If I stop posting suddenly

[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.