Outchurched

Outchurched “Staff”:

Rev. Dan

aka “The One True Reverend Dan Tripp” or “TOTDT” or just “Dan” if you’re into the whole brevity thing. Co-Founder of the Outchurched blog and podcast. Active snarky idiot and chief blogger. Reverend Dan is an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church.

Charles Grasty

Outchurched podcast alumni. Likes beer, punk music, stuff we can’t discuss in this space, and you!

McKormick Astley

Outchurched podcast alumni. The most direct, aggressively honest person to ever grace us (and the internet) with his presence. (Well, maybe not “the most” but definitely “one of the most.”) McKormick is no longer with us in terms of involvement, but his spirit and energy still inspire us. (I miss you bro.)

Ryan King

Co-Founder of the Outchurched blog and podcast. Instead of sitting around contemplating his navel like the rest of us, Ryan works on cool stuff like S5 Project and other cool stuff I can’t find the links to at the moment.

Tithing/Donations

If you’re looking for an active Christian Ministry to tithe to, Outchurched probably isn’t where you’d want to send your money, though we’d be willing to take it (server space, bandwidth, and beer all cost money!) and it would provide you with no tax credit whatsoever. Here are some suggestions:

(in)Frequently Asked Questions (that come up from time-to-time):

Is Rev. Dan really a Reverend?

Yes. Rev. Dan is an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church.

WTF is the Universal Life Church?

Lifted from the ULC web site:

In existence since 1959, the Universal Life Church is headquartered in Modesto, California, and has congregations around the world. The sun never sets on the Universal Life Church. ULC ministers come from all walks of life and spiritual traditions. Our common thread is our adherence to the universal doctrine:

“Do only that which is right.”

Since every person has the inherent right and responsibility to determine what is “right”, all beliefs and practices which do not interfere with the rights of others are embraced.

Is Outchurched/Rev. Dan actively involved in the ULC organization?

No. Outchurched/Rev. Dan are completely autonomous from the ULC, with the sole exception of holding the “universal doctrine” to “do only that which is right” in highest regard. An aspect of being a human being, however, is making errors/mistakes, and Rev. Dan is quite versed in the reality that he makes mistakes and fucks up.

Are you trying to convert me to your (non) religion?

Yes. We at Outchurched value Logic and Reason (and Rev. Dan loves snark) and feel that every human being will benefit from embracing Knowledge, Wisdom, Literacy, and Reason. Self-awareness and self-examination are encouraged and supported (to the best of our human ability).

Why do you hate Christians?

We don’t hate Christians… we despise stupidity (especially our own, and yes, we know we’re stupid sometimes). Unfortunately, it seems that a majority of American Christians promote Anti-Intellectualism and Anti-Reason, which put them in an active position contrary to our own.

We have a tendency to oversimplify the larger inclusive demographic of “people who profess to be Christians” as being “Christians.” Our focus is typically on that demographic vs. other religious demographics as our personal histories are intertwined with it.

C’mon, I’ve read the whole blog… you guys totally hate Jesus Christ.

If that’s the takeaway you get from Outchurched, Rev. Dan’s assertion is that you likely need to take a remedial reading class and work on your reading comprehension. Rev. Dan doesn’t hate Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or Jesus Christ.

Are you playing some sort of semantic game with the whole “church” vs. “Church” thing?

No. Particularly in this instance we’re attempting to be precise with language. The “church” is the human organization of religious faith… everybody who attends religious services (regardless of their beliefs), the buildings, the teachings, etc. The “Church” is the “Bride of Christ,” the body of Believers, which is an organic assembly whose membership is determined only by God and the individuals involved. The name on the door of a building indicates what kind of church it is. The contents of an individual human heart and it’s posture towards God determines membership in “The Church.”

Is Rev. Dan a (gasp!) Liberal?

Rev. Dan is proud of the fact that he supports Equality for all, regardless of Race, Gender, or Creed (though some “Creeds” like the doctrine of the KKK are completely wrong and unsupportable, therefore undeserving of any consideration), and would like to see Lasting, Meaningful Peace in the World. You may say that he’s a dreamer, but he’s not the only one.

Lifted from the Simply Left Behind blog’s header: “Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things – every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.” — Matt Santos, The West Wing

Do you have to use so many cuss words?

What the fuck are you talking about?

I don’t believe that Rev. Dan is a Christian.

Neither does Rev. Dan. Why do you care? Why does it matter?

Why is the “Royal We” used so often on the blog?

Habit. It’s likely that 95% of the time that you read the word “we” on this blog it means “Rev. Dan and his multiple personalities.” ;)

I think Rev. Dan is the sexiest man alive… how can I get ahold of him so that I can profess my undying veneration and admiration?

Use the contact form or send an e-mail to outchurched__at__gmail.com (replacing the “__at__” with an “@” of course). Regardless of what Grasty says, Rev. Dan is a practicing heterosexual… well, at least he’d like to practice. ;) Sorry if that poses an issue.

I don’t want to give Outchurched money… but how might I contribute otherwise?

We don’t actually care about your money (unless you have excess you’d like to get rid of), and would actually rather prefer that you participate in the discussion here. In addition to leaving comments, you can create an account and write posts, which will be entered in the moderation queue for review. It’s highly likely that your post will be approved, barring the obvious: no kiddie porn (or porn at all… that’s what the rest of the internet is for), advertising of any sort, hate speech (disdain speech = ok), Jackassery for Jesus, etc.

I’d like to advertise on the Outchurched blog.

Please contact us directly, and we’ll talk about it. It’s unlikely that we’ll put advertising on the site, and frankly, our listenership/readership is small and niche enough that it would probably be a waste of your money.

I’d like to share a link/links to a site which is related to purchasing anything (goods, services, etc., etc.,) online, or off.

We identify that behavior as advertising. If you elect to advertise on our blog using the comment system then you’re also electing to pay our comment advertising rate, which is $5,000 per word/link. It’d be far less expensive to contact us using the contact form and arrange a formal ad campaign.

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