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In the Southern United States, Vacation Bible School (VBS) is a long tradition. Churches advertise what are generally week-long programs in the summer. Parents sign their kids up and bring them for a week of Bible school lessons at the church. It is something like a Christian day camp lasting two to four hours per day depending on the church.

VBS programs have become quite slick in recent years, with national groups putting together packages for churches to buy. The packages include themed curriculum, scripts, backdrops and decorations, posters, custom music CDs, song books, etc. Here is one such VBS package being sold this year:

Sky VBS 2012 – Everything is possible with God!

If you look at that page, you can see that the children who attend and are indoctrinated at Vacation Bible School start receiving hypocrisy and false promises from the very start. Look at the page’s first paragraph of text:

Every kid wishes they could fly…
So imagine transforming your church into the boundless blue sky! At Sky VBS, kids discover that by trusting God, everything is possible.

By trusting God, everything is possible… except the kids will NEVER be able to fly like superman, with a cape as pictured. How much more hypocritical can things get?

If anything is possible with God, why can’t kids fly like superman?

Here is one of the songs that the kids learn at Sky VBS:

“It doesn’t matter who you are, you can trust God.”

Right after singing this song, the children are introduced to Operation Kid-to-Kid, where they are asked to bring money for mosquito nets:

Yes, you can trust God – unless you are a kid dying of Malaria in Mali. In that case, this “trustworthy” God is letting 2,000 kids die per day.

How can such rank hypocrisy and superstition legally be taught to children?

Upon reading this, what is an intelligent person to think?

Egypt presidential candidate seeks Constitution based on Sharia Law

Egypt’s Constitution should be based on the Koran and Sharia law, presidential candidate from the Muslim Brotherhood Islamist movement Mohamed Morsi said.

“The Koran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader, jihad is our path and death in the name of Allah is our goal,” Morsi said in his election speech before Cairo University students on Saturday night.

Death in the name of Allah is our goal

No thinking person can read that without concluding that Morsi is insane. His religion has caused his insanity.

Whether you are a Muslim or a Christian, it is time to abandon your religion and join with sane people who are religion-free. This video will help:

It’s a common question – why do such terrible things happen to people on earth? Here is the answer:

GODSQUAD: If God fixed every ill, what would we do?

A reader asks the Godsquad a simple question:

Q: I cannot understand why God allows so much suffering in the world. A loving father wouldn’t allow his children to suffer. Yet God does nothing to help His children. One needs only to consider the murder of innocent people at the hands of criminals. God does absolutely nothing to prevent such atrocities.

If someone were to stand idly by and watch another person being killed, such a person would be condemned for not trying to intervene and possibly save the victim. Well, God stands idly by, does nothing, and we’re told not to blame Him. Why are we mere mortals held to a higher standard than God?

Most intelligent people, having asked the question, would take the next step and understand implicitly that God is imaginary. But the Godsquad tries to answer the question from a position of deep delusion. This quote is priceless:

I call it The Superman Problem. It’s the problem of what happens to our free will and our moral fiber when God decides to fix everything. What happens is that we turn into moral couch potatoes.

We’d quickly learn that doing nothing is just fine with God because God, like Superman, would always swoop down in the nick of time, should anything go wrong, and set everything right. This would be possible for God, but it would be horrible for us. Moral indolence would make us weak, passive creatures. This is what children want, but God wants us to grow up and worship God out of love, not need.

We can’t wait for Superman. We must learn to fly ourselves. We must find cures for diseases. We must stop aggressors. We must feed the hungry, cloth the naked and lift up those who sleep in the dust. This is why God has given us the free will and intelligence to end suffering, as well as the knowledge of God’s presence and love to give us the courage and hope to fix our broken world.

This statement is delusional in so many ways. But most importantly, the author is saying two things that are irrevocable:

1. God purposefully causes all suffering on earth. He is the creator of the universe to religious people, and therefore he created all suffering.
2. God does nothing in response to that suffering because it would make people into “moral couch potatoes.”

Who would want to worship a being this sadistic?

It is so easy to see what is really happening. There is no God. Things like diseases are a natural part of the natural world. And God does not stop these diseases because God does not exist.

Another marker for delusion is the notion of heaven. Heaven is supposed to be a place where everything is perfect and wonderful for eternity. Wouldn’t everyone in heaven become a “moral couch potato” using the author’s logic?

A third marker for delusion is seen in this statement: “This is why God has given us the free will and intelligence to end suffering.” How does free will and intelligence help to stop a tsunami? And why let something like smallpox kill millions of people over the course of thousands of years, but then have it disappear thanks to science? As medical science cures diseases one by one, there is a huge problem for the author’s logic. Don’t we all become “moral couch potatoes” because there are no diseases to cause suffering?

If you are a Christian, try to think about reality instead of thinking delusionally. This chapter will help.

In this article we find a Christian priest named Kathryn P. Clausen talking about God’s love:

God’s unconditional love doesn’t have a catch

She says:

It seems that children, especially those who are well-loved by their parents, understand God’s grace better than anybody else. God is just like mom and dad. God always is there, provides for and comforts us and will never let us down. A child does not earn or even necessarily deserve a parent’s love, but he gets it anyway. So it is with God.

Imagine how much delusion it takes to say, “God is just like mom and dad. God always is there, provides for and comforts us and will never let us down.” God is imaginary, and therefore completely silent, never active, invisible, unresponsive in every way. In other words, God is completely unlike mom and dad. God provides nothing at all, as demonstrated by the millions who die of starvation and disease.

How could anyone be this delusional? How could anyone say something this ridiculous and get away with it?

According to this article by Sally Quinn, Christian women seem to be looking for two things:

‘Fifty Shades’ of God

First kinky sex:

The books chronicle the relationship between a dominating male entrepreneur, Christian Grey, and a young female college graduate, the submissive Anastasia Steele. The series has been mulled by many writers who have debated whether or not this is a setback for women, to be attracted to a submissive relationship, or a breakthrough, to be able to openly read and discuss a book so sexually explicit that it is often referred to in the media as “mommy porn.”

Second mystical experiences:

I think the “Fifty Shades” phenomenon is about religion.

Not religion in the conventional sense of the word, but in how we are redefining faith practices today as more and more people–especially women–shun man-made traditions yet continue to yearn for religious experiences.

Diana Butler Bass writes in “Christianity After Religion,” that millions of people share her story “of growing up in a formal religion, finding that somehow chilly or distant, and rediscovering God through a mystical experience.” She continues, “Religion morphed from an external set of rules into a vibrant spiritual experience of God. Somehow the word religion did not seem quite adequate to explain what had happened.”

Which begs the question: What is a “mystical experience”? Perhaps it is this:

I once had a very religious friend who would say, whenever she had a problem, “I’ll just give it to God. I’m just going to put myself in his hands.” There always was something very appealing about that idea. Just leave it to God. In the case of Christian and Anastasia, that, with a little resistance here and there, is what she does. Once the resistance is gone, the sadism ends and the love is complete. How relaxing.

Since God is imaginary, “giving it to God” means “giving it to my imaginary friend”. Should people who think this way be able to hold positions of responsibility?

In this story, a husband and wife become rational and reject their Mormon superstitions:

I Was a Good Mormon Wife … Until My Husband Stopped Believing in God

“I don’t believe in God,” my husband whispered in the darkness of our bedroom…

When Sean replaced his temple garments — the sacred underwear he’d promised to wear day and night — with boxers, I couldn’t take it anymore. It was too much betrayal. I called up a neighbor with a husband like mine and cried. But instead of empathy, she offered questions that stunned me into silence. Was Sean addicted to pornography? Watching R-rated movies? What sin had brought him to this terrible place?

My tears stopped. Her questions were so off-base that they seemed absurd. She was sincere, and trying to help, but she believed what the Church teaches — that a man would only leave because he’s disobeying the commandments. She couldn’t understand this was a rational inquiry. She saw everything as the result of sin.

This started my brain twitching. I knew Sean was still a good person, that he still maintained the same moral standards he had when he married me. The Church was wrong about him. What else might they be wrong about?

She then tells her story of becoming an atheist like her husband.

And so, another person abandons superstition and mythology and embraces rational thought.

How could any thinking person believe all of the ridiculous and obvious mythology found in the Bible? If you would just take the time to open your eyes and see that it is ridiculous mythology, you would become rational too. This video will help:

In this article we see the utter irrationality of Christians vividly displayed:

God’s heart breaks over our moral demise

This section is priceless:

In addition, the Bible clearly forbids homosexuality (Lev. 18:22, 20:13, Romans 1:25-27; I Cor. 6:9, 10; I Timothy1:8-11). This is not a grey area open to interpretation. Homosexual behavior is seen as deviant, sinful, and outside the will of God. God calls it an “abomination.”

God wants what is best for our lives, and He gave us the Bible not only to know Him, but also to have guidelines and guardrails for daily life.

Deliberately stepping beyond God’s plan for marriage and venturing into what He clearly prohibits is a slap in the face of a Holy God. We are basically saying, “I am smarter than God. He doesn’t know what He’s talking about.” That’s pride and arrogance at its worst. God is God and we’re not, but we try to be.

Here is a Christian freely quoting from the Bible as a justification for social policy, while at the same time ignoring all of the other things the Bible and “God” demand. Death for people who work on the Sabbath is a classic. The 10 Commandments ban all work on the Sabbath and the Bible demands death for anyone who breaks this commandment. Why isn’t this man, and every Christian, sitting at home on the Sabbath and demanding death for everyone who works on the Sabbath? This video explains the problem with quoting from the Bible:

Why can’t Christians see such blatant irrationality and hypocrisy in themselves? How can they quote one part of the Bible so fervently while ignoring all the other parts of the Bible that they don’t like? This kind of behavior seems like it should be a marker for insanity.

Reading this article, you realize there are people who believe “the devil” is as real as god:

Billy Graham | Ask God for strength to battle temptations

DEAR BILLY GRAHAM: Does the devil cause every temptation we face? I admit I don’t do a very good job of fighting temptation. — C.G.

DEAR C.G.: The devil certainly wants you to give in to temptation and do what is wrong, because his main goal is to turn us away from God. When we yield to temptation, you can be sure we make the devil happy.

Who is this devil person? Who created him? Is he immortal? Who gave him power?

Why would any human being believe such nonsense?

Child’s ‘Ain’t No Homos Gonna Make It To Heaven’ Church Performance Goes Viral

The congregation in the church, which has been identified as the Apostolic Truth Tabernacle Church in Greensburg, Ind., gives a standing ovation after the child sings, “I know the Bible’s right, somebody’s wrong…ain’t no homos gonna make it to heaven.”

Imagine the mind of a Christian. Whenever looking at a human being of the LGBT persuasion, the thought running through the mind is, “an all-powerful god is going to torture that LGBT person in hell forever!” How does such poisonous, violent nonsense affect the worldview, outlook and relationships of a Christian? How does it help society in any way?

With ‘God on their side,’ Romney and Republicans may very well prevail

For nearly three decades Christian Evangelicals have tended to be reliably Republican. (Today, 70 percent of white evangelical Protestants support the GOP.) But now Mormons, Jews, and Catholics are getting on board with the party in increasing numbers. If the GOP is able to consolidate the support of the major religions in the US, Romney and other Republican candidates stand to win big at the polling booth in 2012 and well beyond.

How do Christians stomach the strong disagreement between Republican ideals and Jesus’s teachings?

Republican Taliban: Destroying America Through ‘God’

The problem with “God” is that it can close your mind, your thoughts, and can leave you susceptible to ignorance and hate. While God is all-powerful and all-loving, Interpretation by his supposed “preachers” can lead you down a dark path. I’m not saying you should or shouldn’t believe in God; you should at least follow your own beliefs and be open to new ideas. Was it, you that decided to vote for the ban on gay marriage? Was it, you that decided that evolution was a hoax? Was it, you that decided the big-bang theory was a lie? 

Or, was it your interpretation of God’s words? Or perhaps your priest’s interpretation of God’s words?

The question is, why would any intelligent person subsrcibe to so much hatred and anti-intelligence?

Shouldn’t a person who writes an article like this become an intelligent, rational atheist?

Is the God of the Old Testament a Merciless Monster?

Take this as an example:

Not only are acts such as the above held out as examples of ruthlessness by those disapproving of God’s behavior, they also incredulously point to what they consider extremely barbaric and harsh penalties instituted by God. For example, a case in point is the punishment for a disobedient son: “If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them, then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown. They shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from your midst” (Deut. 21:18-21, emphasis added).

Another example often cited is the killing of a man for violating the Sabbath as recorded in the book of Numbers: “Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation; and they put him in custody because it had not been declared what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, just as the Lord had commanded Moses” (Num. 15:32-36, emphasis added). As can be seen, the verse ends with the endorsement of God being on the Sabbath breaker’s execution. Such examples cause atheist like George Smith to comment: “The Old Testament God garnered an impressive list of atrocities. Jehovah himself was fond of directly exterminating large numbers of people, usually through pestilence or famine, and often for rather unusual offenses.”

How could any intelligent person read these sections of the Bible, process them and then remain a Christian?

This graphic gives a nice pictorial illustration of how evidence turns into a scientific theory:

Scientific theories

The more evidence scientists gather, the closer we get to the truth.

One thing the graphic does not discuss is predictions. A scientific theory frequently allows scientists to make predictions about the world and then confirm those predictions.

What evidence is there that God exists? What predictions can we make about God?

The video is entitled “ATHEIST PROFESSOR IN HELL! Best testimony EVER!” featuring Howard Storm, former atheist.

At the beginning he says, “God loves you. We are not going to hold it against you that you are ignorant. You don’t know what you don’t know… There is a higher power, and that’s what we are here to talk about tonight.”

After an operation he descends into hell and experiences terrible things, which he describes in detail.

According to Storm, here is how you bring Jesus into your life:

Don’t believe me, don’t believe TBN, don’t believe the church. Go to the source. If you go to the source and say, “Jesus, I need you, I’ve never believed in you and I don’t know if you are real, but Jesus, I need to know if you are real. Will you come into my life?” If you do that and if you mean it from your heart and if you sit there and wait and don’t get all frustrated and impatient and stuff like that. Just say, “Jesus, Jesus, please come into my life. I’ve been a rotten person. I don’t know why you would touch a piece of filth like me. But please Jesus come into my life.” He will come.

He says, “It may just be as John Wesley said, a strange warming of the heart. Where you just know that you know that you know that you know.”

This page contains the following quote:

Rev. Howard Storm was an atheist who was rescued from hell by Jesus. While in hell, Storm was subjected to extreme torment and torture by hideously dark souls. The following passage describes his conversion from atheism while in hell:

Exactly what happened was …and I’m not going to try and explain this. From inside of me I felt a voice, my voice, say: “Pray to God.”

My mind responded to that: “I don’t pray. I don’t know how to pray.”

This is a guy lying on the ground in the darkness surrounded by what appeared to be dozens if not hundreds and hundreds of vicious creatures who had just torn him up. The situation seemed utterly hopeless, and I seemed beyond any possible help whether I believed in God or not. The voice again told me to pray to God. It was a dilemma since I didn’t know how. The voice told me a third time to pray to God.

I started saying things like: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want …God bless America ..” and anything else that seemed to have a religious connotation.

And these people went into a frenzy, as if I had thrown boiling oil all over them. They began yelling and screaming at me, telling me to quit, that there was no God, and no one could hear me. While they screamed and yelled obscenities, they also began backing away from me as if I were poison. As they were retreating, they became more rabid, cursing and screaming that what I was saying was worthless and that I was a coward.

I screamed back at them: “Our Father who art in heaven,” and similar ideas.

This continued for some time until, suddenly, I was aware that they had left. It was dark, and I was alone yelling things that sounded churchy. It was pleasing to me that these churchy sayings had such an effect on those awful beings.

Howard Storm’s acknowledgement of a Higher Power led to his rescue from hell. This suggests that it is the way to leave hell.

Top GOP Pollster to GOP: Reverse On Gay Issues

Below is a remarkable document. It’s a memo circulated by Jan van Lohuizen, a highly respected Republican pollster, (he polled for George W. Bush in 2004), to various leading Republican operatives, candidates and insiders. It’s on the fast-shifting poll data on marriage equality and gay rights in general, and how that should affect Republican policy and language. And the pollster’s conclusion is clear: if the GOP keeps up its current rhetoric and positions on gays and lesbians, it is in danger of marginalizing itself to irrelevance or worse.

Millions of GOP Christians in North Carolina just voted in a constitutional ban on gay marriage. What happens when the GOP tries to swing on this issue? Do Christians rebel, or simply start quoting a different part of the Bible and proclaim that they love gays and lesbians as Jesus commands?