charges, according to State Law ...

SLED: Pastor Spent His Church's Money

WHNS - ‎Mar 12, 2009‎

COLUMBIA, SC -- The pastor accused of starting a fire at his Belton church on Sunday is now also accused of spending money that belonged to the church. ...

More Charges Filed Against Pastor Accused of Burning His Church

News Channel 7 - ‎Mar 12, 2009‎

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) says a Belton man faces an additional charge in a church arson investigation. Christopher P. Daniels is ...

People claiming to have no religion grows to 15% of American population

2009-03-10T03:35:00.007-04:00

Don't blame secularism for driving up the percentage of Americans who say they have no religion, says Barry Kosmin, co-researcher for the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS).

"These people aren't secularized. They're not thinking about religion and rejecting it; they're not thinking about it at all," Kosmin says.

A closer look at the "Nones" — people who said None" when asked their religious identity — shows that this group (now 15% of Americans, up from 8% in 1990) opts out of traditional religious rites of passage...

When it comes to religion, the USA is now land of the freelancers.

The percentage. of people who call themselves in some way Christian has dropped more than 11% in a generation. The faithful have scattered out of their traditional bases: The Bible Belt is less Baptist. The Rust Belt is less Catholic. And everywhere, more people are exploring spiritual frontiers — or falling off the faith map completely.

INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC, VIDEOS: Compare states, dates, religious groups and non-religious numbers

FAITH & REASON: What's your religious 'path'?

THE 'NONES': Now 15% of the population

Read more on this here: 'Nones" now 15% of population

TAKE A LOOK AT THE AMERICAN RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATION SURVEY BY CLICKING HERE

Megachurch pastor's son arrested for indecent exposure

2009-02-21T20:53:00.004-05:00

Inside the Potter's House, via Flickr

Jermaine Jakes, arrested after approaching male officers in park, lists T.D. Jakes Ministries as his place of employment

The son of T.D. Jakes — the Dallas megachurch pastor who’s called homosexuality a “brokenness” and declared that he would never hire a sexually active gay person — was arrested in a gay sex sting in Kiest Park in January, according to Dallas police reports.

Jermaine Donnell Jakes, 29, faces a charge of indecent exposure after allegedly exposing himself in front of two undercover vice detectives shortly after 10 p.m. on Jan. 3. Senior Cpl. Janice Crowther, a DPD spokeswoman, confirmed Thursday, Feb. 12 that the detectives were both male.

According to an arrest affidavit, the detectives were conducting an investigation into citizen complaints of sexual activity when they observed Jakes and several other unknown males park their vehicles in the lot east of the park at 2106 W. Kiest Blvd.

The detectives followed Jakes into a wooded area, where he approached them with his penis exposed through his unzipped pants, the affidavit states. Jakes masturbated for several seconds while making eye contact with one of the detectives.

Jakes made no attempt to conceal his penis despite people walking and jogging on a trail nearby, the affidavit states. According to court records, Jermaine Jakes listed his place of employment as T.D. Jakes Ministries. Jakes was released at the scene after being detained.

T.D. Jakes is the founder of the Potters House, a 30,000-member church in South Dallas. A vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, he’s been criticized by HIV/AIDS activists for undermining prevention of the disease by stigmatizing homosexuality and drug use.

On same-sex marriage, Jakes once told USA Today: “To date, I have not seen scriptural authority that allows me to stand on behalf of God and say I now pronounce you husband and husband, and wife and wife. This is an issue the government is undecided about. The Bible is not.”

Jermaine Jakes’ attorney, Faith Johnson, issued a written statement this week.
“We are aware of potential allegations involving Jermaine Jakes and are undertaking our own investigation of these allegations at this time,” the statement said. “Given an apparent government investigation, we have no further comment at this time.”

STORY LINK

Pastor sent to jail for violating abortion clinic buffer law

2009-02-20T19:55:00.002-05:00

A pastor found guilty of violating a city law created to provide an 8-foot buffer between anti-abortion protesters and women entering clinics was sentenced to 30 days in jail and ordered to stay 100 yards away from the clinic at which he was arrested for the next three years.

The Rev. Walter Hoye, the first person charged and found guilty of the city's two-year-old law must also pay $1,130 in fines and remain on probation for three years after either serving his 30 days in county jail or entering an alternative program run by the sheriff's department.

The ruling, which was made by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Stuart Hing, came amid a charged atmosphere in the courtroom packed with both abortion-rights and anti-abortion advocates.

Supporters of both groups crammed the hallways of the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse before the hearing and at times shouted at each other as they jockeyed for a spot in the 63-seat courtroom.

The tensions continued after the hearing as one anti-abortion advocate wrestled with sheriff's deputies as he shouted at the judge, condemning him for placing Hoye in jail, while others sang "We Shall Overcome."

Hoye's case, a misdemeanor charge, has garnered national attention from anti-abortion supporters, many of whom traveled from as far as Dallas to speak in support of the pastor, who they said was having his First Amendment rights taken away.

Hing also said he received stacks of letters in support of Hoye, an executive elder of the Progressive Missionary Baptist Church of Berkeley, urging him to set the pastor free.

"It's not an issue of pro-life or pro-choice, it's about the ability of a man to stand up and speak his truth," said Dion Evans, shortly before he was restrained by sheriff's deputies as he shouted at the judge.

But Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Robert Graff, who successfully tried the case, argued that Hoye was not an innocent man standing on a sidewalk with a sign but someone who violated a city law.

"To suggest that he was merely holding a sign on the sidewalk does not speak to the totality of what is going on here," Graff said. "This is a balancing of rights here. These people's rights have to be balanced as well."

Hoye was arrested last May after he approached two women and their escorts who were trying to enter the Family Planning Specialists Medical Group in Jack London Square. Hoye was originally charged with four counts of violating the city law but was found guilty last month of two counts.

Hoye's defense attorneys, paid for by the Life Legal Defense Foundation, argued, at times with tears in their eyes, that the law was unconstitutional and that a punishment of jail was cruel and unusual.

While Graff agreed Hoye should not be placed in jail, he asked Hing to place the pastor on three years probation with an order to stay 100 yards away from the clinic. If Hoye did not agree to that, Graff said he should be sent to county jail for two years.

Hing asked Hoye if he would abide by the ruling during court Thursday. The pastor refused, saying he could not follow a law he found to be unjust.

As a result, Hing sentenced Hoye to 30 days in jail with the option of entering a sheriff work-release program that allows him to do sheriff-sponsored community service in exchange for jail time.

If Hoye is found approaching women at the clinic in the future, he would be in violation of his probation and could face additional time in jail.

Meanwhile, the Life Legal Defense Foundation is challenging the city's law in federal court.

STORY LINK

Phelps family banned from entering the UK

2009-02-19T10:26:00.003-05:00

Fred Phelps has been banned from entering the UK along with his daughter

From BBC News:

A father and daughter from a US church which preaches hatred of homosexuals have been banned from entering the UK by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper from the Westboro Baptist Church had urged protests against a play being put on in Hampshire.

Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke is staging The Laramie Project, a play about a man killed for being gay.

The UK Border Agency said it opposed "extremism in all its forms".

A spokesman added: "Both these individuals have engaged in unacceptable behaviour by inciting hatred against a number of communities.

'Punished by God'

"The government has made it clear it opposes extremism in all its forms.

"We will continue to stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country.

"The exclusions policy is targeted at all those who seek to stir up tension and provoke others to violence regardless of their origins and beliefs."

The church's pickets of military funerals have outraged Americans

The Westboro church's website advertised the picket which was set to take place on Friday, proclaiming: "In merry old England they plan to further enrage the living God by putting on the farce known commonly as The Laramie Project.

"We will picket them, and see if they actually believe those lies they tell about how tolerant and accepting Brits are."

Hampshire Police said they were aware of the planned protest and officers were monitoring the situation.

The church was unavailable for comment on whether it expected UK-based members to carry out a protest at the college.

Members of the group - based in Topeka, Kansas - have denounced homosexuality for years and have in the past targeted the funerals of Aids victims.

In 2007, the church was told to pay $10.9m (£5.2m) after its members cheered a soldier's death as "punishment" for US tolerance of homosexuality.

Jesus, we are yours!

2009-01-17T13:24:00.005-05:00

Rick Warren of Saddleback Church seeks to motivate Christians toward deeper devotion and Christian activism through the "radical" examples of Adolph Hitler, Mao Zedung, Vladimir Lenin and their fanatical devotees.

Partial transcript of a Rick Warren speech:

[ ~minute 33:00 ]

"God is going to use you to change the world.

"We have a kingdom that nothing can destroy... it's indestructible, it's unshakable, going to last forever, it's going to cover the planet.

So the kingdom is multinational, it's powerful, it's eternal and, number four (this is the best news), it's inevitable because God is in control of history. History is his story.

And the Bible says this in Matthew 24 : 'The Good news about God's kingdom will be preached into all the world, in every nation, and then the end's going to come. '

And you can go argue about prophecy all you want but Jesus Christ is not going to conclude history until everybody he's wanted to hear the world has had a chance to hear the word. But one day God's going to bring everything to a culmination.

For the past 18 months we have been on a stealth, secret mission - project - around the world. We've been sending members out, actually over 4500 members somewhere overseas, over the period of time, the last few years, going out to do what we're gonna call the P.E.A.C.E. Plan.

You've been hearing little snippets about it, today we're going to unveil it publicly. But the first thing before I even talk about it in a minute is you need to understand that at the heart of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan is this theme - The Kingdom of God.

Saddleback and our Purpose Driven Network has now trained over 400,000 pastors in over 162 countries."

[ Minute ~43:00 ]

"What is the vision for the next 25 years ? I'll tell you what it is.

It is the global expansion of the kingdom of God.

It is the total mobilization of his church.

And the third part is the goal of a radical devotion of every believer.

Now, I choose that word 'radical' intentionally, because only radicals change the world.

Everything great done in this world is done by passionate people.

Moderate people get moderately nothing done. And moderation will never slay the global giants. . ."

[ minute 48:45 ]

"In 1939, in a stadium much like this, in Munich Germany, they packed it out with young men and women in brown shirts, for a fanatical man standing behind a podium named Adolf Hitler, the personification of evil.

And in that stadium, those in brown shirts formed with their bodies a sign that said, in the whole stadium, "Hitler, we are yours."

And they nearly took the world.

Lenin once said, "give me 100 committed, totally committed men and I'll change the world." And, he nearly did.

A few years ago, they took the sayings of Chairman Mao, in China, put them in a little red book, and a group of young people committed them to memory and put it in their minds and they took that nation, the largest nation in the world by storm because they committed to memory the sayings of the Chairman Mao.

When I hear those kinds of stories, I think 'what would happen if American Christians, if world Christians, if just the Christians in this stadium, followers of Christ, would say 'Jesus, we are yours' ?

What kind of spiritual awakening would we have ? "

[ minute 51:50 ]

"Jesus said, 'I want you to do this publicly.' So what I want you to do is take the card, and in just a minute, and if you say 'Rick, I am willing to serve God's purposes in my generation.'

I want you to open up to the sign that says 'Whatever it takes.'

Whatever it takes.

And I want you to just say, 'This is my commitment, before God and in front of everybody else. I'm in.' "

And I would invite you to just stand quietly and hold up 'Whatever it takes'. . .

I'm looking at a stadium full of people who are saying 'whatever it takes'.

Whatever it takes, God. Time, talent, energy, money, effort, vision... God, whatever it takes.

Whatever it takes, that's what I'm going to do.

And I believe that today we are making history. We're making history that's going to start a movement that will bring a new Reformation in the church of God and a new spiritual awakening in our world. And, our world needs it.

And today, as you say 'whatever it takes,' you're saying publicly, "I'm in, God. I'm in...

...I'm in.' "

What is this man thinking? Should Christians (or anyone, for that matter) be lauding the techniques and successes of cruel, murderous dictators? Is this new breed of Christianity so calloused and shallow? Are Christians devoid of any brains?

Want to know more?

Read this article on the Huffington Post: Follow Jesus Like Nazis Followed Hitler, Rick Warren Tells Stadium Crowd.

Heaven for the Godless?

2008-12-28T09:58:00.003-05:00

The Fountain of Eternal Life in downtown
Cleveland, Ohio, via WikipediaBy CHARLES M. BLOW

In June, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life published a controversial survey in which 70 percent of Americans said that they believed religions other than theirs could lead to eternal life.

This threw evangelicals into a tizzy. After all, the Bible makes it clear that heaven is a velvet-roped V.I.P. area reserved for Christians. Jesus said so: “I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” But the survey suggested that Americans just weren’t buying that.

The evangelicals complained that people must not have understood the question. The respondents couldn’t actually believe what they were saying, could they?

So in August, Pew asked the question again. (They released the results last week.) Sixty-five percent of respondents said — again — that other religions could lead to eternal life. But this time, to clear up any confusion, Pew asked them to specify which religions. The respondents essentially said all of them.

And they didn’t stop there. Nearly half also thought that atheists could go to heaven — dragged there kicking and screaming, no doubt — and most thought that people with no religious faith also could go.

What on earth does this mean?

One very plausible explanation is that Americans just want good things to come to good people, regardless of their faith. As Alan Segal, a professor of religion at Barnard College told me: “We are a multicultural society, and people expect this American life to continue the same way in heaven.” He explained that in our society, we meet so many good people of different faiths that it’s hard for us to imagine God letting them go to hell. In fact, in the most recent survey, Pew asked people what they thought determined whether a person would achieve eternal life. Nearly as many Christians said you could achieve eternal life by just being a good person as said that you had to believe in Jesus.

Also, many Christians apparently view their didactic text as flexible. According to Pew’s August survey, only 39 percent of Christians believe that the Bible is the literal word of God, and 18 percent think that it’s just a book written by men and not the word of God at all. In fact, on the question in the Pew survey about what it would take to achieve eternal life, only 1 percent of Christians said living life in accordance with the Bible.

Now, there remains the possibility that some of those polled may not have understood the implications of their answers. As John Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum, said, “The capacity of ignorance to influence survey outcomes should never be underestimated.” But I don’t think that they are ignorant about this most basic tenet of their faith. I think that they are choosing to ignore it ... for goodness sake.

The war on Christmas free speech

2008-12-19T03:37:00.001-05:00

The Freedom From Religion Foundation plans to replace a sign that disappeared from the Illinois Capitol and will add a biblical warning this time: "Thou Shall Not Steal."

Annie Laurie Gaylor heads the Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation. She says the sign protesting the display of religious symbols will be replaced.

The apparent theft from the Capitol's rotunda overnight Monday was reported to police.

The sign referred to religion as "myth and superstition" and stood near a Nativity scene sponsored by a Springfield group.

An identical atheist sign in Washington state was stolen and recovered, and one in Wisconsin was vandalized.

The replacement Illinois sign and the Nativity scene soon will be joined by a Hanukkah menorah to mark the Jewish holiday.

STORY LINK

Here's some commentary from December 18, 2008 on FOX & Friends:

In other news:

The Freedom From Religion Foundation last week placed a sign protesting the display of religious symbols in the Illinois Capitol, but the sign was stolen from the Capitol rotunda overnight Monday.

A spokeswoman for the foundation said Tuesday it will be replaced — and it will be joined by another sign that takes its message from the Bible: Thou Shall Not Steal.

Capitol Police “are treating the incident as a criminal investigation,” said Henry Haupt, spokesman for Secretary of State Jesse White, who oversees security at the Capitol. “If they find who did it, they will face a criminal charge.”

The sign was last seen in the first-floor rotunda about 9:45 p.m. Monday by a secretary of state custodial crew. Its disappearance was discovered about 7 a.m. Tuesday by another custodial crew.

The Capitol is under 24-hour security by Capitol Police and secretary of state security guards. They did not report seeing anyone tamper with the sign.

“We do not know who did it or what happened to it,” said Nathan Maddox, White’s senior legal advisor. “The matter has been reported to the (police), and they will do what they can on it.”

Maddox said White’s office has received “quite a few” complaints about the atheist sign since it was put up. However, he said the office also got quite a few complaints about a Nativity scene that the Springfield Nativity Scene Committee was allowed to place
in the Capitol.

“This is the first time we’ve had any destruction or vandalism,” Maddox said.

White said the rotunda is a public forum and displays from competing views are tolerated there.

Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation said her group wanted to place its sign in the rotunda if religious groups were allowed to place symbols of their religions.

The sign, which cost about $80 to print, read: “At this season of the winter solstice may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

The sign was securely taped to an easel.

“It had to take an effort (to remove it),” Gaylor said. “Atheists never engage in vandalism. We don’t go around stealing the Baby Jesus. They don’t follow their own commandments.”

Gaylor said the group hopes to have a replacement sign in place by today. “We’ll put a ‘Thou Shall Not Steal’ sign with it,” Gaylor said.

The foundation has identical signs in the Wisconsin and Washington state capitols. Gaylor said the Washington sign was stolen two weeks ago but was recovered. The sign in Madison was vandalized.

Although the group received threats after the sign was placed in Washington, Gaylor said none have been traced to the Illinois sign. However, conservative TV talk show host Bill O’Reilly criticized the Springfield sign during his Monday show.

“That might be what set someone off,” Garlor said.

Maddox said security guards are being asked to keep a closer eye on the displays, both the atheist sign and the Nativity scene. By next week, they will be joined by a menorah to commemorate Hanukkah.

STORY LINK

What do you think?

Vatican issues document condemning biomedical technology

2008-12-14T08:10:00.006-05:00

Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Image by anwer2007 via FlickrSent in by Sean

The Vatican issued its most authoritative and sweeping document on bioethical issues in more than 20 years on Friday, taking into account recent developments in biomedical technology and reinforcing the church’s opposition to in vitro fertilization, human cloning, genetic testing on embryos before implantation and embryonic stem cell research.

The Vatican says these techniques violate the principles that every human life — even an embryo — is sacred, and that babies should be conceived only through intercourse by a married couple.

The 32-page instruction, titled “Dignitas Personae,” or “The Dignity of the Person,” was issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal office, and carries the approval and the authority of Pope Benedict XVI.

Under discussion for six years, it is a moral response to bioethical questions raised in the 21 years since the congregation last issued instructions.

It bans the morning-after pill, the intrauterine device and the pill RU-486, saying these can result in what amount to abortions.

The Vatican document reiterates that the church is opposed to research on stem cells derived from embryos. But it does not oppose research on stem cells derived from adults; blood from umbilical cords; or fetuses “who have died of natural causes.”
-- Boston Globe

The Vatican's position is outright unbelievable!

How can they be so concerned about a cell that is far from being a human, when it is later OK when a child dies because mom and dad believe in prayer healing?

It's also OK to punish someone with the death penalty, although the condemned person is much more of a human being than an unfertilized egg. And why is it OK to send human beings to war, or into Third World countries for dangerous evangelistic mission trips? It's OK to die for a religion, but it's not OK to prevent a cell with severe disabilities from developing?

And what about all the warfare and human sacrifices, the killing of all humans during the flood story (I know it didn't happen, but they believe it did)? Is that an example of God valuing every human life?

I personally value every person, regardless of any disability (I happen to be a special ed teacher and plan on adopting a handicapped child), but caring for disabled children is not easy. Severely handicapped children may be loved just as much as any children, but the burden on a family can be devastating. Health insurances do not take these children with open arms, and many families suffer financial disaster. Does the Catholic Church ever offer to help pay for any or all medical and educational needs of a severely handicapped child?

Let's ask ourselves: Does a fertilized egg suffer if it is not allowed to develop and be born? No! Is it likely a human being born with severe disabilities will suffer tremendously?

If I had a baby on the way with a life expectancy of two years, unable to ever eat, walk, crawl, sit or participate in life, only to finally die a painful death, I would not want that baby to be born.

And last but not least: As a man who is unable to have biological children, what's wrong with in vitro? I am planning on it!

This year's hype on the so-called war on Christmas

2008-12-06T15:54:00.006-05:00

Countdown's Keith Obermann makes his case that Bill O'Reilly is really fomenting intolerance and radicalism by his War on Christmas.

Pastor accused of shoplifting

2008-12-04T16:07:00.002-05:00

Image via WikipediaPITTSFIELD — The pastor of a New Ashford church is accused of shoplifting merchandise at the Carr Hardware he worked at in Pittsfield.

Joseph D. Slonski, 53, of Windsor Road, Savoy, was charged with shoplifting by concealment after allegedly stealing a chainsaw chain valued at $25.99, according to Police Capt. Patrick F. Barry, head of the department's detective bureau.

Slonski pleaded not guilty to the charge Tuesday in Central Berkshire District Court.

The date of the alleged crime was not immediately available, and Carr officials had little to say about the incident when contacted by a reporter on Wednesday.

"I cannot comment at this time," said Bart Raser, an owner of Carr Hardware/Just Ask Rentals on North Street.

Police said Slonski was an employee of the North Street hardware store. He also is pastor of the Christian Harvest Center, "a full gospel church" located on Mallory Road in New Ashford.

"(Slonski) was an employee" of the Pittsfield store, Raser said, adding that the Savoy man no longer works there.

Slonski did not return messages left at his home and church.

STORY LINK

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more...

2008-12-04T06:41:00.000-05:00

Prop 8: The Musical, created by award-winning Hairspray composer Marc Shaiman, features stars such as Jack Black and John C Reilly lampooning backers of the constitutional amendment, which limits marriage to a union between a man and a woman.

The ban was passed by voters during the November election, five months after gay weddings were legalised in the nation’s most populous state.

A number of legal challenges are seeking to overturn the amendment, which was opposed by Hollywood heavyweights including Brad Pitt and Steven Spielberg as well as President-Elect Barack Obama and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Its passage sparked protests nationwide.

Prop 8: The Musical, directed and staged by Hairspray director Adam Shankman, features well-known stage and screen actors taking part in a Sacramento community college threatre group production.

It opens with the colourfully-dressed “California Gays and The People That Love Them” dancing and celebrating a “brand new bright Obama day” and “happy days for the gays”.

Then a black-clad crowd led by John C Reilly and Allison Janney describes how they will “spread some hate and put it in the constitution” via Proposition 8.

They claim the Bible says gay love is a sin. But Jesus Christ, played by Jack Black, intervenes to point out the Bible “says a lot of things”, including that shellfish is an abomination and it is acceptable to stone your wife or sell your daughter into slavery.

He urges them to “choose love instead of hate”.

The musical finishes with Neil Patrick Harris telling the Proposition 8 crowd about the “money to be made” from gay marriage before the entire cast unites in opposition to the ban, declaring that “gay marriages will save the economy”.

Mr Shaiman says in a note introducing the video that he is releasing the musical “six weeks later than he shoulda”.

STORY LINK

Just eight words on a billboard

2008-11-26T09:29:00.003-05:00

The message is but eight words divided into two short sentences set against puffy white clouds on a blue and black background.

One of the men behind the billboard message says his life has been threatened because of it, which seems an odd thing since those doing the threatening all profess to be Christians.

Just eight words:

"Don't believe in God?" the upper left of the billboard reads. "You are not alone," the lower right says.

I have no idea how many times I have passed the sign in the days since it went up at Colfax Avenue and Quebec Street on Nov. 17, but I never noticed it until someone pointed it out the other day.

I don't get the fuss. And yes, I appear to be alone in this.

The billboard is one of 11 in Denver and Colorado Springs paid for by a group that calls itself the Colorado Coalition of Reason, a self-described coalition of "freethinker, atheist and humanist" groups.

The sole purpose of the ads, the group maintains, is what it says: to let other freethinkers, atheists and humanists know there is a group out there for them.

Two of the 11 signs were supposed to go up in Fort Collins and Greeley, the group said. This was so until the moment the media company that owns the two billboards read the message.

The hate mail and nasty, threatening phone messages began almost immediately.

Much of it has been directed at Joel Guttormson, who mostly has been serving as a spokesman for COCORE, as they call it.

Twenty-two and a Metro State junior majoring in theoretical mathematics, Guttormson also is president of the Metro State Atheists, one of the 11 groups that make up COCORE.

"It's been kind of wild, kind of outrageous," he says of days since the billboards went up.

"It has been mostly Christians who've been calling and e-mailing," Joel Guttormson said, "which is strange since the message is not directed at Christians or anyone from any religion.

"You know, if you see an ad for migraine medicine and you don't have a migraine, why would you care?"

Almost all of the feedback, he said, has been from people who say the billboards denigrate Christians. He says he still has no idea how that is possible.

"We are not out to anger people," Joel Guttormson said. "I don't know why people think that. So much of it says we are evil and that we hate everybody.

"Have you seen the billboard? Tell me where any of them mentions evil or hate. Why is everyone so mad?"

John Matson, of Denver, was so mad after seeing the Santa Fe Drive sign that he dashed off an angry letter to the billboard's owner.

"It is a despicable act to allow that sign," the 60-year-old man said in an interview, "and for just a few pieces of silver."

He went on COCORE's Web site, and it made him even angrier, John Matson said. It is trying to gather, he said, "a constituency of what I call mob rule."

"I know they're atheists, and my opinion is they want others to believe the same thing. The billboard misrepresents their purpose," he said. "Their agenda is wolf-in-sheep's clothing political. Why don't they just say it."

Yes, he is a Christian, John Matson said.

"I also understand free speech. And I can also stand up and tell them that they are wrong."

He has yet, he said, to hear back from the billboard company.

That is about the tone of much of what he has heard, Joel Guttormson said. He saves each call, files the e-mails in a folder.

"I read them, put them away and forget about it," he says. "My sister keeps telling me I need to watch out for myself."

He began investigating religion and faith early on, he said, and by high school he was a confirmed atheist.

People ostracized him. It is rare now that he even mentions it outside of his group, he said.

"I don't tell people at work. I keep my mouth shut."

Atheism, he said, scares people, the mere possibility that God doesn't exist.

He remembers one woman running away from an event his group sponsored, "saying that if she listened to us, she would go to hell. I just sat there thinking, 'Wow! We're really that awful?' "

He is braced for the next few weeks. It is what he calls the radical Christians that are making the most noise, Joel Guttormson said.

"I'll spend more time defending this than anything else," he said. "I've already learned that anything we do is not going to satisfy them. Anything we do or say is only going to make them more angry."

I had only one more question:

Have the billboards, which will remain up through Dec. 14, worked?

"We've gotten fairly good response from a lot of like-minded people, including some people from out of state who heard about what we are doing," Joel Guttormson said.

"The cool thing is we've even had some Christians step up and defend us. They know our message is no more offensive than one that reads:

"Believe in God? You're not alone."

STORY LINK

Youth Minister's Wife with 16-Year-Old Church Member

2008-11-26T04:41:00.006-05:00

Pastor Gerald Thompson from Salem Baptist Church said 28-year-old Melissa Jones came to him last Thursday crying. She confessed to having sex with a 16-year-old member of the youth ministry that her husband runs.

Prosecutors say the affair started in September. Jones faces up to 7 years behind bars for aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

"The Bible says be sure your sin will find you out. And her sin found her out," said Thompson. It's a sin the congregation at Salem Baptist Church is trying hard to forgive.

"What she did was a betrayal. She betrayed my trust in her, betrayed the churches trust, betrayed her husbands trust and betrayed the trust of the teenagers. And there's absolutely no excuse for what she did," said Thompson.

Now parents like Gary Perry struggle to tell their teens about Melissa Jones. He says her actions should not tarnish the youth group. But he doesn't understand why she did it. "

Your first instinct is not believing it. If you knew her and the young man like I do, you'd be shocked also." said Perry.

Perry's son is part of the youth group and saw Jones and her husband Dean more than once a week. Now that friendship is part of a life lesson.

"I've already talked to my kids about it. You've got to think about consequences of what you do. No man lives and dies to himself. Everything you do affects everything else," said Perry.
Dean Jones, Assistant Pastor, with wife, Melissa
Jones was kicked out of the church, but her husband and two children can stay. Pastor Thompson wants everyone to know. He will not let one person's mistake, change the church he's loved for 20 years.

"Storms come in life but we don't have to be blown away by the storms if we keep our eyes focused on the lord we'll make it through alright," said Thompson.

"This is no reflection on this church or on Christ himself. We're all human and we all make mistakes. The church is a good church, good pastor, good people, and we'll just go on.

Jones is out of jail on $10,000 bond.

Story Link

The compelling love of Christ

2008-11-24T09:00:00.003-05:00

Rob Foster was 16 when his family unraveled.

He had told his parents that he wanted to leave Calvary Temple, the Pentecostal church in Sterling the family had attended for decades. But church leaders were blunt with his parents: Throw your son out of the house, or you will be excommunicated. And so that December two years ago, Gary and Marsha Foster told Rob that he had to leave. They would not see him or talk to him.

"I was devastated," he said.

For more than three decades, hundreds of families have been coming to Calvary Temple, a sprawling, beige stucco complex that sits unobtrusively behind the suburban strip malls and subdivisions of Leesburg Pike. As conservative Christianity flourished in Loudoun County and across the country in the 1980s, Calvary thrived.

Under the leadership of longtime pastor Star R. Scott, Calvary opened a school, television and radio ministries, and satellite churches around the globe. The local congregation at one point numbered 2,000.

Scott's followers see him as an inspiring interpreter of God's word. Members pack the church most nights, united in their desire to live as the Bible intended and reject what they view as society's moral ambivalence.

"Church isn't for everyone who wants to just show up," Scott said in an interview. "It's not a community club. We're not looking to build moral, successful children. We're looking to build Christians."

But for hundreds of members who have left the church during the past decade, Calvary is a place of spiritual warfare, where ministers urged them to divorce spouses and shun children who resisted the teachings. Scott is twisting the Bible's message, they say, and members who challenged the theology were accused of hating God.

They had joined eagerly, drawn to Scott's energy as a new religious broadcaster and his commitment to living by the literal word of the Bible. He defined the church. But just as he built Calvary, they say, Scott transformed it, taking it from a vibrant, open church to a rigidly insular community over which he has almost total control.

In 2002, three weeks after the death of his wife, Scott, who was then 55, stood before the congregation and announced that the Bible instructed him as a high priest to take a virgin bride from the faithful. A week later, he did -- a pretty 20-year-old who a couple of years earlier had been a star basketball player on the church high school team.

Scott said he has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of church funds on a fleet of race cars and until last year devoted many weekends touring the circuit for his "racing ministry." The church Web site shows Scott and his wife, Greer, 26, posing in racing suits, helmets in hand, beside a red dragster.

Scott is Calvary's "apostle" and presiding elder, and in 1996, he named himself the sole trustee, putting him in charge of virtually all of the church's operations, its theology and finances.

In his sermons, Scott teaches that his church is scripturally superior to others and views keeping people in the fold as a matter of their salvation. "Anything that's other than a member in harmony has to be identified and expelled," Scott preached in May 2007.

Don't be afraid of "social services" if you throw rebellious children out of the house, he told the congregation in an earlier sermon, because "you obeyed God." In an interview, he cited scriptures: "Deuteronomy says if your kid doesn't follow your God, kill 'em. That's what we do, but not physically. To us, you're dead if you're not serving our God," he said.

Scott describes those who decide to leave the church as "depraved," and Calvary's practice is to cut them off. When parents have left the church, some young children have been urged to stay; a few have been taken in by pastors. Scott's family has been divided, too: Scott is estranged from his 36-year-old son, Star Scott Jr.

"Jesus said, 'I didn't come to bring peace, I came to bring a sword,' " the elder Scott said about the divided families.

Most current members declined to talk to The Washington Post, although Scott and three other leaders spoke at length.

Kim Heglund, Scott's daughter and the wife of a Calvary pastor, said members feel strongly loyal to Calvary because they believe they are living out the Bible: "This is Christianity, people being a family." Bitter feelings and divided families are the exception and caused by people who "pretended to be Christians." Calvary leaders are careful never to explicitly tell people what to do, she said. "We just say: 'This is what the Bible says. You make a decision.' "

Former members contend that much about their lives, from how they spent their money to how they raised their children, was dictated by Scott and other church leaders.

"What started out as a Christian organization has turned into a cult where people are controlled," said Jonathan Ernst, a Calvary pastor until he was blacklisted by Scott in 1994.

Scott's teachings have become well known in Loudoun's conservative religious community, where several ministers expressed criticism and said they have taken into their congregations hundreds of former Calvary members, some of whom are traumatized by their broken families and torn over the meaning of the Bible.

After Rob Foster left the family's tidy home in Sterling, his parents pored over the Bible. Foster said they posed their own questions: Doesn't Deuteronomy 21 say parents, not the pastor, determine whether a child is rebellious? Doesn't Luke 15 tell of a father celebrating the return of his prodigal younger son?

Rob had moved in with a family that had left Calvary but was homesick and would show up at his parents' door on Sundays to talk. After a few months, they took him back.

Soon, the church removed Gary Foster as the choir pianist. And last year, the couple were ejected from the church. Their two older children, still members of Calvary, stopped speaking to them and Rob.

"They think we are in rebellion to what God wants," said Rob, 19, who is studying to be a mechanic.

Of the Fosters, Scott said: "You're choosing to believe differently, and you want to just drop in and bring another philosophy? You can't do this."

Consolidating Authority

At 61, Scott still has the air of the West Coast college football player he once was. He dresses informally, smiles easily and delivers his judgments not by banging the lectern but by using a tone of New Age calm.

In his sermons, he tells of his exploits as a young man, the lure of sports, girls and parties. Born in Monterey, Calif., he was raised in a home where religion wasn't practiced. He was born again at 20.

He gave up sports for pastoring and came east to be a youth minister at a church then known as the Herndon Assemblies of God. He quickly became head pastor, changed the name to Calvary Temple and moved the church to its Sterling location on 31 acres. In 1986, Scott, then in his late 30s, led Calvary to leave the Assemblies of God denomination and become independent.

Now, Scott's church practices its own theology, a blend of evangelicalism and fundamentalism. Services are demonstrative, with contemporary music and people speaking in tongues. Members try to organize their lives around a literal interpretation of the Bible, which at Calvary involves uniformity and deference to leadership.

During the 1980s and '90s, Calvary, under the name Star Evangelistic Enterprises, opened churches in Africa and several U.S. cities, including Richmond and Laurel.

Calvary "was like a mecca. It drew people to church from all up and down the East Coast, from well-to-do from Middleburg to people who could barely afford diapers from West Virginia," said Ernst, the former pastor, who works as an arborist in Richmond.

At one point more than a decade ago, Scott closed down the media ministries, along with most of the spinoff churches, to focus on 40 branch churches in East Africa.

"We used to be the biggest thing around, and I'd like to say all my motives were great, but they weren't," he said. Now, "we're better than we've ever been."

Over the past decade, former members say, Scott has increasingly emphasized the wickedness of people and the mercilessness of God. In the 1980s, members voted on who should be pastor and decisions about budgets and real estate. But control of the church has narrowed. Scott has chosen four assistant pastors as well as deacons and elders, with whom he consults on church matters, he said.

"I'm the one who is in authority, and I'll have to answer to God for that," he said.

Former members and church leaders say power essentially rests with Scott.

"If there was anyone in a pastoral position who didn't agree with Star, he was eliminated and often disparaged from the pulpit," Ernst said. Scott "would say, 'God is leading us in this direction, and you are holding us back.' "

Financial Concerns

When Bobby and Katie Timms were in elementary school at Calvary, they said, they were told not to come to class because their parents had fallen behind on tithing -- a mandatory 10 percent of a family's income. Their father had lost his job, but the church would accept that as an excuse only if the family were willing to turn over all its financial information.

All of the former members interviewed told of fundraising campaigns in which they were required to tithe 15 or 20 percent of their earnings for special projects, including one five years ago to expand and remodel the sanctuary. But many of the projects never materialized, they said.

"At the time, I didn't connect the dots. All I knew was, he has all these cars and where is the building?" said Bobby Timms, 19, who attends Northern Virginia Community College. He blames Calvary for his parents' breakup, saying church leaders urged his father to divorce his mother after she left the church.

L. Steve Gardner, associate pastor at Calvary, said the sanctuary project hasn't begun because more funding is needed. "Is money being spent on things other than the building? No," he said. "They are misrepresenting because they are bitter."

Scott's decision to leave the Assemblies of God removed a level of financial oversight, and he eliminated boards and public votes, former members said. Calvary's constitution calls for finances to be administered "by the presiding elder and/or recognized Apostle." Scott holds both positions, according to court documents. The constitution also says that if the church closes, all property will be controlled by the apostle.

The church owns $8.5 million in property, according to land records, including the church site, worth about $5.7 million, and six houses in Loudoun where church employees live, including Scott's 3,400-square-foot home with a pool, worth about $550,000.

Calvary pastors owned at least two of the homes and sold them to the church at a loss, according to land records. Former assistant pastor Richard Miller sold his home to the church in 2000 for $32,000, less than he and his wife had paid for it 11 years earlier.

Miller, who still is a member of the church and lives in the home, did not return calls requesting comment. Scott said the pastors willingly turned over their property to the church in an attempt to "take a poverty vow."

'Automotive Outreach'

With the free hand given to him by congregants, Scott launched a ministry in the early 1990s that dovetailed with a favorite hobby: expensive cars.

He bought Corvettes, Ferraris, dragsters, souped-up motorcycles and trucks, many of which are on view on the ministry Web site. The site describes the racing ministry, named Finish the Race, as "an automotive outreach."

Scott said the goal was to evangelize to crowds at racing events, and "we had thousands of people born again."

County building department records show what many former members describe: a 2,400-square-foot garage on church property where he stored the vehicles. Until last year, when he quit going on the road, Scott carted the vehicles to shows and races across the country in a huge trailer attached to a motor home with granite floors and plasma TVs, said Star Scott Jr., who added that he traveled for years with his father to car events. The son said that his father would be on the road for weeks and that Calvary would pick up the tab, which sometimes included snowmobiling, casino gambling or attending concerts.

He said his father lives off church-paid credit cards, and 2005 card statements he provided to The Post, addressed to Calvary Temple and sent to Pastor Scott's house, show personal spending of $10,000 to $13,000 a month. Items include $2,377 to a company that makes wheels for Harley Davidson motorcycles, $1,450 to a sports memorabilia firm and $544 to a winter sports rental center in Lake Tahoe.

"I don't dispute" the expenses, Scott said, adding that he has no set salary and that his possessions belong to the church. "Some may like it, some may not. I don't tell them what to do with their salary."

Church leaders said that they are selling some of the race cars and that the money will go to support the churches in Africa.

Under federal law, churches can choose any system of governance and are exempt from filing financial information to the government. Federal tax code, however, forbids an individual "such as the creator or the creator's family" from benefiting excessively -- through "unreasonable compensation," for example -- from a tax-exempt organization.

Church finances are not required to be public, but Calvary's lack of transparency is unusual, said experts with the Assemblies of God, whose tenets Scott says he still shares. In Assemblies of God churches, congregations typically vote to select a pastor and are often listed on the title to the property.

"It's not the norm within the Assemblies of God for the pastor to be able to determine everything," said Ron Hall, chairman of church ministries at Valley Forge Christian College and a longtime Assemblies minister. "This is a prime example of someone who wants ultimate control. I would think there would be serious flags."

Broken Families

About 400 members remain and are at the church most days for services or activities including fellowship breakfasts and student basketball games, former members said. Families are expected to send their children to Calvary's school, which has classes from kindergarten through high school.

Rob Foster, the Timmses and others who attended the school say punishments ranged from spankings with a thick wooden paddle to spending the day outside digging, filling and redigging holes.

Charm Kern, a nursing student and mother, says she was traumatized by Calvary teachers telling her in her early adolescence that she was too overweight to be on the cheerleading squad. As punishment for being a "glutton," said Kern, who is 20, she was tied by a rope to faster children and pulled during runs. She and her brother, who was also overweight, would be required to run while other children ate lunch, she said. By ninth grade, she was rebelling against her teachers, and pastors tried to place her and her brother with another family. Her parents pulled the family out of Calvary.

Scott said that Kern's parents initially were supportive of the efforts to help her lose weight and that such measures "are discipline, not punitive."

The school originally was open to any children but was closed to nonmembers in the 1980s as the church became more insular. That growing isolation drove some members to leave. Others left after Scott stood on the sanctuary stage in the fall of 2002, 19 days after the death of his wife after a long battle with cancer, and, according to a transcript, announced that he would take a new wife from the congregation.

Saying the Old Testament calls for a widowed high priest to take a virgin bride, Scott, then 55, said that the next week he would be marrying Greer Parker, whose father is close to Scott. Former members said many congregants were stunned.

"He kept saying it's to keep him from falling into sin, to keep the ministry going," Star Scott Jr. said of his father's explanation to his children.

Others said they began questioning Calvary's theology.

Michelle Freeman, 48, left in December after church leaders and other members urged her to reject her son and her husband, who was not a member. Her son, Channing, had left Calvary as a high school sophomore, setting off heated debates between his parents, leading to their separation.

Channing, 18, wrote an essay this year at his public school describing terrifying dreams about God and Satan he had while in the church. Calvary, he wrote, has "stolen so much of my life. For eleven years I've been devoid of a real life. I don't know what it's like to live."

Now, Michelle Freeman is among more than two dozen former members who gather for support. At a Loudoun Starbucks recently, Freeman cried as those around her talked about their wounded families.

"I've been praying for your boy," one woman told another.

"I was marked while I was in there," said another, using the Calvary term for a member who leaders say should be shunned.

After 12 years at Calvary, Freeman is livid.

"I paid good money for my children to be brainwashed and for my marriage to be ruined," said Freeman, a U.S. Postal Service secretary.

When asked about the divided families, Scott answered, "That happens." They accepted Calvary's theology until it affected them, he said. "They were ready to see it apply to others' lives for years and served many times in the orchestration of it."

Now, "I'm at perfect peace with them being gone," he said. "We're happy with what we believe, so why aren't they happy?"

An excerpt from a Calvary Chapel sermon:

STORY LINK

Atheism Billboard Only Lasts a Few Days in Rancho Cucamonga

2008-11-22T10:04:00.002-05:00

A billboard in Rancho Cucamonga asking viewers to "imagine no religion" was taken down this week after residents and the city complained about its message. The Freedom From Religion Foundation advertisement was first installed last week causing local conversation and complaints. The pressure quickly built up and the General Outdoor sign company took it down.

The foundation's co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor was not so happy, as expressed in a statement they sent out: "Are religionists so thin-skinned they must squelch free debate? One small freethought billboard in the immense state of California is such a threat to insecure religious egos that it must be censored? With local freethinkers' help, the Freedom From Religion Foundation would love to plaster the valley with our message. Let's fight back!"

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2008-11-20T17:49:00.001-05:00

'Godless' author, former preacher attracts large audience

2008-11-20T07:53:00.001-05:00

Dan Barker, prominent atheist and ex-preacher, tells UC Davis his story

Written by PATRICK McCARTNEY

Dan Barker, a former preacher who has become an outspoken atheist, told his story to over 300 members of the campus community on Friday night.

Barker, the author of the recently-published Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists, spent most of his two-hour talk explaining how genuine his religious feelings and convictions were - and how they became undone by the time he was 34.

"Religion at its core is divisive; religion creates an in crowd and out crowd; the chosen versus the damned," said Barker, 59, during the opening of his discussion. "Getting rid of religion won't solve all our problems, but it'll be one less reason to fight among ourselves."

Barker became a born-again Christian during high school and delivered his first sermon when he was 15. He said he felt a calling into ministry and majored in religion at Azusa Pacific University.

Barker said he could feel God talk to him and exuded his enthusiasm for Jesus wherever he went.

"I was busy with ministry all the time because Jesus was coming soon," Barker said. "We wouldn't just pray in a restaurant - we'd invite the whole restaurant to pray."

Since he became an atheist, Barker said some critics contend he could not have been a true Christian - a claim he rejects.

"I had asked Jesus to come into my heart and I became born again. I used to preach that you're saved by faith. I also had the faith and feelings," he said. "It just felt wonderful, it just felt great."

In addition to serving as an associate pastor at three different churches, Barker traveled the country preaching the gospel and performing Christian music. He still receives royalties for two Christian musicals he wrote in 1977 and 1978: "Mary Had A Little Lamb" and "His Fleece Was White as Snow."

Barker said fundamentalist Christians like to first jump to the supernatural to reach their conclusions, and he was no exception.

In one instance, Barker said he believed God was directing him where to drive and he ended up at a dead-end next to a field. After waiting for a few minutes, Barker said he "heard" God thank him for passing a test of patience.

"I felt victorious; I obeyed God," Barker said. "These things happen a lot [with fundamentalist Christians]."

Barker now believes there is a scientific explanation as to why some people have more genuine-feeling religious experiences than others.

"I think it's possible that some of us have a susceptibility to mysticism; some of us feel it more, most of us fall somewhere in the middle," he said.

But as he grew older, Barker said some of these feelings began to fade. He said his ministry started to change because he started meeting "different flavors of Christians" and Jesus "still hadn't come again."

"I went through a process where I started preaching more love and less hell. Jesus kept not returning and eventually I moved over [to the more liberal side of Christianity] as I met different varieties of Christians," he said.

"I realized that there is no one Christianity," he said. "Each one can prove to themselves that they are the right one."

By the time he reached his early thirties, Barker said he became troubled by biblical inconsistencies and by the fact that what he perceived to be small issues of faith - such as whether Adam and Eve were historical - were tearing apart congregations.

"Paul said God is not the author of confusion, but can you think of a book that's caused more confusion than the Bible?" Barker said. "I realized that the human race has a propensity to believe things that are patently false. What makes me exempt?"

Finally, after a long struggle with his doubts and a period of keeping his disbelief secret, in 1984 Barker wrote a one-page letter to friends and family telling them that he had become an atheist.

"I didn't hate Jesus. I fell in love with reason," Barker said. "When you realize life is precious, it has more value. I would rather accept this fact, as scary as it might be, than lie about it."

Barker is now co-president of the Freedom from Religion Society and co-host of Freethought Radio, an atheist radio program broadcasted on Air America.

Barker praised the UC Davis Atheists and Agnostic Student Association, the sponsor of his talk, and argued that the rising popularity of such student groups is indicative of a national trend.

"The fastest-growing religious identification in the U.S.A. is 'non-religious.' More and more people are coming to secular thinking on their own," he said.

But not everyone is becoming secular, as evidenced by the presence of a contingent of Christians at Barker's talk.

A first-year UC Davis Intervarsity Christian Fellowship student, who wished to remain unidentified, said Barker challenged his negative view of atheists. However, Barker was not about to change the student's mind.

"I think Barker can believe what he wants, but no matter what he says, I'm going to believe," the student said. "I have a strong passion for God."