Fred Glynn
"The Bible Was Written By Humans - But Whom?"
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Saturday September 20, 2008
Fred Glynn has been questioning authority since childhood. As an Episcopal acolyte in Massachusetts, he dined with the local priests and asked them about the many differences he had observed in how they saw their vocations. One, for example, enjoyed fine wines and expensive cars (lent to him by friends) despite a vow of poverty; in contrast, another had spent years in China providing medical care to the desperately poor.
In 1952 he registered for the Draft, as was required at age 18, requesting Conscientious Objector status, on the grounds that the 13th Amendment made the Draft unconstitutional by specifically forbidding involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime of which a person has been convicted. Also, explaining that wars were being fought primarily to resolve economic disputes, yet the expense even for the "winning" side far exceeded any financial benefit thus made war fiscally irresponsible. When told that he could be excused only on religious grounds, Fred declared his religion to be "fiscal responsibility". Despite such assertions, Glynn was classified "1-A", along with a note from the head of the Draft Board to his friend (Fred's father) that he "could not imagine how Stan Glynn's son could be so stupid".
By January 1957, Fred realized the Draft was catching up to him, so he enlisted in the Marine Corps to begin in April, citing "bills to pay first". After being tipped-off by friends, this maneuver enabled basic training to be done in fair spring weather, avoiding winter cold and summer heat.
Completing active military service in 1960, he began a 40-year career in electronics and telecommunications industries. Part of this work as an engineer and consultant required writing memos and newsletters; writing became his hobby, expanding to include articles about historic cookbooks, from Mesopotamia in 1757-BC, to Black Panthers co-founder Bobby Seale's book "BBQ'n With Bobby".
Still working in 2000, Fred became enraged upon reading Senator Joseph Liebermann's assertion in a Detroit chapel, while running for Vice President, that "the Constitution wisely gives us freedom of religion but not freedom from religion". Getting no satisfaction from Liebermann's bland autoresponse to his strong letter about King David (adulterer, murderer, rapist, extortionist, liar and traitor), Fred Glynn discovered fascination in the Hebrew Bible. He went on to write "Authors of The Bible", since published and continually updated, with the hope that others will come to see the Bible as a purely human invention, and that no nation should use it as a basis to inflict grievous pain and suffering on others.
Socializing at 2:30 pm, the presentation at 3:00PM in thePatio Room at Vista del Monte, 3775 Modoc Road, Santa Barbara. -