Hello from the Southern California Bible Belt

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Permalink Reply by Dave Rogers on October 13, 2009 at 11:52am

Welcome Alexis to an oasis of reason in your desert valley of insanity! (Excuse my over-metaphor-ing.) Explore and enjoy A/N and stay safe! You'll see you and your husband share a similar situation with many bible-belt members. I'm fortunate I grew up and live in a liberal, semi-godless state like MA. Wish we could "beam" you out of there.

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Permalink Reply by Alexis G. on October 13, 2009 at 7:35pm

Hello, Dave,
Funny you ask to be excused for over-metaphor-ing, when it was really your use of dashes that was inexcusable..... : )

I still like living in Southern California; we are in an affordable area and everything fun to do here is less than two hours away. We ride dirt bikes and there are lots of places to do it here. There is (are?) just a preponderance of dumbasses here and we have resolved to tread carefully among them, hoping all the while that we may lead some of them into the light someday by our example.

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Permalink Reply by Jared Lardo on October 13, 2009 at 7:40pm

Those are hyphens. Dashes are the longer ones. MS Word has 'em... and "en". "em dash" and "en dash" are under special characters.

Yes it was pedantic. And worthwhile. The More You Know.

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Permalink Reply by Rusty Gunn. on October 13, 2009 at 1:38pm

Welcome, you've come to the right place, you'll find solace here. Consider also that you just MAY be perfectly situated to contact a lot of believers who are susceptible to haveing a seed of doubt planted in their minds. (http://www.csicop.org/si/show/planting_a_seed_of_doubt/) Let me tell you what I'm doing. Everywhere I go I carry with me a little stack of cards that I make up on my computer using business card stock. On one side there's a pro-rationalist (anti-religious) message and on the other side there's a web address for The Jesus Puzzle (www.jesuspuzzle.com). I find the pro-rationalist messages on the American Atheist website. These little cards get left EVERYWHERE!! Many of them get stuck in the cracks of telephone posts when I'm walking my dog. There's always one left on the toilet paper dispenser when I use a public restroom. When buying a newspaper from a streetside newspaper vending machine one gets dropped onto the top of the next paper in in the stack. There are literly HUNDREDS of places where these little subversive cards can be left!! I'd think that amongst the many members of that huge congregation there'd just about have to be some small percentage who'se minds are fertile ground for a seed of doubt. You are in a good position to make a difference. Please give that some thought. It sure beats remaining powerless, and on top of that its FUN to be subversive!!

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Permalink Reply by Alexis G. on October 13, 2009 at 7:29pm

This is an intriguing idea; I'll give it some thought!

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Permalink Reply by Alexis G. on October 13, 2009 at 7:28pm

Hello Tim;
We may not agree on detail, but I did state "ignorant, angry Klingons", and the ignorant angry ones probably didn't become allies of the Federation, being ignorant and angry, plus having to live in the Antelope Valley and all......
Soul winners are usually female and they (clearly) like cookies.
I read the same article you did, and our local megachurch, Lancaster Baptist, isn't in it. Their organization IS fascinating. The pastor is very charismatic and a great preacher. There are thousands of members, and you can tell them on sight by the white shirts and ties on the men and the ankle-length dresses on the women and girls. They have a huge complex on the east side of town, with two auditoriums and a school that provides an "education" for preschoolers through college, but they are not accredited and proud of it.
The girls in the college are taught to be teachers, secretaries, missionaries, musicians or, the holy grail; to be a pastor's wife. You can bet they are not taught biology or science of any kind. There are sports for the boys, but not for the girls (as far as I can recollect). Women smile and nod their heads during the services, but they are silent, while the men shout "amen" whenever the mood strikes them, which is often. Real friendly people, I liked lots of them when I was a member. But I never truly believed the supernatural stuff, and the gay bashing finally chased me away for good.
So thanks for the reply; be seeing you around!
Cheers,
Alexis

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Permalink Reply by Rusty Gunn. on October 13, 2009 at 9:01pm

No, Duane. That's a mouthful!

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Permalink Reply by Kristi Leitholt on October 13, 2009 at 10:59pm

I've never really thought of southern Cali as being a hotspot for fundies, but I guess they like to pop up everywhere....like weeds, they are. Although, that is the place where Rick Warren and his purpose-driven Saddlebackers are entrenched. Good for you for keeping your brain in order among all the weirdness. And welcome to the community, I hope you find some friends here!

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Permalink Reply by HotMess on October 13, 2009 at 11:41pm

Greetings from the Northern CA Bible belt.
Same thing up here. Lots of Mormons and Baptists.

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Permalink Reply by Gold Guy on October 18, 2009 at 5:15pm

Right. Even here in Chico CA. The "bible-belt" runs right up the center of the State. Only the SF Bay Area, LA area, and a few other coastal communities managed to escape insanity. Most of the rest of the country see California as if it were just SF and LA. Unfortunately, when you get away from those cities you're in red-neck territory. The majority in my county (Butte) voted for GW Bush both times! Lucky that voters in SF and LA carried the State.

Although, I must still acknowledge that places like Kentucky and Arkansas have an even higher percentage of fundamentalists than rural California.

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