Jeebus Wept . . . .

Give me that old time religion,
Give me that old time religion,
Give me that old time religion,
It's good enough for me . . . .




The Gadfly long, long ago - in his younger, finding his way in the world days - made a carefully arrived at and calculated decision to maintain a healthy and guarded distance between himself and organized Christianity, in addition to all other religions.  And The Gadfly will be entirely forthcoming in telling you dear reader that such a decision was considerably influenced by the fact that here in America, there are way too many people with warped values like this woman and who comprise a uniquely ugly and vindictive strain of Christianity known as evangelical fundamentalism:

A director of a South Carolina soup kitchen told a group of atheists that she would rather “resign” than have them volunteer at her organization.

Upstate Atheists, a Spartanburg, S.C., group that focuses on helping people in need, recently offered to help out at the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen, but their gesture was rebuffed by the Christian nonprofit, even though they had agreed to not wear their T-shirts or advertise where they were from, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal reported.

"This is a ministry to serve God,” Lou Landrum, executive director of the soup kitchen, told the paper. "We stand on the principles of God. Do they (atheists) think that our guests are so ignorant that they don't know what an atheist is? Why are they targeting us? They don't give any money. I wouldn't want their money."

While the group was upset about not being able to contribute to the organization, they weren’t deterred.

The volunteers decided to, instead, dole out 300 care packages on Saturday to the homeless –- right across the street from the nonprofit that rejected them. Through an online fundraiser, Upstate Atheists was able to collect $2,000 to buy socks, gloves, deodorant, toothpaste and antiseptic wipes and other items, according to the Christian Post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/30/atheists-banned-soup-kitchen_n_4178443.html


No doubt that the esteemed Ms. Landrum fancies her self a "good Christian" for her unbending dogma.

Be that as it may - The Gadfly would much rather give of his money to the atheist group knowing full well that their charity is driven by unconditional love and kindness for their fellow man and unencumbered by any expectation that in order for someone to get a much needed meal, that they must forfeit their right to use their own minds to critically think for themselves and form their own set of belief values as opposed to having some Taliban-like extremists dictating it all for them.

And it goes without saying, unfortunately, that these types of "good Christians" form a dominant bloc among the Tea Party organizations.

Just a sad commentary about a sad, sad, bunch of people.



----TFG