Reply #9: You've made your point.

[Rozlee]

The bible does have many books. And I have been painting all Christians with the same brush. I admit, some Christian faiths have done a great deal of good in the world. Even churches I tend to dislike like the Catholic faith have had members that have led protests against the Vietnam War and for Civil Rights. Witness one of my greatest heroes, Archbishop Oscar Romero and the admirable creator of the Big Bang theory, Father Georges Lemaitre. But, I will agree to disagree. Like Thomas Paine pointed out in his book, The Age of Reason, the only book in the Old Testament that I consider fairly free of violence and punishment to God's, or the Israelite's image of evil-doers, is the relatively benign Book of Ruth. I realize that those were violent times, but for some reason, the three god religions have tended to be the most violent of all. Not that other religions have been so saintly, but witness the genocide of 19 million Native Americans, the Holocaust, the over 400 million estimated dead from the religious wars in medieval Europe from the Crusades, the Protestant Reformation, the Inquistion, and it boggles the mind. There are many verses in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testament, that tell their adherents to show mercy and compassion. The memo didn't make it to the adherents. Admittedly, I'm the only atheist in a huge family of Roman Catholics and I feel kind of piqued. I'm trying to see your point of view and respect it. It's hard. I'm constantly getting lambasted by every member of my family for being a godless, hellbound infidel.