Author Topic: Atheist becomes fundie christian preacher and conspiracy theorist.  (Read 15790 times)

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Offline Witchyjoshy

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Okay, what the fuck.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/10/10/atheist-who-convinced-pa-school-board-to-stop-reciting-the-lords-prayer-in-2012-returns-to-apologize/

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Two years ago, Ernest Perce V (below, the Pennsylvania State Director of American Atheists at the time) and Carl Silverman (of the PA Nonbelievers) tried to convince the Greencastle-Antrim School District board members to drop the Lord’s Prayer, a 50-year-old tradition.

And it worked! The board members realized they weren’t going to win this battle, so they stopped fighting it.

Last week, when the school board held its regular meeting, Ernest Perce was there once again… but for a very different and surprising reason.

He came to apologize:

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Wearing a white clergy collar against a black shirt, he said he was now a traveling preacher.

“Every day I kick myself at what I did,” Perce told the board members and public in attendance. “Forgive me.”

...

What changed his mind?

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He was an atheist for six years, and then a prophecy turned his life around. That was Revelation 2:9. In the Revised Standard Version the text reads, “I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”

Umm… okay. I mean, that did nothing for me, but I guess those words are magical. Who knew.

(I should say that his apology doesn’t negate the fact that he was right two years ago — the Christian prayers still have no place at a school board meeting.)

...

Quote
He also became convinced, after reading a book by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, that Jesus was not a Jew, the Jewish holocaust never occurred, and 9/11 was caused by “the false state of Israel.” He now leads Jesus Was Not a Jew Ministries, with 40 followers. He and his wife intend to pull their boys, Praise, 12, and Apple, 5, out of public school, to be homeschooled while traveling with them on the preaching circuit.

Pardon me, but I must repeat myself.  What the fuck.

How the fuck do you go from an anti-theist who doesn't give a shit about what religious people think, to... THAT!?

Help me understand how this can happen, because even as an ex-Christian who was raised as one, I just don't get it.

EDIT:

Okay, apparently, he was a fundie Christian before, lost his faith due to one Bible verse (which wasn't even the largest contradiction in the entire thing), and... I dunno, found god.  Or money.
« Last Edit: October 10, 2014, 02:56:30 pm by Witchyjoshy »
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Offline I am lizard

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Re: Atheist becomes fundie christian preacher and conspiracy theorist.
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2014, 03:40:00 pm »
It's because god showed him the way to salvation blah blah blah

Offline Dakota Bob

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Re: Atheist becomes fundie christian preacher and conspiracy theorist.
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2014, 03:47:55 pm »
I remember this guy, he dressed as Zombie Muhammed in some parade and a muslim tried to choke him out and got away with it. sounds like this guy is into trolling people, he might just turn up again in a couple months and declare he's actually a Scientologist.

Offline Witchyjoshy

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Re: Atheist becomes fundie christian preacher and conspiracy theorist.
« Reply #3 on: October 10, 2014, 04:30:40 pm »
I remember this guy, he dressed as Zombie Muhammed in some parade and a muslim tried to choke him out and got away with it. sounds like this guy is into trolling people, he might just turn up again in a couple months and declare he's actually a Scientologist.

His children are named Praise and Apple.  Back when he was a fundie preacher BEFORE his conversion to atheism.
« Last Edit: October 10, 2014, 04:40:14 pm by Witchyjoshy »
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Offline mellenORL

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Re: Atheist becomes fundie christian preacher and conspiracy theorist.
« Reply #4 on: October 10, 2014, 04:53:15 pm »
So he's a die hard Steve Jobs fan from way back?
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Offline Ultimate Paragon

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Re: Atheist becomes fundie christian preacher and conspiracy theorist.
« Reply #5 on: October 10, 2014, 05:37:39 pm »
I heard somewhere that extremists are more likely to go to the opposite extreme than to moderation.  And the article seems to imply that he was pretty extreme as an atheist as well.

Offline mythbuster43

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Re: Atheist becomes fundie christian preacher and conspiracy theorist.
« Reply #6 on: October 10, 2014, 07:00:01 pm »
I heard somewhere that extremists are more likely to go to the opposite extreme than to moderation.  And the article seems to imply that he was pretty extreme as an atheist as well.

A case in point is David Horowitz. When he was younger in the 1960s and 70s, he was a hard-left Trotskyist. During the 80s, rather than moderate his opinions, he simply whipsawed to hard-right neocon McCarthyite.

Offline Tolpuddle Martyr

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Re: Atheist becomes fundie christian preacher and conspiracy theorist.
« Reply #7 on: October 13, 2014, 03:01:57 am »
What changed his mind?
How the fuck do you go from an anti-theist who doesn't give a shit about what religious people think, to... THAT!?



Maybe?

Offline I am lizard

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Re: Atheist becomes fundie christian preacher and conspiracy theorist.
« Reply #8 on: October 13, 2014, 03:12:57 am »
What changed his mind?
How the fuck do you go from an anti-theist who doesn't give a shit about what religious people think, to... THAT!?



Maybe?

Offline Ghoti

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Re: Atheist becomes fundie christian preacher and conspiracy theorist.
« Reply #9 on: October 13, 2014, 03:23:30 am »
What changed his mind?
How the fuck do you go from an anti-theist who doesn't give a shit about what religious people think, to... THAT!?



Maybe?

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« Last Edit: October 13, 2014, 03:25:27 am by Ghoti »
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Offline I am lizard

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Re: Atheist becomes fundie christian preacher and conspiracy theorist.
« Reply #10 on: October 13, 2014, 03:33:43 am »
What changed his mind?
How the fuck do you go from an anti-theist who doesn't give a shit about what religious people think, to... THAT!?



Maybe?

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Offline Svata

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Re: Atheist becomes fundie christian preacher and conspiracy theorist.
« Reply #11 on: October 13, 2014, 03:55:05 am »
What changed his mind?
How the fuck do you go from an anti-theist who doesn't give a shit about what religious people think, to... THAT!?



Maybe?

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Offline Tolpuddle Martyr

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Re: Atheist becomes fundie christian preacher and conspiracy theorist.
« Reply #12 on: October 13, 2014, 04:40:25 am »
What changed his mind?
How the fuck do you go from an anti-theist who doesn't give a shit about what religious people think, to... THAT!?



Maybe?

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That is the most awful beer. Ever.

Chuck in some...

...washed down with...


...I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT!!!

It looked like this.

« Last Edit: October 13, 2014, 04:42:20 am by Tolpuddle Martyr »

Offline Askold

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Re: Atheist becomes fundie christian preacher and conspiracy theorist.
« Reply #13 on: October 13, 2014, 06:30:18 am »
I think that the most likely explanation is either this:
I heard somewhere that extremists are more likely to go to the opposite extreme than to moderation.  And the article seems to imply that he was pretty extreme as an atheist as well.
Or this:
I remember this guy, he dressed as Zombie Muhammed in some parade and a muslim tried to choke him out and got away with it. sounds like this guy is into trolling people, he might just turn up again in a couple months and declare he's actually a Scientologist.

Concidering that I've seen a former muslim fanatic who became christian fanatic this would not be the first time someone goes from from being one type of fundie to another. I suppose it would be nicer if more people would mellow out but it is easier for someone who was an exteremist to become a different type of extremist than to find a moderate position of any kind. (If your whole life has been spinning around being 100% for something, being 100% fanatic for it and seeing everything in black and white then you can practically keep the same mindset even if you change that one thing you are fanatical about. )

...Then again, it would not be the first time someone is a dedicated troll either.
« Last Edit: October 13, 2014, 06:34:21 am by askold »
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Offline Tolpuddle Martyr

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Re: Atheist becomes fundie christian preacher and conspiracy theorist.
« Reply #14 on: October 13, 2014, 07:02:26 am »
Could be someone who just likes a lot of structure and cognitive certainty, religion can provide a framework for that so can political/social ideologies.

Is there a personality type that's innately drawn to fanaticism? I've heard of Anarchists flipping to Nazis before despite one being polar left and the other polar right.