Athiest Salutes Pastor Ron

Posted by Jim Henderson on: 02.21.2006 /

Comment from Park Church Preacher Responds Post

Let me make a small confession here. Off-the-map, and some of the posters and pastors who have posted on this board have definitely scored a lot of points with me. I am overwhelmed by the open-mindedness of most of the christian posters. With every post I read in here it makes me realize how similar non-believers and christians are in so many respects - if we leave aside faith we all have nearly the same expectations from life. Jim (Henderson), this has been quite a successful project so far and even though at this point I can’t consider myself closer to Christianity, I have certainly inched a lot closer to Christians.

And before I forget; pastor Ron, an atheist salutes you for your open mind and open heart! Bravo.

6 Responses to "Athiest Salutes Pastor Ron"

  • Comment by: Ir

    1 02/22/06 6:59 AM | Comment Link |

    What I like about Ron is that he listened to what an atheist said about his sermon. I may be wrong, but I have this opinion (fear?) that many preachers weight the comments they receive according to who made them, with a fellow preacher or good friend getting the highest weighting and an atheist visitor getting such a low one the comments might be discounted entirely.

    Perhaps I have been discouraged by watching Richard Dawkins talking with Pastor Ted Haggard weekend in the Dawkins TV series. I would say Dawkins was rather aggressive in his comments but I would also say Ted Haggard, while civil, didn’t indicate that anything Dawkins said would make the least bit of difference to him. Ted Haggard was not incivil then, but shortly afterwards (this is in the program) Ted Haggard came out and told Dawkins to get off his property. What was that all about??

  • Comment by: Mark

    2 02/22/06 7:01 AM | Comment Link |

    Ir,
    what program is this, what channel and do you know when it’s on?

  • Comment by: Ir

    3 02/22/06 9:54 AM | Comment Link |

    I found copies of both Richard Dawkins TV programs on the Internet; I downloaded them (which took a long time) and watched them in Windows Media Player. I’m not aware of them being aired on US TV.

    I’ll post the URL where I found them here if it’s ok with Jim Henderson. Jim, is it ok?

  • Comment by: Siamang

    4 02/22/06 10:07 AM | Comment Link |

    You Tube has short clips of Dawkins program. Search for Dawkins on You Tube. That is probably the best way to see them without violating copyright too agregiously.

    I’ve seen just a clip of the episode you describe. Haggard looks like the most frightening individual I’ve ever seen. He has such repressed rage behind his eyes when talking to the calm, very English professor Dawkins. Frightening.

  • Comment by: Siamang

    5 02/22/06 10:09 AM | Comment Link |

    Oh, and I should add, Bravo Pastor Ron, and all the Christians here. Thankfully for me, you folks are a lot like the Christians in my life, whom I love.

    What a great and positive experiment this has been so far.

  • Comment by: Dean

    6 02/22/06 11:18 AM | Comment Link |

    I am riveted to this blog daily. Initially it was a “sick to my stomach” sort of riveted as I endured some of the dialogue…errrrr…monologue that some of the Christians were throwing around. However, I am thrilled to see that it has progressed to something that I find extremely healthy and wish that this kind of dialogue existed in more venues in our culture. Kudos to Jim for shaping the atmosphere here…which is well done through the simple asking of questions about specific posts.

    As a pastor who speaks every week, I have to give props to Hemant for not pulling any punches and to Ron for his humble response to Hemant. I was humbled by his humility. It is no easy thing to be critiqued in front of millions on the web. It created quite a discussion for my team and I as we processed our community ought to look like.

    I’ve got a friend who does not go to church, but came to ours last weekend. I’m going to ask him for some “Hemant-like” feedback. :)

    Great stuff!