A self-proclaimed atheist can continue to serve as a local pastor of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, and no longer faces disciplinary action because of his controversial position on how to describe God – writes Andreas Havinga.
A special assembly of Zierikzee, a regional church body tasked with investigating the theological statements of Pastor Klaas Hendrikse, has said its work is, “completed”.
…
Hendrikse criticised the ecclesiastical investigation as a time-wasting distraction.
In 2007, Hendrikse hit the headlines with the publication, in Dutch, of his book titled “Believing in a God that does not exist: the manifesto of an atheist pastor” (Geloven in een God die niet bestaat – manifest van een atheïstische dominee).
In the book, Hendrikse distinguishes between believing in God, which he affirms, and believing in the existence of God, which he rejects. Instead, he refers to God as, “happening”.
The article goes on to say that 1 in 6 preachers in the Protestant chruch has serious doubts of the existance of God, which is the real reason for this decision. They don’t want to lose a chunk of preachers for the simple reason that they don’t believe the dogma they are spreading.
Also, the older your preachers are, the more likely they are to have doubts, which underscores what we’ve been saying all along: the more you know about your religion, the less religious you become.
As long as they keep bringing in the cash, why shouldn’t the Church keep an employee?
God? No, no. It’s VERB. That’s what’s happening.
Not a suprise, the important thing is that he does his duties well and is of good character.You go to church,synagogue for community/hope/comfort.
again not surprising…..religion provides for a standard of living for many people….it may be difficult for those that change their belief to find different work….comforting with made up bullshit stories may be all they know…..
what do they once they bury the flock
The article doesn’t say it outright, but I assume the survey was of preachers in the Netherlands only. The Netherlands, like most of Western Europe, is far less religious than the US. It’s not surprising that a lot of their preachers are familiar enough with the arguments against God to have doubts. Some preachers in the US probably have doubts too, but probably a smaller percentage. If they did a survey in the states, I suspect that a lot of preachers who have doubts might not be willing to admit it. They may be unwilling to even admit it to themselves.
I often have doubts that the US can ever escape from its religious addiction, but Europe gives me reason to hope. At one time, Western Europe was among the greatest bastions of Christianity. If they can overcome it, maybe we can too. There is still hope.
There has been only three new threads on the NoGodBlog in the past 12 days. This is how blogs die. Not enough content which is frequently updated. Maybe David Silverman needs some help doing this job. Here’s a topic for you David. Scott Rothstein has just plead guilty on multiple accounts of fraud. He also as a prominent synagogue named for him (maybe the synagogue has changed that by now). So here’s the topic: Why is it that soo many of these financial swindlers practice the jewish “faith”?
Let’s see…there’s been SEVEN new threads in the past 12 days, so your math is obviously wrong. This also sounds suspiciously like a banned fella’s repeated statements. Luckily, your longitude & latitude vary, but is terribly close to that person’s prior locations. Also, I wonder if Berkeley knows that person was posting anti-Semitic garbage using their computers?
A better topic is why people who practice any kind of faith seem to be less honest than those who don’t?
Yeh I mistakenly wrote 12 days rather than the actual 8.
Nothing that I wrote could be misconstrued to be antisemitic so get a grip. This is a blog about religion. We talk about the damage religion does to our society here. Rothstein did 1.2 billion worth of financial damage and destroyed lives in doing so. Obviously you are giving those of jewish faith a pass on criminal behavior. As weell one does have to spend much time on this blog to learn that you are a supporter of the Israel apartheid. You are as morally challenged as any rabid theist.
Math is still wrong.
See, I didn’t say that. Unless you are actually the person I mentioned.
Yeah, that’s a standard pat response. It’s also a lie. A pretty large 1, to boot. I’ve stated several times in various places my agreement that David should blog about events like these.
Another standard lie. There’s no apartheid going on. I suspect people who throw that word around never look up the definition.
Because I won’t take 60 years worth of hearsay from a bunch of homicidal lunatics? Apparently, I’m not the challenged 1 here.
Math is still wrong.
Reading comprehension is obviously not your strong point. Didn’t say that.
More unnecessary instruction.
& David should blog about it.
Obviously you’re making shit up.
Another pat lie. No apartheid is happening in Israel. I’m wondering if anyone’s even looked the definition up, or they just run around parroting that talking point.
Why? Because I won’t take 60 years of unprovable hearsay from a bunch of genocidal crazies in the middle east?
I’m not the challenged 1 here.
I might add, that the same clown who demanded that David superimpose a swastika over a jewish symbol is calling me ‘morally challenged’, is the epitome of irony & lacking in self-awareness.
How is suggesting that Mr Silverman treat jews in the same way that he treats muslims morally challenged? Seems to me that point out his hypocrisy is very moral. Dave in previous posts showed his support for the combining of the crescent, an internationally recognized symbol of islam, with a swastika as an expression of free speech. He also implores people to be “blasphemous”. Combining a swastika with a star of david is the equivalent of combining a crescent with a swastika. So I asked David to show us some of bravado he implores in others. But so far he has come up a gutless hypocrite. I, in the posts to which you refer, was doing nothing but pointing out his bigotry and hypocrisy that he so freely exhibits on these pages. I do not support hypocritical blasphemy of any kind.
Get used to wearing that big red nose and over-sized shoes.
Again, making shit up. In that post (where you made that repugnant suggestion) was the picture of muhammad w/a bomb turban.
The swastika is a repugnant disgusting symbol that should only be used by nazis.
But you do support using swastikas freely. I wonder what that makes you?
I guess we’re all bozos on this bus. <@;D
Of course, that’d make me Bim Bom, while you don’t even rate a Bozo.
Squeak squeak!
Everybody here knows that I am not “making shit up”. Do you think we are all stupid. If Dave, as a display of free speech, supports the combining of a crescent and swastika in images – which he does – then he should support the display of similarly offensive images using symbols associated with Judiasm. Why do you have such a hard time with fair play? Isn’t fair play morality in action?
Really? I’ve not seen anyone bounce up & support your claim.
Cute. Make it look like you’re the spokesperson in charge. You speaking for everyone else? Think not.
Got proof?
Tell ya what. You prove it, I’ll apologize. Got link?
KA
Even leaders in Israel have acknowledged the unjust treatment of arabs in Israel and the west bank.Arabs are subjected to curfews,evictions,crops,orchards destroyed there are hundreds of checkpoints and so on and so on.All in the name of security.Arabs whose families have lived on the land for generations are shown less consideration than newly arrived russians who can’t speak hebrew.Israel has a right and duty to protect its citizens but reasonable people can and do agree that this heavy handed approach is part of the problem not solution.Why should Israeli taxpayers pay so religious/racist fanatics can live out their dream in west bank settlements for example.
No the count is correct. Point being that this blog is dying from neglect.
So you think there is no apartheid in Israel? Then either you don’t no squat about what is happening there or you are severely morally challenged. You may be interested to know that former prime minister of Israel Ehud Barak disagrees with you. He is hedging on whether apartheid presently exists but there is no doubt that it does. Here is what he said in speech delivered only weeks ago.
“If, and as long as between the Jordan and the sea, there is only one political entity, named Israel, it will end up being either non-Jewish or non-democratic… If the Palestinians vote in elections, it is a binational state, and if they don’t, it is an apartheid state.”
Guess what? It is presently that apartheid state. Here’s a link to an Economist article quoting Mr. Barak.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/02/israel_demography_democracy_or_apartheid
Yes David Silverman should blog about about Rothstein and the many others but he hasn’t and judging by his past and present behavior will not. But this blog did feature some bogus unresearched accusation that Google is censoring searches about islam. Most of the folks posting here bought that nonsense which could have been debugged in less than 60 seconds.
If we count backwards from the 19th, there were TWO on the 17th, & 1 on the 16th. & 5 days prior, there was another post. Do the math.
& guess what? Palestinians DO vote. So, your reading comprehension is severely challenged. Obviously, so are many people who are jumping on that bandwagon.
Then I’d advise you work up an online petition, not bitch about it in every single thread.
Palestinians do not have the same voting rights as Israeli jews. The day that they do Israel, as a jewish state, will no longer exist. Of course you understand all this but you are as morally challenged as an apartheid loving Afrikaner.
Hold on – 1st they can’t vote, now they can? Which is it?
Yes, we’ve all seen countries vanish into thin air.
Just keep repeating that phrase ad infinitum. Maybe the less intelligent folks here will believe you.
You broke the Lame o’ Meter with that last post. Try something fact-based and germane next time.
That all you got? Rapidly losing your entertainment value.
Of the many things that I have “got” we can now add to the list a former prime minister of Israel calling the Israel form of government an apartheid.
Israel’s time is running out. The Israeli insistence that Israel be a jewish state has delivered it into its present abyss. Just as the South African Afrikaners had to choose between being a democracy or an apartheid so must the Israelis. I wonder if there is any time left for them to change their ways and embrace democracy. I fear that their arrogance has run the clock out.
No, he made an either/or statement. & since Palis vote, it’s a binational country.
Like end-of-the-world prophecies, this is an ongoing unfulfilled prophecy.
Yes, because of course, why should the jews insist on a safe haven for themselves? How dare they!
Yes, because just like the Afikaners, no Palis are allowed in the Knesset…oh wait a second.
A broken analogy used like a broken record is a bad joke.
I dunno – maybe it’s because they ARE a democracy?
You just keep earning negative bozo points.
“Binational country”. We – moral people – call that an apartheid. You lose.
So now you’ve appointed yourself the leader around here? You get to decide who’s moral, who’s not?
Duh-LUSIONAL.
Still waiting for the proof that Silverman’s ever used a swastika in any of his posts, BTW.
Because if you’ve made that up, well, it says a lot about your ‘morals’.
It’s you actions that determine your morality. I am simply pointing it out, Mr. De Klerk.
Says Mr. Swastika-happy.
PS – I love how everyone’s flocking to back your play, Mr. We-the-atheist-people.
Did I say he used a swastika in his posts? He have serious reading comprehension problems. What I said was that he supported, as a matter of free speech, the public posting of an image combining a swastika and crescent. I also said that he frequently implores others to be religiously blasphemous and that he should take some of the risks that he asks others to take in doing so. So, where are those blasphemous images targeting jew Dave?
In fact, right here.
Again, no proof, just accusation.
Common understanding has it that the only people who sling swastikas are nazis. & if you can’t comprehend the scale of difference between the pope being caricatured as palatine, as opposed to superimposing a swastika over a menorah, then you have bigger problems than reading comprehension, mein freund.
“He have” should be “You have”.