The following is a guest post by Richard Collins and is being reproduced from Helium.com. Richard’s blog, The End of Hereditary Religion, contains information and resources for persons dedicated to saving children from childhood religious indoctrination. He also maintains a Facebook group by the same name, as well as Apostate Alley, a directory of resources for people who have left their religion and need some support.

Abrahamic religion refers to the three prevalent monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam that claim prophet Abraham as a part of their sacred history. There are approximately 3.8 billion people in the world that belong to an Abrahamic religion. (Source is the free encyclopedia, Wikipedia.)

Throughout history all three religions have used their holy texts to systematically enforce strong sanctions against their opposition. Whether called non-believers, free thinkers, atheists, or agnostics, the punishments range all the way from tribal shunning to death by stoning. If you doubt this, pick up any King James Bible, the Hebrew Bible or the Koran and read carefully. You will find an appalling number of hateful, intolerant, barbaric instructions like these from the bible:

“Whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.-2 Chronicles 15:13

Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.- 2 Chronicles 19

If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known … thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwords the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die.-Deuteronomy 13:6-10″

An aside: does this mean that after you brutally murder your disloyal friend or relative the rest of your frowning band comes out to pelt the dead body with stones? Need we wonder long that atheists had little stomach for openly avowing their non-belief?

But what about Muslims, whose public relations machine widely trumpets them as “peaceful people?” Before you sign up to be a Muslim you better be sure that is what you want, because technically the Koran prescribes a barrage of stones should you subsequently convert to another religion. Apparently, Muslims have an unending supply of rocks they are eager to use. Doesn’t any religious person ask themselves why these barbarous iron age prohibitions and cruel punishments still grace the pages of their holy books?

In 2006 a vindictive Shariah court in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan imposed a death sentence on 41-year-old Abdul Rahman for converting to Christianity, 16 years earlier. Poor hapless Abdul was only saved

because of a worldwide outcry against the court’s backwardness. The eventual solution to this international crisis was to spirit Abdul out of the country by plane. And how did the court learn about Abdul? His loyal god-besotted family ratted him out, in accordance with the instructions in the Koran. Although Abdul was given the opportunity to return to Islam and all would be forgiven, he refused. He may be unwise, but Abdul Rahman has integrity to spare.

Looking at history dispassionately, god-sanctioned bigotry and intolerance has accounted for untold hardship, misery and death over the centuries. In modern times, shunning may not sound like a severe punishment, but because humans are social animals and throughout history have organized themselves in tribal fashion, being shunned by your tribe can wreak emotional devastation. Believers, take this stuff seriously notwithstanding that the average person who attends smiling Joel Osteen’s Lakewood megachurch probably would stop short of stoning their family members. One hopes.

In Europe where the enlightenment has been more strongly embraced, atheism is now cheerfully accepted. Historians and those who study such matters believe Europeans turned away from religion in droves because of their long history of religious wars that created so much misery. People finally wised up. Why kill each other and destroy property over improbable, unproven, and might we suggest - improvable beliefs? Thankfully, in Northern Ireland, the last vestige of a hateful, religiously sanctioned war has finally sputtered to a close.

On this side of the Atlantic our awakening has only recently come about. In large part, we can thank the brilliant writing of atheists Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, A. C. Grayling and others who have recently produced seminal books, broadly and forcefully attacking organized religion. Their books have become a publishing phenomenon that has left apologists gasping and sputtering for replies. So far, the best they can come up with is to accuse Pol Pot and Stalin of atheism, so there! Sometimes the more rabid among them include Hitler, but there is reasonable doubt about his exact standing as a Christian.

In addition, the strident, backward, fundamental Christians, who insist the entire country must follow their mean spirited, narrow way of thinking, are now in disarray. The cycle of dying religious fervor on this side of the Atlantic is finally coinciding with the progress of our enlightened European neighbors.

The horrors of September 11, 2001 signaled the beginning of the end of the spell cast by religion; and not a moment too soon. Religion is indubitably the enemy of civilization when an atomic bomb can be fit into a briefcase or airplanes can be blown from the sky with liquid ingredients commonly available at your local Wal-mart and hardware store. Likewise, fertilizer and diesel fuel are easily acquired in this age of do-it-yourself bomb factories. Truck rental businesses scrutinize customers far more carefully these days you may be sure.

So what about fanatics? Ultimately, all religions are structured in a way that almost invites fanaticism because there are no effective counter controls. If your Abrahamic religion veers off into fanaticism, you cannot protest. It says right in the book you will be cast out or worse. Enough, is enough. Humanity must outgrow childish fantasies if we are to progress in the twenty-first century.

Atheism versus religion is no longer simply an academic exercise in philosophy. Atheism may offer our only sane hope for survival.