So you’re pastor said that “God loves a stupid Christian” and referred to it as a good thing. A smart pastor might use that line to challenge his students to think about religion…

In your article, you said,
“Major religions do not necessarily discourage thinking (or at least they don’t come out and say it so blatantly)…”

I found this to be intruiging, given my background of attending parochial Lutheran schools from kindergarten through senior year of high school. In particular, it reminded me of a saying that was attributed to one of the pastors that taught at the school (note: the pastor in question never said this specifically to me, but I heard it second hand through several people, and given his personality, I did not find it much of a stretch to think that he would actually say such things).

This particular pastor, when asked about various difficult to reconcile aspects of Lutheran/Christian dogma, responded by saying that “God loves a stupid Christian.” , or something to that effect. Basically implying that people who blindly follow what their religious leaders say to them (or what they read and interpret from the Bible) have a special place reserved for them by God due to their blind faith.

Faith is one thing, it implies surety without full evidence, but to teach kids that people shouldn’t look critically at their religion? This is one of the big reasons that I lost much of my faith while being indoctrinated at these schools. Now, years later, I have a strong faith, but not necessarily in the same way that my religious school teachers would have wanted.

I’m sure their conception of God would be disappointed with me