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The Psalms, God and Mother Nature (A Satirical Criticism)

The Psalms, God and Mother Nature (A Satirical Criticism)
by Edward T. Babinski

The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from the Lord...[What if that "meat" is a Christian in a Roman arena? ? Skip]...Oh Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all...both small and great beasts... These all wait upon thee; that thou may give them their meat in due season.
- Psalm 104

How blind the psalmist was to nature's ways! He forgot to mention that "the Lord" either gives lions "their meat in due season;" Or has them be eaten by their own mother (because they are runts or deformed); Or has them be eaten by a rival male who has taken control of the pride; Or has them starve because their parents fail to bring enough food home or die trying; Or makes young lions the "meat" of some other predatory species that catches them off guard; Or (if they are male) has them grow up and be killed in combat by another male seeking territory or mates; Or makes them the "meat" for a parasite or disease organism. It's all the same to "the Lord."

In 1994 one thousand lions, one-third of the population of East Africa's Serengeti park, died from painful convulsions by a virus that attacked their blood cells, lungs and brain, i.e., the Canine Distemper Virus. The lions probably picked up the virus from hyenas who picked it up from domesticated dogs that lived just outside the park. (That same year, a tenth of the 500,000 western gray kangaroos in South Australia and the 2.8 million gray kangaroos in neighboring New South Wales, went blind due to a mystery virus.) Let us all praise "the Lord" for supplying those viruses their "meat" in due season.
- Skip Church

On Thy wonderful works I will meditate...The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works...Thou dost open Thy hand, and dost satisfy the desire of every living thing...[By giving them other living things to prey upon? But then how is the desire of every living thing satisfied? ? Skip]...He will also hear their cry and will SAVE them. [But if He "hears their cry and saves" them from being eaten by some living thing, then He is starving that other living thing. ? Skip] He gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens which cry.
- Psalms 145:5,9,16,19 & 147:9

Speaking of how well "the Lord" "satisfies the desire of every living thing," let's take "the young ravens which cry" as a prime example. A recent study showed that one-third of adult birds and four-fifths of their offspring die of starvation every year (David Lack, "Of Birds and Men," New Scientist, Jan., 1996). Not surprising, since birds have to eat from one-quarter to one-half their body weight daily, so starvation is a common killer of birds.

Neither does "the Lord" "save" the baby birds that the baby cuckoo tosses out of the nest (the cuckoo's mother lays her eggs in the nests of other birds, and when it hatches, her baby tosses the other birds out of the nest) so that only the cuckoo chick remains in the nest and is fed by the other bird's parents.

Nor does "the Lord" "save" the baby birds that I saw on the "Hunting and Escaping" video (in the Trials of Life series) which were dragged from their nests by sea birds of a rival predatory species in order to feed the predator's own hungry chicks.

Nor does "the Lord" "save" baby birds tossed out of the nest by their own parents (because they aren't developing properly or swiftly enough).

How blind the psalmist was to nature's ways!
- Skip Church

Surely He will deliver you...You will not be afraid of...the arrow that flies by day; or of the pestilence [disease] that stalks in darkness; or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you...Because you have made the Lord your refuge... no evil will befall you...His angels...will bear you up in their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and cobra...you will trample them under foot...Because you have set your love upon Me, therefore I will deliver you...with long life I will satisfy you.
- Psalm 91

A modern day editor of Psalm 91 would probably add that "Atomic bomb radiation shall not burn you even though thousands melt at your right hand and your left into puddles of ooze." Which reminds me of how Rev. Pat Robertson in the late 1970s gave a rousing speech about how "machine gun bullets" would not be able to harm true believers who stood up for Jesus.

Of course, anyone taking a moment's thought must recognize that Psalm 91 portrays a fantasy version of earthly existence, i.e., of a man incapable of being hurt by arrows, an army of foes, diseases, poisonous snakes, lions, not even a chance of painfully stubbing his toe. But if mankind's earthly existence teaches us anything it is that "bad things happen to even the most righteous believers." Job, Jesus, and Pope John Paul can all testify to that, not to mention the Christian and Olympic runner who was portrayed in the film, Chariots of Fire, who died at a relatively young age of a brain tumor while working as a missionary in China with his parents.

Another psalmist (or perhaps the same one who wrote Psalm 91) sang that he had "never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread." (Psalm 37:25). If he had only opened his eyes.
- Skip Church

Original Thoughts on The Original Sin

(The 'Methodists') demonstrate to secure, contented, happy mankind that it is really unhappy and desperate, and merely unwilling to realize that it is in severe straits it knows nothing at all about, from which only they can rescue it. Wherever there is health, strength, security, simplicity, they spy luscious fruit to gnaw at or to lay their pernicious eggs in. They make it their object first of all to drive men to inward despair, and then it is all theirs.
- Deitrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

Evangelical Christianity: Being made to feel sinful and guilty for not having felt sinful and guilty, in order that one might experience release from sin and guilt; Like donning lead boots and walking about in them until totally exhausted in order to have the exhilarating experience of taking them off again.
- Conrad Hyers, Once-Born, Twice-Born Zen

IS THE HEART OF MAN DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS, AND DESPERATELY WICKED?
According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus taught, "If you see a woman and lust after her, I say that you have already committed adultery in your heart." In other words, even if you don't commit adultery in the flesh, you've committed it just by lusting after someone. Now suppose you see someone in need, who needs some cash or a kind word, and you yearn in your heart to give it to them, but don't. Does that mean you have already committed "charity" in your heart? Think about it. If a lust-filled yearning is evidence of the depravity of the human heart, then what about the yearnings people feel to help one another? Is that not an indication of goodness in people's hearts?

Gandhi, the famous Hindu peace-activist, taught that people should seek out what was best in their own religions and hearts. Even Jesus put a positive spin on "the heart" when he taught that "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart" (Luke 6:45 & Mat. 12:35), and when he taught that people ought to "Love God with all thy heart," (Mat. 22:37).

No doubt the "wickedness" of "the heart" expressed by Jeremiah 17:9 ("The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked") certainly applies to some people at some times when they do certain things, especially when they are at their lowest and weakest points. But to take Jeremiah's hyperbole and bake it in an oven until it becomes as dry and hard as a brick of dogma, and make that brick a cornerstone of your theology, takes a genuinely deceived heart, a heart dry of true feelings and honest appraisals of others' beliefs and actions.
- Skip Church

One of Christianity's chief offenses is not that it has enlisted the services of bad men, but that it has misdirected the energies of good ones. The kindly, the sensitive, the thoughtful, those who are striving to do their best under its influence, are troubled, and consequently often develop a more or less morbid frame of mind. The biographies of the best men in Christian history offer many melancholy examples of the extent to which they have falsely accused themselves of sins during their "unconverted" state, and the manner in which harmless actions are magnified into deadly offenses.
- Chapman Cohen, Essays in Freethinking

The church must stop trying to act like a "spiritual pharmacist" - working to produce acute guilt, and then in effect saying, "We just happen to have the remedy for your guilt here in our pocket."
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Unitarian Universalists

INFO ON UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS
The famous Unitarian Univeralist, Hosea Balloh, once told a fundamentalist minister, "The difference between us is that YOU are trying to keep people out of hell, while I am tryiing to keep hell out of people."

Charles Francis Potter was a famous Unitarian Minister of the largest Unitarian church that probably every existed in New York City. Potter was also a former fundamentalist and as a Unitarian Minister debated the famous Baptist Fundamentalist minister, Stratton for three nights in CARNEGIE HALL in the 1920s. Potter also coached Clarence Darrow on Bible stuff to quiz Will Jennings Bryan on the stand at the Tennessee "Monkey Trial," and even was the author of that famous line in the trial that created a huge commotion, when Darrow asked Bryan "It says in the Bible that the snake was cursed to go on his belly, how did he travel before that? By hopping on his tail?"

Potter's story is told at length in a chapter of my book, Leaving the Fold: Testimonies of Former Fundamentalists.

The most famous Universalist of recent fame and who has written some wonderful small books is Dr. Church of the Unitarian church in New York, which I believe used to be Potter's. Dr. Church has written wonderful books like The Devil and Dr. Church, and, The Seven Deadly Virtues, which examine the excesses of religion and Biblical interpretation, and also inspire one with great true tales of non-denominational saintliness and forgiveness.

The only problem with the Unitarians in my town is that I live in the South and their worship service seems styled after that of Baptist services, which to me are just dull. In fact, I enjoy hearing a good lecture over singing dull Unitarian all-inclusive language hymns to God.

Christianity is Both Cynically and Laughably Offensive

Imagine how offensive and in-your-faceChristianity as a whole has been, even laughably offensive! (see below) Christians do more to make people cynical about religion than any other religion does. By the way, my Mom had me nailing up crucifixes above every door in the house just two days ago. I find the image of a half naked man nailed to two pieces of wood "offensive."

CHRISTIAN KITSCH

These days, when it comes to kitsch, it seems like Christianity has been kitsched by Satan. For instance, during Pope John Paul's visits to the U.S., you could buy Pope-on-a-rope soap, a Pope watch (like a Mickey Mouse watch, only holier), a Let Us Spray Lawn Sprinkler (a spinning Pope with outstretched arms waters your lawn), and a T-shirt with George, Ringo?and John Paul on it. Other Catholic kitsch products include Rosary tapes, so you can drive around town and recite the Rosary accompanied by whichever background music you prefer (including jazz, classical, gospel, light rock, even country and western.) There's even a "Jesus doll" that Nancy Pulte Rickard felt she was inspired to create ("One of the big things about the doll," she says, "is it makes it hard for people to deny his presence. They look across a room and go, 'Oh, there's Jesus.'") I am not making this stuff up.

Protestants on the other hand, have not only been kitsched by Satan, but I think he slipped them the tongue too. For instance, there's a company called Living Epistles that sells a T-shirt on the front of which is a muscle-bound Mr. Universe Christ doing push ups with a cross the size of Kansas on his back (labeled "The Sins of the World") and blood gushing from his crown of thorns. Beneath the picture it says, "Bench Press This!" (Yeah, like whenever I see an image of Jesus hanging from the cross, I can't help but think, "Nice abs.") Emblazoned on the back of the T-shirt is a picture of Jesus' blood drenched hands pierced with railroad spikes, and the caption reads, "His Pain, Your Gain." Another T-shirt reads, "His Blood's For You."

Cashing in on Power Rangers' popularity with children, a Vermont toy maker in 1995 marketed violent Holyland Heroes sets (Samson & Philistine; David & Goliath, Moses & Ramses II, Joshua & Canaanite), featuring muscular, grimacing toys wielding spears, swords, and, in Samson's case, the jawbone of a donkey - which the Bible says, he used to smite 1,000 men.

There's also Christian toilet paper that has, "Get Thee Behind Me, Satan" printed on every sheet. I reiterate, I am not making this stuff up.

And whenever a popular band creates a new kind of music (reggae, rap, or alternative rock), Christians copy it and market it, but only after "baptizing" it with simplistic slogans and syrupy sentimentality. In nearly all cases they hold it under the waters of baptism too long to cleanse it of the least bit of devilishness, and it emerges brain dead.
- Skip Church

On the brighter side, there is at least one thing that Christian baptism hasn't hurt. And that's? coffee. A long time ago, when coffee was but a beany baby, it was denounced as "the devil's brew" and outlawed by rulers who viewed it as an intoxicating beverage that leads to "discussions of rebellion and slander of those in power." At that time it was sold in popular coffeehouses nicknamed, "seminars of sedition." Church opposition ended in 1594, when Pope Starbucks VIII tried a cup (O.K., I lied, it was Pope Clement VIII) and liked it so much that he baptized it. "We will not let coffee remain the property of Satan," he announced. "As Christians, our power is greater than Satan's; we shall make coffee our own."
- John Dollison, Pope-Pourri

THE HOLY LAND EXPERIENCE
Zion's Hope, an evangelical group based in Orlando, Florida, is putting $10 million in pledged and donated money up for a seven-acre park, to be called The Holy Land Experience?It will feature biblical characters telling their stories and re-creations of Jesus' tomb and the cave where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.
- Liz Langley, "I'm Going to Graceland," Orlando Weekly, Sept. 2, 1999

Funny, isn't it? Followers of the man who drove out the moneychangers from the temple, charging seventeen bucks to see a replica of his tomb. I don't suppose they'll have Gay Days.
- Jonathan

Sixty residents of the Seminole Health Club nudist camp near Miami comprise a Christian mission that worships twice a week in the nude. According to leader Elijah Jackson, "We're not trying to start a cult here, but I think nudity adds something to Christianity."- News of the Weird, "Weird Clergy"

A lot of Christians wear crosses around their necks. You think when Jesus comes back, he's gonna wanna see a cross? Maybe that's why he hasn't shown up yet. "Shit! They're still wearing crosses. When they start wearing fishes I'll go back, this is ridiculous. They've entirely missed the meaning of this thing."

It's like going up to one of the Kennedy clan with a rifle pendant on. "Just thinking of your uncle, the former president. We love him."
- Bill Hicks, Rant in E-minor, CD

We Christians neither want nor worship crosses as the pagans do.
- Minucius Felix (Christian author, circa 200 A.D.)

It was only in the third century (after 400 A.D.) that Christian communities increasingly used "covert" crosses, which have survived in the murals of the catacombs and on tombstones. They might be an anchor with a crosspiece, a ship with a mast and yard, a human figure with outstretched arms, or a juxtaposition of the initials of the name Jesus or Christ (in Greek or Latin) to produce a cross-like shape. It was in the fourth century that the cross became an openly Christian symbol. By that time crucifixion as a method of state execution had been abolished and the cross ceased to have its former cruel and negative associations. Several hundred years later it was deemed a terrific symbol to use to ward off vampires, demons, etc.
- Skip Church

If Christ was executed today I bet Christians would wear little electric chairs around their necks.
- Dick Gregory

After the missionary explained the Bible's superior civilized plan of salvation to several natives, one of them stood and said, "Like you, we love our gods and seek to love one another. What we do not understand is why your god tried to pin down sin by using His son as a voodoo doll."
- Skip Church

Christianity is merely paganism with a more successful advertising campaign.
- Skip Church

Orthodox Christian theology teaches that Jesus had to die before God could forgive sins and send people to heaven. If that's true, then why isn't there a "Saint Judas?"
- Skip Church

Whenever I forgive someone it's relatively easy. But for God, it takes a bloody miracle.
- Skip Church

CONVERSATION, A.D. 33

A: Have you heard the latest?

B: No, what's happened?

A: The world has been redeemed!

B: You don't say!

A: Yes, the Dear Lord took on human form and had himself executed in Jerusalem; and with that the world has been redeemed and the devil hoodwinked.

B: Gosh, that's simply lovely.

- Arthur Shopenhauer

CHIPMUNK CRUCIFIXION

No chipmunk had to be crucified
on a tiny cross of twigs
To save all the other chippies,
Had to have nails pounded
through his little paws,
Had to take upon himself
all the sins of all the chippies
that ever were or would be
and die in agony
So that after they died
all the chippies
could live again forever,
But only if they believed
in all the sayings and doings
of the chipmunk crucified
on the tiny cross of twigs.

- Antler, Last Words

Christianity has a built-in defense system; anything that questions a belief, no matter how logical the argument, is the work of Satan by the very fact that it makes you question a belief. It is a very interesting defense mechanism and the only way to get by it, and believe me I was raised Southern Baptist, is to take heroic doses of mushrooms, sit in a field, and just go, "Show me."
- Bill Hicks

It seems to me that the most spurious of all the great religions is Christianity. Its biblical miracles are childish, pre-scientific myths. Its theology has been taken right out of the caldrons of blood sacrifice and appeasement. For God so loved the world that he allowed the crucifixion of his only son to appease his own wrath, and then he denied eternal life to billions of human souls who refused to accept the gory myth.
- Paul Blanshard (former minister), Personal and Confidential

Isn't it ironic that Christians keep repeating, "Civilization will fail without Christianity" on computers built by Buddhists in Japan?
- Source unknown

Christians are generally creepy people as a direct result of the dysfunctional dynamic of worshipping a dead naked hippie.
- Die Warzau, Engine Tour Shirt, 1995

Judas and Christianity

Orthodox Christian theology teaches that Jesus had to die before God could forgive sins and send people to heaven. If that's true, then why isn't there a "Saint Judas?"

- Skip Church

It's like going up to one of the Kennedy clan with a rifle pendant on. "Just thinking of president John F. Kennedy, your uncle. We love him."

- Bill Hicks, Rant in E-minor, CD

We Christians neither want nor worship crosses as the pagans do.

- Minucius Felix (Christian author, circa 200 A.D.)

- Skip Church

If Christ was executed today I bet Christians would wear little electric chairs around their necks.

- Dick Gregory

After the missionary explained the Bible's superior civilized plan of salvation to several natives, one of them stood and aid, "Like you, we love our gods and seek to love one another. What we do not understand is why your god tried to pin down sin by using His son as a voodoo doll."

- Skip Church

Christianity is merely paganism with a more successful advertising campaign.

- Skip Church

Whenever I forgive someone it's relatively easy. But for God, it takes a bloody miracle.

- Skip Church

CONVERSATION, A.D. 33

A: Have you heard the latest?

B: No, what's happened?

A: The world has been redeemed!

B: You don't say!

A: Yes, the Dear Lord took on human form and had himself executed in Jerusalem; and with that the world has been redeemed and the devil hoodwinked.

B: Gosh, that's simply lovely.

- Arthur Shopenhauer

CHIPMUNK CRUCIFIXION

- Antler, Last Words

- Bill Hicks

Isn't it ironic that Christians keep repeating, "Civilization will fail without Christianity" on computers built by Buddhists in Japan?

- Source unknown

Christians are generally creepy people as a direct result of the dysfunctional dynamic of worshipping a dead naked hippie.
- Die Warzau, Engine Tour Shirt, 1995

Twenty Thousand Different Christian Denominations Can't Be All Wrong! (OR Can They?)

"Ed, your research reveals a disturbing trend throughout the centuries. I have to wonder what the point of all this mayhem was, which was done "in the name of god."

Taking the long view, mayhem is mayhem whether done in God's name or not. I'm afraid that once religion was defanged after the religious wars of Europe, politics and nationalism became the new religion, and caused more wars. Mankind just doesn't seem to be able to get it. Today we have a resurgence of fundamentalism in religions like Xnty and Islam, Judaism, and even militant Hindus and militant Buddhists (the later live on the isle of Sri Lanka). Each individual is attracted to the prospect of becoming a part of something larger and more long lasting than their one short life. That's why people join groups in the first place (the less secure the person the more absolutist the group they join, or, they are secure people but feel even MORE secure when joined to an absolutist group).

The horror of Christianity is dual in that it has convinced bold bad people that they are good, the chosen, the elect of God; and it has also convinced sensitive and compassionate people that they are egregious sinners who have to spend their whole lives in penance and fear.

And history reveals of course that Christianty and Christians fall time and again into the same dirty ditches as every other dogmatic absolutist group in history, regardless of the fact that Christians boast a perfect book to guide them perfectly and a perfect holy spirit to lead them into all perfect truth.

And they also believe that regardless of a couple thousand years of evidence to the contrary, only THEY are right in THEIR beliefs and only THEY are "forgiven" when they fall into the same dirty ditches as every other absolutist group on earth. Today there are over 20,000 different Chrisitan groups and denominations and missionary organizations. And the diversity of views among them are amazing.

CHRISTIANITY RUNS THE GAMUT?
From silent Trappist monks and quiet Quakers - to hell raisers and snake handlers;

From those who "hear the Lord" telling them to run for president, seek diamonds in Uganda, or sell Lake of Galilee beauty products - to those who have visions of Mary, the saints, or experience bleeding stigmata;

From those who believe the communion bread and wine remain just that - to those who believe the bread and wine are miraculously transformed into "invisible" flesh and blood (and can vouch for it with tales of communion wafers turning into human flesh and wine curdling into blood cells during Mass);

From those who argue that they are predestined to argue in favor of predestination - to those who argue for free will of their own free will;

From those who believe everyone will eventually be saved - to those who believe most everyone will be damned;

From Christian monks and priests who have gained insights into their own faith after dialoging with Buddhist monks and Hindu priests - to Christians who view Eastern religious ideas and practices as "Satanic;"

From castrati (boys in Catholic choirs who underwent castration to keep their voices high) - to Protestant choirs (who sing Luther's hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God," based on the melody of a drinking song) - all the way to "Christian rap;"

From Christians who reject any behavior that even mimics "what homosexuals do" (including a rejection of fellatio and cunnilingus between husband and wife) - to Christians who accept committed, loving, homosexual relationships (including gay evangelical Church groups);

From Catholic nuns and Amish women who dress to cover their bodies - to Christian nudists, and born-again strippers;

From those who believe in sex between married couples for pleasure - to those who believe in sex primarily for procreation - to those who believe celibacy is superior to marriage (Catholic priests, monks and nuns & the Shakers) - all the way to those who believe in cutting off one's genitals for the kingdom of God (the Skoptze, a Russian Christian sect);

From those who believe sending out missionaries to persuade others to become Christians is essential - to the Anti-Mission Baptists who believe that sending out missionaries and trying to persuade others constitutes a lack of faith and the sin of pride, and that the founding of "extra-congregational missionary organizations" is not Biblical;

From those who believe Easter should be celebrated on one date (Roman Catholics) - to those who believe Easter should be celebrated on another date (Eastern Orthodox), which resulted in the Roman Catholics excommunicating all the Christians of the Eastern Roman Empire;

From those who worship on Sunday - to those who worship on Saturday (the Hebrew "sabbath" that God said to "keep holy" according to one of the Ten Commandments) - all the way to those who believe their daily walk with God and love of their fellow man is more important than church attendance;

From those who stress "God's commands" - to those who stress "God's love;"

From those who teach that being "baptized with water as an adult believer" is an essential sign of salvation - to those who deny it is;

From those who teach that "baptism in the Holy Spirit" along with "speaking in tongues" are important signs of salvation - to those who deny they are (some of whom see mental and Satanic delusions in modern day "Spirit baptism" and "tongue-speaking");

From those who believe that avoiding alcohol, smoking, gambling, dancing, contemporary Christian music, movies, television, long hair (on men), etc., are all important signs of being saved - to those who believe you need only trust in Jesus as your personal savior to be saved;

From pro-slavery Christians - to anti-slavery Christians;

From Christians who defend the biblical idea of "kingships" and oppose "democracy" as "the meanest and worst of all forms of government" (John Winthrop, first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and today's Reconstructionist Christians) - to Christians who oppose "kingships" and support democracies;

From "social Gospel" Christians - to "uncompromised Gospel" Christians;

From Christians who do not believe in sticking their noses in politics - to coup d'etat Christians;

From "stop the bomb" Christians - to "drop the bomb" Christians?

All in all, Christianity gives Hinduism with its infinite variety of sects and practices a run for its money.
- Skip Church

____________________________

THE WORLD'S NEED

So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind,
Is all the sad world needs.
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919)

Banned Book: About Leaving the Fold by Edward T. Babinski

"The book was recently removed from the shelves of the Anderson County Public Library in South Carolina (Babinski's home state), due to complaints from patrons. The book contains nearly three dozen first-hand testimonies from former fundamentalists who have become liberal Christians, agnostics or atheists. According to Babinski, 'I've tried to get the local newspaper to interview me since writing my book, but they never had the time. Sales have been slow. Now, miracle of miracles, the book is being mentioned in newspapers, television and radio. God bless those Christians!'"

The Secular Humanist Bulletin

Your comments are welcomed!

Controversial Book: "Leaving the Fold: Testimonies of Former Fundamentalists"

by Edward T. Babinski

This book is primarily a collection of testimonies by people who were Protestant Christian fundamentalists and who later left fundamentalism (with the exceptions of Tom Harpur and Harvey Cox, who were moderate Christians whose views underwent a broadening similar to what some fundamentalist contributors experienced).

A hard-line fundamentalist may wish to warn the authors of this book's testimonies, and anyone reading this book, that "hell" is probably their "next destination." But he will have to do better than that if he hopes to convince his former brethren to rejoin him in his "straight and narrow" appreciation of the Bible and Jesus. He may even have to read this entire book to understand where his former brethren are "coming from" rather than simply predict where he thinks they are going.

I first tried marketing this book in parts. The testimonies of those who had left fundamentalism but remained Christians were to be published by a moderate liberal Christian press; the testimonies of those who had left both fundamentalism and religion were to be published by an atheist or agnostic press. However, some testimonies, such as those by William Bagley and Ernest Heramia, did not fit easily into either category.

I contacted several moderate and liberal Christian publishing houses and found that none of them were interested in "testimonies." I think that is a defect of moderate and liberal Christian sensibilities. Perhaps they do not wish to "lower" their standards, so to speak, by copying confrontational evangelistic techniques used by conservatives and fundamentalists, one such technique being "testifying." (Can I hear an "Amen," brother?) Yet personal testimonies are remarkably effective at conveying feelings, not merely facts; deeds, not merely dogmas; and they incite people to act as well as to think. For many years evangelical Protestant Christianity has used the power inherent in a single person's "testimony" to win new converts and buoy the faith of old ones.

So, after several rejections from moderate and liberal publishing houses, I offered the testimonies to the largest free-thought press in America, Prometheus Books. At first I was skeptical whether a "free-thought" press would print testimonies by people who had remained Christians, but I was assured that promoting genuinely free thinking was more important to the press than selectively chopping up every hundred-thousand-word manuscript they bought until it resembled a ten-page primer for atheism. Prometheus has published three full-length autobiographies of people whose faith in Christianity was shattered after they had witnessed the unethical or demagogic practices of church leaders and the naivete of their followers (i.e., Salvation for Sale, Don't Call Me Brother, and Jesus Doesn't Live Here Anymore). None of the authors of those books is an atheist. Furthermore, printing only testimonies advocating atheism would be to fall into the same error as that of the fundamentalists, who feel it imperative that everyone believe exactly as they do.

I suppose that the nearest that fundamentalist Christians ever came to advocating greater diversity rather than greater uniformity was when Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority, which, until its demise in 1986, focused on the moral (and political) concerns of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. Considering what fundamentalist Protestants teach about the grave errors of Catholicism (not to mention Judaism), that was quite an amalgamation for a fundamentalist like Jerry Falwell to construct. But, as they say, "politics makes strange bedfellows." For that matter, so does televangelism."

(Chuckle.)

This book exemplifies how an even more diverse array of people (far more diverse than the Moral Majority) is willing to band together to speak out on an issue that has intimately affected all of them, hoping thereby to increase the volume and scope of their declarations.

Once you have read all the testimonies, certain threads linking them together become apparent: the dilemmas and fears each person faced in leaving fundamentalism behind; their gradually dawning courage to ask crucial critical questions, and to continue asking more questions; their discovery of how wonderful it can be to allow one's innate curiosity the freedom it craves; and the blossoming of their distinctive personalities and beliefs. Anyone who enjoys a novel with idiosyncratic and markedly diverse characters will enjoy reading what lies ahead.

Of course, people who have left fundamentalism can differ markedly in their reactions to it. At one end of the spectrum are those who bid fundamentalism a "fond farewell." They had fun as fundamentalists, particularly in their youth. They also remind us that belonging to a fundamentalist church is a healthy alternative to drug addiction, alcoholism, and crime. A fundamentalist church setting can provide some with the social and psychological context that helps them to legitimize and catalyze radical changes they wish to make in their lives. (Of course, individuals must also want to change in the first place. No mere context can do that for you, as groups like Alcoholics Anonymous have pointed out.)

At the other end of the spectrum are those who aim both barrels at their former fundamentalist lives and beliefs. They view fundamentalist organizations as robbing people of their money (through "tithing," "giving till it hurts," and phoney come-ons to garner more contributions than a television ministry knows what to do with); robbing people of their time (every minute involved in church activities); robbing people of their health (phoney promises made by "faith healers"); and robbing people of their individuality, their freedom of thought, or even their ability to appreciate life.

Both perspectives can undoubtedly be true, depending on each individual's personal experiences. It was left up to each contributor to discuss in whatever terms they chose their entrance into and exit from fundamentalism, and to explain where they are today.

If you are a Christian, you may be interested primarily in testimonies by former fundamentalists who remained Christians. If you are not a Christian, but open to non-Christian spiritualities (wiccan or eastern), then you may find testimonies of that nature more to your liking. If you "don't know" which part of the book you might enjoy reading first, try the testimonies of those who became agnostics. If you are an atheist, your curiosity may be peaked by that section. Or, if you are a historian, you may wish to flip to the final section of testimonies of historical figures.

Readers of all persuasions should peruse the annotated bibliography that lists further testimonies. Or, you may wish to advance directly ahead.

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