#137: John Funk

Not to be confused with the (tongue-in-cheek) ghost hunter of the same name, this fellow is mostly a Sunday school teacher, and a member of various boards in New Mexico. He is rather non-descript, in other words, and his influence is presumably limited.

Which is, I surmise, a good thing. You see, Funk is rather strongly religious. In fact, he is fundamentalist enough to be endorsed by RaptureReady; in other words, he is as far into tinfoil hat territory as you can get. Funk believes that the rapture is imminent, and has written an eloquent hypothetical news report on what happens the day after the rapture. Here you can also discern how Funk thinks of the political battle between liberals and conservatives as a religious battle, and what he thinks about Europe or the rest of the world.

He is clearly not very happy about the separation of church and state, and takes it to be a sign of the upcoming Apocalypse.

His views seem to conform to Jack Chick’s, although Funk’s screeds are better articulated. His screed against tolerance doesn’t quite fit the rigid “salvation through belief alone” professed elsewhere, however (one thing is his argument against tolerating other religions, the other is his arguments against tolerating gays and liberals). The agenda is, of course, summed up in this quote: “Tolerance is alive and well unless you profess the Christian faith.” Ah, the persecution complex – Funk is angry because modern day tolerance doesn’t fit with what he views as his God-given right to suppress and discriminate people who disagree with him.

Those interested can enjoy Funk trying to prove the accuracy of the Bible (and the confirmation bias involved) here; or that his evidence for an imminent rapture is good enough to stand up in court. Or what about his probabilistic proof the Jesus Christ is the Son of God? And if you want to make a difference when it comes to pain and suffering, you can actually make a difference – pray!

Diagnosis: This is the kind of person you use to scare children with, or who makes an excellent Halloween topic. Completely insane, despite his efforts to dress up the fire and brimstone in woolly sugar spin considerate language. Probably of minor importance, though.