h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Someone has left a pile of evangelical leaflets in the hallway of the apartment block where I live.

Now, obviously, I must do something about this act of environmental pollution. But what to do? Throw 'em in the nearest bin, ritually burn 'em, or use 'em as toilet paper?

You could post some of the most enlightening wisdoms here, so it might lead us to the truth.

Excellent suggestion, Wonko!

Right, here's one excerpt for starters: 'Remember, you don't need religion to get in touch with God or to get to Heaven. But you do need a relationship with God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.'

Er... but don't you need religion to believe in God and Heaven in the first place? Obviously I'm just not enlightened enough to understand...

Well, we don't need any religion, that's just what we say!

But I don't wanna go to heaven, I bet there's no fun there. That's what I'll ask them next time they're at my door: what is the right way not to go to heaven?

Reading that stuff, even as a believer, always made my head hurt. I used to think they didn't know what they were talking about... now I'm certain they didn't.

How about ordering a few boxes of "nontracts" from the Freedom of Religion Foundation, and dumping them out over the top?

So that's what inspired the FFFF! I'd never come across the Freedom From Religion Foundation before, but what a great website! Next time I update my Personal Space, I'll definitely add a link to it.

Ormondroyd you are so lucky. In my neck of the woods the literature is never left on my doorstep. I think they have electronic devices for tracking which people are at home.

Avoiding this brain hurting stuff is easy. I tell 'em the truth. I'm Jewish, I've read the book in Greek and Hewbrew, and I don't need a lecture on my cultural history. (Bad mood) Or offer to correct the mistranslations they are peddling.(Good mood).

This usually ensures at least a couple of months of blissful peace.

Actually, the FFFF was inspired by the same quote by Oscar Wilde(?) that the FFRF was inspired by, which says something to the effect that you cannot have freedom of religion without freedom *from* religion. It was only my penchant for alliteration that saved us from trademark infringement. I'd never heard of the FFRF when the FFFF was born.

Of course, all of this is buried deeply in Business Forum I, and should return to us sometime just before the apocalypse.

How many times have I heard the phrase, "I'm not religious, I'm a Christian"? I think it's modern, non-conformists trying to distance themselves from the church of the past by showing that they're OK because they meet in someone's front room, sing recent compositions accompanied by a guitar and a tambourine and would really love to meet non-Christians and save them.