Happy fucking Clappers!
About a decade ago my monster-in-law Rhonda did the whole "born again religion" thing. That in itself wasn't such a big surprise - this is the same lady whose more than once had screaming sweary tantrums in the middle of the road after not getting her way, amidst many, many other strange and unexplained behaviours.
But she went and joined these guys. To Aussies - think Hillsong on a smaller, more regional scale.

Not only did she join them, she started tithing them money. Now her and my father in law at that point were both driving a taxi and often rarely had a spare penny to rub. Yet they gave a percentage of their earnings to this church. You guys already know how I feel about tithing.
Then there came the "hangers on" - she had numerous strangers at her house for bible study meetings where I regularly watched grown adults literally babble incoherently as they were 'speaking in tongues' in front of their often surprised and bemused children.
Included in the "hangers on" were a few people of questionable repute. I ceased allowing my daughter to see her grandma when her grandmother was letting a registered sex offender to her daily house prayer meetings to "pray for redemption."
This was around the time that Rhonda decided to pay an exorbitant fee to the church so she she could do a Bible Study course. Hence the daily and weekly study sessions with the rest of the circus. Often at the expense of spending time with her own school aged kids. Supposedly the course was accredited. No idea what job she was going to get with that accreditation but non-the-less.

I went to a couple of her churches exultant, joyful services (know thine enemy and all that). It was the sing-ingest, dancing-est happy clapping-est church service you could imagine. Big rock band, gospel singers and people losing it all over the place.
Scary as shit.
On top of that was the constant attempts by Rhonda and her cronies to try and convert anyone within earshot to their beliefs. It was like they were going to "earn" their way into heaven thru commission. By converting as many souls as possible.

My personal view is - the right to believe in your religious institution stops where my right NOT to believe in it begins.
Maybe I'm the irrational person?
(s0ckpuppet logging out to reply to you if you're not careful, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 9:53, 22 replies)

ha, yeh.

( Michael Ellis contributes nothing, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 10:01, closed)

Yah, we?

(s0ckpuppet logging out to reply to you if you're not careful, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 10:05, closed)

oh god

( drimble he'd been white, he'd been black, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 10:30, closed)

I've got nothing.

(s0ckpuppet logging out to reply to you if you're not careful, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 10:41, closed)

It's allah load of Baal's

( Infidel , shit and wrong, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 13:24, closed)

I'm Thor about this

( Infidel , shit and wrong, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 13:25, closed)

never mind have a Pollo

(andythepieman Is surfing the waves of indifference on, Wed 16 Oct 2013, 13:04, closed)

I agree with your sentiment
If you have to be "sold" a religion then it aint something you want.You do have a choice and it should be just that. Equally I dont want some militant atheist telling me I should not believe and trying to "sell" that to me.
(gearanach #wankwankwank, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 16:29, closed)

militant atheists. bizarre choice of word, militant.

( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 17:49, closed)

Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.
Ever met a militant non-collector of stamps?
(ubergeekian, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 22:13, closed)

I hate the militant anti-teapotists myself.
They're worse than the militant anti-santaists, the militant anti-invisible pink unicornists and the militant anti-faeryists combined!
Don't get me started on the anti-huge rabbit that follows meists!
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 22:36, closed)

Militant anti-bronies
really tweak my rage-nips.
(s0ckpuppet logging out to reply to you if you're not careful, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 23:04, closed)

Grr, I just remembered those militant anti-easterbunnyists!
Those fucking anti-ætherists also!!!! Grr!!!
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 23:08, closed)

FUCKING ANTI-AESTHETISTS!
grr
(s0ckpuppet logging out to reply to you if you're not careful, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 23:25, closed)

MILITANT EVEN!

(s0ckpuppet logging out to reply to you if you're not careful, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 23:27, closed)

FUSKING MILITANT ANTI-ANTI-AESTHETISTS!111!11!!!!!1!!11!!!!!1ELEVENTYONE!

(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 23:37, closed)

This is a fair statement,
undermined somewhat by the existence of "atheist churches".
e.g. https://twitter.com/SundayAssembly
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Sun 13 Oct 2013, 20:29, closed)

You're irrational? Perhaps, certainly a complete cunt.

( Fucking hell Jeff I am not a robot, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 21:44, closed)

SELL MY BOOK!

(s0ckpuppet logging out to reply to you if you're not careful, Sat 12 Oct 2013, 21:49, closed)

That 'church' of scientology springs to mind
And if you read articles or watch some of the documentaries about it, some of the stuff they get up to is downright scary.
(Panzerfaust, Sun 13 Oct 2013, 1:56, closed)

The problem I have....
is that they feed this stuff to kids, obviously, most intelligent adults would have a hard time believing this stuff, so they get them when they're young & gullible.
A bit like the way paedophiles groom children to believe that something is normal when it's clearly not.
(M61A1 CUPID- STUNTS, Sun 13 Oct 2013, 5:51, closed)

Thankfully my younger brother and sister-in-law
came thru relatively unscathed.
(s0ckpuppet logging out to reply to you if you're not careful, Sun 13 Oct 2013, 9:20, closed)