Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

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1. 

   As someone who produced dozens of nativity plays as a teacher and a Sunday School leader, that title ‘A Gay…

2. 

   The defence of a Christian view never seems to be settled by debate: exchange of facts, reference to historical events.…

3. 

   But …… Rwanda is a safe place: Parliament says so.https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/8/contentsSafety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 S 2 Safety…

4. 

   Religion can survive only on the most unquestionable assumptions. The statements made on Sundays on the BBC as if they…

5. 

   Yes, if I’ve got anything remotely like a phobia, as an ex-fundy, its bibles, churches, tracts etc. I like to…

IN a heartfelt plea for $793,848, pastor Johnny Blevins, above, of North Carolina’s Elkin Valley Baptist Church, relates in a GoFundMe video how the church had “prayerfully saved toward a new worship center for over ten years”, then lost more than half of its savings.

But the appeal, launched after the church fell victim to a cyber-criminal late last year, is not getting the traction Blevins and his congregation is praying for. Few are stepping up to the plate, and so far only $7,761 has been raised.

What happened was this: Elkin Valley received a bill purportedly sent by a contractor working on the project, and it coughed up the cash.

As per GoFundMe:

The thief created an exact replica of our contractor’s invoice, compromised a staffer’s computer and as a result $793,848.10 was wired by our church to the scammer’s bank account.

With construction underway and half of the raised funds now gone, we’ve had to take out a costly loan for the construction to continue.

Proverbs 24:10 teaches us, ‘If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength!’ So while the loss is great and the task large, through the grace of God and the kindness of so many—we will overcome and emerge stronger.

Florida Baptist Convention also targeted

Details of the church’s woes are contained in a Religion News report this week that centred on a more recent victim of cyber-crime: the Florida Baptist Convention (FBC).

It sent more than $700,000 mission money to the North American Mission Board (NAMB) of the ailing Southern Baptist Convention to help pay for church planting. Then the money disappeared.

As an aside: The SBC is currently suffering “its steepest membership drop in over a century” due in part to a massive a sex scandal.

As my Hungarian friend Tom Hora is fond of saying: “Karma, honeypuddle, karma!”

On its website the “disheartened” FBC said:

As you can imagine, our convention staff and state board of missions is [sic] distraught over this loss of financial resources.

It is our desire in all that we do to bring glory to our Lord and Savior, and to continue earning the trust of the churches we serve when we distribute the sacrificial resources given through tithes and offerings. Due to the reserves already in place, the commitments we have made to support churches and cooperating ministries serving the state of Florida will all be honored.

Florida Baptist staff received an email that claimed to be from NAMB but was not. The email requested funds be sent to a new account number. The fraudulent email reflected “a general knowledge of the communications and practice between the SBC entity and the convention.”

The convention said in a statement:  

An investigation is being launched to determine how this knowledge was gained. At this time, we have no reason to suspect malfeasance by any convention employees.

Florida Baptists hope that some of the losses will be recovered.

We remain prayerful that some of this loss may be mitigated through insurance and/or the recovery of stolen funds.

I should point out that GoFundMe and similar sites have varying degree of success. The one I launched after I was sacked without due process as editor of The Freethinker did not come anywhere close my target but it brought in enough to launch The Angry Atheist in January, 2023.

You can also support my work via a one-off donation via PayPal, Buy Me a Coffee or GofundMe.

If you spot any typos in this report please notify me at freethinkered@aol.com