There are no depths that they won't delve. The limits to their fear inspired hatred and sanctimonious bigotry are boundless. To them, terror is a tool of God.

Halloween in the United States has become a fun-filled time of year where we, as American citizens get to relieve some tension, seek our expression and engage in costumed silliness. For children, this usually means acquiring huge amounts of tooth decaying candy. For adults, it often involves having one too many drinks and getting our freak on at least once every Fall. For fundamentalist Christians, it is the perfect opportunity to mask religious intolerance and faith-based fervor as harmless seasonal fun.

Demons cackle as gays, promiscuous hedonists and unwed mothers are cast screaming into the flames.

The war waged on sexuality by evangelical Christians is ongoing and ever changing. One of their more twisted incarnations is the "Hell House", which is cleverly disguised as a benign Halloween attraction but is actually a mind numbing modality designed to indoctrinate young people into zealous fanaticism... and has in recent years emerged as a driving force of ignorance, if not a sado-masochistic way for fundamentalist Christians to get their freak on. Patrons who enter the Hell House are led through a series of rooms where actors play out short and graphic vignettes depicting sin and its consequences in an attempt to frighten the audience into a Christian view of morality. Common examples include abortion, use of alcoholic beverages, adultery and pre-marital sex and homosexuality (I've yet to see a vignette about swingers... so let's keep our fingers crossed). Demons cackle as gays, promiscuous hedonists and unwed mothers are cast screaming into the flames. Hell houses typically emphasize the belief that anyone who does not accept Christ as their personal savior is damned to Hell. At the end of the tour, the group is typically saved by Jesus... who is nice enough to provide them all with complimentary cookies and punch... which is always the perfect snack when you've just returned from Hell.

Picking up the intemperate torch dropped by fellow sadist, the late Jerry Falwell, the equally intolerant Pastor Keenan Roberts of Colorado has turned "Hell Houses" into a national phenomenon. Oh, he's a gem, that Pastor Roberts. His justification for a "God" who allegedly loves us, but who would banish us to an eternity of torture in a fiery hell is based on an untruth that has been said so often, and with a vehement enough conviction that over time it has just become accepted as conventional wisdom in this country. The reason theists are able to rationalize an inhuman level of cruelty that a "loving" God would bestow upon us is based on the lie that "Belief is a Choice".

That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

When confronted with the absurd notion that an invisible, all seeing, all knowing, omnipotent force of creation who loves us, but would gladly torture us for eternity if we don't appeal to his vanity, the inane reasoning that fundamentalist Christians employ is that we all have a choice what to believe. But if our beliefs are different from theirs, well, er, sorry Hymie, you had your chance to repent. So for all you Muslims, Jews, agnostics, and Buddhists out there...tough luck, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

It all seems so simple (which is convenient for the simple-minded), except for one small problem that these self-indulgent "fundies" refuse to acknowledge. Which is that they are simply attempting to justify their own fear and bigotry. Contrary to what they would ignorantly claim... Belief is NOT a choice. Belief is what the acumen of our life's experience tells us is the truth. No one has any control over that... but when people are terrorized into denying their intellectual acceptance and make claims to the contrary, the applicable word is DENIAL.

Could any freethinking person decide to believe in something that they didn't? Could anyone reading this draw a rational conclusion that they suddenly believe in the tooth fairy, because enough people are making the claim that if they don't, the tooth fairy herself will expatriate you to a millennium of anguish? Could any of us simply "choose to believe" that tonight, should we place a bi-cuspid underneath our pillow as we enter slumbering bliss that some warped, ego-maniacal bitch in a tu-tu will meander on into our bedrooms and replace it with loose change?

By using raw chopped meat and fake blood as props, these maniacal sadists are instilling fear of sex in children before they've even learned the concept of sexuality.

What myopic and egocentric bigots like Pastor Keenan Roberts refuse to accept is that they aren't actually "converting" anyone. The best they can hope to achieve is to frighten people into abjuration. Fear is never a motivating factor in people's faith, rather it is the logical conclusion drawn from their own discernment and intellectual truth. But to narcissistic opportunists like Roberts, that doesn't make a difference.

Oh, but this gets worse. Claiming that the ideal age to subjugate easily led people is 12 (meaning that some children are even younger); Pastor Roberts has relegated his ministry to nothing more than cult status. He forces youths to endure the brainwashing Hell Houses offer. Robert's Ministry is utilizing the same tools as other organizations who use religion as a front to forward their own amoral agenda... and that is to impose their sanctimonious will on others... and make a tidy tax free profit.

The people operating the Hell House franchise are nothing more than sadists who get their jollies terrorizing young people in their formative pubescent years. These psychopaths have actually developed a "Hell House Kit" that they sell to various churches around the country so that everyone can join in on the hate filled fun. By using raw chopped meat and fake blood as props, these maniacal sadists are instilling fear of sex in children before they've even learned the concept of sexuality. Teaching fear before fact is the essence of fundamentalism.

Historically, the most nefarious atrocities that mankind has ever conceived have all been done because people felt that they were acting in accordance of the invisible man who lives in the sky. The chronicles of humanity are wrought with accounts of tyranny, oppression, torture, and murder... all done in the name of God. If the atheist writing this article is wrong, and there actually is a God up there, I'd like to think he would detest bigotry, hatred, self-righteous indignation.

Faith cannot be acquired through fear... and belief is never a choice.

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