Dear Christian,

Several times, I’ve sat down to write this to you, but each time, I think “No. Just turn the other cheek and walk away,” and I do. But the emotion plagues me and ruins my day. For me, I have to write this. For me, I have to get this out. I just have so much to say…

Dear Christian, I was once like you. I loved Jesus. I was even baptized. I loved nothing more than my Jesus. Let’s be clear, my issue here is not with Jesus or with your god. It isn’t with the Bible, which is one of my favorite ancient texts, BTW. My issue here is with you and the lies you believe as history.

I have ethics. Strong ethics. I know why my ethics are there. I went through and hand picked each one then weighed in a logical argument for each. I have decided to hate hate. I love life and am fine with all people so long as they don’t hurt others or animals. I believe a person has the right to say and do whatever they want so long as it doesn’t hurt others. I believe a person has the right to hurt themselves. I believe those people need help and I sympathize with them, but I still respect their rights. I believe in good health, mental health, and the benefits of yoga, meditation, deep breathing, and flossing. Wear sunscreen. I’ve seen skin cancer. It’s deadly. Wear sunscreen. I value education, information, knowledge, and truth. Not the stuff you call truth, but the scientific term…the legal term for truth. You know what I mean. The “truth” they use in a court room to determine guilt or innocence that could mean the difference between incarceration, freedom, and death. The truth that Doctors, lawyers, and scientists use. I believe in the strength of knowledge. I value honesty and a healthy body. I value peace, happiness, and awareness.

Dear Christian, my issue is with you who have reprimanded me about my ethics when you clearly have fewer ethics than I. I hate hate, yet everywhere I look, I see you and your communities promoting hate. You don’t turn the other cheek. You’re throwing the first punch. Hate starts with the judgement you place on others. You’re violent, aggressive, fearful, and angry. You’re the first to feel threatened. You’re the first to get angry and defensive the moment anyone around you disagrees with you. The world is too small to house that ideal anymore. Everyone is different and so many times I’ve seen you desperate to keep each and every difference in check to make sure it aligns with an ideal you inherited from your parents.

You worship a god without knowing the history. You probably haven’t read the Bible from cover to cover. If you did you would probably think, “What the hell is this shit!? I’m supposed to dip a living bird in the blood of a dead bird?” (Leviticus) You most likely don’t know the history of the text and how it evolved. You attend a community without knowing its roots. You were born again out of fear and conditioned to never question your elders who wait in ready with that label “Doubting Thomas.” I know because I was just like that once.

Oh, yes. I was like you. Scared to death of Hell and burning forever in a lava like heat because I had an impure thought that my elders told me would send me to Hell. I attended lessons where we were taught to look at others and notice their faults. “See how loud they are. notice how rude they are. Look at how dirty they are. It’s because they don’t know god.” Dear Christian, these were the words your brothers in fellowship taught me. These are lessons that I, as a mother, would punish my children today for repeating or thinking. Those lessons you taught me, this is how hate starts. This is what it looks like to teach hate. It starts there.

Dear Christian. I am writing to tell you I don’t want your hate. Keep your anger and fear to yourself. Stop arguing with me about the roots of your religion and how things happened. Just because you believe in a god does not mean you have divine truth that grants you the knowledge of that religion.

Dear Christian, most Atheists know more about your religion than you do. Sorry to say, but you’re in the dark. While the rest of us are learning through written works and archeological evidence about the blood trail your religion has created, those who are desperately cleaning up the mess are telling you not to look. Atheists can examine, study, explore, question, learn, and look at the very thing your religious elders are keeping from you. Deal with it. Atheists know more about your religion than you do.

Dear Christian. They’re lying to you. They’re telling you lies that have been passed down from generation to generation. The world is older than ten thousand years. Evolution does exist. We did evolve from an ape-like creature. News flash. We still are ape like. Ever seen a human in an emergency? We run to the trees. Trees are safe. We also have families, emotions, grooming skills, and social habits just like an ape.

Dear Christian, there are currently 989 Christian Hate Groups alive today. The KKK is one of them. Christianity means intolerance. If you are not part of one of these groups, then you are in the minority. If you think those hate groups are the exception, then you are in denial.

I once sat down with my pastor and asked him if he knew about the history of the Christian church. He said he did. When I asked him why he wasn’t telling the truth and teaching the history of the Christian church to the congregation, he said, “If I told them the truth, they would get rid of me and no congregation would want me. I’d be out of a job.” I have since spoken to a number of pastors who all said the same thing. Your pastor knows a lot about what the rest of the world knows. Christianity is riddled with blood. Dear Christian, the only one who doesn’t know this is you.

Dear Christian, please stop teaching your children to judge and hate others. Please stop teaching that you and your children are better than the rest of us because we’re not like you. There really is no difference between you and the racist hate groups. Dear Christian, the lead organizers of these racist hate groups are Christians.

Dear Christian, please stop teaching and nurturing intolerance. The world is too small for your prejudice and I’ve lost the stomach for your hate.

 

Respectfully,

The Atheist