Ted Turner, the multimillionare who has always been critical of religion (and even made the infamous comment about Christianity as “a religion for losers”), is now working with Christian groups to fund a multimillion dollar project to end malaria in Africa.
Here is a snippet of an article done by yahoo news:
Ted Turner, who once called Christianity a “religion for losers,” launched a $200 million partnership Tuesday with Lutherans and Methodists to fight malaria in Africa, apologizing for his past criticism of religion and calling faith a “bright spot” in the world.
“I regret anything I said about religion that was negative,” he told The Associated Press ahead of a news conference announcing the anti-malaria program.
In the 1980s, the CNN founder criticized Christianity, wrote his own version of the Ten Commandments and in 2001 asked employees who commemorated Ash Wednesday whether they were “Jesus freaks,” saying they should work for Fox. He apologized at the time.
Turner now says he does not consider himself agnostic or atheist, as he had sometimes described himself previously. He prays for sick friends because “it doesn’t hurt,” he said, and maintains several churches on his properties for employees and others who live nearby.
“As I get older, you know, I get more, you know, more tolerant,” Turner said at the news conference. He has attended the churches a few times, but isn’t a regular.
On Tuesday, Turner’s United Nations Foundation, which he started in 1997 with a $1 billion donation, launched the anti-malaria project with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the United Methodist Church. The Protestant groups have been working overseas to fight poverty and prevent disease for more than a century.
“Religion is one of the bright spots as far as I’m concerned, even though there are some areas, like everything else, where they’ve gone over the top a little, in my opinion,” Turner said. “But I’m sure God, wherever he is, wants to see us get along with one another and love one another.”
…
He said he has read the Bible “cover to cover twice” even though some of it is “pretty tedious” and considered becoming a missionary as a boy. But he rejected religion after his younger sister died from a form of lupus when they were both young.
Turner still has not completely embraced religion.
He said he continues to subscribe to his alternative commandments, which he called the “Ten Voluntary Initiatives.” They include caring for people and the earth, promising not to have more than two children and contributing to the less fortunate.
Heh. Maybe somebody will pull a Dawkins and say that Turner is just “getting old and crazy” in his years to actually find something positive in religion. I mean after all, Turner is a full two years older than Dawkins.
(Read the full article here)
Popularity: 8% [?]
A recent poll from CNN.com reads:
Here’s a new approach. 
CCM star 
Loading ...