Well, Robert, perhaps it's time you and I had a little chat...
I used to work in vocational ministry. I was overnight host on KFIA back in the mid-eighties. (You can check that out with Steve Gasser, who still works there.) In fact, I was just starting when the word came down that Peter Popoff had been busted by none other than James Randi. (That should have been my first clue to get the flying **** out of there, but fast.) I stayed there for three years, making myself utterly miserable in the name of Jesus, working for three separate station managers, all of whom undercut my broadcast career. In fact, the last one, Jamie Clark, fired me because my wife and I dared to donate a miserable $50 from my pittance of a paycheck to help support Archbishop Desmond Tutu in his fight against Apartheid.
One of the things that pushed this further was hearing from Mr. Clark that "black people need to be given their rights gradually," and "black people are genetically inferior to whites." I duly informed him he was a damned racist.
See, this is what gets to me about your "god." He supports these kinds of bigots, charlatans, haters, cowards, gutless wonders, and such. In my experience, it's the Christian who expects something for nothing, or if he's giving anyone anything, it's got strings attached to it. Most people would call that "commerce," rather than "charity." Most Jews in my experience will give you what you need simply because it's the right thing to do. That's charity, not commerce. But guess who gets the smear?
Truthfully, your god ain't that great. It's not just that he doesn't exist, but if he did, he's sort of a schlock artist. Yes, the churches who do the "holy water" business are scamming people. It's supposed to represent something greater than its individual parts, but it's become so bowdlerized, so twisted, it's become worthless.
But that pales next to the nonsense that has come in recent years regarding everyone from Catholic priests to prominent Evangelicals. Among the latest has been
Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel fame. He's not only tossed his son out of ministry for questioning his father's theology, but when Wendy Kaiser of JPUSA questioned him about tolerating financial and sexual impropriety within Calvary Chapel, he told her "Touch not the Lord's Anointed." (For those of you who haven't spent significant parts of your life buried with your nose in a Bible, this is a reference to King David's reproof of the Amelekite who killed the mortally wounded King Saul of Israel. The Amelekite reported to David, hoping for a reward, and David condemned him and killed him for killing Saul, even as Saul was begging to be killed rather than held as a prisoner by his enemies.)
It's a familiar attitude, oddly enough. It's evident in the actions of Ken Lay and Bernie Ebbers, who were pretty proud of how they'd ripped people off. (Don't know how Ken feels about it now, given that he's dead. Actually, I suspect he's not feeling much, except the worms munching on his corpse, if he's feeling anything at all.) It's also evident in the actions of other pastors who have been caught with their pants down, both figuratively and literally.
Honestly, I don't see how they've been "anointed," when rather than submitting to what they claim is their god, they try to tell him how he's supposed to act, and who he's supposed to bless or forgive. Pretty odd, if you ask me.
Frankly, if they don't believe in their god, why should I, a mere trucker, believe in him either?