I AIN'T AFRAID

Several weeks ago, I went to church. It was the first time I'd been in church for decades except for weddings or funerals.

At the Unitarian-Universalist Congregation, Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) spoke about the case the FFRF had won in a Wisconsin court declaring that the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional. The case is being appealed. Dan doesn't have much hope of winning in the Chicago court in which three judges will rule on the case, and in this situation, the three judges seem to lean toward rulings which favor religion. If the FFRF does win in Chicago and it is appealed to the Supreme Court, with the present court in which the majority of the justices are highly religious, the FFRF will probably not pursue the case.

If I were forced to join a church, I probably would join the Unitarians because they don't have a dogma and openly accept members who are religious (of any belief system) or non-religious. They don't teach or preach a particular creed, but encourage members and their children to learn about different religions and make up their own minds.

However, even the Unitarian service was too much like "church" ---the church I attended in my youth ---for me. I especially disliked the parts of the service that included responsive readings. The leader read something, then everyone responded in unison from a written text.

It reminded me of my favorite part of the Monty Python movie "Life of Brian" when Brian is telling the hoards who are following him and think he is the Messiah, to leave him alone. He says that they don't need him. "You're all individuals" he declares.

In unison, they respond, "Yes, we are all individuals."

Dah!

I did enjoy several things about being there that day. It was the first time I had attended a get-together of the local Meetup group, Secular Freethinkers. So I met and enjoyed speaking to some of the members. I will be attending a party they are sponsoring on May 22, 2011 ---to celebrate that we missed the rapture predicted to happen on May 21st ---TODAY.

After hearing numerous judgment day predictions in the past 60+ years, I am 100% certain we will all still be here at the end of the day.

I admit that there are times I wish all the "good Christians" and other religious people would be raptured. I'm sure this would be a less violent and more peaceful world without them.

At the Unitarian church, the reception afterward had great food. I am a nightowl and would normally have been in bed on Sunday (or any) morning. So I was tired, a bit cranky, and hungry. The coffee, fruit, juice, baked goods, and cheese were much appreciated.

And finally, the choir sang Holly Near's "I Ain't Afraid." I have always loved the lyrics and the tune is so catchy I found myself humming it for days afterward.

For your enjoyment, I am including several versions of the song, along with the lyrics (which are a bit difficult to hear on these videos.) Note that some versions seem to include or leave out some of the lyrics.

Enjoy!

I Ain't Afraid

by Holly Near

I ain't afraid of your Yahweh
I ain't afraid of your Allah
I ain't afraid of your Jesus
I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God

I ain't afraid of your churches
I ain't afraid of your temples
I ain't afraid of your praying
I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God

verse
Rise up find your higher power
Free up from fear, it will devour you
Watch out for the ego of the hour
The ones who say they know it
Are the ones who will impose it on you

I ain't afraid of your Yahweh
I ain't afraid of your Allah
I ain't afraid of your Jesus
I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God

I ain't afraid of your churches
I ain't afraid of your temples
I ain't afraid of your praying
I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God

verse
Rise up, and see /find/ know/ hear a higher story
Free up from the gods of war and glory
Watch out for the threats of purgatory
The spirit of the wind won’t make a killing off of sin and satan

I ain't afraid of your Bible
I ain't afraid of your Torah
I ain't afraid of your Koran
Dont let the letter of the law
Obsure the spirit of the your love--it's killing us

I ain't afraid of your Yahweh
I ain't afraid of your Allah
I ain't afraid of your Jesus
I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God

I ain't afraid of your churches
I ain't afraid of your temples
I ain't afraid of your praying
I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God


Money
Culture
Choices
I’m afraid of what you do in the name of your God

Sunday
Spirit
Teachers
I’m afraid of what you do in the name of your God

Sabbath
Borders
Dances
I’m afraid of what you do in the name of your God double

Children
Music
Stories
I’m afraid of what you do in the name of your God

Rise up to your higher power
Free up
Rise up to your higher power
Free up
Let's try to be highly evolved
I aint afraid

BIBLE QUIZ

Below you will find a few of the questions you can find on a Bible quiz on the Freedom From Religion Foundation website.

What Do You Really Know

About The Bible?

1. What is the last of the Ten Commandments?
     a. Don't steal.
     b. Don't covet your neighbor's wife and property.
     c. Don't boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.
     d. Love your neighbor as yourself.

2. What is the penalty for working on the Sabbath?
     a. You will be stoned to death.
     b. Neither you nor your offspring to the 5th generation can

          enter the tabernacle.
     c. You should sacrifice two unblemished she goats.
     d. You will be disinherited from the kingdom.

3. What is God's name?
     a. Jealous.
     b. Righteous.
     c. Holy.
     d. Jehovah.

HINT: If you don't know the answer, choose the one that sounds incredibly ridiculous.  You won't get them all right, but you're sure to earn a higher score than by blind guessing.

See the answers to these three questions below.

For the full 50 question quiz, click HERE.

*  *  *  *  *  

When you need a good laugh,

find more Bible Quizzes at the

parody web site for the

Landover Baptist Church

 HERE.

More information on the Bible can be found

on the FFRF site by clicking

  HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.

Quiz Answers: 

1. c      2. a      3. a

CHRISTIANS BEHAVING BADLY #4 clergy crime

BLACK COLLAR CRIME

In my attempt to show that being religious
is not a guarantee of moral behavior,
this post is a part of my series of reports featuring the
bad behavior of religious people, past or present....

Look for other posts showing the bad behavior
perpetrated by members of other religious groups.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation puts out a newspaper-sized publication Freethought Today ten times a year. In each issue, a 2-page spread is devoted to their “Black Collar Crime Blotter” ---crimes committed mostly by ministers, priests, rabbis, choir directors, deacons, Sunday School teachers, but also some by church employees and other religious individuals.

In the June/July 2008 edition (for example), 31 crimes were listed under arrested/charged, an additional 13 perpetrators convicted, 13 sentenced, 11 civil suits filed, 2 civil suits settled, 2 additional updates on other legal issues and one “Creep of the Month.”
The “Creep of the Month” was a CA minister accused of murder, attempted murder, theft and embezzlement in a scheme to inherit an elderly gentleman’s fortune.
Predictably, the majority of crimes are sex-related (rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse, lewd conduct, molestation, child pornography). In that same issue, other crimes included embezzling church funds, armed robbery, failure to file income taxes, and theft.
A female minister in GA was charged with conspiracy, money laundering, making false statements and fraud. She had grossed over $500,000 by targeting illegal aliens and charging them for legal papers ---but what they got were fake documents.

In a case of misapplication of federal funds, $450,000 intended for a “faith-based-initiative” social service was diverted to the church’s building fund and to pay for the minister’s private debts and his son’s wedding reception.
In the January/February 2009 issue, 15 crimes were listed under arrested/charged, an additional 11 sentenced, 5 civil suits filed, 2 suits settled, 1 update on another legal issue and a report of the Ohio head of the governor's faith-based initiative charged with involvement in a prostitution ring.
The “Creep of the Month” was a Mormon Bishop from UT charged with abuse of three sisters aged 6 to 12.
The crimes listed in Freethought Today are submitted by FFRF members from newspapers nationwide. The reported incidents probably aren’t even close to the number of crimes committed by "good Christians," just the ones reported to the FFRF by members and limited to those that fit on the two pages devoted to such crimes.

The FFRF subtitles this section of their publication "By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them."

AMEN!

Order a subscription, a sample copy, or a back issue of

Freethought Today or become a member at the FFRF website.