Survey: Folks are leaving church because of mean people

Here’s your

“Well… Duh! No shit, Jack!”

moment.

You know things are pretty bad when “sinners” (atheists, agnostics, humanists, et al) know when religious folks are not practicing what they preach, and call out their blatant hypocrisy… and even Jesus agrees with them.

“I tell you the truth, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do.”
— Jesus of Nazareth, Matthew 21:31 (NIV)

Instead of establishing and promoting tax-free corrupt religious empires in order to facilitate, perpetuate, and obfuscate sex crimes by shuffling perpetrators and prime suspects across state lines and international borders, isn’t it time we started talking about taxing churches?

Formerly, religion was thought of as a “moral good,” an imperative of immense societal importance, imagining (falsely) that people cannot be moral, ethical, virtuous, righteous, pious, or even devout, without religion. Granted, piety and devoutness have often been used to characterize behaviors in religious terms, but those 2 words have neither exclusively ecclesiastical, nor uniquely religious application or use — as their etymology (history of a word’s origin, derivation, and usage) indicates — even though they have been co-opted for that purpose.

But, people can be, and are, good, without religion, without practicing religion — belief in an ethereal, often-supernatural being(s), which often are superlative to humans, frequently possessing omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence, among other super-powers.

It’s as if We The People want someone like us, but simultaneously not like us, to whom we can give obeisance… and alms. Can’t have religion without money, you know. At least in America, you can’t.

And so, we have created our very own god — a veritable golden calf, only this one is green, his name is Benjamin, has no intrinsic value, but is backed by the “full faith and credit” of the government of the United States.

Naturally, my god is better than, and superior to, your god, and so, we must fight to the death to determine whose god will win, whose theology will prevail, whose rules we will obey, and upon whom we will force the arcane doctrines, under penalty of law… even imposing death if it so warrants. And there are many, for the arrest of thousands, upon thousands for infractions of the most picayune type.

Hair too long? Too short? Pants too tight? Bulges in the wrong places? Body parts poking through sweaters and snug-fitting tee-shirts? Shorts too short? Makeup? Work on Sunday? Saturday? Wednesday night?

After all, it’s what god wants.

Right?

But taxing churches…

The ostensible primary idea behind the elimination of tax responsibility and liability, is that churches and religious institutions provide an intangible public benefit such as the inculcation of ethics, morals, and values, in addition to providing corporeal, tangible relief and assistance to societies’ members in time of need, which exemplifies the practice of the ethic, the ideal, the standard to which the faithful hold themselves accountable… or not. At one time, churches, and religions in general terms, held up an ideal, one of education, of discovery, of contributing to society, of helping others, etc., though they are not often nowadays seen practicing what they once preached… even though they are given the same level (if not more) of legal deference and respect that they once were given, including substantially preferential legal treatment, which had the elimination of tax liability as its bedrock, private donations to which also enjoyed similar treatment, as well as the clerics who enjoyed such public largesse in the form of personal tax elimination.

Their abuses — aside from sexual crimes — are renown.

Houses fit for kings — literally, modern versions of British castles and princely estates, with tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of square feet, multiple stories (often, at least 3), and acres upon acres — even miles upon miles — of prime farm and forest land, often lain fallow, only rarely hunted, and farmed even less — are commonplace.

To compare, Frogmore Cottage, a more “humble” part of the Royal Windsor Estate in England, formerly known as Double Garden Cottage when it belonged to Queen Charlotte in 1801, had been divided into 5 separate housing units in the early 21^st century and occupied by Windsor Estate workers, and later briefly became the former residence of the former Prince Harry and his bride Rachel Meghan Markle, former Duchess of Sussex, which they extensively renovated in 2019, previously had 5,089 sq ft, 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, with nursery, again became a single-family residence house in 2020, and now has 10 bedrooms, with 2 floors, on 33 acres.

Joel Osteen, whose net worth is estimated to be at least $100 million, and who owns Lakewood Church in Houston, TX, resides with his spouse and 2 adult children in a 17,000 square foot palatial property in Houston’s ultra-elite River Oaks neighborhood, a renown enclave of billionaires, which physical “footprint” encompasses 1.86 acres, cost $10.5 million, has 6 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, 5 open wood fireplaces, 3 elevators, a 2-story, 2,800 square foot guest house with 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a full kitchen and laundry room, a 2-story, 1 bedroom guest house, a pool, and pool house… for 4 people (1,000 square feet with living area, kitchen, bathroom, complete with covered patio overlooking a large heated pool) — in addition to owning a somewhat “smaller,” though equally palatial, $2.9 million mansion in Houston’s elite Tanglewood neighborhood where the wealthy, well-connected, and well-to-do reside.

Fleets of luxuriously exotic hand-crafted boutique automobiles… equine barns replete with the trappings of immense wealth… herds of cattle fed an exquisitely bizarre diet comprised exclusively of macadamia nuts… custom-crafted air-conditioned dog houses with marble floors… private airports and hangars to house a fleet of private jets… those are but a few of the trappings of wealth enjoyed by billionaire Americans and teevee preachers, most all of whom pay NO INCOME TAX.

An infamous event in Houston, TX — Hurricane Harvey in 2017 — exposed their hypocrisy by denying refuge from the ravages of the storm to area residents rendered homeless by it. For that, they, and others like them, are rewarded with preferential tax treatment by the United States Government, most often as massive reduction, or outright elimination of any tax liability or responsibility, and certainly, no public accountability for their actions… or, more often, the lack thereof.

If religious do-gooders are not going to do good with their worldly material goods, they should be taxed, and the monies collected put to public relief.

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People say they’re leaving religion due to anti-LGBTQ teachings and sexual abuse

March 27, 2024 5:00 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
by Jason DeRose at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C. (photo by Allison Shelley)

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/27/1240811895/leaving-religion-anti-lgbtq-sexual-abuse

People in the U.S. are leaving and switching faith traditions in large numbers. The idea of “religious churning” is very common in America, according to a new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).

It finds that around one-quarter (26%) of Americans now identify as religiously unaffiliated, a number that has risen over the last decade and is now the largest single religious group in the U.S. That’s similar to what other surveys and polls have also found, including Pew Research.

PRRI found that the number of those who describe themselves as “nothing in particular” has held steady since 2013, but those who identify as atheists have doubled (from 2% to 4%) and those who say they’re agnostic has more than doubled (from 2% to 5%).

This study looked at which faith traditions those unaffiliated people are coming from.

Dr. Melissa Deckman, PhD, PRRI’s Chief Executive Officer, said that

Southern Slave States Foster Nazism by Anti-Drag, Anti-Trans Laws

Homosexual prisoners at the Nazi concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, Germany, wearing pink triangles on their uniforms to identify them as such, on December 19, 1938.

Southern Slave States (you know the ones) where legislators have a “trifecta” control over state government — meaning that Repugnicunts control all three branches of government:
1.) Executive;
2.) Legislative, and;
3.) Judicial

— that have:
• banned books,
• enacted so-called “don’t say ‘gay’ laws,
• banned drag shows,
• forbidden teaching about slavery & institutionalized, government-enforced racial discrimination,
• outlawed abortion,
• made illegal gender-affirming healthcare, etc.,

share significant common denominators with Adolph Hitler and Nazism.

Hitler did the same things.

That is NOT exaggeration, it is NOT hyperbole.

One more time:

They’re doing the
EXACT SAME THING
that Nazi Führer Adolph Hitler did.

In this current day and era, amidst the actions of rebellious Confederate Southern Slave States, and a handful of select others led by Repugnicunts, to ban, or outlaw, anything which they:

1.) Don’t understand, or;

2.) Disagree with — including abortion, books, drag, gender affirming healthcare, etc.;

it’s vitally important to remember THAT ONE THING.

So did Hitler.

Nazi Concentration Camp Armband Identification Chart
Star of David=Jew;
Inverted Triangle with Bar Atop=Repeaters
Pink Triangle=Homosexual Male;
Black=Roma & Sinti;
P=Poles, T=Czech (German word begins with ‘T’);
Star of David with Pink triangle=Gay Jew;
Purple=Jehovah’s Witnesses; Red=Political Enemies;
Green=Habitual Criminals;
Blue=Immigrants;
Black Bulls-Eye=Inmates of Penal Battalions;
Red Bulls-Eye=Escape Suspect;
Brown Arm Band=Special Inmate;

Again, that is NOT exaggeration, it is NOT hyperbole.

IT IS HISTORY:

Hitler’s Nazis destroyed the first Gender clinic.

Together, we must ensure such atrocities never happen again.

Such actions by those states’ governments are essentially the wholesale removal of personal liberties, the repeal, an denial of personal freedoms guaranteed by our nation’s founding documents.

And yet,

Transsexuals In Iran Have Governmentally-Subsidized Transition Surgery

And in America, some Banana Republican-misled states’ officials want to deny are denying transsexual people basic human rights… even denying them fundamental equal rights – American Civil Rights – guaranteed to everyone (but denied to them) by the U.S. Constitution.

Go figure.

Again, in Iran – a far right-wing religiously-run conservative state government – transsexuals have sexual reassignment surgery at government expense. And, it’s A-OK with their nation’s imams (powerful religious leaders).

But in America, Banana Republicans (Banana Republics need Banana Republicans, rights?) are the embodiment of “Just say ‘NO!'” to everything – civil rights, voting rights, equality under law, etc.

They are literally “Governmental Deconstructionists” hell-bent upon destroying government, rather than strengthening it, and by extension, as part and parcel of that grand objective, are de-funding it through various and sundry tax cuts for the wealthy.

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Iran: How Transgender People Survive Ultraconservative Rule

– Deutsche Welle, DW – 16.05.2021
by Monir Ghaedi 

Iran’s state subsidizes gender reassignment surgery while prohibiting homosexuality. A long and continuing history of activism has helped transgender people bolster their community despite the discrimination they face.

Before getting gender-confirmation surgery, Saman Arastoo had pondered all of the consequences. At the age of 40, he had built an acting career in Iranian cinema and theater as a woman. He knew that his decision would hurt his career, but he had plans to replace it. Now he spends most of his time making sure that trans boys and girls do not rush into sex-change surgery — a rather easy option in Iran.

Saman Arastoo has achieved a certain measure of success as a theater director in Iran

Despite Iran’s rigid attitudes toward sexuality, its capital, Tehran, has been dubbed one of the world’s hubs for sex-reassignment surgery. Transgender individuals live and work with no legal barriers in the country. The government even helps with the costs of hormone medicine and gender reassignment surgery for those who want it.

The procedure became legal following a transgender woman’s campaign in the mid-1980s. Maryam Khatoon Molkara met Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran’s religious and political leader, and told him how she had been put into a psychiatric institution and forcibly injected with male hormones. Moved by her story, Khomeini issued a decree, allowing the operation and endorsing civil rights for transgender people.

When it comes to other forms of non-heterosexual identity,

Amy Coney Barrett Served On Gay-Hating Schools’ Board

This is what the soft hatred of bigotry cloaked in religious garb looks like.

This revelation should come as no surprise, that a radicalized right-wing religious zealot should serve at a high level on the Board of Directors for three schools in three separate states under a common umbrella would discriminate.

Below her image are three more images of the same type thing.

This person must NOT be confirmed to the nation’s highest court!

And toward that end, perhaps it may alarm you to know that a Ku Klux Klansman has been seated on the nation’s highest court.

No, it’s not any of the current members.

It was Hugo Black, of Alabama.

https://timeline.com/hugo-black-justice-klan-4877fcf6ac75

You can read Matt Reimann’s excellently succinct August 15, 2017 article via the link above. Of note, Mr. Justice Black was also a “textualist” on matters of interpretation of the Constitution – the same thing late Justice Scalia said he was, and which Judge Barrett says she is.

The primary problem with that alleged “style” of interpretation, is that it’s nonsensical. Here’s a succinctly brief statement why from Chicago, IL Mayor Lori Lightfoot:

“CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she is preparing for when Amy Coney Barrett takes her seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. She was asked to share her thoughts Tuesday on the judge and minced no words.

“Mayor Lightfoot was first asked if she views the U.S. Constitution as Judge Barrett does, as an “originalist.”

“Originalists firmly believe all statements in the U.S. Constitution must be strictly interpreted based on the original understanding at the time the Constitution was adopted. They do not believe in the concept of a “Living Constitution” that can be interpreted in the context of current times.

““You ask a gay, black woman if she is an originalist? No, ma’am, I am not,” Lightfoot laughed.

““That the Constitution didn’t consider me a person in any way, shape or form because I’m a woman, because I’m black, because I’m gay? I am not an originalist. I believe in the Constitution. I believe that it is a document that the founders intended to evolve and what they did was set the framework for how our country was going to be different from any other.

““But originalists say that, ‘Let’s go back to 1776 and whatever was there in the original language, that’s it.’ That language excluded, now, over 50 percent of the country. So, no I’m not an originalist.”

“Mayor Lightfoot said she’s deeply worried about some of Judge Barrett’s stated views, for instance, being against gay marriage.

““I deeply worry about this woman’s stated views. She’s on the record on a number of different things, not the least of which is thinking that gay marriage is something that shouldn’t be countenanced. And she’s got soulmates in Justice Thomas and others, who think that the decision by the Supreme Court…should somehow be rolled back,” Lightfoot said.

““What should I tell my daughter — that somehow now my wife and I are no longer married? That we’re no longer legitimately recognized in the eyes of the law? That is dangerous, dangerous territory. And what about a woman’s right to choose? We’re gonna keep re-litigating this issue, and we’re gonna make abortion illegal, as Amy Coney Barrett thinks it should be?”

“The Mayor also called Republicans “hypocrites” for pushing the Barrett nomination when they put off taking up the Merrick Garland nomination by President Obama.

“”The hypocrisy is something that is a bitter pill for me to swallow,” Lightfoot said.”

Here’s an excerpt introduction from the article “A U.S. Supreme Court justice was in the Ku Klux Klan—and he remained on the bench for 34 years. Hugo Black was exposed just after his confirmation, but it made no difference.“:

The September 13, 1937 front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette printed an image of Black’s KKK resignation letter.

“Hugo Black had been associate justice of the Supreme Court for less than a month when the news broke. In September of 1937, an exposé by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette found proof of Black’s membership in the Ku Klux Klan. He had joined in September of 1923, and resigned in July, 1925, as one of his first moves before running for one of Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat. Ironically, the smoking gun was Black’s resignation letter, written in legible longhand on Klan stationery, which appeared on the paper’s front page.

“Franklin Roosevelt, who nominated Hugo Black, was implicated in the scandal, which threatened to have far-reaching consequences for the president’s New Deal image. What was once seen as shrewd politics — the New Deal-friendly textualist was confirmed with a 63–16 vote — had become a disgrace. “Millions of Americans,” wrote one Indiana newspaper, “will not forget this sole tangible accomplishment of President Roosevelt’s attempted ‘liberalization’ of the Supreme Court.”

“When asked by the press to remark on the scandal, Roosevelt brushed questions aside, saying, “I only know what I have read in the newspapers. I know that the stories are appearing serially and their publication is not complete. Mr. Justice Black is in Europe where, undoubtedly, he cannot get the full text of these articles. Until such time as he returns, there is no further comment to be made.”“

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apnews.com

Barrett Was Trustee At Private School With Anti-Gay Policies

By Michelle R. Smith and Michael Biesecker
October 21, 2020 at 10:51:08 AM CDT

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett served for nearly three years on the board of private Christian schools that effectively barred admission to children of same-sex parents and made it plain that openly gay and lesbian teachers weren’t welcome in the classroom.

The policies that discriminated against LGBTQ people and their children were in place for years at Trinity Schools Inc., both before Barrett joined the board in 2015 and during the time she served.

The three schools, in Indiana, Minnesota and Virginia, are affiliated with People of Praise, an insular community rooted in its own interpretation of the Bible, of which Barrett and her husband have been longtime members. At least three of the couple’s seven children have attended the Trinity School at Greenlawn, in South Bend, Indiana.

The AP spoke with more than two dozen people who attended or worked at Trinity Schools, or former members of People of Praise. They said the community’s teachings have been consistent for decades: Homosexuality is an abomination against God, sex should occur only within marriage, and marriage should only be between a man and a woman.

Interviewees told the AP that Trinity’s leadership communicated anti-LGBTQ policies and positions in meetings, one-on-one conversations, enrollment agreements, employment agreements, handbooks and written policies — including those in place when Barrett was an active member of the board.

“Trinity Schools does not unlawfully discriminate with respect to race, color, gender, national origin, age, disability, or other legally protected classifications under applicable law, with respect to the administration of its programs,” said Jon Balsbaugh, president of Trinity Schools Inc., which runs the three campuses, in an email.

The actions are probably legal, experts said. Scholars said the school’s and organization’s teachings on homosexuality and treatment of LGBTQ people are harsher than those of the mainstream Catholic church. In a documentary released Wednesday, Pope Francis endorsed civil unions for the first time as pope, and said in an interview for the film that, “Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God.”

Barrett’s views on whether LGBTQ people should have the same constitutional rights as other Americans became a focus last week in her Senate confirmation hearing. But her longtime membership in People of Praise and her leadership position at Trinity Schools were not discussed, even though most of the people the AP spoke with said her deep and decades-long involvement in the community signals she would be hostile to gay rights if confirmed.

Suzanne B. Goldberg, a professor at Columbia Law School who studies sexuality and gender law, said private schools have wide legal latitude to set admissions criteria. And, she said, Trinity probably isn’t covered by recent Supreme Court rulings outlawing employment discrimination against LGBTQ people because of its affiliation with a religious community. But, she added, cases addressing those questions are likely to come before the high court in the near future, and Barrett’s past oversight of Trinity’s discriminatory policies raises concerns.

“When any member of the judiciary affiliates themselves with an institution that is committed to discrimination on any ground, it is important to look more closely at how that affects the individual’s ability to give all cases a fair hearing,” Goldberg said.

The AP sent detailed questions for Barrett to the White House press office. Rather than providing direct answers, White House spokesman Judd Deere instead accused AP of attacking the nominee.

“Because Democrats and the media are unable to attack Judge Barrett’s sterling qualifications, they have instead turned to pathetic personal attacks on her children’s Christian school, even though the Supreme Court has repeatedly reaffirmed that religious schools are protected by the First Amendment,” Deere said in an email.

Nearly all the people interviewed for this story are gay or said they have gay family members. They used words such as “terrified,” “petrified” and “frightening” to describe the prospect of Barrett on the high court. Some of them know Barrett, have mutual friends with her or even have been in her home dozens of times. They describe her as “nice” or “a kind person,” but told the AP they feared others would suffer if Barrett tries to implement People of Praise’s views on homosexuality on the Supreme Court.

About half of the people asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation against themselves or their families from other members of People of Praise, or because they had not come out to everyone in their lives. Among those interviewed were people who attended all three of its schools and who had been active in several of its 22 branches. Their experiences stretched back as far as the 1970s, and as recently as 2020.

NOT WELCOME

Tom Henry was a senior at Trinity School in Eagan, Minnesota, serving as a student ambassador, providing tours to prospective families, when Barrett was an active member of the board.

In early 2017, a lesbian parent asked him whether Trinity was open to gay people and expressed concern about how her child would be treated.

Henry, who is gay, said he didn’t know what to say. He had been instructed not to answer questions about People of Praise or Trinity’s “politics.”

The next day, Henry recalled, he asked the school’s then-headmaster, Jon Balsbaugh, how he should have answered. Henry said Balsbaugh pulled a document out of his desk drawer that condemned gay marriage, and explained it was a new policy from People of Praise that was going into the handbook.

“He looked me right in the eye and said, the next time that happens, you tell them they would not be welcome here,” Henry recounted. “And he said to me that trans families, gay families, gay students, trans students would not feel welcome at Trinity Schools. And then he said, ‘Do we understand each other?’ And I said, yes. And I left. And then I quit the student ambassadors that day.”

Balsbaugh, who has since been promoted to president of Trinity Schools Inc., says his recollection of the conversation “differs considerably,” but declined