Another one?!?!?!?!

[devilsadvocate]

In most cases it's not the act, it's the hypocrisy that is condemned. In this particular case it's both. Had he been an average Joe this probably wouldn't have gotten further than the local press. Seeing as it's a high and mighty judgmental SOCIAL CONSERVATIVE activist and pastor that makes a living trying to tell everyone how to live their lives I think it's more noteworthy.

Conservatives do such things often.

[j2k4]

In most cases it's not the act, it's the hypocrisy that is condemned. In this particular case it's both.

Yes, I thought I made that clear.

Also clear is the abiding liberal strategy of non-condemnation when it comes to their own...owing to the aforementioned, um, 'non-scrupulosity' that they also practice.

Had he been an average Joe this probably wouldn't have gotten further than the local press. Seeing as it's a high and mighty judgmental SOCIAL CONSERVATIVE activist and pastor that makes a living trying to tell everyone how to live their lives I think it's more noteworthy.

Easier to deal with a face trying to tell me what to do, than a faceless government behemoth presenting nothing but a bill-for-services on a weekly/biweekly/monthly/quarterly/biannual, and, just for good measure, annual basis.

Conservatives do such things often.

Liberal do such things oftener, but, as you liberals say, "nevermind".

[clocker]

I hope he does spend some time in prison, and hopefully he will have to register as a sex offender from now on, so parents in whatever neighborhood he lives in will have some warning about his possibility of becoming a pedophile.

"Register as a sex offender" with whom?
You advocate for removing mandates/funding for government programs while simultaneously assuming they will still function.
The new "leaner & meaner" government you hope for won't have any sex offender programs...because you wanted them gone.

I was certain you would.

I am absolutely sincere, too.
Bully for you.

I mean, after all, liberals even keel-haul conservatives for liberal sins (think "Fannie" and "Freddie"), but we are left to conclude a conservative's guilt is merited for no reason other than his/her party's oft-quoted scruples.

Liberals escape similar treatment by eschewing scruples altogether.

It may therefore be deduced that the pastor was (however temporarily) in the grasp of a fit of amoral liberalism - a sort of seizure, if you will.

A conservative would never do such a thing.

Another "sincere" and unshakable belief founded on absolutely nothing.
Much like the rest of the conservative agenda, which is basically "The Big Lie" made manifest.

[999969999]

From: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/atheist-min...2004359&page=2


"I am an atheist," says "Jack," a Southern Baptist with more than 20 years in ministry.

"I live out my life as if there is no God," says "Adam," who is part of the pastoral staff of a small evangelical church in the Bible Belt.

The two, who asked that their real identities be protected, are pastors who have lost their faith. And these two men, who have built their careers and lives around faith, say they now feel trapped, living a lie.

"I spent the majority of my life believing and pursuing this religious faith, Christianity," Jack said. "And to get to this point in my life, I just don't feel like I believe anymore."

"The more I read the Bible, the more questions I had," Jack said. "The more things didn't make sense to me -- what it said -- and the more things didn't add up."

Jack said that 10 years ago, he started to feel his faith slipping away. He grew bothered by inconsistencies regarding the last days of Jesus' life, what he described as the improbability of stories like "Noah's Ark" and by attitudes expressed in the Bible regarding women and their place in the world.

"Reading the Bible is what led me not to believe in God," he said.

Same here! The more I read the Bible and the Book of Mormon, the less I believed any of it. It's all a bunch of nonsense and lies.

He said it was difficult to continue to work in ministry. "I just look at it as a job and do what I'm supposed to do," he said. "I've done it for years."

Adam said his initial doubts about God came as he read the work of the so-called New Atheists -- popular authors like the prominent scientist Richard Dawkins. He said the research was intended to help him defend his faith.

"My thinking was that God is big enough to handle any questions that I can come up with," he said but that did not happen.

"I realized that everything I'd been taught to believe was sort of sheltered," Adam said, "and never really looked at secular teaching or other philosophies. ... I thought, 'Oh my gosh. Am I believing the wrong things? Have I spent my entire life and my career promoting something that is not true?'"

He said he feared for his salvation and soul. "In that point where I realized I was losing my faith yet I still feared for my own salvation, I asked God to take my life before I lost my faith," Adam said.

Adam said he now considers himself an "atheistic agnostic." "I don't think we can prove that there is not a God or that there is a God," he said. "I live out my life as if there is no God."

He and Jack said that when speaking to parishioners, they tried to stick to the sections of the Bible that they still believed in -- the parts about being a good person. Both said that they would like to leave their jobs though they can't afford to.

"I want to get out of the position that I'm in as quickly as I can because I try to be a person of integrity and character," Adam said. "With the economy the way it is, with my lack of marketable skills other than a seminary education, it has me in a tough spot."

Jack said that his secret left him feeling isolated but that he would certainly lose a lot of friends when he professed to no longer being a Christian. His wife doesn't know and he said it was possible he could lose her as well.

"It's going to be very confusing for her," Jack said. "It's going to be very devastating and it's going to take us a while to work through it."

Adam said his wife knew that he was struggling with his faith but not that he had lost it completely.

"It's a very tough situation to be in," he said. "I can't think of another career that is so dramatically affected by a change in one's opinions or thoughts."

"At first I feared if I lose my faith, I'm gonna become some terrible person," Adam said. "As I lost my faith ... I realized that really had no bearing on who I am and my character and my actions. I live no differently than I did when I was a fervent believer."

Adam and Jack were included in a report by philosopher Daniel Dennett, a professor at Tufts University and well-known atheist, and his co-researcher, Linda LaScola. They are continuing their research into non-believing clergy. ABC News contacted the two pastors through Dennett and LaScola, verified their identities and positions, and interviewed them separate

[clocker]

What was the point of that C-n-P, 9?

[999969999]

What does C-n-P mean?

[clocker]

"Cut and paste."

[999969999]

Okay, well, I'm just saying that people are surprised that a religious leader would do this, but in my opinion, the vast majority of religious leaders from all religions are living a lie and therefore what's one more corrupt thing mean to them? These religious leaders study their religions in depth, so how could they not at least have huge doubts about the validity of their religious beliefs? Their beliefs are so stupid, how could they truly continue to believe any of them? And yet they pretend like they believe it so they can continue to get a paycheck and to continue to work their way up into the religious hierarchy to gain more power and influence. They're hopelessly corrupt, so for them to stoop to this level of depravity comes as no surprise to me.

Don't get me wrong. Religions play an important role in society, keeping control over the masses, and keeping society from breaking down, and to some extent, keeping crime levels a bit lower than they might otherwise be, but our society puts these religious leaders up on a pedestal and thinks of them as being somehow beyond the ability to be corrupted, and that needs to end. They need to be treated like everyone else-- untrustworthy.