Evangelical Silliness

Pokemon is being used by Satan's minions to work their evil on otherwise innocent children? Wow, that's something I never realized, that badly animated cartoons and cheap cardboard circles about fictional fantasy characters can cause demon possession.

Did you also know that Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street can cause kids to turn gay? It's true, because pastors like this god-fearing man to the right have noted that if children watch Sesame Street they can grow up thinking it's OK for two male puppets to live together.

Lest we forget that one kid back in the '70's who killed himself because of what his doctor called "clinical depression." What do doctors know? He played D&D and as we all know it encourages people to play with evil and to think about worshiping pagan gods, so it must have been D&D that drove him to kill himself. No other explanation makes any sense.

In Praise of Doubt, by Richard S. Gilbert

It is not that we are not believers.
It is that our belief
Has to be passed through the fires of skepticism
And boiled in the crucible of doubt.

You have heard it said,
"Ours is not to reason why,
Ours is but to do and die."
But I say unto you,
Ours is not to doubt and die
Ours is to seek the reason why.

When in doubt, we affirm the importance of reason
And our confidence in ourselves as centers of religious authority.
When we doubt, we affirm the seriousness of the religious quest.
When we doubt, we recognize that truth was not engraved in stone 2,000 years ago
When we doubt, we acknowledge that our understanding of truth is imperfect.
When we doubt, we strengthen our faith.

For the faith of doubt we give thanks;
For the doubt of faith we make glad thanksgiving.
For the courage of adventure
That welcomes questions
As much as answers;
For the beloved community of seekers,
We sing our alleluias into the silent darkness.