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Ex-Christians Get No Respect
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--Mark Smith--
If I were to confess to a Christian Fundy that I used to be Hindu, Muslim, Mormon or Catholic, it wouldn't raise an eyebrow nor generate a disrespectful comment. In fact, Fundies delight in books written by ex Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses. Dozens of such books, published by Zondervan and such, line the shelves of your typical Christian bookstore. Books such as "30 Years a Watchtower Slave" or "Mormonism: Shadow or Reality?" are almost required reading to be a good Fundy. As it is never a trifling matter to abandon the faith of one's father's, Fundies respect these men, and the difficult decisions they came to in leaving their religions. Were an ex-Mormon or ex-Jehovah's Witness to join a Fundy church, they would not blame their leaving their old church on mere "hurt feelings" or "crying over spilt milk". No, they would extol their moral and theological courage and pat them on the back for a job well done. Knowing this, why can't they grant people like me the same benefit of the doubt, and assume we're telling the truth when we say we likewise left for good reasons??? Must Fundies ALWAYS assume the negative??? Apparently they must, for when I confess to Christians how I used to be one of them for twenty years, but now I'm not, all respect gets tossed out the window, and slander and innuendo start to fly. Typical comments are "Were you sexually abused as a child- is that why you left?" or "Who hurt you?" or "It's just so you can live like a heathen, isn't it?" or the classic, "Did somebody you looked up to in the church let you down?". Disguised in feigned concern, disrespectful comments such as these get thrown my way every week for having left my religion, but how many Fundy Christians would throw the same innuendos at ex Mormons or Witnesses for having left those religions? Walk out on the Pope, walk out on Allah, walk out on Joseph Smith- fine, no problem to the Fundies. But walk out on their religion of choice, why, you must be crazy! For whatever reason, Fundy Christians seem to be blind to the FACT that thousands upon thousands have in good conscience and for moral reasons walked out not just on their narrow view of Christianity into a more liberal Christianity, but some, such as myself, have IN SOUND MIND AND WITH GOOD REASONS walked out of Christianity altogether. Maybe if I were to blame my leaving my religion on BAD TOILET TRAINING as a child, would that make Fundies feel safer in their myths??? Fact is, I left my religion because the founder of my religion, Jesus, was a FALSE PROPHET. But Fundies can't handle the fact that people- GOOD people- leave their religion every day and for damn good reasons- not "hurt feelings" or some other trite cause. I know alot of preachers have gotten into the habit of slandering anyone who becomes an Atheist, claiming (without foundation) that the ONLY reason someone would DARE to leave their religion of birth (if said religion is Christianity) is if they wanted to run wild and naked thru the streets raping and pillaging. The fact that studies show the opposite to be true- that Atheists actually behave better than Christians- this fact never seems to matter. But then, since when do facts matter to Christians anyway? So when I say the reason I left my religion is because thru intense Bible study I could no longer believe what my religion taught, please grant me the same respect you would a Mormon who says he left his religion because he could no longer believe what his religion taught. Grant me that I didn't become an Atheist for "evil reasons" and I'll grant you you didn't become a Christian for "evil reasons".
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