LP - Of Golden Plates and Lynchings

I actually followed a link that took me to a chat with a Mormon Missionary recently. Yeah, me! Anyway, it's quite a long conversation, so I'll provide some interesting snippets. First off, I present evidence that God violated his own laws:

Christopher: How has God violated His own laws?

Lost Boy: The supposed creation of Jesus violated two commandments.

Lost Boy: Thal shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, and thou shalt not commit adultry: Both violated.

(Mary was Joseph's "companion." In those times, the word "companion" was taken to mean, literally, spouse or betrothed. So yes, God coveted Joseph's wife, and got her preggers, which means some form of fucking was going on, AKA Adultry. And he's lucky I didn't get started on "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and the results of the supposed worldwide flood...)

Christopher: Well. There's one way you can find out for yourself, and that is to read the Book of Mormon.Wow, really?

It's all there in the Book of Mormon? Hefty claim right there! But wait, it gets even more interesting:

Christopher: I'm not sure. I'm fairly certain I'm not.

Lost Boy: See? God doesn't give you the 100% assurance!

Lost Boy: Where there is doubt, my boy, there is freedom.

Christopher: It's kind of hard to be a biggot when you're a minority race and everyone jokes about lynching you. :)

Wait, what? Look, I know people are free to choose whatever religion (or lack there-of) that they want, but a Black Mormon?!? That's like saying Jewish Muslim - you just don't normally see that at all. And he admits that they make lynching jokes about him? What's worse - he puts a smiley next to that?!? Yeah, that bus needs stopped...

After re-reading the conversation, I noticed a few extra points I wanted to touch on, found in this follow-up post:

Well, the Church started from the ground up and didn't have a lot of resources and if they did, they wouldn't have photographed the plates anyway.

His assertion that Smith and his followers started with nothing is kind of silly in its own right: Having moved out west towards Utah, they would have had to have the money for such a journey to begin with. The Oregon Trail and inflation can teach us that. What gets me here is his clam that Smith and his followers wouldn't have photographed the plates.

The conundrum of Christopher. Did I get to him? Is he in a bad situation, as a Black Mormon suddenly thinking on a secular level? Sometimes, I worry what getting away from religion can do to folks, let alone what religion itself does...

LP - Out

Just posted a new rant up on my personal blog that you all might want to read. Here's the bit that concerns us directly:

And then there's us - Atheists. While America may not an 'officially' Christian nation, it is most certainly dominated by Christianity as a whole per capita. Fully 90% or more Americans probably claim the carpenter from Nazareth as their personal savior through one denomination or another, and probably 80% of those have a tendency to look down on us. To the individual Secularist, it can seem like overwhelming odds: The community at large, members of their own family, other loved ones, all some form of Christian, and all with the desire to share it.

To say words like "I don't believe" takes more courage than they can seem to muster. Coming out as an Atheist means condemnation from those that, up until you came out, once smiled and welcomed you into their lives. It means distrust simply because you don't believe in any God, let alone theirs. It means discrimination for that same reason alone. It means dirty looks, whispers behind upheld hands, and even a measure of fear of what you are, simply because you're different.

More after you clickey! Enjoy!