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Putting the "stud" back in Bible Study
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Posts: 79,909
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Freehold, Iowa
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Atheist Tithing, New Trend? -
03-20-2010, 02:54 AM
THIS story got my attention I can tell you. Why the Godmocker in question decided to go out of its way to offend Jesus by robbing Him is beyond me, but I can tell you this; We pastors are NOT amused.
Quote:
Young N.C. philanthropist supports atheist cause
RALEIGH, N.C. - When GlaxoSmithKline bought Todd Stiefel's family business for $2.9 billion last April, he began to think about what to do with the rest of his life.
A Duke University graduate, Stiefel wanted his windfall to better society. Like many modern philanthropists, such as Bill and Melinda Gates or Warren Buffett, Stiefel is not motivated by religious zeal. In fact, Stiefel has become one of the country's biggest benefactors of atheist causes.
Last month, Stiefel gave $500,000 to the Secular Coalition of America, a Washington-based coalition that lobbies on behalf of 10 groups of atheists, humanists and agnostics. That's on top of two smaller gifts to two of the coalition's members: a $100,000 matching grant to American Atheists and a $50,000 matching grant to the Secular Student Alliance.
"Not a lot of people are fortunate to have the opportunity to do what I'm doing," said Stiefel, 35. "I didn't want to let that slide."
The gifts from Stiefel, who moved to Raleigh in August, are the largest the Secular Coalition has had. They will allow the organization to step up its lobbying in Washington and to create grass-roots advocacy organizations in every state.
"It's supercharged our ability to move forward," said Sean Faircloth, executive director of the coalition.
Stiefel's generosity is not limited to atheists. Last week, he donated $20,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi so it could sponsor a high school prom after the Itawamba County School District canceled the dance rather than allow a lesbian to bring her girlfriend as a date.
Stiefel wants to create a culture in the United States in which secularists -- be they atheists, agnostics or humanists -- are respected. He is well acquainted with the polls. According to recent Gallup surveys, not only conservatives disdain atheists, but 33 percent of self-described liberals would not vote for an atheist running for president. On nearly every ranking of religious groups, only Scientologists are viewed by Americans less favorably than atheists. (Only 7 percent viewed Scientologists favorably, compared to 13 percent who viewed atheists positively, according to a 2008 Gallup poll.)
That leaves Stiefel with plenty to do.
On Feb. 26, Stiefel and about 60 others from the Secular Coalition of America sat down for a 90-minute meeting with White House administration officials.
Three concerns dominated the agenda. The coalition wants the government to be able to remove sick children from homes in which parents believe in faith healing; it wants the Defense Department to give protected class status to nonbelievers serving in the military, as it does to members of minority faiths; it wants to see an end to taxpayer funding for faith-based initiatives.
No deals were made at the meeting, but the very fact that the group got a White House hearing is significant. It was the first time any administration has met with nonbelievers.
Part of the reason may be that people such as Stiefel are now joining the ranks.
"The face of atheism in this country is beginning to change," said Mark Zumbach of Cary, president of the Triangle Freethought Society. "It used to be fringe people. Now it's people who are a little bit more normal."
Stiefel was born in Albany, N.Y., and grew up in the Catskill Mountains. His father, Charles, was CEO of Stiefel Laboratories, which had a manufacturing plant there.
The company was founded by Stiefel's great-great-grandfather in 1847, near Frankfurt, Germany. It originally made medicated soaps but then specialized in skin care products for a range of conditions such as acne, psoriasis and eczema.
Since moving to Raleigh -- he and his parents live in the same gated community -- Stiefel has made it his mission to raise the profile of atheists and lower the volume of hostility directed at them. He acknowledges that some atheists have been outspoken, perhaps even intemperate, and he says he'd like to lend them a softer, more diplomatic image.
"For me, a huge benefit is that he offers nuts-and-bolts strategic advice to me and the organization," said Sean Faircloth, executive director of the Secular Coalition of America. "He looks at the big picture and asks, 'What are the practical steps to achieving our goals?'"
With Stiefel's gift, the organization, which employs five full-time staff members, has been able to hire an office manager and increase its level of professionalism, Faircloth said.
His contributions have also allowed him a seat on the coalition's board of advisers, which includes nonbeliever celebrities such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Salman Rushdie and Julia Sweeney.
But more than anything, Stiefel is interested in dispelling the notion that atheists don't believe in anything and are therefore capable of anything.
"We're equally capable of being ethical as people who are religious," he said. "We just want to be good for goodness' sake."
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Here is a partial list from just a few scripture verses:
Hypocrites (Matthew 24:51), The Unforgiving (Mark 11:26), Homosexuals (Romans 1:26, 27), Fornicators (Romans 1:29), The Wicked (Romans 1:29), The Covetous (Romans 1:29), The Malicious (Romans 1:29), The Envious (Romans 1:29), Murderers (Romans 1:29), The Deceitful (Romans 1:29), Backbiters (Romans 1:30), Haters of God (Romans 1:30), The Despiteful (Romans 1:30), The Proud (Romans 1:30), Boasters (Romans 1:30), Inventors of evil (Romans 1:30), Disobedient to parents (Romans 1:30), Covenant breakers (Romans 1:31), The Unmerciful (Romans 1:31), The Implacable (Romans 1:31), The Unrighteous (1Corinthians 6:9), Idolaters (1Corinthians 6:9), Adulterers (1Corinthians 6:9), The Effeminate (1Corinthians 6:9), Thieves (1Corinthians 6:10), Drunkards (1Corinthians 6:10), Reviler (1Corinthians 6:10), Extortioners (1Corinthians 6:10), The Fearful (Revelation 21:8), The Unbelieving (Revelation 21:8), The Abominable (Revelation 21:8), Whoremongers (Revelation 21:8), Sorcerers (Revelation 21:8), All Liars (Revelation 21:8)
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Mayor of Freehold
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Posts: 12,124
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: City Hall, Freehold, Iowa
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Re: Atheist Tithing, New Trend? -
03-20-2010, 03:09 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pastor Ezekiel
THIS story got my attention I can tell you. Why the Godmocker in question decided to go out of its way to offend Jesus by robbing Him is beyond me, but I can tell you this; We pastors are NOT amused.
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The article says about atheists, "It used to be fringe people. Now its people who are a little more normal."
NORMAL?? What is normal about wanting to go to hell?
Isaiah 24:1-3 Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty (2)...as the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. (3) The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken his word.
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True Christian™ Creation Scientist Fisher of Men
True Christian™
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Posts: 6,835
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Freehold, Iowa
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Re: Atheist Tithing, New Trend? -
03-20-2010, 03:38 AM
God will surely strike him in hip and thigh, bone and marrow, heart and lung for this affront to all that is good and decent. I will do my part by crafting a custom imprecatory prayer for Mr. Stiefle. Let us all lift our voices unto the LORD!
Psalm 69:22-29
Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.
Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.
Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.
For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.
Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.
But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.
II Thessalonians 1:7-9
And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power
The man who is being progressively sanctified will inescapably sanctify his home, school, politics, economics, science, and all things else by understanding and interpreting all things in terms of the Word of God and by bringing all things under the Dominion of Christ the King. -R.J. Rushdoony
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Fourm Member
Forum Member
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Posts: 9,266
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: On my way to Paradise
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Re: Atheist Tithing, New Trend? -
03-22-2010, 05:09 AM
Tithing is HOLY! Not something to be mocked by these God bothers. They say they don't believe in God, don't care about Jesus, but they go around spitting in Gods face on a daily basis.
Quote:
His contributions have also allowed him a seat on the coalition's board of advisers, which includes nonbeliever celebrities such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Salman Rushdie and Julia Sweeney.
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But he was doing it for no reason other than the good of others? Sure he was.
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