Hello all! Back for another one of my rants. Today I will be revisiting the topic of Religion. I can hear the commentors ready to pounce on each other already. No, it won't be that kind of religious debate, today I'm going to talk about something that happened to me recently.

First off I have to explain that where I live, the majority of people believe in god. One of my best friends (Who will remain anonymous) Is a christian. Anyways, we were planning on hanging out on Sunday, just to watch some movies, play some games and have a good time. He had to go to his Sunday service first, I thought I would tag along just so that I wouldn't be bored sitting at home. For those of you who don't already know, I'm an Atheist; not that I really cared. I wasn't attending the service for any sort of Religious reason, I just wanted to spend time with my friend beforehand.

So anyways, we sat through the entire service incident free. It was a little bit more boring than I thought it would be, but that's not the point. We were packing up our stuff and leaving, when we were stopped by an elderly woman and her husband. At first glace, she just seemed like any sweet old woman. She was polite and well spoken, so I really wasn't expecting what happened next. She politely asked who I was, considering this was a fairly small church and I have not attended any sermons in the past. I explained that I was just a friend. She then insisted that she would like to see me again, and that I should come to church more often. I really wanted to stay off the topic of Atheism, so I just told her that I was only going to be attending this one time. This only sparked her curiosity, as she was then probing me for information. She was asking me things like If I go to another church or if I'm from out of town.

I finally just got fed up with her questions, and politely said that I don't believe in god. Oh man did the mood in the room ever switch. Keep in mind, I did not say 'god doesn't exist' or anything rude like that, I just politely said that I personally don't believe in him. She instantly got angry, asking me why I would, and I quote;

'Defile the church with my Anti-Theism'.

You read that right. She then proceeded to call me a heathen, and that I was going to hell. All that fun stuff. I was just so taken off guard by this verbal assault, especially considering she was so polite just a second ago. I didn't even defend myself, I just mumbled that I was sorry and I got out of there as quickly as I could.

Keep in mind, I've been called some nasty things in the past for not believing in god, so this was not new to me. I was not angry, or even really upset; It just got me thinking.

First off, why are Religious people the only people who can get away with things like that? She stood there in public, and told me that I was going to burn forever; essentially she was threatening me with eternal torture. Why is this seen as okay? Because that's what she believes? If I were to confront her and yell that she was going to rot away in the ground when she dies, someone would call the damn police.

It just reminds me of that one incident in Toronto (I think?) a few years ago where a photographer was taking pictures of the scenery. He accidentally snapped a photograph of some Muslim girl, and she demanded that the photographer hand over his camera. That's right, she wanted him to hand over his personal property because it was against her beliefs to be in a photograph. When he refused, the woman punched him in the face. When the police got involved, the woman got off scott free because she was only 'following her beliefs'. Am I alone here in thinking that that was bullshit? She got away with assault because of her religious beliefs.

Once again, an Atheist would never get away with punching a guy in the face because they don't believe in evolution, or something stupid like that.

But I am getting off topic. Today I am going to discuss this 'Hell' business. According to the elder woman in my first story, I am going to go to hell when I die. This just got me thinking, Which hell? The Christian hell? Why not the Muslim hell? They are both equally as bad aren't they? Why is she so sure that SHE won't go to the Muslim hell for not being Muslim?

Hell is not a very effective deterent for anti-theists like myself. I do not believe hell exists in the first place, so you aren't going to scare me with something I don't believe is real. Am I also supposed to be scared of the Boogyman If I don't brush my teeth before bedtime? No, because the boogyman isn't real, and it is very likely that hell isn't real either.

But what if Hell actually is real? If that's the case, I think that most of us are going there. Think about it, throughout human history, there have been thousands, literally thousands of religions. Nearly all of them has their own story of what will happen when you die. What makes the Christian hell more credible than say, Valhalla? Why do so many people think that Christian mythology is fact, and other religions are just fairy tales? I realize Jesus was said to pull off some miraculous things, but what about Thor? He accomplished some badass things. Why don't you see that many people worshiping Thor nowadays? Oh yeah, that's right; Christianity snuffed them out.

With so many religions to choose from, and only one supposed 'right' choice, choosing a religion to follow starts to look more like playing the lottery.

Maybe, just maybe, religion is just a device created by early man to explain a strange and wonderful universe in a time before modern science.

We have facts to go off of now, hence why I am not content in worshiping Mythology.

I just thank god (Ironic, I know) that not all Christians are like this.

TL;DR Version:

You can't scare me with Hell when I don't believe in Hell. There is no reason to think Christianity is more credible than other religions.