The Ex-Pentecostal Preacher was a real Christian
What’s Up Heathens! Today on Godless Iowans interview, this ex-pentecostal preacher discussed a number of topics including religious parenting, changes in his personality after losing faith, his best advice for new atheists, answering “You weren’t a real Christian,” and much more!
The first topic up today is whether religious parenting is abusive. GI feels like it definitely is but the parents may not know they are being abusive because they too were abused. It seems normal to them when it’s clearly not. The damnation and hellfire preaching is definitely abusive to children. Next, we discuss what changed in his personality after he left his faith. He was a conservative on most issues and with this new worldview, it changed. He became more progressive and more liberal. He recounts some personal experiences he had with people after he left the faith that really rocked him.
Next, we discuss what good advice he has for newer atheists. He suggests to keep on learning. When he first left his faith he wanted to see all the things that his faith told him he couldn’t. It’s like he was set free into the real world. Then I ask what he would say if someone claimed he wasn’t a real Christian. He said that if he wasn’t a real Christian then he doesn’t know what a “real Christian” is. He was deep in the faith so to suggest that he wasn’t a “real Christian” is absurd. Finally, we touch on the meaning of life for an atheist. GI states that as a Pentecostal he had no meaning in his life other than to get to the next one. He finds an immense amount of meaning in this one.
