A few days ago, there was a rebuttal to the sign put up by Park Street Baptist Church (in the same location as the atheist billboard) with the words “We Still Believe in God & his Son, Jesus.” According to Pastor Sam Catoe, “We thought this would be a clever way to catch attention and it certainly has.”

WLTX out of Columbia interviewed both Catoe and Columbia CoR’s coordinator Dustin Tucker about the placement of the new billboard:

“It’s awesome,” said Dustin Tucker.

Tucker is from the Columbia Coalition for Reason, which put up the other billboard. Friday he saw the new competition for the first time.

“Anytime I see somebody expressing their first amendment right to free speech and free exercise of religion, I’m excited,” said Tucker.

I love Dustin’s reaction. He’s not upset. He’s not irritated. He’s not mocking at all. But he is excited to see the response. Obviously, the church is welcome to express their First Amendment rights and what they believe.

It is amusing that the church seems to think that people may not know “the other side” (as if Christianity’s some well-kept secret). But it sounds enough like playful enough ribbing. There may even be a tangible benefit from the Billboard War: Interfaith work between members of the Columbia Coalition of Reason and Park Street Baptist’s congregation. Dustin and Pastor Catoe have already been in contact about doing community service with each other.

One of the ways the group celebrates God is by having a regular Fight Night.

It’s exactly what you think it is…

They even celebrated their latest event on Twitter:

Ok, so they box for Jesus. The whole point is to do something catering to younger people so they eventually become tithing church members. I have no idea how it’s supposed to make them “better Christians,” but I’m not part of their target demographic, so what the hell do I know.

Anyway, what could possibly go wrong with fighting in the church?

Former Tulsa Golden Hurricane linebacker George Clinkscale died Wednesday night after participating in an unsanctioned amateur boxing match held at Guts Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

…

This was the sixth time that Guts Church had held a boxing event, billed on their website as “Guts Fight Night VI.” According to a tweet sent out by Guts Church pastor Bill Scheer, there were 12 fights set to take place during the event.

In order for an amateur boxing event to be held in the state of Oklahoma it must be sanctioned by USA Boxing, the governing body approved by the State Athletic Commission in 1999. USA Boxing is the only sanctioning body authorized to sanction amateur events in the state of Oklahoma.

Joe Miller of the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission said that after making contact with president of the Local Boxing Committee of USA Boxing Jack McCann, he was informed that the committee was unaware that the event was taking place.

So not only was it a dumb idea, it was an illegal idea… and now someone is dead because of the church’s negligence.

It’s not the only time the church glorifies violent “manhood” like this, either.

Every week, the church gives an award to the local high school football player who makes the biggest hit in a game. It’s called The Ultimate Hitman Program:

The Ultimate Hitman Program celebrates the “Hit of the week” in over 20 local high schools and 4 states around the country.

We send reps to each school every week to give the team a challenging word and award the Big Hitter with a Hitman t-shirt. Each of these teams have scheduled team nights at our GYC services and we culminate the season with the Ultimate Hitman Awards Show.

Over 2,000 people will be in attendance at this years Hitman Awards as we show higlights in 5 categories with over 25 schools in attendance. We are changing the culture of High School football — Hit Hard and Love God.

That’s really the message we want to send to young people. Don’t just tackle someone because it’s one way to help your football team — do it because it’s what Jesus wants.

I don’t get the obsession with violence, as if that’s the best way to bring young people together. Go to any high school in the country and you’ll find students doing amazing things while getting virtually no recognition for them. Celebrate those things, not “fighting for the lord.”

(via Apprising Ministries — Thanks to Beau for the link!)

They’re all in West Virginia, and even there, it’s a bit sketchy.

Kate Fowler and Mark Strandquist are putting together a documentary film called With Signs and Following in which they go into one of these churches, Lord Jesus Church, and explore the pastor and the congregation.

The Paster and Congregation are not Responsible for anyone that handles the serpent’s and get’s bit. If you get bit the church will stand by you and pray with you. And the Same goes with drinking the poision.

Paster: Harvey Payne

Who knew there was a whole congregation that spoke Parseltongue? Speaking in tongues makes waaaaay more sense now.

(via Low-Hanging Bad Apples)

I have some advice for you.

(Yes, I’m an atheist, and no, I don’t expect you to listen. But I’ll say it anyway.)

When you’re planning an event, don’t call it a “Crusade.” That word is steeped in negative religious connotations and you don’t want to be associated with that. Trust me on this one.

Oh. Alright, ignore that one.

When you’re planning a “Crusade,” don’t gear it toward children. Atheists already think churches brainwash kids and you’d just be adding fuel to the fire.

Hmm… I see how you’re playing this game…

(By the way, what’s with the apostrophe usage? It makes it sound like one child is going to grab a weapon and go apeshit on everyone in the building. Anyway, I’ll continue.)

When you’re planning an event that sounds as horrible as a “Kid’s Crusade,” don’t try to “hip it up” with unnecessary adjectives. Don’t call it “Ye Old Tyme Kid’s Crusade” or “Jesustastic Kid’s Crusade O’ Fun” or “Rootin’ Tootin’ Kid’s Crusade.”

Well, fine then…

Finally, don’t hold any event you’re calling a “Crusade” on September 11^th. I shouldn’t have to tell you why this is a horrible idea.

Goddammit, seriously?!

I tried, Jesus. I tried.

Sincerely,

Hemant

I used to live just two blocks from Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and I remember how the streets would fill with cars on Sunday mornings, all of them conspicuously parked in areas that would otherwise be off limits during the rest of the week (like, for instance, in one of the city’s few reserved bike lanes).

They would all have a neat little placard in the windshield stating the owner was attending church service, which would excuse their otherwise illegal parking. And this in spite of the fact that there is a large parking garage just two blocks from this church.

…

Evidently, the nature of the activity (worshiping) in itself warrants an exemption, or the church is provides such an essential service to the community that it has earned amnesty from the rules for its members.

So, if worshiping qualifies, what else would qualify, and who decides? Who hasn’t tried (and failed) to justify a parking ticket based on what they were doing when they got the ticket? I once got a ticket for parking illegally at my girlfriend’s front door for 5 minutes in order to drive her to the ER while she was having a seizure. I pleaded for amnesty. No luck. What if I’d said I was praying with her? I’m being facetious, of course, but it nevertheless remains that there’s an unspoken determination that worshiping is somehow universally noble, and practitioners should be treated differently. It’s the same prevailing bias which makes people respect a “man of god” as automatically good, moral and decent.

Chicago tried the same thing a while back, though I’m not sure if they won. It’s incredible to watch how pastors pretend like they’re not asking for unique treatment:

“We’re not asking for special privileges,” said the Rev. Philip Blackwell, pastor of First United Methodist Church at Chicago Temple. “We just happen to be religious institutions. The strange hours that we keep are complementary to the way the rest of the Loop gets used. If we’re going to co-exist in the city we have to have some nuanced understanding about how space is being used. That goes for government vehicles, bikes.”

If anyone has insight into this issue (in any city), I’d love to know what’s going on and why the local governments grant churches special treatment. Would attending atheist gatherings also qualify under the rules?

On a side note, some anonymous rapscallion created a website called ChurchParkingForAtheists.com — if you visit, you can print out a placard to put on your car on Sundays for free parking in parts of Philadelphia. The downside is you have to pretend to be a Christian for a couple hours.

It’s a clever idea, but we shouldn’t have to resort to this. Everyone should get the same exemptions or none at all.

A church that speaks the truth?! You should stay away from it, just to be safe.

(Thanks to marf for the image!)

I know the answer many atheists would likely give to the question in the title of this post is “nothing”.

However, that may not always necessarily be the case. At least, not according to studies done by U. Penn researcher Ram Cnaan (who describes himself as nonreligious), who has somehow found a way to monetarily quantify all the benefits the average urban congregation brings to their community. According to his calculations the average urban church in Philadelphia provides over $476,663 worth of services annually.

Here’s an illustration from Christianity Today (PDF) for one particular Philadephia congregation whose annual give-back value is over $6 million (click image to enlarge PDF):

Now, I haven’t looked at the actual study, just the articles about it, so I can’t speak to the legitimacy of his methodology or findings. I’m sure, as with any study of this sort, there will be lots to nit-pick about it. Still, to even begin calculating all of these seeming intangibles is an impressive accomplishment, and it raises all sorts of interesting questions about the value of religion in society. But I will leave that topic for all of you to hash out.

Man Church is church the way a man expects it to be done. No singing, short sermon, time to talk with other guys, no women present, and coffee and donuts. That’s the way men want to do church. The topics of discussion will have a definite manly focus — being the best possible husband, father, employee, leader — being a real man. In fact, every aspect of Man Church is geared for men — not like any other church you have seen. This ain’t your mama’s church!

Wow. A religious service dominated by men.

(As opposed to “normal” religious services, which are also dominated by men…?)

Way to reach out to the silent minority, Christians…

Actually, I understand the aversion to singing and smalltalk. That’s annoying to me and I’m sure some Christians would rather do church without that.

What’s annoying is how the description alone seems to suggest all men must act and think in certain ways (and that women cannot act and think in these ways). If you’re not a macho, motorcycle-riding, grammar-be-damned-we’re-gonna-say-”ain’t” type of guy, we challenge your manhood.

Godless Girl isn’t happy with it at all:

These… guys apparently can’t handle creative expression, women, music, or big words. If I were male, I’d be insulted that my church leadership thinks I am an emotionless, simple-minded grunt who doesn’t crave depth of study and a song once in a while. This sounds [like] fast food instead of a full course meal.

No word on how gay men would be treated in this setting…

You can catch a few glimpses of what Man Church is like here:

After watching excerpts of the sermons from the video, I really don’t get why women couldn’t have heard the same things.

I have never heard of any atheist group — even larger ones, even at conferences — dividing itself up by sexes for any reason. Maybe because we see each other as truly equal. Men are no better or smarter or wiser than women in our world. In the Christian world, the genders have to fit a certain mold (defined by the men).

Sure, many of the more famous New Atheists have been male, but it’s not from lack of awesome female atheists. We just need to publicize the women better than we have been.

Christians have a long way to go, though, before women are really seen as equals in the church.

…

Rev. Cedric Miller is telling church leaders at Living Word Christian Fellowship Church that they need to delete their Facebook accounts or resign from the church. And the rest of the church should just follow their lead:

“I’ve been in extended counseling with couples with marital problems because of Facebook for the last year and a half,” Miller said. “What happens is someone from yesterday surfaces, it leads to conversations and there have been physical meet-ups. The temptation is just too great.” While Miller has advised couples to give each other their Facebook passwords in the past, this is the first time he’s called for an outright ban. Of the 1,100 members of the Living Word congregation, Miller claims that 20 couples have approached him for counselling over Facebook-related marital woes. The married pastor also adds that he plans to practice what he preaches: this weekend, he’ll be cancelling his own account.

Yes, Facebook is the real problem… not the cheaters themselves.

I wonder what else Rev. Miller will force his staff members not to do next so that their marriages can stay sunny and rosy and wonderful…

• Don’t go out by yourself. (Single people are everywhere.)
• Don’t be in close proximity to another human (unless your spouse is right there with you).
• Don’t ever think about going on Craigslist.
• Don’t go on the Internet. Ever. At all.
• Don’t even bother turning on the computer. (Nothing good can come of that.)
• Don’t use iPhones because we know what you’re going to do with that camera feature…
• Don’t text message anyone. (Your inevitable sexting will make the Baby Jesus cry.)
• Don’t watch television because there may be salacious TV shows on the air. (Have you seen Bristol Palin dance?)
• Don’t call old friends. (Conversations lead to temptation, temptation leads to affairs, and affairs lead to atheism. Obviously.)
• Don’t go to church. (There are single parishioners and they desperately want a spouse.)

…

The whole premise of deleting your profile on a social networking site because you might get tempted by other people on it is silly. If your marriage can’t handle Facebook, maybe your marriage shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

I wanted to email Rev. Miller to get his thoughts on some of this but his website doesn’t even have a contact email address… This guy is not very tech savvy. Maybe that’s why he’s blaming technology for the failings of his congregation instead of the people who are going back on their wedding vows.

(Thanks to Erin for the link!)

He wants full access to your bank account:

Yeah… what could possibly go wrong there?

I don’t care if he is their pastor; how are some of these churchgoers so gullible that they’re willing to give someone else — anyone else — their bank account number?

If they feel like giving money to the church, then they can do it! But it’s crazy to allow anyone to dip into your personal bank account at their whim, regardless of what they say they’re going to do.

Maybe Fellowship Church just needs another jet:

… Ed Young — the pastor at Fellowship Church in Grapevine — may soon have to answer for the numerous trips by the leased church jet to resort locations. It’s luxury air travel that costs tens of thousands of dollars per trip.

For months, News 8 has requested interviews with Pastor Young. Each time we have been referred to a New York public relations firm for answers.

Yet they have declined to answer simple questions such as: “Who uses the jet, and for what?”

(via Jesus Needs New PR)