Here at The Skeptic Tank we point out the insanity, hatred and bigotry, and just plain foolishness that religion imparts to otherwise healthy, rational people. The only question remaining is: Which came first? The stupidity or the religion?

Always, when the cultist attempts to explain his or her intolerance and lunacy, they make it even worse for themselves. The rule of thumb to follow, guys, is that when you find yourself in a hole, it's best to just stop digging.

This insane, disjointed, disconnected rant is lengthy and will take some effort to pick through but I think it's worth the mind-numbing effort.

What I'm waiting for is complaints by fellow Christians that Reggie White isn't a Christian.

Date: Thu 9 Apr 98 23:58
From: Steve Quarrella
Re: Reggie White #2

The following are Reggie White's comments to a student assembly at Austin-East High School on March 14, 1997. The school enrollment is 95-percent black and is located in Knoxville's inner-city.

White's comments on law enforcement, AIDS, sex and religion have caused controversy nationwide. White -- a former University of Tennessee player and defensive lineman for the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers -- has told various media that his comments were taken out of context. The News-Sentinel asked White twice after his speech to explain his comments. He declined.

The following was transcribed from a tape recording of the speech, given on behalf of NFL player LeRoy Thompson's Team Dream Foundation.

It is a honor for me to be here with you guys, you know, to be able to have the opportunity to try to inspire someone, that means more to me than any ring I could ever put on my finger.

I've had a lot of people ask me, you know, about success. You know, we have a definition of success that really gets us in trouble, you know. And that definition is what we drive, what we live in, how much money we have in our bank account, what we wear, you know. And America has put that definition on success, and because it has put that definition on success it has taught us to be incontent with what we have because we see what others have and we want what they've got. A lot of time we overspend to get what they got and a lot of times we end up dead because we want to get what they've got.

But you know, God has blessed me, not just because I'm a football player. I mean, if I wasn't a football player I'm blessed. You know if I wasn't making the money that I make I'm blessed. Because God has done something in me that blesses me, he's changed me. Because I know one thing, you know, I know when I go to heaven God is not going to look at me and say, you know there goes Reggie, get his autograph man. He's my boy; he played football; man he was the best that ever played; get my man's autograph. It ain't going to be that way.

Some people think they are going to be in heaven because of who they are. But it just don't work that way. So I can make all the money in the world, I can have all the accomplishments in the world, but if my life has not impacted somebody else's life, if I am not using it for what God has called me to use it for, then my life is not worth anything. (Applause.)

Success to me is what I have done or what will I do with what God gave me to impact other people's lives. Will I use my resources to do that? Will I use my time to do that? Will I give myself back to God's kingdom? Our will I horde everything that I have? Most of us horde what we get. That's why America is in the condition it is today. That's why young people blow one another's heads off today. That is why we have these drive-bys and all this destruction is going on in our community. We have it because we have incontent people and yet America is causing incontentness.

America is building covetous people. We covet what other people have. And if you don't know what covetous means; that means you want what somebody else has and you will do anything that you can to get it. You'll be jealous of that person, be very envious of that person and you would even hurt that person if that person steps in your way. So we've become a very covetous nation and because of that you have been taught to be covetous.

You know, we watch the TV and, you know, you see all the rappers with all the gold and the cars and the Benzes. You see all the people. One of the things I went to, this thing called the Espy awards, it's pretty much like the Grammies, I was uncomfortable cause I'm not used to being in that type arena. I'm not used to having a whole bunch of cameras flashing like you're a movie star. Because I realize one thing. That I am nothing without God. I am nothing without what he's trying to do in me. (Applause)

And I understand why I'm where I'm at. And it has nothing to do with my bank account. It has nothing to do with what I have. It has more to do with what God wants me to do to impact people than anything I could ever accomplish and have.

You look at America today. I have an opportunity to sit down with some very wealthy folk. People who got a whole lot more money than I've got. People that own these major businesses and what they do is that they make all the money off of me and you but they won't give it back. Because they won't give it back it's causing a whole lot of turmoil.

You look at our society today and in particular in our inner-city communities. You know I had a guy ask me a few years ago, he said, 'Why don't black athletes go back and help their people?' Simple. There's a simple answer to that question. The reason black professionals forget about where they came from is because when you haven't been taught your history and when you haven't been taught your heritage you don't appreciate yourself let alone appreciate your neighbor.

You look at the Jewish community, they teach their history. They teach their children about the Holocaust. They force their kids to be educated. And because of that we have a lot of guys that just don't know what to do and to be honest with you they don't care. A lot of them don't care. A lot of them do. LeRoy's one of the guys that cares. He's trying to find out a way that he can help make your life better, that he can help to get you to a similar level that he's on. He cares. That's why he comes back. He don't have to do this. We don't have to be out here, but this is important to us. And we want to make it important to you.

I've talked to many young people. And I want to admit one thing. I do not understand what you guys are going through. I can't identify with what you're going through. You know some of your language today I may get up and say something you don't even know what I'm talking about and when you say it I don't know what you're talking about. I remember I went to a high school one time in Detroit and I said 'pistol' and nobody knew what I was talking about. I didn't know you called pistols 'gats' today in the neighborhood.

So our labels has changed. Some of us cannot identify with what you're going through but you know what? We see it and we're tired of seeing our young people dying for no reason and we're tired of seeing you allowing the powerful few to dictate how you live. There are people in this country that has their focus totally on you and you may ask the question, 'How is that?'

You know, you have in the communities I mean people dealing drugs and stuff, them bringing guns in the community and you know the police against you guys. The police are not, they're not going to go out and find the guys who are selling the drugs, bringing the drugs into the community because those guys are working for the government. Now I can't prove that, but I will assure you, because we have such great technology in this country we should be able to stop drug traffic.

We should be able to stop guns from coming into our community. So why aren't we stopping that? It's because somebody's making a whole bunch of money off you all. A whole bunch of money. You see nothing but a nice house, driving a nice car, wouldn't dare give their kids the same drugs they sell you.

They're not going to come to your funeral when you die. They're making tons of money off of you because you're distributing for them. Now you may say, 'Hey man, I'm not going to go to McDonald's and work for $5 an hour when I can get me $1,000 a day.' Yeah, you're probably right. You're probably right.

But let me tell you something. You may be making $1,000 a day, $2,000 a day. You know what? Michael Jordan, last year he signed a deal with like 5 or 6 different companies. And all you who know who Mike is, you know who he's with. Nike. Who else? Ball Park Franks? Huh? Say that again? McDonald's. Gatorade. Hanes. Yeah, Mike's doing all these commercials right, getting advertising. So Mike did five commercials I think Mike probably made about $30 million. He made $30 million a year from his advertising. That's apart from what he makes in basketball. Now I want you to look at something.

How many of you remember when Michael came back in the NBA? How many remember when Michael Jordan came back in the NBA. OK. Let me see if you remember this. Do you remember that when Michael Jordan came back in the NBA, do you remember how much the stock market went up when he came back in the NBA? Huh? Somebody say it again? Huh? Five what? No, I ain't talking about his tennis shoes. I'm talking about the stock market. I'm talking about the stock market. Can anybody tell me? I'll give you one more chance.

Can anybody tell me what the stock market went up when Michael Jordan came back in the NBA? Huh? Money-wise. Money wise. Huh? No I'm talking about money-wise? OK, let me tell you.

When Michael Jordan came back in the NBA, listen! When Michael Jordan came back to the NBA the stock market went up to $2 billion in those five different organizations together. So Michael Jordan's making $30 million a year and these companies are making over $2 billion a year. Michael Jordan's making chump change. You look at that and you're like, 'Man, that's $30 million,' but it's somebody else making $2 billion. What we do? You look at us, you read in the paper you see how much money we make a year. 'Oh man he's got some money. Look how much money he has. He got a whole lot of money,' but you know what, the NFL owners are doing television contracts. $4 billion. They share it. They share billions of dollars a year.

There's a difference between a million dollars and a billion dollars. (Student in audience asks for White's salary.) That ain't none of your business. (Laughter and applause.) Let me put it this way. I am not making a billion dollars. And don't forget, you look at professional athletes, we get taxed half the money. So if you get a guy that gets a $5 million check they've taken half of that away. A billionaire can handle taking a half away because they take half of his away he's still a half a billionaire.

So what am I saying. This is what I'm saying. There are people that distribute drugs and guns in your community who are billionaires today because you're buying it and some of you brothers feel like that you've got some power 'cause you've got a gun. And you kill your own people. You hurt one another. Let me tell you something about young brothers and sisters that's living in these neighborhoods when they do these drivebys. I'm going to put it plain and simple. You are just as bad as a Klansman. (Applause.)

And you're the same ones that walk around here talking about the white man ain't doing this and the white man ain't doing that. What do you do when you leave your community and you don't come back? We're hurting one another just as much as the white man could ever hurt us. We need to stop giving excuses and we need to start working our tails off to get where we want to be instead of blaming everybody around us.

Now I understand the conditions that you're in. I understand the conditions some of you are in. I understand that. And the reason that myself and LeRoy are trying to do something about it is we do understand it. Sometimes we're in people's offices fighting on your behalf and you don't even know it.

We're sitting down (unintelligible). I've been to Washington. I've talked to public officials. I pay too much money in taxes for my money not to be returned to my community. That bothers me. I see it going everywhere else, helping everybody else, making billionaires richer and it bothers me that my tax money doesn't come back to you so I've got to do something about it.

I've got to be straightforward people when I need to. You know what I know I gotta do? I gotta put my life on the line. There's a scripture in the Bible that says this: (Scripture involved ''the blood of the lamb.'')

So what am I saying? I recognize what I've been called to do and I'm willing to die for it. And who am I willing to die for? You. These people back here.

The teachers, because sometimes I say stuff to be blunt with you that just ticks people off, but you know what? When it comes to justice I don't care about ticking people off. When it comes to doing what's right, I don't care about ticking people off. I don't care about people being mad at me.

I've been a minister since I was 17 years old and when I went back to the streets and started preaching back in the inner cities some of my white brethren were telling me, 'Hey you must be a racist. You're just preaching to your own people.' No. That's not true. Let me do what God called me to do, but I realized that it's for everybody. It's for everybody. It's giving people no matter what their ethnic background is an opportunity to advance themselves. And many of us don't want to do that.

Now in our community let me tell you something here, there's a lot of focus on you all. And a lot of that focus is on to put you in jail. That's why the police harass a bunch of you guys, because they want you to snap. that's why they want you in gangs. that's why they want you dealing drugs. that's why they want to catch you with a gun, so they can put your tail in jail. You know why? It costs $30,000 year to keep an inmate in jail. Somebody's making some money. $30,000 a year of our tax money to keep an inmate in. Somebody's making a whole lot of money. They've got to keep the prisons full.

Why do you think they're talking about building more prisons instead of creating opportunities for you? Because they want you in jail. They want you to be ignorant. As much as they say they want you to study, study, study, they don't want you to study. They just say that so they can stay in office. They want you ignorant.

How many of you have seen the movie 'Panther.' OK. Something I noticed in that movie -- and when I was little I used to think that the Black Panthers were a real evil group until I saw the movie -- these guys took the laws of the state of California and used it to protect their community. You know what the lawmakers did? They changed the laws so these guys couldn't protect their community. But you know what they did? They went and read. They went and got some knowledge and they used that same knowledge to protect their communities.

You know why our communities are in the shape they're in today? Because we won't go get that knowledge. You know City Council meets every week on certain issues and you know why they can make decisions on our lives? Because many of us are too lazy to go take our butts down there and demand that they do the right thing. City Council makes decisions with nobody sitting in there. You know why some of these people that are rich getting richer? Cause they're down at City Council and they're asking for certain things. They know what to do. That's why it's important for us to get knowledge. That's why education is important. That's why it's important for us to know the laws. And know if you start learning the laws they'll start changing the laws. So it won't benefit the powerful few instead of benefiting you.

Look at sex. And I know probably saying sex will probably wake a bunch of you all up. But look at sex. Sex is a moneymaker, OK? Instead of them telling you guys, 'Don't do it, wait til you get married,' they tell you guys, 'Do it safely. Buy a balloon.' (Laughter). When Magic Johnson announced that he had the AIDS virus, condom sales went up 400 percent. Y'all making a whole bunch of people rich. You're making a whole bunch of people rich because we can't control our hormones. Let me show you how you're making them rich.

Condom sales. That's a moneymaker. You got young people today that's buying Playboy magazines. That's a moneymaker. (Laughter.) Hugh Hefner's making a whole lot of money off a whole lot of people from buying his magazine. Then there's sex. You get pregnant. You get a disease. You catch AIDS.

You know why they're not doing all they can to find a cure for AIDS? It's because if they find a cure for AIDS everybody starts getting well and nobody wants to keep spending their money. So they ain't going to find no cure. Because they want you to have diseases, and young ladies let me tell you something about babies.

There's a certain section of our society that know that babies are worth money and they know that if you get pregnant and if you get it aborted, most of you don't know, those babies are worth a lot of money. Why? Because they use these babies for what they call fetal tissue research. You know what they do with these babies when they come out? They take them out -- alive.

They stick a needle that long in the back of their head. They pull the baby's brains out and they use the baby's brains for fetal tissue research, which we're paying for. That baby's worth a whole lot of money.

So they tell you have sex, have fun, but if you're going to do it do it safely. But they know you could either get pregnant, you could catch a disease. how many of you have seen the movie recently Miss Evers Boys. OK?

They was using (unintelligible) and inflicting diseases on these men. It cost money for them to keep getting treatment but they weren't getting treatment but today the more treatment you get the more it costs, and the more money somebody making. Pornography is a $10 billion a year organization. People are making a whole lot of money off of our ignorance.

You know (unintelligible) I'm not going to stand up here and say I'm Mr. Goody Two Shoes cause I did my dirt back in the day but thanks be to God he changed me. He's made me a good father. He's made me a good husband. I love my wife and I love my children. I make sure that every time they get out of line they get 42 inches if they have to, 'cause I want them to be right. I want them to respect their fellow man. If you was in my house you would get 42 inches too. Cause when we was young, they can tell you, our parents hit us with anything they could grab back then. (Applause.)

Today you got some of you (unintelligible) that want to puff up to your parents. What I'm saying is that we've got to be smarter. You want knowledge? You want to know what's going on in our country? It starts in them books. It starts in realizing that you are here for a purpose. It starts in understanding that you are somebody. I used to have people tell me all the time, 'Man, you'll never amount to nothing.' But what are they saying today? 'Man, give me some money.' You said I'll never amount to nothing. What you doing out here on the corner? Don't let nobody ever tell you that you'll never amount to anything cause let me tell you something, when God created us he didn't create no junk.

And, cause I know that it's illegal, but I'm going to talk about somebody, I'm not going to preach about him. When Jesus walked this earth he came from the same type of neighborhoods you're living in. Most people think that he was this elite man that was very wealthy. He wasn't. He came from a neighborhood called Nazareth and when one of his disciples met him and heard about him he said, 'Can anything good come from Nazareth.' He grew up in an inner-city area.

Jesus was from the ghetto. He was from the 'hood. Go back and read it for yourself. He was from the 'hood. And then he went out and he educated himself. He knew more than the lawgivers knew and he used it against them because the lawgivers wasn't helping the people that they were supposed to be helping, they were robbing these people, the same thing that many people are doing today in most of our neighborhoods. But you know what? He was the ultimate gang leader because he went out and got 12 thugs to follow him. He did! Read about it. They were hard-core fishermen. Peter'd cuss you out in a minute. (Laughter.) They were hard-core. These guys weren't from glamorous communities. They didn't have glamorous jobs. Some of them were tax collectors. They were stealing money from folk. They're doing the same thing today. No just kidding. Tax collectors. Anyway, that wasn't funny. OK. The adults know what I'm talking about. Alright. Right on.

But anyway, he went as far as helping the people they wouldn't touch. They expected him to come in an elaborate way. They expected him to be riding on a horse as a king. He came in the wrong way. He came in to your neighborhood and let me tell you something. If somebody come out of the inner-city whether it's in Knoxville or it's in L.A. or Compton or wherever. If somebody came up and said, 'I was the son of God,' everybody'd say, 'Man you crazy. You're that old snotty nosed joker that was down there making them chairs, man. (Unintelligible.) There's no way you can be the son of God,' and they looked at him the same way because he didn't look like they looked.

He didn't act like they acted. He came from a distraught community in which his parents and himself worked for what they had. But he went to the people who were hurting those people. He tried to get them to understand that they had to pull themselves up instead of waiting on somebody to pull them up for them.

So I end in saying this, is that everybody in here has the capability of being a leader. You may look at America and say, 'You know I'll never have the chance to be president or a senator or a professional athlete or a business executive in anything.' See most people in our community, when I talk to a lot of young men, they want to be athletes. They want to be a Michael Jordan or they want to be an Emmitt Smith. They want to play sports.

But did you know that in professional sports, and I'm saying this to most of you black brothers, that there are only 1,200 black athletes. That's less than 1 percent of the population. You may be a good athlete but you may blow your knee out one day.

So the question is, what are you going to do if you blow your knee out? What are you going to do when you finish playing? We can't play football all our lives. We got to have something to do when we finish. Are we going to be a detriment to society or will we make society a detriment? Are we going to pull those up who are hurting? And help give them hope? Or are we going to hog everything we can get and keep it for ourselves?

There was one thing that was commanded in the Old Testament, that you should take care of the poor. And that's one thing that we're doing our best to fight for is to make sure and make people accountable when you spend your money at their businesses, accountable to you to give you the same opportunities they had if you're educated.

Think about it. Don't be fooled. Don't let people walk in you community and dictate how you live. You dictate how life is supposed to be and as you allow God to change you. You become a part of society that lifts up the people in the community instead of tearing down people in the community.

Young men and young women, I know every day you all say things to one another that tear each other down. You need to be saying things to one another that will build each other up. You need to be complimenting one another. Guys, you see a girl drop her book, pick her book up. (Laughter.)

See, and I knew you were gonna laugh at that. But I knew you were going to laugh at that. I knew you were going to laugh at that, but you know what? That's where it all starts, with respecting one another, having respect for each other, and you respect each other by building each other up. Even if she don't like it. She may say, 'Boy don't be picking up my books.' You just say, 'Here girl, I'm just trying to be nice to you, go on.' Be cordial. And sometimes you'll get upset, but make sure if you get upset that you come back with something positive.

Back in the day when we grew up if we got mad at each other we went somewhere and fought it out. Today you get mad at each other, a lot of young men, you (unintelligible) killing each other for it. We need some community accountability. You need Austin-East students to watch out for Austin-East students. To watch one another's back. That's the most important thing that you can have is somebody watching your back. I'm serious. (Unintelligible.)

I'm sort of sad that you guys are going to the state championship cause when I was in high school, I went to Chattanooga High, we used to kick you all's tail in football, basketball (Hoots and Laughter.) I'm just telling the truth, that's all. I'm just being honest about it, but I hope you guys win it. I hope you know what I'm saying, I'm pulling for you guys. I hope you guys win the state and thank you for giving me the honor to come and speak to you.