Scam by any other name …

A new billboard advertisement sponsored by American Atheists in Huntsville, Alabama, has provoked the mighty army of American theists into a minor uproar over the simple declaration that all religions are scams.

The atheists define "scam" as “a fraudulent business scheme or ploy to intentionally mislead a person, usually with the goal of financial gains.” By that definition, religion has investment swindler, Bernie Madoff, looking like a land fill rag picker in the grand universe of scams.

Fox News, Bill O’Reilly, devoted a segment of his popular show to the question of why atheists would want to “insult” religious people by calling religion a scam. That’s like wondering why anyone would want to “insult” Madoff’s hapless victims by calling his Ponzi scheme a scam.

"Organized religion is just a sham and a crutch for weak minded people who want to go around sticking their noses in other people's business," former Minnesota governor, Jessie Ventura once said. Articulate astute politician, and popular professional wrestler, Mr. Ventura knows a thing or two about scams.  But for his atheism, he might have been president.

Religion is culturally promoted for the purpose of inducing sacrifice by means of deception in conscious minds. It is a premeditated assault upon reason. At its best, religion is intellectual dishonesty; at its worst, absolute tyranny. Religion is fraud by every definition of the word.

Churches, mosques, temples, and synagogues are warrens of deceit. If religion were not constitutionally protected in this country, all the priests, preachers, rabbis, and Imams would have to go directly to jail.

I don't say all this to make people mad. Let's just be honest. How many times must spirituality be debunked before people realize that spirits are imaginary? A spirit is a conceptual abstraction in your mind. They are never experienced within the contextual reality of existence. Unconsciously you have always known that. We are all naturally born atheists.

The U.S. Constitution First Amendment Free Exercise Clause recognizes religious folks’ right to scam each other in the name of God -- an imaginary spirit who demands sacrifices – a metaphor for ultimate human Authority!

But there is a limit to this right, and that is found in the Establishment Clause – the first sentence in the Bill of Rights -- which requires government to remain neutral in matters of religion.

Theoretically, at least, it’s a constitutional win-win for theists and atheists alike.