Answers in Genesis: Morons on a Moral Rampage

I'm an atheist and a mom. It's a great combination. I never tell my son he's sinful, evil, or dirty. I don't have to worry about him spending eternity in hell for being born with Original Sin. I encourage him to learn about science, culture, and playing nice with others. I engage in a guilt-free parenting style that lets us have a great, close relationship. I'm not "choking on my halo" here. Just this morning I was thanked by 10 individual mothers I know for helping them relate to their children better, and to form closer bonds with the kids they love. All of these women were religious, most Christian. I gave a parenting lecture last week before a group of women in outpatient rehab, who have had their children removed from the home due to drug abuse, and who are trying to straighten their lives out to be reuinfied with their families. The counselor who facilitates the group told me this afternoon that she had heard from dozens of women what wonderful parenting skills I had, and was so thankful that I came to give the talk. She's asked me to return every few months, as she has new groups of dislocated parents, and I intend to.

Answers in Genesis - a group of Biblical literalists - has purchased this recent billboard ad (at the top of the post) and created THIS hate-mongering video:



WTF?! Because God-belief is the only thing keeping kids from blowing your brains out with a handgun? And by the way, where'd that kid GET the gun anyway? I don't keep one in my house - I have a KID! Who gets into EVERYTHING! I'm certainly not worried that he's going to pop a cap in my ass. He's more likely to scribble on the walls or spill his sippy cup, but even once he's older skipping school seems more likely than shooting anyone.

News flash: People who believe in God kill people all the time. Want examples? Citations? Facts to back up my outlandish claims? Here you go!
Let's start with the biggies:

• Crusades


• Spanish Inquisition


• World Trade Center attacks
  

Oh, those are all too recent, or too massive to count? Okay, let's focus on just incidents of religious (god-believing) violence in the past month.

Four Muslims attempted to blow up two synagogues in the Bronx (but were stopped by outstanding counterterrorist police work).

OB/GYN George Tiller was murdered in his Lutheran church for performing abortions. Scott Roeder, a Christian (admittedly, with schizophrenia) has been arrested.

An American born Muslim shot two US Army recruiters in Little Rock, AK, killing one and wounding the other.

Yes, I get that these are extremists. I'm not in any way implying that all religious people are killers, or would kill. I'm just saying that neither would all atheists, or their kids. This kind of propaganda is stupid and harms our public discourse. And propaganda - be it Jihadist, conservative American, or any other kind - can lead to muddled thinking, principles over people, and murder.

Cut the crap, Answer in Genesis. And pick up a biology text book while you're at it.