Christianity « Simply Mandi Kaye

Category Archives: Christianity

Jun 2 2010

Rape Victim Forced to Apologize

by Mandi

This is one of those things that I can’t believe is true. The more I read, the more disgusted I got.

After being raped and impregnated by a fellow churchgoer more than twice her age, a 15-year-old Concord girl was forced by Trinity Baptist Church leaders to stand before the congregation to apologize before they helped whisk her out of state, according to the police

Yes, you read that right. She was forced to apologize for being raped. Her pastor put partial blame on this 15-year old girl for being raped.

The victim said Phelps told her she would be put up for “church discipline,” where parishioners go before the congregation to apologize for their sins.

She asked why. “Pastor Phelps then said that (Willis) may have been 99 percent responsible, but I needed to confess my 1 percent guilt in the situation,” the victim told the police.

“He told me that I should be happy that I didn’t live in Old Testament times because I would have been stoned.”

She also had to apologize to the congregation for getting pregnant. Church leaders then sent her to Colorado so that, even though they did report the crime, nothing could be done about it by police because there was no victim.

I really like what the Friendly Athiest had to say about this:

Obviously, I can’t think of any Christian (well, outside this church, anyway) who would condone these actions.

But don’t let Christians ever tell you that their faith makes them any more moral than you or me.

And the most important thing that should come from all of this was verbalized by Jezebel:

The idea that rape victims bear some responsibility for their rapes — and that it’s important, in the aftermath of the crime, to publicly assign them blame — is a major factor keeping women like Anderson from coming forward, and keeping rapists safe from prosecution. While no woman should be forced to emulate her, Anderson’s decision to use her real name is powerful. She’s rejecting the “1% guilt” placed on her years ago, and standing before the whole country with the opposite message: her church owes her an apology.

(via)

Categories: Christianity, Media and Culture | 6 Comments »

Jun 1 2010

Sampling the wine?

by Mandi

I’m pretty sure this preacher was sampling some of the wine at Wine Barrel Family Church. The sad thing is, there was a time I would have thought this was awesome. Now, I am saddened by it.

Categories: Christianity | No Comments »

May 23 2010

Texas Textbooks are Changing History

by Mandi

This is pretty much a load of crap. It seems that every 10 years, textbook standards in Texas are re-visited. And because Texas is such a large buyer of textbooks, decisions made in Texas can affect what is taught nationwide.

What’s happened this year is that Republicans are jumping at their chance to assert their political ideals – disguised as “balance.”

I have to agree with what Rep. Mike Villareal (San Antonio, D) said:

I am disturbed that a majority of the board decided their own political agendas were more important than the education of Texas children.

And what Board Member Mary Helen Berlanga had to say:

“They are going overboard, they are not experts, they are not historians,” she said. “They are rewriting history, not only of Texas but of the United States and the world.”

It seems pretty clear, based on statements made by David Bradley, that the focus of the vote was political, not educational.

But Republican board member David Bradley said the curriculum revision process has always been political but the ruling faction had changed since the last time social studies standards were adopted.

“We took our licks, we got outvoted,” he said referring to the debate 10 years earlier. “Now it’s 10-5 in the other direction … we’re an elected body, this is a political process. Outside that, go find yourself a benevolent dictator.”

I really don’t understand this need to be on top politically at the expense of a child’s education.

Some of the changes include:

Texas schoolchildren will be required to learn that the words “separation of church and state” aren’t in the Constitution and evaluate whether the United Nations undermines U.S. sovereignty under new social studies curriculum.

In final votes late Friday, conservatives on the State Board of Education strengthened requirements on teaching the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation’s Founding Fathers and required that the U.S. government be referred to as a “constitutional republic” rather than “democratic.”

I’m amused that some of the most ignorant things (I might as well go ahead and say it… stupid things) I’ve heard said in my lifetime are coming out of this controversy.

“I reject the notion by the left of a constitutional separation of church and state,” said David Bradley, a conservative from Beaumont who works in real estate. “I have $1,000 for the charity of your choice if you can find it in the Constitution.”

Try reading the first amendment and its clauses. Or better yet, listen to what your peers have to say:

Mavis B. Knight, a Democrat from Dallas, introduced an amendment requiring that students study the reasons “the founding fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring the government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion above all others.”

It was defeated on a party-line vote.

Am I the only one who sees the irony there? Ms. Knight, following the lead of the conservative members of the Board, removed the words “separation of church and state” from her amendment and was still defeated.

I’m flabbergasted!

Cynthia Dunbar, a lawyer from Richmond who is a strict constitutionalist and thinks the nation was founded on Christian beliefs, managed to cut Thomas Jefferson from a list of figures whose writings inspired revolutions in the late 18th century and 19th century, replacing him with St. Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and William Blackstone. (Jefferson is not well liked among conservatives on the board because he coined the term “separation between church and state.”)

This just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it? It’s like a trainwreck and you can’t look away.

What is happening in this country? First Arizona, now Texas. What’s next?

Categories: Christianity, Media and Culture, Politics | No Comments »

May 17 2010

He ain’t in a happy place

by Mandi

Do people really think that this kind of thing will change people?

Categories: Christianity | 1 Comment »

May 7 2010

Sunday Morning

by Mandi

I think every church I’ve ever been to looks something like this. Oh, the music may be different, the “trendiness” of it may not be the same, but the formula is always the same.

It wouldn’t be funny if it weren’t true.

“Sunday’s Coming” Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

Categories: Christianity, humor | No Comments »

Apr 7 2010

You Get What You Look For

by Mandi

I’m really glad I didn’t come across many of these kind of guys when I was a Christian.

Categories: Christianity | 1 Comment »

Dec 23 2009

Still Reeling

by Mandi

I was completely and totally thrown for a loop tonight. Thanks to facebook, I reconnected with my ex tonight. My first ex. The one I haven’t spoken to since the night he broke up with me 9 years ago. The one I never really understood why we broke up in the first place.

Turns out, it was because I was a Christian and it freaked him out.

The thing that has me reeling? Now he’s a hardcore Christian. I told him it was funny that now he’s the guy I wished he was all those years ago and he agreed that now I’m the girl he wished I was all those years ago. Still opposite ends of the spectrum. Just reversed.

And it’s mind boggling.

I’m totally reeling here. Partially from the change. Partially from us just picking back up as if we’re the greatest of old friends and chatting for a few hours. And partially from the God talk.

Tears have welled up several times in the last few hours. Some were because there was an instant realization that I’d had no idea I still missed him after 9 years; some were from the God talk.

When people get evangelical on me, it generally results in tears. It makes my heart hurt. I don’t exactly know what that means. Some of you will say it’s nostalgia – longing for familiarity. Some of you will say it’s God.

I don’t know what it is.

All I know is it creates one of the most intense longings I’ve ever felt, and it’s easier to not talk about it and push it away and ignore it than to try and deal with it.

Yet… here I am writing about it.

Categories: Christianity, Personal | 2 Comments »

Oct 28 2009

Christianity on Joy Behar’s Show

by Mandi

This is interesting to me. I look forward to seeing Collision.

Categories: Atheism, Christianity, Religion | 1 Comment »

Oct 27 2009

Funerals and Christianity

by Mandi

Let me go ahead and apologize ahead of time because this post is going to cover two polar opposite thoughts and feelings I had during a funeral today.

First, the irony. My great uncle died on Saturday. This was a man I’d seen only once or twice in the last 20 years – I really attended the funeral to show support for my grandaddy, as this was his last surviving sibling. One thing that struck me during the eulogy was how often the pastor referred to Uncle Darrel as a man who knew what he believed and was unwavering. He left behind a legacy because everyone knew who he was and what he stood for. In this case, it was Christ. Uncle Darrel was a man who had deep faith in Jesus Christ. As I was listening to the pastor speak about how you couldn’t change Uncle Darrel’s mind once he held a belief, I was struck by the thought that I want to leave that kind of legacy behind. I want to be known as a woman who held firm to her convictions. I call this ironic because I have been anything but unwavering these last few years (just click that link up there “Face the Strange” to see what I mean). This is beginning to change, I think. A few things have happened this past week to really solidify my stance against Christianity. But I don’t want to be known as an atheist or an agnostic. I don’t want my religion (or lack thereof) to define who I am. I want my actions to define who I am. And I hope that someday, people can look back on the life I lived and celebrate.

Now, for something completely different.

I hate Christian funerals. I really and truly despise them. Yes, there was a lot of good said at the funeral. He was a good man who would do near about anything you asked of him. But instead of using this time to celebrate a man’s life, people took the opportunity to use fear and bribery to try and convert everyone.

I’m accustomed to Southern conservative Christian funerals being a “salvation” sermon instead of a standard eulogy, but I guess I’d never really paid attention to it before because I was so involved. Basically, the message boiled down to “I know he’s in heaven; if you want to see him again, get saved!”

There was also your standard variation of hell sucks, if you want to avoid it get saved!

Where, in either of these two examples, is there a motive of becoming a Christian because you believe in the saving power of Jesus Christ?

According to these people, if your motive isn’t right then you’re not right. Yet… they’re bribing people and fearmongering to convert. What’s wrong with this picture?

At the risk of offending half the people who read this (not that I haven’t already): it’s a cult. They get you in however they can, and then they guilt you into acting on their beliefs.

And all of this is happening while you’re supposed to be celebrating the life of a great man who was deeply loved by his friends, family, and community.

It really disgusts me.

Categories: Christianity, Religion | 2 Comments »

Oct 27 2009

Child Witches

by Mandi

Here’s another reason I no longer believe in Christianity.

The 9-year-old boy lay on a bloodstained hospital sheet crawling with ants, staring blindly at the wall.His family pastor had accused him of being a witch, and his father then tried to force acid down his throat as an exorcism. It spilled as he struggled, burning away his face and eyes. The emaciated boy barely had strength left to whisper the name of the church that had denounced him — Mount Zion Lighthouse.

A month later, he died.

Nwanaokwo Edet was one of an increasing number of children in Africa accused of witchcraft by pastors and then tortured or killed, often by family members. Pastors were involved in half of 200 cases of “witch children” reviewed by the AP, and 13 churches were named in the case files.

Some of the churches involved are renegade local branches of international franchises. Their parishioners take literally the Biblical exhortation, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”

“It is an outrage what they are allowing to take place in the name of Christianity,” said Gary Foxcroft, head of nonprofit Stepping Stones Nigeria.

This frustrates me to no end. There really are no words to describe how absolutely heinous this is.