A perfect and loving being created us all 6000 years ago only to realize that his creation was flawed. So, he damned us all to a punishment of eternal burning. He was a loving God and really didn’t want us all to burn forever for how he created us, so he devised a clever way to forgive us after thinking about it for 4000 years. Have a son and kill him, and ask that we accept the zombie as our lord. We will still have sin but it will then be OK to be how he created us. Thank god we weren’t part of the unfortunate who didn’t have the luxury of accepting a zombie into our hearts. We can now go to heaven where the greatest thing our minds can devise is reality.

If you don’t believe all of this you deserve to burn in hell forever. End of story. You cannot even be good while you are writhing and screaming in pain for five years and be absolved of your punishment. Not even ten years or one hundred. Not even a million years, you deserve this punishment for not believing the irrational and unbelievable.

It’s the fact that you subscribe to this mindset that concerns us atheists and sickens us. How terrible a mindset to accept this as truth. No wonder you look down on such wonderful members of society. According to your beliefs we deserve an overkill of punishment. You say “our beliefs are not offensive to you,” but as you can imagine, we grow weary and critical of the constant terror and threats of hell while you laugh at the thoughts of our suffering, all associated with your beliefs.

So when someone asks us “what is your religion?” as if to set us up to fail, we hear, “will you be burning forever?” We would appreciate it if your terrorism and threats weren’t shoehorned into our lives in every way you can devise.

When we read, “In god we trust,” we think about all the children who have died unnecessarily at the foot of their parents, refusing to seek out scientific medical treatment and “trust god” instead. We think of all the churches that were struck by lightning because the members chose to “trust god” instead of the newest technology called lightning rods to protect them instead. We think about all the supposed “witches” who were dragged from their families and burned until they had no more life for causing the church to be struck. We think about the starving nations who “trust god” to bring rain and water their crops instead of allowing mass amounts of parents and children alike to die from something a loving god could easily fix. We think about a man trapped in a wheelchair who never got to ride a bicycle or run as a child, who lost limbs when he was just a baby because he was caught in a war zone – a battle that each fighter vowed to “trust god” because each side’s god was the better choice.

A great many atheists remember how we would “trust god” in our everyday lives only to be let down time and time again and finally lose the justification that “god works in mysterious ways,” and finally be free of this confusion. When we realize the bottom line, “worship me or burn,” we cannot ignore the question of just how benevolent this god actually is. If this god does, in fact, exist like you say, then we choose not to worship him as we wouldn’t feel he deserves it with all the turmoil and suffering this world provides to so many innocent people.

We are definitely proud of you for not being offended by our cries to stop the madness, trust in humanity and finally live in peace. It must be tough for you to do so.

- Ray Dickerson