Any Southern Baptist congregation members care to comment on this? pic.twitter.com/M3Ia4iNWYU
— Dean Murphy (@DeanModified) February 10, 2019
Normally I wouldn't comment on anything this stupid. Atheists say so many dumb things that there's not enough time to comment on even a fraction of their thoughtless output. However, this was retweeted by Jeff Lowder at The Secular Outpost, so he evidently thinks there's something insightful about the comparison. And that reveals something about the level at which the average atheist thinks.
i) I guess the implication of the juxtaposed images is that lay Southern Baptists are hypocritical because they protest homosexual marriage but they don't protest child molestation by priests. Really? How much thought did atheist Dean Murphy put into that comparison?
ii) To begin with, SBC clergy are overwhelmingly straight, so there's no parallel with the RCC.
iii) Likewise, it's not as if SBC laymen have any direct influence over the selection process or behavior of the Catholic priesthood.
iv) The Supreme Court is directly germane to homosexual marriage because 5 justices invented an imaginary Constitutional right for homosexuals to marry each other.
How is that comparable to child molestation by Catholic priests? What is the role of the Supreme Court in that situation?
vi) On the other side is a pic of French demonstrators protesting against homosexual marriage, with a scene of the same street empty.
On the one hand, church attendance in France is about 5%. On the other hand, France has a 10% Muslim population. So what's the imagined connection between Christianity and protesting homosexual marriage in France?
I dunno, maybe if the priests were petitioning SCOTUS for constitutional protection for molesting children, I am sure the pictures would look the same. But, with pedophilia trying to be mainstreamed by Hollywood and others, it's only a matter of time before NAMBLA takes my post from an absurdity to a reality.
ReplyDeleteI think this is in reference to the recent reports in the Houston Chronicle of some 300 (or was it 600) perverts in the SBC.
ReplyDeleteIt still misses the point if that is his target, because "Marriage equality" was a political issue with cultural and political ramifications. It was something up for vote in the supreme court. The legality of child molestation, to the best of my knowledge, is not being considered for a vote in the supreme court.
Also, since the SBC isn't an organization like the RC, it has more difficulty controlling member churches. The SBC can formally condemn things all it wants, but if a renegade church wants to be corrupt (theologically, ethically, etc) it cannot do anything except disfellowship that church. This isn't much a problem since most funding of an organized SBC church comes from in house. The SBC helps church plants etc, but that is money taken from local congregations.
In other words, we have full ignorance on display from the Atheists on this one.
Also, I attend an SBC church and we had an elder do some pretty horrible things to the women of the church. Once our leadership discovered the problem the authorities were notified and he was excommunicated from fellowship. I am not sure what kind of resolution as far as forgiveness etc was conducted, but I do know that many churches would act quickly if this was in their congregation. Also, the numbers in the Houston Chronicle article looks like a huge problem if you ignore the number of people who attend SBC churches. Once you take that into account the numbers aren't all that massive. There are always predators. Some of the churhces could have handled it better, and the SBC has some issues with its structure, and a good old boy system, but that doesn't reflect on every SBC church. It might reflect higher ups, or certain specific churches. So to speak in general about SBC churches is just silly and misunderstands baptist ecclesiology.
ReplyDelete