Kind of got reminded this morning why it is I don't really care for church and the only reason I go right now is because my parents are assisting me in this job market and while I go back to school to try to help fix it and my mother, the religious zealot she is, requires I do so. Now even though I do not share her faith, I do at least respect her choice to have it and will not bother to criticize or condemn it....besides it would be hypocritical as I believe in religious tolerance. So what has me all flustered this morning? It's more concern about who is preaching that faith to my parents and the apparent hypocrisy they exhibited this morning. I was raised going to this church, and the pastor there, a bearded british man who, partly because of his accent, was a thrill to hear if you were christian or not. He was considerate enough to let the message he was preaching be enough, if you bought it, fine, if not, also fine, and he didn't bring in politics to the discussion. However, they just got a new pastor about a month ago, and the contrast is enormous. He actively pressures visitors to convert and is quite willing to allow political incite into his rhetoric. Annoying yes, but not where the hypocrisy I mentioned comes up. Where that emerges is the sermon today, where, in an effort to encourage the congregation to be more active in 'spreading the word of god' he cites some supposed numbers from the recent 2010 census, which apparently showed that not a single county or district in the country increased it's number of proclaimed christians. Interesting statistic, considering it is impossible for one to get such a number from the census as it is FEDERAL LAW that they do not inquire to one's religious beliefs. Thus the pastor either was mislead himself by a dishonest source or he is being dishonest himself, and even the most fervent atheist would know christianity frowns on lying. Regardless of which he may be guilty of, it shows a clear irresponsibility on his part; either flat out lying or not bothering to check the validity of data as it serves his purpose as is. I really worry about someone like that being a mentor to my friends and family, even if my faith is different.