Members of a grassroots atheist group say they will tear out pages of the Bible at the Huntington Beach pier Saturday to point out what they say is immorality in the book many Christians base their faith on.

Backyard Skeptics members plan to rip out pages with specific passages of the Bible that they say portray immoral biblical law, organizers say.

“We’re not there to burn the Bible or desecrate,” Bruce Gleason, director of Backyard Skeptics, said. “There are plenty verses in the Bible that if you did any of those things today, you’d be thrown in jail immediately.”

Group members will rip out verses in the Bible such as Deuteronomy 22: 14-31, which says if a man finds his wife not to be a virgin, the community can stone her; or a later verse in the same chapter the Backyard Skeptics say can be interpreted to say that virgins who are raped will be forced to marry their rapist.

Backyard Skeptics gained headlines and some community criticism in May when they posted a billboard in Westminster that read: “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone.”

The billboard is the one of a handful raised in Orange County, including one put up in August in Santa Ana, Gleason said. The group has plans to put up another one in Garden Grove off the 22 Freeway and one on Chapman Avenue in Orange on Sept. 29.

Ray Comfort, who often open-air preaches in Huntington Beach and has an evangelical ministry television show with actor Kirk Cameron, said he and Gleason are “friendly enemies” who often discuss religion.

“I would seriously like to supply them with a Koran and maybe something Hindu,” he said. “If he wants to make a statement about God, he should spread it around a little and not pick on Christians.”

Comfort added he believes Backyard Skeptics targets Christianity because Christians are taught to “love their enemies.”

Gleason says the demonstration is based loosely on Thomas Jefferson’s Bible – an 86-page book that omits huge chunks of the New Testament, according the Religion News Service.

Jefferson’s Bible, which the Smithsonian National Museum of American History is restoring, chronicles Jesus’ life but leaves out the Resurrection and all miracles the Bible says Jesus was a part of.

“We will have copies of the Jefferson Bible (on Saturday),” Gleason said. “Out of 1,100 pages he only kept (86) of them. This is one of our Founding Fathers.”

Gleason said the Backyard Atheists generally pass out pamphlets and information at different places in Orange County to try to reach residents interested in atheism, but Saturday’s event is more of a demonstration.

He said he doesn’t expect there to be any conflict at the event because it is more about delivering a message rather than being disrespectful or engaging in arguments.

“We want to make this a better world for secular and humanistic values,” Gleason said. “We don’t believe prayer works. We don’t believe religion adds anything except a sense of false hope.”

The group will meet at 2 p.m. at the Huntington Beach pier. Their demonstration will also be live streamed on UStream.com.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7953 or jfletcher@ocregister.com

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