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Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media and the host of Declaring Independence, a one hour weekly political talk show on WPRR in Grand Rapids, Michigan.(static)
Ed Brayton also blogs at Positive Liberty and The Panda's Thumb
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Posted on: July 12, 2009 9:23 AM, by Ed Brayton
When I interviewed Jeff Sharlet on my radio show the other day, he told the story of how the guy who founded The Family, Abraham Vereide, had an epiphany from God that he shouldn't minister to to the poor but to the rich. He called this "trickle down evangelism." As a result, Vereide was quite well off as his rich benefactors lavished gifts on him.
It reminded me of an old Tom Lehrer album where he mentions having a friend who was a doctor; his friend specialized in "diseases of the rich."
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Comments
It would be interesting getting a blog post of your thoughts on the The Family, perhaps after you've finished Sharlet's book on them.
Posted by: Michael Heath | July 12, 2009 9:41 AM
Epiphany from god my ass. He got an epiphany from his accountant. Hypocritical asshole.
Posted by: MikeMa | July 12, 2009 10:02 AM
MikeMA - Proctology is clearly one the medical specialities required by the rich. Who better to provide it? - :) DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | July 12, 2009 10:09 AM
DJ,
May his fistula cause him pain from the 7th level of hell.
:0
Posted by: MikeMa | July 12, 2009 10:21 AM
I think Lehrer was referring to Dr. Samuel Gall,
the inventor of the Gall bladder.
Posted by: Winston Flapdoodle | July 12, 2009 12:38 PM
Alexander Vereide seems to have had a lot of gall.
Anne G
Posted by: Anne Gilbert | July 12, 2009 6:00 PM
It was Dr. Samuel Gall, though the idea of retiring to Mexico seems a little quaint these days.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | July 12, 2009 11:09 PM
Just because they have more than
Posted by: tincture | July 12, 2009 11:18 PM
Just because they have more than 95% of the world's population doesn't mean they can't share the same need as the proles for somebody to tell them they're good people. The stuff about jesus loving them because they're rich, being rich because jesus loves them and everybody else going to hell for the sin of being poor is just tailoring the message to the market.
Posted by: tincture | July 12, 2009 11:29 PM
I am writing this post to all atheists who have a vested interest in debunking the myth of Jesus Christ. I am sorry if it bothers anyone that I am not continue the discussions that are going on your blog. Please contact me at the email address below and I promise I will never post on your blog again.
Here's what's up. A number of fundamentalist Christian blogs have come out swinging against a new book by Stephan Huller called the Real Messiah. The most recent being:
http://atheistwatch.blogspot.com/
But there are many others. The only allies he seems to have on the web are a bunch of Jewish bloggers who like him because his mother was a Frankist (see wikipedia for more about this sect).
In any event Huller's book presents evidence that a two thousand year old throne in Venice proves that Jesus was not and never claimed to be the messiah.
Huller is going to appear on CNN in two weeks as part of his promotion of the book. As a big fan of his work I wanted to alert my fellow bloggers about this interview and have as many of us who have read the book to direct questions which challenge the existence of God and the whole Christian-fascist paradigm.
If you are interested in getting more information about his appearance please contact me at mastersonstuart@yahoo.com. If you haven't read the book here is a blog posting to familiarize yourself with his basic points when you do the phone in show:
http://therealmessiahbook.blogspot.com
Thanks again
Stuart
Posted by: stuart | July 13, 2009 2:08 AM
Winston Flapdoodle -
Didn't one of the good doctor's 16th century relatives invent the breast-milk expression pump? Hence: "Come to my woman's breasts, and take my milk for Gall". :) - DJ
PS: if Dr Gall 'invented' the gall bladder, who 'invented' the kidney?
Posted by: DingoJAck | July 13, 2009 3:27 AM
DingoJack:
The kidney was named after an oddly shaped bath in Hippocrates' backyard.
Posted by: democommie | July 13, 2009 8:24 AM
What, Hippocrates didn't invent the kidney? How disappointing. -DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | July 13, 2009 10:05 AM