Attack of the Bible Thumpers

sent in by Rocky

I'll start by saying hello-been lurking on this site for several months and I'm impressed by most of the intelligence expressed here.

Before I cover my background, I'll tell you why I'm here and why I'm so PISSED! I live in a city which has taken yet another ridiculous religious grandstand-a "creation" exhibit at the Tulsa Zoo. Funded by, you guessed it, TAXPAYER DOLLARS. Apparently the mastermind behind this decided that the elephant exhibit is representational of the Hindu faith and therefore this brainiac, who can't separate fact from myth, wants his faith represented too. It's clearly a cultural exhibit, but try telling that to anyone who thinks the earth is only a few thousand years old. What's worse, OUR MAYOR VOTED FOR IT, making us the laughingstock of the nation. If any of you live in Tulsa, please sign the petition to reverse this decision. I always liked the zoo-shame I'm going to have to boycott it.

Thank you Tulsa, for adding yet another embarrassing rung to the ladder of shame-giant praying hands, cockfighting, Rhema, etc.

I'm still on the soapbox, so bear with me. My mother is Catholic and my father is Atheist, happily married for 44yrs now. I was never forced to go to church growing up, save for Easter and Christmas (I suspect my father had a say in that). I guess I'm lucky to have escaped some of the horrors I've read about here-the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, the fear and manipulation associated with "believing". My heart goes out to those of you who've experienced it.

My story is more comical- the change began around the time I began attending summer camp sponsored by the YMCA. I'd never really felt the "spirit", as they called it during evening devotions, I was just doing what was expected of me; bowing my head, pretending to pray, giving God and Jesus the credit for everything good, and blaming Satan or someone else for everything that was bad. I heard so much Amy Grant played that summer I went through an entire bottle of ear drops, and one of the couselors threatened to have me sent home for reading an immoral book like Scruples. That was enough policing for my soul-hey I just went to ride horses and swim! I started to use my head-read, question, discuss, and sometimes argue. I once went to church with a friend of mine-the kind of church where they go to the front and dance around as though they're being molested by a stinging insect then "fall" on the floor, exhausted by the elimination of sin from their bodies. If only I 'd had a camera! Christians Gone Wild! I used to have a babysitter that would speak in tongues over the phone to her friends, but that's a story for another time.

I have a message for you "not perfect, just forgiven" Christians. Keep it off my windshield, off my doorknob, out of my mailbox, and away from the abortion clinics. You do not hold a monopoly on all that is good and moral and you do not get to decide that the rest of us have to live as your collective conscience dictates. Go find a church for your snake handling, faith healing and general bible thumping-hell there's one on every corner around here.

F
Tulsa
Ok
Joined at birth
Left Christianity at 16
What labels, if any, would you apply to yourself now? humanist
Why did you become a christian? didn't think I had a choice
Why did you de-convert? I grew up
emailL roxidation at yahoo dot com