06/15/2004: "Return of the Danish Atheist"

keylogger software Danish atheist/Lutheran pastor Thorkild Grosboell has done it again:

A Lutheran church minister in Denmark proclaimed false teachings among congregations which were in total contradiction to general Christian belief and Lutheranism. On Thursday 10th June, he was finally suspended from his duties after he twice ignored church orders not to repeat those beliefs from the pulpit.

You may remember Grosboell. Attempting to save his people from atavistic superstition, he told an interviewer last year that "there is no heavenly God, there is no eternal life, there is no resurrection." He was suspended by the government on the recomendation of his bishop, and then reinstated when he promised to be a good boy and uphold his ordination vows. Alas, once an evangelist, always an evangelist:

The final suspension was triggered by the quote in his recent sermon, "God had abdicated in favour of his son, hence in our favour. Therefore there is no longer a heavenly guarantee or an interfering might, there is only the Godly kingdom that is achieved by us and between us. So if it fails, there is nothing."

Translation: In the immortal words of Don McLean, "the three men [he] admires most, the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost, they caught the last train for the Coast, the day the music died." And since They've abandoned the world, that leaves us. If we screw it up, tough luck. That may sound somewhat contrary to the beliefs of the Lutheran Church, but Grosboell has his supporters:

It was reported by the locals, hundreds of the priests' parishioners in Taarbaek, near Copenhagen, have come to the defence of Grosboell, arguing that differences of opinion must be tolerated in the Church.

In response to the ultimatum offered, Grosboell said he did not understand the bishop's position and would never resign, though he did not deny making the comments in his sermon.

"Differences of opinion"? To defend Grosboell's position on those grounds is like saying that an advocate of drunkenness has a right to be an officer in the local Temperance Union chapter.

If Bishop Lise-Lotte Rebel does succeed in getting Grosboell booted, she should seek to soften the blow by getting him free tuition in Frank Griswold's next theological rhetoric class, entitled "How to Sound Spiritual Without Saying Anything At All."

UPDATE: From MCJ comes this Griswoldian example of the way Grosboell needs to learn to speak if he's going to hold on to his job:

"A genuine appreciation of the other in the fullness of their otherness is something that many perceive we're not very good at."

Frank Griswold: serial language abuser.