David Silverman is the president of American Atheists and one of the best-known atheists in America. Known as “America's loudest heathen,” a term he embraces proudly, Silverman is passionate about atheism and atheist equality.He applied the “Page 99 Test” to his new book, Fighting God: An Atheist Manifesto for a Religious World, and reported the following:
“This is not love. This is Terrorism”. These are the first words on page 99 of my new book, Fighting God. I go on to describe the terrorism inherent in the religion of Christianity, making the case that the constant fear believers have that they will not have enough faith to get into heaven makes them afraid for their whole lives -- a fear never fully alleviated unless all doubt is squashed out, or they die. The problem is, there are so many deep flaws in religion – all religion – that few people can honestly and completely eliminate the doubt from their mind. As a result, Christians live in a constant fear that when they die the all-powerful mind-reader will determine their faith is not strong enough to get them their harp and cloud.Learn more about Fighting God at the publisher's website, and follow David Silverman on Facebook and Twitter.
I go on to describe how the “virtues” of Christianity (faithfulness, charity, productivity, etc,) in conjunction with their “deadly sins” of greed, sloth, pride, etc, all work together with the fear of doubt to create a believer who works hard and gives lots of money to the church. These are not behaviors that create good Christians or good people, but good donors.
Religion sucks, and moderate religion gets no pass from me. It’s a lie that squelches, silences, and robs nice people under the guise of love. Believers are promised a bill of goods they will never receive, and in exchange work hard and live in fear for their entire lives, while breeding new believers who will live in fear for the next generation. Indeed, breeding non-Christian children makes you a failed parent in the eyes of God, even if the kids are wonderful people, because the important thing is the faith, and the fear it accompanies.
Page 99 of Fighting God is a strong page which makes points I haven’t seen made elsewhere. I’m as proud of page 99 as I am of the rest of the book, and yes, I believe the “Page 99 Test” rings true. Fighting God is chock full of new information, new data, and new conclusions that will make the reader think twice about granting religion the relevance or respect it demands.
Religion deserves to die.
Writers Read: David Silverman.
--Marshal Zeringue
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