Let's hope you're right, Norm.

Norman Chab of Greenville is critical of Michelle Chadwick for her viewpoint on how church is good for our youth and how sad it is that they seem to more and more lack faith. I'll just take Norm's statements one by one and comment on them.

He says that "maybe the lack of faith among the young is due in part to the thousands of children who were sexually assaulted by the clergy." He will get no argument from me that those were heinous acts, and the perpetrators should be justly punished. But those perpetrators most likely were not Christians to begin with -- living in a garage does not make one a car; neither does belonging to the clergy make one a Christian. And surely Norm has no argument with all the good real Christians do through the church -- spreading the Gospel by feeding and clothing the poor, providing refuge for the homeless, ministering to the sick and elderly, providing disaster relief, and any number of other Christian acts. Does he think that our youth aren't influenced by these things?

Maybe, Norm says, it has to do with the lavish lifestyles among the rich and famous preachers. Norm will get no argument from me on the men and women hiding behind a mask of piety to bilk poor people of their money. Again, just because one calls oneself a minister of the Gospel does not make it so. And what about those preachers who don't lead lavish lifestyles? What about Billy Graham? To this day, he lives in a very modest home, yet only God knows how many people he's kept from the fires of hell. What about all those preachers who work two jobs in order to pastor a church? What about all those missionaries who give up every comfort they have here to preach in some third-world country? What about those who are so committed to their faith that they are suffering imprisonment and even death? Surely they should serve as inspiration as much as the impostors serve as conduits of cynicism.

Maybe, Norm says, it has to do with the churches that preach abstinence only, which fosters bodily ignorance in their children. Norm will have to explain that one to me. Is he saying that in order to be chaste, one has to be ignorant of the facts of life? Perhaps Norm will point out to me the plethora of young girls who have become impregnated or the scores of young boys who have contracted STD's by practicing abstinence.

Maybe, Norm says, it has to do with teaching a 6000-year-old Earth and creationism instead of scientific reality. I suppose Norm thinks he and the scientists know more than the one who created this universe. Scientific reality? Maybe, maybe not -- global warming was a scientific reality until they figured out that the globe hasn't been warming in the last few years. Now climate change is the scientific reality. Eggs were bad for you until the scientists changed their minds. In the last days, Norm, God said there would be people ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. You go ahead and believe what some guy who thinks he knows everything said. I'll believe what the one who really does know everything said.

Norm says that churches continue to fight against equal rights for gays and lesbians. No they don't. Norm can't name one church that is trying to deny civil equal rights to gays and lesbians. Gays and lesbians already have equal rights. They can do any of the things the rest of us can do. True, a lesbian can't marry another lesbian. But, I, as a heterosexual female, can't marry a lesbian, either.  So the law is not discriminatory. The law is only discriminatory if it says that one group may not do what another group may do. So far as I know, when you go to apply for a marriage license, "gay or straight" is not one of the questions.

He says that kids can think for themselves and know what is nonsense and when they are being lied to. I hope he is correct in that assessment. If he is, they'll be able to see through his propaganda in no time.

By the way, I did a little research on Norm. He neglected to include in his little diatribe that he's an atheist. He has a page on the Atheist Nexus website where he's set up to receive donations. If you want to send him one, you'll be the first -- the counter says he hasn't received any yet. Guess he won't be living the lavish lifestyle of some of those preachers, will he?

And Norm was the lone protester at the Greenville National Day of Prayer gathering. He carried a sign that said, "Nothing fails more often than prayer." Being as you're a real scientific-based, data-based, fact-based kind of guy, can you document that for us, Norm?

And, Norm, another question comes to mind. How many of those child-molesting priests and greedy preachers do you suppose might, in actuality, be atheists putting on a façade in order to carry out their nefarious activities?

"Church bells ring false." The Dallas Morning News; March 7, 2014; p. 22A.