Category: Money Grubbing Heretics

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Evangelical Stuff Featured Money Grubbing Heretics News Scandal

Di$graced Pastor James MacDonald Gets Paid 1.45 Million + Walk in the Word Ministry Back

Harvest Bible Chapel (HBC) announced that after several months of arbitration, starting in August 2020, that they came to an agreement with their former pastor and leader James MacDonald, to settle all open issues between them and bring this messy, shameful blight on the church to an end.

James MacDonald’s employment was officially terminated by the elder board in November of 2019, declaring the money-grubbing guzzler to be so not above reproach, that they raked him over the coals sixty ways to Sunday and called him out for the abusive, greedy, two-fold son of hell that he is.

As a result of the arbitration, Macdonald walks away with the following, among other things:

-Walk in the Word (WITW) will no longer be a ministry under the umbrella of HBC. As part of the merging of WITW to HBC, there was an agreement that MacDonald could remove WITW and its assets to an external organization. This includes:

-Cash and real estate. Our insurance company paid MacDonald $1.2 million. HBC also agreed to transfer a vacant parcel of property adjacent to our Crystal Lake Campus which we had listed for sale on the market since mid-2019. These funds and this land are for the assets that Walk in the Word brought to HBC when it came under the church in 2010.

The Parties shall cooperate to accomplish HBC’s transfer of the deferred compensation funds that had been established for MacDonald’s benefit. This plan was in place prior to his departure from HBC and relates to a retirement plan of which MacDonald is the beneficiary.

In addition, HBC will pay MacDonald $250,000 cash for reimbursement promised to him prior to 2019 in connection with selling his prior home.

More about his luxury $2,000,000 home can be found here., but it was a beaut.

You’ll recall that MacDonald was living the high life prior to being ousted, likely rolling around naked each night in his Scrooge McDuckian Money Bin, reveling in the filthy lucre he was amassing and spending as if it were candy.

Harvest Bible Church, who is far from innocent in this whole mess, gave MacDonald a multi-million dollar checking account, and over a period of just three years he spent:

$286,096 In personal expenses for he and his family unrelated to the following expenses below. These included $100,000 in counseling, a pair of motorcycles, tuition, car repairs, etc.
$416,139 was spent on travel (including those expenses related to James
MacDonald’s “refreshment”), of which $94,046 was added to his W-2s as
additional compensation.
$170,851 was spent on hunting and fishing trips and related expenses. Expenses within this category include hunt cost, airfare, lodging, gas, food, gratuities, apparel, guns, and taxidermy (and related shipments).
$139,502 was spent on meals and entertainment. Entertainment expenses within this category include golf, club dues, boat tours, and event tickets.
$94,017 was spent on apparel and eyewear, of which $17,277 was added to James MacDonald’s W-2s as additional compensation
$114,159 for “refreshment” expenses for other members of the Senior Executive Leadership Team.

As a result of being post-arbitration, MacDonald sent out a newsletter to his fans, of which sadly some still exist. In the letter, he calls on his former church to:

Abandon the false narrative in financial matters – HBC’s most grievous sin against us.

Hold accountable the particular leaders who led the hostile takeover and what followed. 

Be transparent about HBC’s wrongful seizure of millions in Walk in the Word (WITW) assets.

Be transparent about HBC’s destruction of WITW and other efforts to end our ministry permanently. 

As one might imagine from swindlers who go gaga for greedy gain, MacDonald is completely unrepentant, writing that the church needs to publicly confess for the falsehoods about him.

In a section where he addresses where and how exactly he failed in all this, assuming HBC is making everything up, MacDonald responds in a way that is reminiscent of a job interview where the employer asks the hopeful candidate what his biggest weaknesses are, and he replies, “I work too hard. I care too much, and I become too invested in my job.”

I struggled increasingly under the weight of it all. I stepped away from the ministry multiple times with Elder support to regain my health and capacity to lead. In the end, I just burnt out, and had to “pull over” for extended time away from ministry. I had carried too much for too long, and I am grieved by the impact that had on several good leaders working most closely with me. Three times in 2019, I confessed my role in those relational failings to the board in writing, and multiple times publicly…

MacDonald worked too hard, carried too much, and as a result had some “relational failings.” That’s all folks. Just a couple of relational failings. Nothing more. The rest is conspiracy. Just a bit of burnout from doing too much.

As far as what’s in the future for MacDonald? Now that he has another cool million, he intends to rebuild Walk in the Word, continue to build his Home Church Network, and preach and teach and be a pastor again, while accruing more financial “Change Partners” to donate to his ministries to help them grow and turn into the multi-million juggernauts of their former glory.

And we think we know who will benefit most from that.

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Charismatic Nonsense Church Evangelical Stuff Money Grubbing Heretics

Prophetess Kat Kerr Dispatches 1000 ‘Special Ops Angels’ in ‘Red, White & Blue Robes’ to Oversee Trump Victory

Prophetess Kat Kerr, general in the Lord’s angelic army, controller of weather, rebuker of hurricanes, and guaranteed to liven up prayer meetings everywhere, announced that 1000 special ops angels, adorned in red, white, and blue robes have been dispatched to earth to oversee Trump’s upcoming election victory: a reward for helping the President emerge victorious in 2016. 

Kerr, who is considered a “little extra” even by charismatic standards (but not by much) pointed out the anointing of the President while “prophesying” that he will win the election and that the whole thing is a done deal. It is this confidence perhaps that has her only commanding 1000 special ops angels, and not the 100 million she previously dispatched to oversee the Republican National Convention. She explains:

When he [Trump] speaks there is an anointing in his voice that brings healing hope. And you know what? We should have no fear. Remember the scriptures says ‘perfect love casts out all fear.’

So I don’t want anyone to be afraid of anything, and I can just tell you this from heaven: Trump is going to win. And no matter what the left and the liberals and the hate people and the fake news, no matter what they come together, even with some wicked people to plot the downfall of America, to make it a socialist country you don’t want that. If you’re too young to understand you don’t want it…

We in America are the land of the brave, the free, and the filled with God. And I can tell you that whole event was filled with the presence of God. And yes, there were 1,000 angels waiting. You know who these angels were? I could see them sitting all up in the…upper stands and everything, in the seats, and they were white—they just glow with the glory of God. But they actually were wearing red, white, and blue robes.

And the Holy Spirit said, ‘These angels are special ops angels that were sent from Heaven back in 2016 to fight on behalf of America, on our president, on his administration, God’s plans that he has for this country.’ And they were there to be sent out again right now. And we all did that…It was very powerful to see them. They shoot past us like beams of light, and they were very powerful beings. Very excited. Let me know, why were they there? God invited them, as a reward for what they’ve already done for America. To hear the words of those who stand in the gap, who will prophesy about what God wants done in America, who have powerful prayer warriors, all of them who were there.

We would ask Dr. Michael Brown to confirm this prophecy, but we’re still waiting for him to comment on the wolfish wager he made with cessationists that left him utterly bereft of credibility. If any other charismatics want to co-sign on all this, we’re all ears.

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Church Conspiracy Money Grubbing Heretics

Televangelist Pat Robertson: ‘I don’t think most Christians are Stupid enough to Believe in Creationism’

Longtime Televangelist Pat Robertson, (90 years old) who should have retired decades ago/ never started at all, took to the airways on his program The 700 Club to a question asking why his show promoted the Old Earth Theory “rather the biblical viewpoint that is shared by most Christians.”

Robertson, whose advice tends to fluctuate between the passable to the unbiblical ramblings of a decrepit old man, responded:

… I don’t think most Christians are stupid enough to believe that other… The other is the Ussher theory… if you added all the generations from Adam until the current time, and you say, “Alright, that adds up to 7,000. Okay. And so, therefore, the Earth’s only 7000 years old.” Well, that’s just nonsense.

I mean, there are just too many geological factors, too many things that have happened on our Earth. The Earth is about 14 billion years old, and there’s just no question about it.

You’ve got the dinosaurs. You’ve got all the things that have happened on this Earth. And there’s too much geology, I mean, it’s just established science. So the idea of having a 6-7,000-year Earth is just… It’s just… Any Christians who believe that, just, I’m telling you that, they aren’t very up on today’s…

I believe science! I mean, let’s face it! You know, God didn’t… This whole planet was set up for God’s purpose. The universe is tuned for life. But it didn’t get here in 6-7,000 years! It got here over… almost 14 billion years to get this Earth to where it is right now.

It’s not the first time that Robertson has taken potshots at Biblical Christianity presentation of the timeline and origins of the earth. In 2015 he responded to another question in the same vein, proffering:

… I appreciate the fact that you’re trying to grapple with it… the truth is, you have to be deaf, dumb, and blind to think that this Earth that we live in only has 6,000 years of existence. It just doesn’t. I’m sorry…

…We haven’t worked all the wrinkles out, but I think to deny the clear record that’s there before us makes us looks silly… There’s no way that all this that you have here took place in 6,000 years. It just couldn’t have been done, couldn’t possibly have been done.

H/t to the unfriendly pagans at the Friendly Atheist for this story and for the transcript.

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Charismatic Nonsense Evangelical Stuff Money Grubbing Heretics

Bethel Church Shuts Down their ‘School of Supernatural Ministry’ Due to COVID Fears…Again…

Does God cause Sickness? “I refuse to create a theology that allows for sickness… You can only give away what you have. Can God give away sickness? No: He’s not sick. You can’t give cancer if you don’t have it….Does God ever choose not to heal? No. ~Bill Johnson.

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In a deliciously ironic turn of events that will never be appreciated by head healer Bill Johnson and the charismaniacs at Bethel Church in Redding, California, the School of Supernatural Ministry (SSM) has announced that they are discontinuing in-person classes and transitioning to online-based zoom learning due to several students and teachers coming down sick with the coronavirus. The School of Supernatural Ministry is currently operating at 70% capacity, having close to 1600 students.

Amid criticism within the community that Bethel SSM students have been spreading COVID-19 from within the school and giving it to the outside community, senior associate leader Kris Valloton said that the infections are coming from off-campus, with strict protocols in place for the school itself in terms of cleanliness, hygiene, and social distancing.

Bethel’s School of Supernatural Ministry focuses much of its culture and experiences on the miraculous, and describes its mission in part:

“The school is designed to equip students not just to minister in the gifts of the Spirit but to live a supernatural lifestyle. You experience life-changing revelation about yourself and the world around you as you become aware of the Kingdom within you and are encouraged to be naturally supernatural by bringing heaven to earth wherever you go. We believe Jesus meant it when He taught us to pray “Your Kingdom come…on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Rather than healing the students with the coronavirus, however, Bethel Church has demonstrated that they are unable to rise to the supernatural occasion, choosing instead to quarantine whole classes with nary a supernatural shake of the little finger to be seen.

In addition to classes moving to Zoom, Bethel has announced they will likewise cancel their next few in-person church services, which aren’t even been held indoors, but rather outdoors at the old baseball diamond.

Lest one ask why Bethel doesn’t send these poor sick souls to visit the “healing houses” and “healing rooms” that they’ve had set up across the city, where people can come and get supernaturally healed from cancer, short legs, back backs, deafness, leukemia, unspecified foot pain, and a host of other physical maladies, the healing rooms have been shut down for nearly 8 months due to fear of catching COVID-19.

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Evangelical Stuff Featured Money Grubbing Heretics

SBC’s LifeWay will Sue the Pants Off Ex-President Thom Rainer After All

In the shortest cease-fire ever, LifeWay has uncrossed their fingers from behind their back and has re-upped their lawsuit against Thom Rainer after a brief detente, choosing to proceed with it rather than seeking alternative methods of arbitration. We brought you the details of this case in our Theologically Bankrupt LifeWay Halts Legal Action Against Morally Bankrupt Thom Rainer article, where we wrote:

The world’s worst organization, LifeWay Christian Resources, has taken a step back from the brink and has put a hold on its breach of contract lawsuit against the winner of the 2018 Worst Christian award, former president Thom Rainer.

LifeWay was suing Rainer for violating his non-compete clause by heading out to enjoy a multi-book, multiyear agreement with rival Tyndale Publishing House while still serving as chief advisory officer for LifeWay. The suit claims this action violated their severance deal, as it would have allegedly given Tyndale a competitive advantage.

Apparently cooler heads turned to steam after all, with Thom Rainer’s son announcing that LifeWay is not a believer in “No take-backsies” and will bring the full wrath of the arm of the law against the embattled ex-president.

The post by Sam Rainer links to a change.org petition, which has garnered about 500 digital signatures at the time of writing and explains:

“LifeWay CEO Ben Mandrell and the trustee officers decided to sue former CEO Thom Rainer without the knowledge of consent of the Board of Trustees. The immediate past trustee chairman, Dr. Jimmy Scroggins, has asked the board to withdraw the suit, but trustees have been denied the chance to meet thus far.

Tell the LifeWay trustees to seek a Biblical Solution for Life.

Tell them to WITHDRAW their lawsuit against Thom Rainer and seek resolution of the dispute OUT of court.”


The real travesty of course is that Rainer wasn’t fired and sued by the Southern Baptist Convention for his long-lived reign of theological terror, where he presided over and organization that packaged and sold a deluge of inspiringly awful material; a cornucopia of heretical trash that has run roughshod over the souls of many who turned to their offerings for guidance, wisdom, and sound biblical teaching. Page after page of theological “filthy rags” was produced and pushed under Rainer’s watch, and he made a mint doing it.

One particularly noteworthy act of scumbaggery was with the pushing of “heavenly tourism” books. Rainer was warned in emails that Alex Malarkey was recanting his book, The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven, but he mocked the messenger and dismissed his concerns and continued to sell the book. When Malarkey’s Open Letter to Lifeway (originally posted on this very news site) made international news, Thom Rainer’s spokesperson at Lifeway lied and said he just heard about the book being fraudulent, and immediately pulled it down. When we released the emails showing Rainer knew much sooner and didn’t care, choosing to profit from the book anyway, Rainer simply said, “No comment.”

We will update details on this slap-fest accordingly.


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Critical Race Theory Money Grubbing Heretics

Racist ‘Christian Pastor’ Gleefully Berates and Mocks Trump for Getting COVID-19

With the news that the President and First Lady have both tested positive for COVID-19, Bishop Talbert Swan, the racist head of Spring of Hope Church of God in Christ in Springfield, Massachusetts, has demonstrated once again that he is unfit to be a pastor, reveling in the illness with the relish of a man who wishes he could have passed coronavirus on to the President himself.

Swan, you’ll recall, was temporarily banned from Twitter in 2018 for calling Candace Owen a ‘coon,’ has said about a million times that everyone who supports Trump is a racist, said that he’d rather be in hell with the devil than in heaven with American evangelicals, and most recently said after the death of President Trump’s brother, Robert, that the wrong brother died, unapologetically tweeting out:

It should come to no one’s surprise that this wicked bishop who oversees a church of wicked congregants was a pleased at the cat who ate the canary at the news of Trump’s misfortune and diagnoses, chortling:

This vileness, though expected from men such as these, will likely earn the bishop no rebuke from his denomination, the Church of God in Christ. Though billing themselves as ‘Holiness-Pentecostal’ denomination that would typically pride itself in issues of ‘personal holiness’ and godly character, they have remained silent so far despite the recent controversy and the hateful, racist posts being spewed forth on a near daily basis from their bishop, and we don’t expect that to change any time soon.

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Evangelical Stuff Featured Heresies Money Grubbing Heretics

Theologically Bankrupt LifeWay Halts Legal Action Against Morally Bankrupt Thom Rainer

The world’s worst organization, LifeWay Christian Resources, has taken a step back from the brink and has put a hold on its breach of contract lawsuit against the winner of the 2018 Worst Christian award, former president Thom Rainer.

LifeWay was suing Rainer for violating his non-compete clause by heading out to enjoy a multi-book, multiyear agreement with rival Tyndale Publishing House while still serving as chief advisory officer for LifeWay. The suit claims this action violated their severance deal, as it would have allegedly given Tyndale a competitive advantage.

Rainer, you’ll recall, won the award for overseeing the existentially egregious empire known as LifeWay Christian Resources, the Southern Baptist Convention publishing arm that has produced, packaged, and sold a deluge of inspiringly awful material; a cornucopia of heretical trash that has run roughshod over the souls of many who turned to their offerings for guidance, wisdom, and sound biblical teaching. Page after page of theological “filthy rags” was produced and pushed under Rainer’s watch, and he made a mint doing it.

One particularly noteworthy act of scumbbagery was with the pushing of “heavenly tourism” books. Rainer was warned in emails that Alex Malarkey was recanting his book, The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven, but he mocked the messenger and dismissed his concerns and continued to sell the book. When Malarkey’s Open Letter to Lifeway (originally posted on this very news site) made international news, Thom Rainer’s spokesperson at Lifeway lied and said he just heard about the book being fraudulent, and immediately pulled it down. When we released the emails showing Rainer knew much sooner and didn’t care, choosing to profit from the book anyway, Rainer simply said, “No comment.”

In any case, LifeWay has decided to go a different route and seek a resolution with Rainer instead of blindsiding him with a bunch of legal action, a move that would not reflect well on either party. Trustee chairman Todd Fannin acknowledged the change of tactic, saying:

In lieu of moving forward with litigation, both parties are currently exploring the possibility of an agreed-upon resolution of the differences. Our continued prayer is that this will be resolved quickly and amicably.

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Conspiracy Heresies Money Grubbing Heretics

Bethel Church’s Bill Johnson: ‘Not Voting Makes you a Contributor to Evil – Voting Releases Power of God into the Atmosphere’

Bethel Church’s Bill Johnson, a man who has given so many false “words of knowledge from the Lord” that the prophets of Baal and Asherah are rolling in their graves, burning in incorporeal jealously at why they had to be cut down in the Kishon Valley although Johnson gets off scot-free, has once again turned the providentially mundane into something deeply weird.

Appearing at Todd White’s Lifestyle Church service, the invertebrate pastor touched briefly on politics, bringing some of that California charismatic woo-woo to the state of Texas, saying:

“There are tens of millions of believers who did not vote in the last election, and I’ll tell you why: is because they don’t believe their vote matters. They don’t believe that when you do a natural thing a spiritual power is released.

They actually believe that the world is supposed to get worse and worse and that’s when the Lord comes back, and so why work against that which brings Jesus back to earth? They don’t have an expectation of the glory of God, they have an expectation of the increasing evil, and that would be the sign that brings the Lord back, so why work against the purposes of the Lord?

So they actually become contributors, their silence makes them a contributor to the growing evil in the land.

Physical obedience brings spiritual release. Every time you vote in Jesus’ name’ you release the power of God into the atmosphere. You’re not voting by yourself, there’s an angelic presence with you that is shouting ‘amen’ to voting the value system of heaven. Stop voting for personality, start voting for values.

Refusing to vote for a candidate in either a local, statewide or national election of whatever stripe, political or otherwise, because one’s conscience binds them and prevents them from doing so does not make someone a “contributor to evil.”

Furthermore, God’s power is already everywhere. He is omnipresent and omnipotent. It’s not like people are micro-dosing on God’s power through the power of their vote, releasing puffs of glory clouds into the atmosphere every time they head to the ballot box while celebratory angels dance on the heads of pins at the news that Mrs. Perry has been elected to the board of the Library because you voted the value system of heaven and released a flood of spiritual power.

If the charismatics could stop laying bizarre theological blankets on top of everything, that would be great.

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Charismatic Nonsense Evangelical Stuff Money Grubbing Heretics

Hillsong’s Carl Lentz: They Killed Jesus Because He Wasn’t Interested in Rules and ‘All that Fancy Stuff You Do’

Hillsong NY Pastor Carl Lentz has demonstrated once again that his grasp of the scriptures and theology proper leaves much to be desired, when he appeared on the Logan Paul show Implausible to suggest that Jesus was killed because he wasn’t interested in the rule following of religions.

Q: What do you say to the people that will say “celebrities go to Hillsong because they’re lazy in their religion.” What do you say to people who have practiced strict catholicism for so long that they look at what you guys preach, which obviously I love, and say “this is not enough, this doesn’t get you a ticket to heaven. You’re not doing what needs to be done to-“

Well, that’s why they killed Jesus. Like just because something’s harder doesn’t make it better. Like it’s ok to do something smarter. So the reason why people freaked out with Jesus is cuz he was saying ‘all those rules-all that fancy stuff you do, I’m not interested. All you need is gonna be found in me.’ So for people who judge somebody, I don’t look at someone who’s ‘devout’ and what they do solely as the reason why I would respect that. You know, and I think ours is just as devout, it’s just different. Just because we’re not miserable, just because we’re not carrying these solemn faces, doesn’t mean this isn’t a life that takes discipline and dedication. But if people want to judge somebody else’s faith, go for your life.

Q: If I were to tell you religion scares me, what’s your response to that?

Religion should scare you. Because I don’t even believe in religion. Religion is a construct of things that you have to do. I believe in a relationship with God. And that’s totally different. Imagine thinking about something like a relationship rather than a parole visit…it’s almost like this dread.. like that’s ‘my religion’, and I have to go have the priest bless me, I have to go do this and I can’t do that. But if it’s a relationship this is an active conversation. This is alive. This is a God that actually wants to hear your voice, so often we’re just redefining who Jesus has always been because everybody thinks God’s so far.

It should go without saying that the reason why the Jews wanted to kill Jesus was not that he was “taking away the rules,” but rather because he was making himself equal to God. We see that very clearly in the early part of the gospel of John:

And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things (Miracles) on the sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:16-18)

Again, promoting theology that would not be out of place at a United Methodists pre-teen girls’ youth group, Lentz goes on to say that he doesn’t even “believe in religion,” which means he would have some explaining to do to Jesus’ brother James who famously said in his epistle:

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27)

This is basic Christianity 101. This is theology at it’s simplest form. These are not difficult concepts to be wrestled with. It’s not like we’re plumbing the depths and offering a defense of supralapsarianism or unpacking a treatise on the Communicatio Idiomatum. Rather, this is point and click, then copy and paste theology that every pastor who has been in business for a decade should know.

The fact that Lentz doesn’t, and is leading thousands, is a shame.

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Evangelical Stuff Featured Money Grubbing Heretics

Perry Stone Shows Photo of Real Angel/ Jesus Capured on Film. It’s Embarrasing

(The Friendly Atheist) Right-wing pastor Perry Stone — who’s best known for checking his phone while speaking in tongues, claiming to speak four languages at once (also in tongues), and for delivering a sermon to a bunch of puppets — has been on a sabbatical from his church lately after acting “inappropriately” with women in his ministry.

He said last month that there had been a rise in “paranormal activity” due to the increased number of pixels in our phone cameras. That meant “things can appear that normally would not appear.”

But in a video posted yesterday, Stone used a very blurry picture from about four decades ago to show that angels are real. He held up the old picture of a sick child in a hospital bed and said Jesus had appeared behind the IV bag.

The relevant portion occurs around the 2:00 mark:

I believe it was the face of an angel of the Lord. And to be quite honest with you, if you look at the paintings and the images and the ideas of what Christ looked like, it almost looks like Christ Himself. Are you ready? Look at the face that appeared behind the IV bag.

It looks like… a blur. Seeing a face where there isn’t one is so common, there’s a psychological term for it.

Stone also had a message for the skeptics! Just shut up and appreciate this.

… I know there’s always skeptics and people… and I just wish people could just enjoy something like this and say, “Isn’t that interesting?” and “Isn’t that wonderful?” and “Thank God for that!” and I hope that your comments will be that way…

To continue reading, click here

Editor’s note. This article was written by Hemant Mehta and published at hive scum and villainy known as the Friendly Atheist, who more often than not isn’t particularly friendly. Lest people complain about the source, we don’t care where something comes from- evidence is evidence.