Apparently fire and brimstone are a thing of the past.
One doesn’t burn in hell for eternity anymore, one simply does not set eyes on the face of “God” as due punishment. If this were true, I would imagine that “God” would probably find it a lot easier to consign the children of Burma and China, who would be at this time heading “His” way in stunned droves, to the unthinkable and terrible withdrawal of his embarrassed countenance, rather than abide forever with the collateral of his whims. Of course, the is no face of “God.” And the only hell that exists are the fears engendered in the minds of the malleable by the beliefs and superstitions of the religiously manipulated. The victims of the recent Far Eastern catastrophes are beyond suffering now. The parents scrabbling desperately among the ruins of schools for a breathe of hope, or clambering the branches of trees for the snagged bodies of drowned children, are not. And all, according to the religious, as a merciful “Super-being” looks on, no doubt, accepting the prayers of some while ignoring the pleas of others.
“There but for the grace of “God” go I” the religious would say, gratefully.
“There by the will of “God” goes someone else” the atheist would argue, ceding “His” existence as a debating point.
The more I think about religion, that is, all religions, the more I’m convinced of the fear and greed of these people. Their salvation all seems to depend upon the suffering of someone else. Surely we unbelievers are to be pitied, not thrown into a fiery pit or, as per the public relations version, denied “God’s” gaze. But, then again, what would the pious have to gloat over. Am I and my fellow free-thinkers nothing but the object of that ultimate celestial punch-line: I told you so. Are the scientists, the explorers of the mind, body, space and nature for the benefit of all, nothing but kindling to people, so dissatisfied with their lives, that they pray for the destruction our world while they greedily crave exclusive membership to Never never land. 
The land of Bedrock
Perhaps The land of Bedrock is more apt than the above considering the creationist view that dinosaurs were included on Noah’s ark in a laughable attempt to salvage Genesis from the theory of evolution. This is what religion is reduced to. The High-jacking of the Flintstones. Is nothing sacred. Yahweh, Yahweh do.
If any offense has been taken by the above, please forgive me. I’m an atheist and I already forgive you the place you’ve booked me in hell. And as you punch in your credit card numbers and make your donations to catastrophes the world over, do it for your fellow man, not as a down payment towards heaven.
