Atheist converts to Christianity: Media’s coverage

[cleanhippie]

There was an interesting article on the Huffington Post yesterday about an atheist who recently converted to Christianity. So who is this atheist? Surely, he must be a prominent scientist, right? Is he the author of an atheist book, a prominent atheist blogger, a well-known atheist activist, or the leader of an atheist organization? No, he is just some random 63 year-old guy. Apparently, it is such a rare occurrence when an atheist converts to Christianity that it has become a newsworthy event.

The now former atheist, Patrick Greene, was called an activist because he threatened to sue to get a nativity scene removed from his county courthouse. No lawsuit was ever actually filed. What the media failed to cover was that Greene threatened to sue a lot of people and that atheists within the local atheist community consider him to have a persecution complex after he threatened to sue Christian apologist Ray Comfort over a bumper sticker promoting National Atheist Day, which Greene found offensive.

Greene gave two reasons for his recent conversion. The first was that Christians raised money for him to help with living expenses. While that is certainly a noble gesture on the part of the Christians, it doesn’t speak well for Greene whose believes appear to be for sale to the highest bidder.

The second reason given by Greene for his conversion is a profound misunderstanding and lack of knowledge concerning the science of evolution. He states:

"There's been one lingering thought in the back of my head my entire life, and it's one thought that I've never been able to reconcile, and that is the vast difference between all the animals and us."

http://www.examiner.com/atheism-in-national/atheist-converts-to-christianity-media-s-coverage#ixzz1rNA2GZTz

[Nikia]

1. I have known a few atheist converts to Christianity

A few were in college, which was not a reliously affiliated college. They had been raised by atheist parents and hadn't really had the chance to go to church or learn much about Christianity before leaving home.
Others older adults who had lost loved ones and were facing their own deaths. I think the hope of seeing those loved ones again was motivation for considering religion.
A few people were atheists as young adults but became religious as they got older. They usually had children and often a religious spouse.
These people were probably not as strong atheists as Mr. Greene. They were probably some level of agnostic and may be to some extent still despite proclaiming their conversion to Christianity.

[Kalidurga]

2. Then there is another kind of convert...

some people convert when Alzheimers sets in.

[cbayer]

5. I have worked with a large number of Alzheimer's patients and never once seen that happen.

Have you?

[Kalidurga]

10. just one.

Anecdotal evidence on another. I am not saying it is common. But, there is a link, with born agains having a reduced hippocampus region. http://blog.chron.com/believeitornot/2011/05/born-again-christians-study/ other studies, which I don't have saved, sorry, do suggest that alzheimers patients are more susceptible to being proselytized to. It is likely a rare, but we shouldn't rule out that it can happen.

[cbayer]

13. This study is weak, to put it gently, and the hippocampus has nothing to do with Alzheimers.

[Kalidurga]

15. Okey dokey

I am obviously not a neurologist. But, There really is no telling where this awful disease can take a person.

[cbayer]

16. Agree, it's a disease like no other.

A friend recently died after 5 years of deterioration. He left us long ago and his death, I hope, has given him release.

[xfundy]

3. $$$$$$

Money works in mysterious ways. They've got "ex-muslim terra-ists" for their media, "ex-gays" who "gave up that lifestyle" but get caught with their pants down, "ex-BIG TIME HOLLYWOOD STARS" who gave up their immense fame like Kirk Cameron, Willie "Bible-Man" Aames and countless other B- "actors," and of course, "ex-devil worshippers," among others they endlessly parade by, more for political ends than anything remotely "for Jesus."

[Rob H.]

4. This guy's been known as a crank

for quite awhile now, and has been regularly raked over the coals by other atheists.

Friday, July 25, 2008
Patrick Greene checks in
Posted by: Martin

...

Well, that's great you're willing to stand up for yourself, Patrick, though I suspect that Matt will not be terribly sympathetic to your "equal time" request, you having called him "such an asshole" and all. Seems to me you're just an attention-seeker, quick to fly off the handle not only at any perceived slight to your atheism, but also to anyone who fails to validate your sense of victimhood and join the drill team cheering your fight for justice. And if you really believe that, as you said, "if I was really screwing up, they would never have taken the sticker off the site," you're as naive as you are reactionary. Ray Comfort is already making fun of you, and most absurdly of all, he did so simply by repeating the same insipid creationist non-arguments that he's been using all these years to impress the uneducated. All he had to do was quote you sounding pissed off, which you did, then he simply replied with the stupidest arguments in his arsenal in a calm tone. And he comes out of it looking like a million bucks. Good job, Pat old boy. When you lose the high ground to a clown like Coke Can Man, you're in bad shape.

...

You'd think you would have, at some point, figured out that the majority of the populace in this country were religious, that that fact was unlikely to change in the near future, that some of those religious people will be normal and easygoing to get along with and that some will be offensive and stupid, and simply chosen to live your life accordingly. What horrible history of injustices have you suffered at their hands for so long, that the camel's back was finally broken by the straw of Comfort and Cameron's dopey bumper sticker? "That's enough, goddamn it! I'm suing!"

Dude, we all find it infuriating, the things Christians get up to in this country. Undermining science education, denying fundamental rights to gays and lesbians, covering it up whenever their priests rape children, filling school boards with unqualified ideologues to promote their superstitions as facts to impressionable students, distributing propaganda movies calling scientists Nazis, what have you. What we do about it is try to come up with some positive pushback, through the efforts of such groups as Texas Citizens for Science and the NCSE, through outreach to other atheists via our media efforts, through getting people active at the polls (the stupidity of Ellen "Don't Vote" Johnson notwithstanding.)

There's a thing about picking your battles wisely. Making a spectacle of yourself over the imagined injustice of a bumper sticker doesn't qualify under the "wise" category. "Petty," "childish," "shallow" and "over-sensitive"? Yeah, those, sure, all day long. Let me repeat this: you gave Ray Comfort, of all people, an opportunity to make himself look good. If that doesn't spell E-P-I-C F-A-I-L, nothing does.

....

If the religionists want him, they can have him, imo.

[cbayer]

7. He was never a true scotsman

[Rob H.]

8. I'm not denying he was an atheist

He certainly seems to have been a crank, though.

[cbayer]

9. Agree. He's was a crank as an atheist and is probably going to be a crank as a christian.

[Rob H.]

11. I dunno...

Just did some quick Googling, and according to this other article,

Now this former atheist says he's not only a Christian, but he also wants to become a pastor.

Greene plans to either join a nearby liberal congregation or may even start his own chapter of the Rainbow Baptists, an outreach ministry of The Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists that supports the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. He says he feels strongly that homosexuality is acceptable in Christianity, and claims the Bible’s original approach to issues of homosexuality has been altered over the last 2,000 years.

As someone with LGBT friends and family members, I think that's a laudable goal, but if Texas is anything like Tennessee (which is where I live) he may have a tough row to hoe, considering how many ultra-conservative churches there are here. I sincerely wish him the very best of luck.

[cbayer]

12. Had not seen that. Maybe he won't be a crank as a christian.

Thanks for sharing that.

[skepticscott]

14. Is it even possible for someone to be a crank as a Christian?

Could someone possibly take positions or actions in furtherance of their Christian "faith" that are so extreme as to be beyond the pale of what large numbers of other Christians have already done and said? Is it even possible to parody organized Christianity?

[Mojambo]

6. Based on his understanding of evolution, it should read "moron converts to Christianity."

[SamG]

17. When one self-centered atheist converts to Christianity, all

the media and Christian press cover it for weeks, as if it is proof that Christianity has some superior advantage, a "win" over a lost soul.

I find it interesting that Christian media never covers the thousands of Christians who abandon their faith in favor of a skeptical view of all organized religions every week of the year. It's as if that never happens, when, indeed, it happens daily, by the hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands worldwide.

No coverage in the Christian media of those events! Instead, tens of articles about one ego-starved human psyche who abandons his atheism in favor of more publicity from the Christian press, after he also got a few dollars for his medical misery.

What the media failed to cover was that Greene threatened to sue a lot of people and that atheists within the local atheist community consider him to have a persecution complex after he threatened to sue Christian apologist Ray Comfort over a bumper sticker promoting National Atheist Day, which Greene found offensive.

But this is the American media, the American Judeo-Christian press, where anyone who is not among the "flock" is viewed as an aberrant character, and, when they claim to convert to Christianity, they deserve front page headlines, even on Glenn Beck's web site.

[cbayer]

19. The media does cover it. I have posted numerous articles on just this topic.

The largest growing group at this time is the "nones". When asked what religious organization(s) they are affiliated with, they answer "none". But the majority of those say that they are still believers or spiritual or something along those line.

[SamG]

20. So that coverage is NOT about non-believers, it is about DIFFERENT

beliefs.

I will hastily await the first article in a Christian or secular publication about thousands of people who make a decision every week to leave their religious training, who look around at other faiths and sects, and eventually give it all up, just because they finally realize that a belief in something unnatural is not consistent with their own mindset, with their education, with their ability to deal with factual information over any non-factual thinking patterns.

When you come across such an article, without bias, with a clear objectivity, I'd love to read it.

[cbayer]

21. Where do you get this data? I would love to read it as well.

[2ndAmForComputers]

18. The media covers it because it's unusual. It's a Benjamin Button case.

Whereas the progressing FROM childhood TO adulthood is normal and routine.

[mr blur]

22. I see he's changed his mind again - now he's NOT a Christian. Again.

I am sorry to tell you , that I announced that I had become a Christian much too soon. It was out of the entire hype that surrounded all the loving, kindness, compassion and warmth of my relationship with Jessica Crye and Rev. Graham. After reading all the messages and emails from dozens of people, I realized that, after 50 years of being an atheist, I cannot continue this. I have examined my conscience thoroughly over this past weekend. I cannot go on thinking and feeling that I have changed my heart and mind. I haven’t. It goes against everything I have spent my life accomplishing. Especially since I cannot change my attitude toward gay rights and abortion. I spent many hours looking at the sight for the gay baptists and realized my error. Thank you very much for all your help.

From Friendly Atheist http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/

[SamG]

23. Tell me NONE of us could see THAT coming !!!

I was waiting for the other shoe to drop ever since I first heard of this guy a few days ago.

[Mojambo]

24. Pay attention to meeeeeeeeeeeee! n/t