This cheery chap is Pastor Klaas Hendrikse who apparently attended the Richard Dawkins School of How to Pose for Photographs.
The similarity is uncanny, que no?
“Pastor” Klaas Hendrikse, as I will now designate him, is a self-proclaimed Atheist pastor. Yet, he is not an Atheist pastor in the strict sense of being a pastor of the Atheist religion that so many Atheists want to establish as a one world religion. He is the “Pastor” of a “Protestant” “Christian” “church.”
You may recall that Sam Harris was, apparently, very impressed about knowing one clergy-personage who was an Atheist but was disingenuous and dishonest enough to pretend to still believe (see here).
In 2007 AD “Pastor” Klaas Hendrikse published a book in which he asserted that “it was not necessary to believe in God’s existence in order to believe in ‘God.’”1 which was entitled, “Believing in a God who does not exist: manifesto of an Atheist pastor.” Well, as per Professor of Philosophy Daniel Dennett, the Atheist Joseph Stalin was not an Atheist but a theist since he told himself what to do (see here). I suppose that anything is possible, at least in the realm of Atheist “logic” and/or propaganda.
The “Pastor” wrote,
The non-existence of God is for me not an obstacle but a precondition to believing in God. I am an atheist believer…God is for me not a being but a word for what can happen between people. Someone says to you, for example, ‘I will not abandon you’, and then makes those words come true. It would be perfectly alright to call that God.
I suppose if someone said, “I will punch your schnoz”, and then makes those words come true. It would be perfectly alright to call that the devil. Is this the ultimate the devil made me do it or simply the devil did it?
It is reported,
His two congregations have belonged to the Protestant Church in the Netherlands since it was formed in 2004 as a union of a Lutheran church and two Reformed denominations. Hendrikse’s congregations also belong to the Association of Liberal Protestants.
As of yet,
Two regional church authorities in the Netherlands are reported to have decided to take no disciplinary action…The church authorities said disciplinary proceedings against Hendrikse, who is a pastor of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, would be likely to lead to, ‘a protracted discussion about the meanings of words that in the end will produce little clarity’. The letter also noted that people have debated the issue of ‘God’s existence’ throughout time.”
I do not know whether to laugh or cry.
Disciplinary proceedings would likely lead to a protracted discussion about the meanings of words such as the words employed in order to make that statement.
Is it really that difficult? If anything the answer is that Protestant Christian churches are meant to worship a living being known as God and who is said, via general revelation and special revelation, to possess certain characteristics.
If “Pastor” Klaas Hendrikse positively affirms the non-existence of God it is a done deal. Sorry, but he will have to get a real job now.
The church “authorities” have also bequeathed upon us that “people have debated the issue of ‘God’s existence’ throughout time.” Thank you Mr. History of Thought!
Indeed, “people have debated the issue of ‘God’s existence’ throughout time” but the church, or so I thought, was supposed to have come to some sort of conclusion about the question.
It is actually reported that, “Hendrikse welcomed the decision not to opt for disciplinary proceedings against him.”
Really? Who would’a’thunk’it? Then again we are talking about an Atheist “Pastor” of a “Protestant” “Christian” “church” and “church” “authorities” who apparently do not know how to handle the situation so, I suppose it is worth reporting that Klaas Hendrikse would welcomed the decision not to opt for disciplinary proceedings against him. This reminds me of the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s Annie Laurie Gaylor who, upon filing one of their thousands of lawsuits, employed her erudite ability to intellectually elucidate the issue at hand by stating, “We think we should win” (see here)
An Atheist “Pastor” of a “Protestant” “Christian” “church”—who said Christians are not tolerant?!?!
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