AJ the greek

Just drove to Atlanta and back.

Sticker seen on the way, "Some people who wait till the eleventh hour to seek God, die at 10:59"

Thought that was abrasive enough.

Other sights along the way: In Southern Illinois, there is a large cross along I-57, it is the tallest non-building I think I have ever seen.

<a href="http://www.herald-review.com/rednews/2001/07/11/build/Local_News/localnews2.php" target="_blank">Big Cross Story</a>

<a href="http://www.crossusa.org/internet/home.html" target="_blank">The Effingham Cross Foundation</a>

I know they have other goals, but my response was to say to myself, "That sure is the biggest f-ing cross I have ever seen", and I don't see how it would inspire hope as intended, just makes me wonder who would build something like that.

From the article: $1 Million was spent to build a nearly 200 foot tall cross. Wow.

--back to why I posted--

In a very rich suburb of Atlanta, where each home would appear to have been built by one richer than God(my sister resides there), I saw interesting expressions of faith. The one that stuck on me the most was the front car tags showing what church that family attends.

Real cute to see a new high end Mercedes with a plate for the local Baptist church. I know I can't respect someone who lives like a king claiming their Baptist-ness. Just rubs me wrong as a "former".

I guess the Jesus fish on any car priced over 50,000 dollars really does not seem right either.

Not that I hate wealth, I just see these people as the ulimate in hedonism. I of course can't tell my sister this, but at least she's a Methodist.

Anyways, glad to be home, though the South is a beautiful place.

DRFseven

There's a billboard on I-65, south of Birmingham toward Mobile that reads, "If you don't go to church, the devil will get you!". It's brand new and replaces the old one that said the same thing that had been there all my life.

Ragnarok

I didn't see any lights on it. Wonder how long before a plane hits it?

[ April 12, 2002: Message edited by: MoCk ]</p>

RufusAtticus

Damn terrorists!

nixon

I've seen that cross. Big and obnoxious: The Christian way!

Theres another one in central Texas near San Angelo.

sighhswolf

There is a very large billboard on I-85 North of
Charlotte that makes me angry everytime I pass by it.
"JUST WHAT PART OF THOU SHALT NOT....did you misunderstand?
signed God.
When my wife Sandy first arrived in the south, she
had grown up in upstate NY, and we had lived in South Boston prior to moving to Charlotte, her first comment was that in Southie there's a bar on every corner.......here there's a church on every corner.

To each his own......
Wolf

Godless Dave

Think of all the homeless people they could have housed for $1 million. Think of all the starving people they could have fed in the third world. I guess saving our souls for the next life is more important than helping people survive this one.

Oresta

There's a sign I pass frequently in Metro Detroit that says, "Jesus is the answer." Whenever I pass it, I always think, "What was the question?"

sullster

I travelled through the deep South last year and was struck by the amount of Baptist churches I saw. Most of them were small rectangular buildings and seemed to be everywhere.
I was in the front passenger seat as we drove through Alabama and Mississippi. I played a game in my mind which was to try to guess if the next small building coming up was a fundy church or not. It was unbelievable how many times the upcoming little building was a church on all types of roads. There has to be more churches than people in some of those areas.

The other thing I noticed was the lack of denominations other than Baptist or Assembly of god. I actually saw a Catholic church near Birmingham. It looked so out of place.

Granted, I am a damn Yankee, but I could not live in the South. The presence of so many fundy churches and preachy signs is a cultural aspect that would drive me nuts.

Chuck

I'm from North Carolina. Not metropolitan North Carolina (and such a creature does exist.) In the six miles between the place where I used to take piano lessons (a baptist church) and my house, there are 7 churches: 5 Baptist and 2 Methodist. Of course, I haven't lived at home for 3 years now, so I'm sure that some congregations have split and there are a couple more.

Please understand, I like the south. It's my home. However, I find the South to be a dangerous place. There is a combination of deeply Fundamentalist adherents and a very strong culture of violence. This, frankly, scares me. The very word "atheist" is pronounced with a vitriol usually reserved for terms like "female orgasm."

Many posts on this thread have focused on billboards and big crosses, things that you see while driving through the South. While these are the most conspicuous displays of faith, they cannot compare to those that one encounters on a more or less daily basis, especially as a non-believer. I recall one incident in particular:

As I mentioned earlier, I took piano lessons in a church. I'm from a secular family, and I have never had to attend church, save a brief stint in Baptist daycare, for which my parents still occasionally apologize. One evening I was waiting for my piano teacher to arrive. I couldn't have been more than 13 or 14, and had not yet distilled my beliefs into a cohesive philosophy. I wasn't sure about this whole God thing. I was lurking around in the hall, and I was approached by a well-dressed gentlemen. Being of good Southern extraction, I smiled at him, and waited for him (he being the elder) to introduce himself. He introduced himself as so and so, and I smiled and said my name.

His first question for me was "What church do you go to?" I was positively terrified. This was the fatal questioned.

I have always been well-spoken. Being an only child, I was raised around adults, and never experienced youthful shyness that many of my peers did. I was petrified.

"Um...I...really don't...we're not very...religious." I stuttered. I expected him to begin the too-common inquisition: What do you mean? Do you not believe in God? Aren't you afraid of hell, boy?

He smiled and nodded, and invited my family and I to attend service on the following Sunday. I nodded and mumbled something about looking forward to it. The pastor excused himself, to my great relief. I stood for the next few minutes, assuming that he would, on the following Sunday, take attendance at church. He would call my name, and the congregation would remain expectantly silent. A few moments of silence. Not here? Well, then, let's go get him.

Of course we did not go to service on the following Sunday, or on any Sunday. It was only a few years later that I began to wonder why such an innocuous encounter in a church hallway should fluster me so, and render me a babbling idiot. Why was I, a smart and articulate boy, so afraid of a gentle man of the cloth? I mean, after all, he's not Catholic.

I realize now that religious conditioning is a part of life in the South. If you are a Protestant, you wear it like a badge. If you are not, you hold your tongue.

See y'all around,

Chuck

P.S. There was some talk about large crosses. For you NPR fans:

<a href="http://www.thislife.org/ra/202.ram" target="_blank">http://www.thislife.org/ra/202.ram</a>

And excellent episode of This American Life. There's a section about the largest cross in the world, located in Texas. I think it's around the 14 minute mark. I recommend the entire episode, however. It's called "Faith."