Poll Results: Creepiest Fundie Pastor

With 179 responses, the poll for “Creepiest Fundie Pastor” is now coming to a close. It’s no surprise to me that Fred Phelps got as many votes as he did. If I could go back and redo the poll, I’d have allowed voters to select two that way I could have gotten a good idea of a solid #2. As it stands now, the one with the second highest number of votes is only the creepiest to those who did not find Fred Phelps to be the creepiest.

Here are the results.

  • Fred Phelps – 47 votes
  • Pat Robertson – 41 votes
  • Ted Haggard – 29 votes
  • Joel Osteen – 23 votes
  • Jimmy Swaggart – 12 votes
  • Jerry Falwell (the dead one) – 8 votes
  • James Dobson – 7 votes
  • Rick Warren – 7 votes
  • Other – 5 votes

The truly scary thing is that this list was only a select few of the creepy fundamentalist pastors that exist in our world. No poll could ever encompass all of the creepiness, because a new creepy pastor is likely birthed every day. This is especially true in the Quiverfull community.

Continue to fight the good fight and keep church and state separate in your neighborhood.

Poll Results and New Poll

I’ve been so bogged down lately with school and work that it has been difficult to get any updates out. I did recently update the sidebar poll though. The question from the previous poll was “Have you ‘come out’ as an atheist or nonbeliever to any of the following?”. The poll ran for just over a month and a half with 224 responses.

  • Spouse/Significant Other – 152 votes
  • Family – 167 votes
  • Clergy – 31 votes
  • Friends – 194 votes
  • Coworkers – 131 votes
  • My closet is just fine, thank you. – 6 votes
  • I’m just waiting for the right time. – 18 votes

The results weren’t really shocking and mirror the experiences of people that I have known and spoken with. The purpose of the poll was to get people thinking about the idea of “coming out” as an atheist or nonbeliever. Living in Alabama, I am the first to admit that there is a huge social stigma involved in this, as I’m sure is the case in many areas, however, the only way to overcome this stigma is to make our numbers known and be vocal in all areas of rationality and freethought.

My new poll ties directly to this concept asking “If you are ‘in the closet’, would you support a Coming Out Week?”. While 18 respondents expressed that they were waiting for the right time, I would like to open the discussion for a unified event that could bring attention (and who knows, maybe some acceptance?) to the viewpoints espoused by atheists, nonbelievers, and freethinkers.

Call to Action: Vote in the poll and leave comments in this post with your statement in defense or opposition of this idea as well as ideas for improvement on the concept.

New Poll: “Coming Out”

I have just posted a new poll in the left sidebar about “coming out of the (atheist) closet” to those close to them. I did a quick search online for a “National Atheist Coming Out Day” type occurence, and I found a few scattered dates, but nothing consistent. I would like to kind of gauge how many readers have come out and to whom.

If you have any more information on any coordinated “coming out” days, please let me know.

Poll Results: The ‘Four Horsemen’ Live and In Person

The 'Four Horsemen'With this poll up for just a little over two months, I got 112 responses to the question “Have you seen any of the “Four Horsemen” speak or debate?

I must admit that I voted in this poll, something I would normally never do, but I had the pleasure of seeing Christopher Hitchens in Birmingham, Alabama in March and I wanted to stand up and be counted.

I wasn’t surprised by the skew of the results, but I was pleasantly surprised by the number of responses I received. It is wonderful to see people committed to an idea supporting the authors that have helped bring said idea into the mainstream for scrutiny.

  • Richard Dawkins – 62 votes
  • Daniel Dennett – 26 votes
  • Sam Harris – 35 votes
  • Christopher Hitchens – 53 votes
  • None – 38 votes

For those 38 respondents and others who have not yet seen one of these gentlemen speak or debate, I highly recommend you try to make it to an upcoming event. Only Richard Dawkins has events scheduled at this time, all of which are in the UK. For my US-based readers, these gentlemen all tend to make their way around the country fairly often. Just keep your eyes peeled on their websites for info on any speaking engagements that might be coming to your area. And let’s face it, if I can see Christopher Hitchens in Alabama, everyone should have an opportunity.

Richard Dawkins:

  • May 19, 2009 – Leicester, UK – Empirical Evidence Against the God Hypothesis
  • June 16, 2009 – Leicester, UK – “45 Minutes From Attack!”: WMD and other state-sponsored conspiracy theories
  • July 21, 2009 – Leicester, UK – Investigating the Impossible: A Skeptical Approach