Christina here…

Here’s an news article in the Christian post about Patrick Greene, an atheist activist who recently turned Christian.

A few months ago Patrick Greene was an atheist who was threatening to sue Henderson County, Texas, if the county didn’t remove a Nativity scene from its courthouse lawn. Today he is a believer in Christ who underwent a radical change of heart that was catalyzed by the compassion of one Christian woman. In late 2011, Greene joined the fight against a Nativity scene that had been set up outside the courthouse in the town of Athens, Texas, threatening to file a lawsuit over it. Shortly after he made his threat, however, he discovered that his ability to see was rapidly deteriorating and he would soon be blind, so he withdrew his threats and left the Nativity alone. That’s when Jessica Crye, a Christian woman from Athens, asked her pastor, Erick Graham of Sand Springs Baptist Church, if they could help Greene. As a result of her kindness, thousands of dollars in donations have gone toward helping Greene, who has reconsidered his view of God as a result.

I should mention that atheists donated to Greene as well.

This is what Greene says in his Gofundme post:

I have also decided to study to become a Baptist minister. I need help to achieve that goal also. I came across new information that convinces me that God does in fact exist. And I am also convinced that Jesus was his son. But I want to study more to become a Baptist minister. When Rev. Erick Graham and Jessica Crye of Athens, Texas in Henderson County first helped me with my pending blindness, they were acting the way that Christians should act. Now that they and many others have saved us with money for rent and food and bills, now it is time to concentrate on the rest of our life with retirement and ministry. Rev. Graham and Jessica Crye affected my heart so much, that I decided to go into intense study of the Bible. More than I had done before.

The Christian Post continues…

“There’s been one lingering thought in the back of my head my entire life, and it’s one thought that I’ve never been able to reconcile, and that is the vast difference between all the animals and us,” Greene told The Christian Post on Tuesday, as he began to explain his recent transformation from atheist to Christian. The theory of evolution didn’t answer his questions, he says, so he just set those questions aside and didn’t think about them anymore. But when the Christians in a town that had reason to be angry with him showed him a gesture of love, he began reconsidering his beliefs altogether. He eventually began to realize that evolution would never have the answer to his questions, he says, and it was at that time he began to believe in God. “I kind of realized that the questions I [was] asking you just had to accept on faith without doubting every period and every comma,” he said. He later began studying the Bible, both the Old Testament and the Gospels, and also discovered his belief that Jesus is the Son of God.

Aside from the nativity scene issue, the only other thing I know Greene has done was to claim on The Atheist Experience that he planned to sue Ray Comfort over a bumper sticker. Here is what Martin Wagner of The Atheist Experience had to say in the comments section:

There’s something the author of this article ought to know about Patrick Greene and his whole fracas with the atheist community that sent him running into your loving arms. Greene is only an “atheist activist” in his own mind. He never had any presence as a public figure in the community. Greene’s whole embarrassing history began when he contacted our television show, The Atheist Experience, to announce with great pride that he was suing apologist Ray Comfort for selling a bumper sticker he found insulting to atheists. Instead of the support he expected, he was roundly chastised for his petty litigiousness, and informed that Comfort has every right to sell whatever bumper sticker he pleased. In case any of this hasn’t struck you yet, I’ll repeat: atheists were rallying in DEFENSE OF RAY COMFORT against Patrick Greene’s actions. For those of you willing to risk your immortal souls, you can watch the actual segment at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O0gZa34wWo Greene only made things worse for himself by insisting his contact info be made public, hoping to prove the atheist community at large would be on his side. They weren’t, and Greene heard about it for years. Atheists later donated around $2000 to Greene for his supposed eyesight problems. Those people are now feeling a bit conned. And now he’s come to your side, to sell his sob stories to you. I’m sorry to burst your bubble in thinking Greene’s defection, so to speak, constitutes some glorious moral victory over all us heartless heathens and all. But the person you’ve really ended up with is, by our direct experience, a narcissistic nonentity who’d probably latch onto anyone who promised to give him the validation he so earnestly seeks. So, I just thought you’d appreciate a friendly heads-up. From your friendly neighborhood atheist.

So, what to make of this? I’m not sure. I definitely don’t support suing Comfort over a bumper sticker – that’s way out of line. If Greene were a person whose reasoning I respected, I’d want to know why he converted in more detail – because maybe I’m wrong. I’d sure like to see a sermon delivered by him…

Update: Greene’s gofundme page, which I linked to above, has now vanished. I wonder why?

Learn more about Christina and follow her @ziztur.