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...and even a place for you to shop!

http://www.cafepress.com/antireligion/639030

that people can be so gullible. I guess P.T. Barnum was right!

that people can be so gullible. I guess P.T. Barnum was right!

Maybe he was...

P. T. Barnum was named for his maternal grandfather, Phineas Taylor. Born and raised in Bethel, Conn.) his mother took him regularly to the local church, Calvinistic Presbyterian. Barnum later described this faith as: "It was a faith which painted God as so revengeful a being that you could hardly distinguish the difference between God and the devil." The services were so frightening that Barnum, as a teenager, would go home and pray in utmost sincerity to be taken out of the world as a means of being "saved from hell."


Later he began to doubt the preachings of the church. He wrote in his autobiography about how he felt upon learning that his grandfather Taylor was a Universalist: "When I first heard of the doctrine of the Universalists I felt so utterly astonished that I thought I'd drop dead." After serious consideration of religion, he accepted the Universalist belief in a God whose "mercy endureth forever", and consistently adhered to this position in religious matters throughout the rest of his life.


When he moved to Bridgeport, he and his wife regularly attended the Church of the Redeemer (Universalist) there, although it was not until late in life that he actually became a member. The minister, through honest and clever persuasion convinced him that he was wanted as a member. He then became a member of the Board of Trustees, and also went to annual conventions and was frequently one of the principal speakers. It is interesting to note here, that it was while P. T. Barnum was on the Board of Trustees in Bridgeport, that the first woman minister, Olympia Brown, was called to the Universalist Church.


He made large gifts to Tufts College, Medford, Massachusetts, which was organized originally to train men in the Universalist ministry. After Jumbo's untimely death, he gave Jumbo's hide to Tufts, which established a "Barnum Museum", which was the geology and biology building on the campus. Jumbo's hide was mounted with an interior framework and Jumbo became the Tufts College mascot. There, Jumbo stood from 1885 until April 1975, when Barnum Hall burned.


Barnum's interest in theology persuaded him to publish a newspaper, "Herald of Freedom" in which he could publish his arguments against the newly-formed Church and State party of the established church. It was a four-page, well-printed newspaper in which Barnum inveighed against militant Calvinism and religious oppression. He carried beneath the masthead a quotation from Thomas Jefferson: "For I have sworn upon the Altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
When Barnum lived in New York City, he attended the Universalist Church there. He and Nancy Fish, his second wife, were married in the Church of the Divine Paternity on Fifth Avenue, with the Reverend Mr. Chapin, Officiating. The Church of the Divine Paternity (Universalist) is now the Fourth Universalist Society in New York City.


Barnum's funeral, which was held in the South Congregational Church because it was the largest church available, was attended by thousands of mourners. The Rev. Robert Collyer, Unitarian, bent and gray, with tears rolling down his face, spoke the eulogy over Barnum's body:
"P. T. Barnum was a born fighter for the weak against the strong, for the oppressed against the oppressor. The good heart, tender as it was brave, would always spring up at the cry for help and rush on with the sword of assistance. This was not all that made him loved, for the good cheer of his nature was like a halo about him. He had always time to right a wrong and always time to be a good citizen and patriot of the town, State or Republic in which he lived."

Maybe he was...

P. T. Barnum was named for his maternal grandfather, Phineas Taylor. Born and raised in Bethel, Conn.) his mother took him regularly to the local church, Calvinistic Presbyterian. Barnum later described this faith as: "It was a faith which painted God as so revengeful a being that you could hardly distinguish the difference between God and the devil." The services were so frightening that Barnum, as a teenager, would go home and pray in utmost sincerity to be taken out of the world as a means of being "saved from hell."


Later he began to doubt the preachings of the church. He wrote in his autobiography about how he felt upon learning that his grandfather Taylor was a Universalist: "When I first heard of the doctrine of the Universalists I felt so utterly astonished that I thought I'd drop dead." After serious consideration of religion, he accepted the Universalist belief in a God whose "mercy endureth forever", and consistently adhered to this position in religious matters throughout the rest of his life.


When he moved to Bridgeport, he and his wife regularly attended the Church of the Redeemer (Universalist) there, although it was not until late in life that he actually became a member. The minister, through honest and clever persuasion convinced him that he was wanted as a member. He then became a member of the Board of Trustees, and also went to annual conventions and was frequently one of the principal speakers. It is interesting to note here, that it was while P. T. Barnum was on the Board of Trustees in Bridgeport, that the first woman minister, Olympia Brown, was called to the Universalist Church.


He made large gifts to Tufts College, Medford, Massachusetts, which was organized originally to train men in the Universalist ministry. After Jumbo's untimely death, he gave Jumbo's hide to Tufts, which established a "Barnum Museum", which was the geology and biology building on the campus. Jumbo's hide was mounted with an interior framework and Jumbo became the Tufts College mascot. There, Jumbo stood from 1885 until April 1975, when Barnum Hall burned.


Barnum's interest in theology persuaded him to publish a newspaper, "Herald of Freedom" in which he could publish his arguments against the newly-formed Church and State party of the established church. It was a four-page, well-printed newspaper in which Barnum inveighed against militant Calvinism and religious oppression. He carried beneath the masthead a quotation from Thomas Jefferson: "For I have sworn upon the Altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
When Barnum lived in New York City, he attended the Universalist Church there. He and Nancy Fish, his second wife, were married in the Church of the Divine Paternity on Fifth Avenue, with the Reverend Mr. Chapin, Officiating. The Church of the Divine Paternity (Universalist) is now the Fourth Universalist Society in New York City.


Barnum's funeral, which was held in the South Congregational Church because it was the largest church available, was attended by thousands of mourners. The Rev. Robert Collyer, Unitarian, bent and gray, with tears rolling down his face, spoke the eulogy over Barnum's body:
"P. T. Barnum was a born fighter for the weak against the strong, for the oppressed against the oppressor. The good heart, tender as it was brave, would always spring up at the cry for help and rush on with the sword of assistance. This was not all that made him loved, for the good cheer of his nature was like a halo about him. He had always time to right a wrong and always time to be a good citizen and patriot of the town, State or Republic in which he lived."
Well I meant that he was right that you can make a lot of money by scamming the American public. Which he did and which this guy at the mega-church is doing to. Only I like P.T. Barnum he was a very interesting person.Glad to hear he was not a evangelical. If I had to pick evangelical or Universalist I would go for the Universalist anyday. They don't believe anyone goes to hell!

...and even a place for you to shop!

http://www.cafepress.com/antireligion/639030 ?????

Jeez, can you imagine what a person wearing this (http://www.cafepress.com/antireligion/639001) would have to deal with walking down the street? He'd be lucky if he didn't get shot in most places!

Wow, this one (http://www.cafepress.com/antireligion/639010) is just plain offensive.