I need to take Babinski’s Leaving the Fold: Testimonies of Former Fundamentalists back to the library soon, but before I do here are a few more tempting quotes from it:

“The [Christian] zealots for conversion took to the streets or criss-crossed the countryside, destroying no doubt more of the [pagan] architectural and artistic treasures of their world than any passing barbarians thereafter” – p. 29 (taken from Ramsay MacMullen’s Christianizing the Roman Empire)

“Probably more Christians were slaughtered by Christians in two years (A.D. 342-43) than by all the persecutions of Christians by pagans in the history of Rome” – p. 29 (taken from Will Durant’s The Story of Civilization, Vol. 4, The Age of Faith )

“‘Subconscious panic’ is most evidenced by the teachings of hell, eternal damnation, the whole brimnation, firegod syndrome. Sometimes I bellylaugh to think that anybody could believe such a fairy tale about the Intelligence of God. But other times I feel sad…. A life that could be used reaching out in love and caring, in discovering cures and new ways to develop foods and education, and the like, is stifled by the fear of the end of the world and spending eternity in hell…. I wonder how many billions of hours have been wasted on suffering over imaginary tortures by this imaginary god. And I wonder how many billions of hours and dollars have been spent with psychologists and other counselors to try to recover….” – Testimony of Marlene Oaks, p. 139

“I studied koine Greek [the language in which the Christian Scriptures were composed], investigated every major denomination and their theologies, and intensively studied Christian history…. But the more I studied, the less likely fundamentalism appeared. Contradictions emerged out of the Biblical text. The canonization of the Bible did not appear like an ‘inspired’ endeavor. (At the Nicene council they said the three synoptic Gospels would balance out the errors in the Gospel of John, and they refused to canonize the Apocalypse of Isaiah, because one apocalypse was enough. At another council they drew swords over their disagreements.) Translations were deliberately altered to enforce theological points (like the Trinitarian passages added to one of the Epistles of John). The history of Christianity is mired in bloodshed….” – Testimony of William Bagley, p. 191

“The more I worked at it though, the more I found tyranny woven throughout the warp and woof of Christianity. It was not just a matter of corrupt clergymen, or an administrative structure that encouraged the rise of corrupt clergymen; it was Christian theology itself. It was just like somebody sat down and purposely designed a religion to enslave people to the clergy and the building of a religious empire.” – Testimony of Ernest Heramia, Bible institute graduate, p. 202

“Generally, ministers find it superfluous to address questions…. Preachers, like politicians, are taught to embody, via a variety of rhetorical and nonverbal means, their utter conviction of the truth of whatever they happen to be preaching, regardless of how much they may know, or may not know, about the subject. This reminds me of the story of a minister who wrote in the margins of his sermon notes, ‘Weak argument here. Shout louder.’ As I grew to recognize the diversity of opinions among Bible scholars and theologians (even just among evangelicals), the rhetorical posture of preachers (and politicians) increasingly appeared to me to be suspect in its own right…. I began to realize that large groups of people are better at being manipulated by rhetoric and bald assertions – getting caught up in the ‘crowd atmosphere’ – than they are at making logical inferences concerning the preacher’s (or politician’s) statements.” – Testimony of Edward T. Babinski, p. 216

“I came to see fundamentalism also as, at root, an anti-woman ideology. After growing beyond it, I do not recall having any desire to return to it. Like influenza, it is something of which to be cured.” – Testimony of Joe Barnhart (professor of philosophy and religion studies), p. 237

“In the mid-1980s the hypocrisy of Christian fundamentalism became totally unbearable to me. I ran into a group of Mormon missionaries. I read part of the Book of Mormon and tried to gather together as many criticisms of Mormonism as possible. It was easy to find books by fundamentalist Christian authors that contained useful and effective arguments that exposed the irrationality of Mormonism and the Book of Mormon. However, these anti-Mormon authors also unwittingly exposed many similar flaws in their own faith and the Bible. For example, fundamentalist Christians attacked the scientific inaccuracies in the Book of Mormon. However, the scientific inaccuracies of Genesis 1-11 were either ignored or defended with irrational creationist arguments…. The Mormons were also attacked for using the lame excuse of ‘Well, Jesus will explain everything in the afterlife – just trust and believe in our faith.’ Again, the same excuse was frequently used by fundamentalists to brush off criticisms of the Bible and their version of Christianity.” – Testimony of Kevin R. Henke, former young-earth creationist, p. 249

“I thought at first that I could find logical explanations for the apparent discrepancies in the Bible, because they were surely just ‘apparent’ discrepancies…. The longer I studied the Bible critically, however, the more I realized that I would never find solutions to the problems I had identified, because there were no solutions. The Bible was not the verbally inspired, inerrant word of God; it was just a collection of contradictory, discrepant books that had been written by superstitious ethnocentrics….” – Testimony of Farrell Till, former missionary who once spent 5 years in France trying to convert Catholics to fundamentalism, p. 294

“I was a preacher for many years, and I guess it hasn’t all rubbed off. I would wish to influence others who may be struggling like I did – influence them to have the guts to think. To think deliberately and clearly. To take no fact without critical examination and to remain open to honest inquiry, wherever it leads.” – Testimony of former preacher, Dan Barker, p. 302 (taken from Barker’s book Losing Faith in Faith)

“The task before humanism, as I see it, is to release man’s soul from bondage to the fear of God. The fear of God is not the beginning of wisdom; it is frequently the end of it, psychologically speaking. Souls have been warped and stunted by the inhibitory fear complex and deity obsession….” – Charles Francis Potter, p. 399. Potter was a one-time fundamentalist who founded the First Humanist Society of New York in 1929. Its advisory board over the years has included Julian Huxley, John Dewey, and Albert Einstein.

“All the heretics I have known have been virtuous men. They cannot afford to be deficient in any of the other virtues, as that would give advantage to their many enemies; and they have not, like orthodox sinners, such a number of friends to excuse or justify them.” – Benjamin Franklin, p. 432-433 (taken from Seymour Stanton Black’s Benjamin Franklin: His Wit, Wisdom and Women)

There’s more to Babinski’s book than this – much more. Among the people whose testimonials I can’t begin to do justice to in just a few words:

—– Austin Mills – a fantastically successful evangelical speaker who appeared on over 100 telecasts of Jim and Tammy Bakker’s “PTL Club” before the madness and hypocrisy of it all prompted a drastic revision in his religious beliefs and practices

—– Charles Templeton – a friend of Billy Graham’s whose preaching rivaled Graham’s own in popularity and influence until profound doubts about the truth of Christianity prompted him to leave the ministry and become a “reverent agnostic”

—– Frank R. Zindler – one-time member of the ultra-fundamentalist Wisconsin Synod Lutheran church who went on to become a scientist and one of the most active and influential members of American Atheists

Babinski’s Leaving the Fold is by no means the best book I’ve ever read, and I certainly don’t agree with everything the people in it say, but it is perhaps the best one volume antidote to Christian fundamentalist poison that I’ve come across.

Fundamentalists who are tempted to prescribe a copy of Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ to a friend (or anyone else) really ought to expose themselves to this book first if they want to avoid committing religious malpractice.

Atheists and agnostics who have been fooled by our Christian culture into believing he or she is alone or that fundamentalist Christians are forever beyond the saving reach of logic ought to do themselves a big favor and read this book, too.