There’s been a phrase around for a while now that goes along the lines of “The Bible is the atheist’s greatest weapon against Christianity” (paraphrased as I can’t find the original at the moment). I’m not a fan of the wording, specifically citing the Bible as a weapon, it suggests were in a war, or a battle with Christians. I’m no more in a war with Christians than I am in a war with the field mouse that lives in my garden. Regardless, the point remains. Many Christians have never fully read the Bible, and out of those that have, they typically choose to simply ignore that bits that don’t fit their lives.

Being fundamentally tied to a fictional book that’s thousands of years old is quite the disadvantage and Churches up and down the country are finding that out to their cost. While in the past Churches have relied on spreading God’s word to generate a steady income for their cult leaders keep people in the Church, they’re finding that it doesn’t work.

The survey found, much to Ham’s surprise, a “Sunday School syndrome,” indicating children who faithfully attend Bible classes in their church over the years actually are more likely to question the authority of Scripture.

The above quote is taken from a World Net Daily article titled, rhetorically, Why are 2 out of 3 young people leaving the church? The article quotes from a book written by Ken Ham, the nut known for running Answers in Genesis. In fact, it’s not just church that is being dismissed by those in the 20-29 age range he surveyed:

Among the survey findings, regular participants in Sunday School are more likely to:

  • Leave the church
  • Believe that the Bible is less true
  • Defend the legality of abortion and same-sex marriage
  • Defend premarital sex

So that’s everything they were taught in Sunday School then. This proves a very important point. Education is key. We’ve seen a trend over the years of people dismissing the hocus-pocus of religion once they reach college, as they are confronted by facts and not fairy tales, but here we also see that simply educating them on religion itself is an effective deterrent. After all, who could subscribe to a religion that condones murdering children, the suppression of women, homosexuals, those with disabilities and those who do not believe?

Of course, Ham sees this enlightenment as a negative thing. But who would’ve guessed that someone so deluded that they believe the earth is only 6,000 years old would be against education? Ham tries to dress his up as a conflict between scripture being taught in Sunday School and the information taught in normal School (let’s call it Truth School), and he’s exactly right. What he fails to realise is that when both sides of the argument are presented equally, it’s clear to see which is fact and which is make believe.

An article over at Politics Daily cites a number of reasonably recent studies that have highlighted how little Christians understand of the Bible. The article is in response to a resolution being proposed by Georgia Republican Paul Broun calling for an official “Year of the Bible”. I say, go for it. This is something all atheists should fully get behind. As the Politics Daily article highlights, more people believe the Bibles account of creation is literally true than know what the first book of the Bible is called. So let’s get Bibles in the hands of everyone. When they read it, and discover what a hate filled, despicable piece of work it really is, I’m sure the churches will be going out of business closing up and down the country.