John Pavlovitz is a believer. He’s also a writer, blogger, and an omnipresent social media force. Once fired by some megachurch, he’s a pastor and a political/religious activist from Wake Forest, NC.
I share many views with pastor Pavlovitz. I bet I could discuss nearly anything with him.
He recently posted “How to Know if You Have the Wrong Religion,” as if there is a right one. Therein he presents an argument for good deeds (James 2:14-26) although he never says so. Thus, he champions the obvious case that when religion breeds hate it is wrong.
Without using the term atheist, Pavlovitz included the following obiter dictum. My retorts are in parentheses.
“If you’re passionately (dispassionately) anti-religious (anti-religion) because you think belief in a higher power (God. HP is an AA mantra) is abject (degrading?) fairy tale (unsupported?) nonsense, that’s fine too. (Thanks, John) But if you’re intolerant to difference and intellectually arrogant (a term I recognize) in the face of people who’ve reached different conclusions than you have, (It is my conclusion. Have they concluded based on evidence? Or is it [the bible] all they know?) you are simply replicating hypocrites without the creeds.”
I much like the last phrase, “replicating hypocrites without the creeds.”
I’ve seldom been attacked or severely criticized by believers. It happens, but they run out of ideas after they send me to Hell. Maybe they all follow JP on line, as my wife and I do.
However, a good many atheists and agnostics have indeed abjectly and passionately criticized me for saying that I understand why people believe in God. It’s not because there is one.
I do understand why folks believe. I think they’ve reached wrong conclusions, but it’s fine. I also understand why folks who share my conclusion may criticize my comment. That’s also fine.
Bill
Dispassionate Doubt 
I’ve often read Pavlovitz’s post and he strikes me as the classic hypocritical Christian. He just makes his god up in his own image, and is ever so sure that his is the right one. He can’t quite divorce himself from attacking others when it suits him, all without any evidence his nonsense is correct.
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He just makes his god up in his own image — isn’t this what every believer does? John’s version at least seems to be a more intelligent look on what religion is and its role in everyday life.
Of course to some, there’s no redeeming factor in ANY version of Christianity. But since it’s here and little can be done to remove it entirely, at least the “lighter” versions are easier to swallow.
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I agree, Nan. In my experience, Christians are not the only creators of God as they want her/him/it to be. It seems to be trickle down perturbations of each religion (denomination and “non-” such). Same is true for the new agers, in my opinion. 🙂
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yep, you are quite correct, but Christians like this have to intentionally lie about what their religion is based on, the promise of death and worse to those who don’t obey.
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Religious ideology has had, and will continue to have, enormous awful effects on humanity, aiding all sorts of needless oppressions along with its encouragement of unreflective thought. Look at what the American Taliban are doing to what remains of pro-human practices in this country, and I say give them no quarter.
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Excellent post! And while I don’t describe myself as an atheist, I also love the image.
P.S. I followed Pavlovitz’s blog for quite some time, but since there was no way to comment and/or discuss what he put forth, I decided to “end” the relationship. I know he’s on FB & Twitter, but somehow, it’s just not the same.
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Thanks, Nan. I agree. It is not the same, but FB works for me. I really don’t comment much on any blog or FB post.
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I found it notable that he used to have a comments block, but never allowed anything to show that disagreed with him. Now, he doesn’t even have that. I find that to speak volumes about his confidence about his version of Christianity.
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Maybe he just doesn’t like to argue. It rarely, if ever, changes things. In many cases, all it does is give the hardcores (on either side) an opportunity to “preach.”
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I certainly agree with the “hardcore” statement. I tried to make that point in the post.
I find most writers like John do not write for me, but for believers (his post does that, mostly), but he opened the door for me with the one paragraph. I’m not passionate about this, but I think defending myself is fair enough. He seemed to imply that believers “conclude” God. I say few, if any, do that (at least not in any logical way).
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true, but when it comes to these types of christians, I’ll put my money on that they know their argument would fail at the first challenge.
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