If I stop posting suddenly

[Rittermeister]

It'll be because my father tied a big rock to my neck and strolled me out into the water. Seriously, apparently he was ranting to my mother (about me, of course ) with some nonsense from the bible about it being better to tie a millstone to a child's neck and throw him in the ocean than to let him stray from tha lawd.

[ZombieHorde]

1. Yikes! Sorry to read that. nt

[EvolveOrConvolve]

2. Wow, that's scary

If you think he's serious about causing you harm, you might want to seek law enforcement intervention.

Take care of yourself.

[snappyturtle]

3. That's too bad. I don't really know what to say. nt

[laconicsax]

4. Wow! Take care of yourself.

[Warpy]

5. I fled NC in the late 60s

One of the things propelling me was a threat by my mother to sign me into a mental institution.

I ran all the way to Boston, a town that's known for its tolerance of crazy leftist atheists, and I found out it was them, not me, all along.

The geographical cure usually doesn't work since we drag our problems along with us. It did work for me, mostly because I found out the problems didn't lie with me.

[Odin2005]

6. If you think he's serious CALL THE COPS.

Then again, depending on where you are the cops may side with your dad.

[edcantor]

7. I hope you can escape and continue posting.

As we all well, know some religious people are that crazy that they justify anything, even murder, from their religious beliefs.

[Curmudgeoness]

8. If I were you, I would keep a low profile

on that "not believing in god" opinion. I normally don't think that it is something to hide in the closet, or to be ashamed of, but in your case, it isn't worth it. We are atheists, we are not fundie fanaticals----it isn't worth dying for.

But also, if you have the ability to distance yourself from your dad, that would probably be advise you should take.

[daaron]

19. Excellent advice: "it isn't worth dying for."

Precisely. Absolutely spot-on.

[onager]

9. Relax. Dawkins gets the rock, not you...

Your dad is (misquoting) Matthew 18:5 and 6. You don't get drowned, whoever "offended" you does. The standard interpretation seems to be that "offending" means leading you away from Jebus.

Without knowing the particulars of your deconversion, that could be a large pool of suspects. I'd guess everybody from Richard Dawkins to (GULP!) all of us in this group.

Anyway, here's what he is ranting about, from the good ol' King James:

Matthew 18:5 - And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.

Matthew 18:6 - But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

My otherwise misspent SoB (Southern Baptist) youth does come in handy sometimes.

I can sympathize. Many years ago, at a family reunion, my mother said she would rather have a child be dead than an atheist. I wasn't as "out" back then as I am now.

Her views may have been changed by a close friend of hers back in South Carolina. An otherwise standard good ol' boy of the region, he has never attended church and has zero interest in religion. And if you ask, he will tell you exactly that.

He does have his own form of "tithing," which is to go around and help people for free who need help - house repairs, yard work, etc. He's an interesting character.

[Rittermeister]

10. I seem to have caused quite a tumult

I hope I didn't alarm anyone too awfully much. I really don't think he was serious; at least, I hope not. For the record, I'm not a fully "out" atheist; all my dad knows is that I hardly ever go to church, but that's enough to get him frothing at the mouth occasionally. Believe me, as soon as I finish my degree, I'm out of NC.

[Odin2005]

11. You are in the South? Then I definitely would not call the authorities.

[onager]

12. As proven in Little Axe, OK...

Original article source: National Catholic Reporter

In the small, rural community of Little Axe, Okla., a religious war is being waged about prayer in public school. It is not a battle between believers and nonbelievers, of the godly against the ungodly. It is people of faith pitted against people of faith...

Here Lucille McCord and Joann Bell, two local women whose children attended the Little Axe school system, filed a civil suit in 1981 to stop school officials from allowing religious services on public school property. The women, one a member of the Church of the Nazarene and the other of the Church of Christ, say they believe strongly in a religious education for their children....

After the school board meeting, and the subsequent filing of the suit, unusual things began to happen to the McCord and Bell families. On Sept. 14, 1981, shortly after the suit was filed and the court had issued an injunction on the prayer sessions, Bell received a phone call telling her a bomb had been placed in the school. She notified the police and drove to the school to get her children.

As the children were being evacuated, a cafeteria worker spotted Bell and attacked her, smashing her head repeatedly against the car door. Bell was taken to the hospital. The cafeteria worker was later charged and fined a small fee in addition to Bell's hospital bills. The Little Axe community took up a fund to pay the cafeteria worker's expenses.

In response to the attack, a school board member, in a newspaper interview, said of Bell that "those who play with fire get burned." The Bells' trailer home burned to the ground Sept. 18, 1981. Fire marshals ruled it arson.

The McCords received hundreds of threatening phone calls and letters. When Lucille was mailed her own obituary, the family decided to leave Little Axe.

But they did stay awhile longer - until the family pets were mutilated.

Oh yeah, and the two families were also regularly denounced as "communists." As well as "atheists," of course.

http://www.williamgbecker.com/littleaxeok.html

[Odin2005]

13. I heard an anecdote about a Wiccan mom...

...who had her kids taken away by local CPS and generally harassed by local authorities in a small southern town.

[Act_of_Reparation]

16. Seriousness of the article aside...

I couldn't help but lol at this:

"The school allowed religion to be practiced, we didn't establish it."

Constitutional scholars, I swear.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. Won't there at least be a post going "aaaaaaaaaaaarghhhhhh blub blub blub"?

Isn't that what mobile devices are for?

[laconicsax]

15. I think that really depends on the quality of your speech-to-text software.

My phone called my house once when the football commentator said "GOAAAAAAAAAALLLLL!" Imagine my surprise when I answered the phone and heard my voice coming from my pocket.

[kdmorris]

18. ROFL!

I turned mine off because - seriously - it made my phone seem creepy and self-aware...

(btw - I didn't know that you liked football... real football, not American football)

[laconicsax]

20. I watch it sometimes.

I can't permanently turn off the voice dial on my phone. It's activated by a button on the side of the phone and switches on if the button is bumped. The most I can do is lock the phone (oddly by holding the same button for a few seconds) so that a minor jostle doesn't switch it on. It's aggravating to say the least.

[NYC_SKP]

17. FYI: If this is the post that you fear is being taken seriously...

Just look for the red x icon that says "self-delete" and use it.