A Philadelphia-born atheist and satirist known for his comical interpretations of the Bible, and for his support of the LGBT community, will present at the Pennsylvania State Atheist/Humanist 2013 Conference from Sept. 13-15 in Philadelphia. Dr. Joe Wenke, who recently published his book, “You Got to be Kidding! The Cultural Arsonist’s Satirical Reading of The Bible,” was born and raised in South Philadelphia in a Catholic family. When he was about 11, he began realizing that his own beliefs weren’t necessarily in line with those of his parents. “It happened early on when I was going through puberty, and those were the dark days of the 1960s when the church and Catholic school system were focused on guilt. It just seemed that everything I would doing was wrong and everything I thought was wrong,” he said. “The teachings of the church didn’t relate to the way I thought and felt and so, over the years, I evolved away from being a Catholic and considered myself a nonbeliever.” Wenke said his family did not accept his position on Catholicism and their reaction was similar to the lack of acceptance that many in the LGBT community have faced. “They’ve never been accepting, really, and in fact, I was viewed as an outsider. I still feel that I am different and an outsider because when I first got married years ago, the initial marriage wasn’t performed by a priest so my parents didn’t come. There has always been a divide between my views and the rest of the family,” Wenke said. “This is something a lot of people experience for different reasons and speaks to the issues I address. Human beings have a problem with being different, or if you belong to a group that is different.” Wenke did go on to attend the University of Notre Dame, which he said was in part an effort to appease his family. After earning his undergraduate degree in English, he attained a master’s from Penn State and a Ph.D from the University of Connecticut, both also in English. He served as a corporate speech-writer before launching his own event-marketing company and undertaking both writing and comedic pursuits. The new book focuses heavily on religious-based discrimination against LGBT people, and includes transgender model Gisele Xtravaganza dressed as a nun on the cover. Wenke said the trans community often faces the most marginalization. “I think transgender people are the most discriminated against and marginalized people in the world,” he said. “Using a transgender woman as an example, they are discriminated against in different ways. They may grow up as a gay male and think that this is just their sexual orientation, and then they realize they are not comfortable identifying as a boy or a man, but as a woman. And from the gender-identity standpoint and as a female figure, they are discriminated against as a woman and transwoman.” Wenke said he hopes to see a time where Bible-based bigotry is something of the past. He acknowledged that, while some religious will likely remain intolerant of the LGBT community, the younger generation can be effective in bringing about change. “There are an awful lot of people who will not change or the religious right won’t change their views. I am a realist,” he said. “But I see change as generational because more and more young people are tolerant of the LGBTQ community, because young people know LGBT people. Younger people in the Catholic church don’t have the same views as traditional Catholics.” Wenke, who now lives in New York, said he is looking forward to heading back to Philly and to the discussions that will take place at the conference. “I will be talking about the role religion plays in bigotry and talking about the fact that we all enjoy freedom of religion and freedom from religion and we all need to stand up against bigotry based on religion,” he said. “A lot of people base their bigotry on LGBT people in the Bible because of different statements condemning homosexuality. That just makes God a bad god, and I think we all just need to stand up for what is right.” For more information on Wenke, visit http://joewenke.org. For more information about the conference, visit http://atheistpa.org.
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