Of all the big ideas in the history of the world, I have just confirmed with common sense that Christianity is unequivocally the dumbest.

You probably want me to back that up, put my money where my mouth is, etc. No problem, because the following news story is priceless.

The Smalkowski family lives in Hardesty, Oklahoma. Their daughter, Nicole, attends (attended?) Hardesty High School and played on its basketball team. One day, Nicole, an atheist like her father, Chuck, was asked to stand in a circle with her teammates and recite the Lord's Prayer. Nicole bravely refused and, as a result of absolutely impeccable reasoning by school officials, was kicked off the team.

These officials did not know that Nicole is an atheist. When they found out, they began spreading lies about her to justify the dismissal.

When Chuck found out about this, he, his wife, and Nicole went to talk to Hardesty's principal, Lloyd Buckley, at his home. Unfortunately, the Smalkowski family apparently interrupted Lloyd from a regular hypnotherapy session and he was unable to reverse his regression to the mind of a three-year-old. Lloyd answered the door in no mood to talk. Instead, with his infantile state of mind, he tried to pick a fight with Chuck by hitting him. Fortunately, Chuck blocked the blow.

Lloyd didn't like that, so he filed assault charges. Then, he did something really interesting. He offered Chuck and his family a chance to have the charges dropped. The catch? Chuck and his family would have to pack up and leave the state of Oklahoma. Not Hardesty. Oklafuckinhoma.

Well, naturally, Chuck couldn't accept that "bargain." That made Lloyd mad again, so he did what any sane person would do and added a felony to his threat. Yeah, that'll convince them to accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior.

Chuck realized that he needed outside help, so he talked to someone at American Atheists, the largest atheist organization in the US. They did help and the jury in Chuck's trial took less than two hours to unanimously find him innocent of every dumbass charge.

In an article posted to their website on June 26, American Atheists described the significance of the Hardesty trial as follows:

The true significance of this trial is that this is the first case we know of in American jurisprudence where Atheism has been directly used in as a defense in a criminal trial.

Edwin introduced himself to the jury as National Legal Director for American Atheists and asked the prospective jury in the Oklahoma panhandle if they could accept the testimony of an Atheist over that of a professed Christian. When the jury looked at him blankly, the judge asked the prospects if they understood the question. One woman spoke for many in the group by asking "What is an Atheist?" Edwin explained that an Atheist was a person who did not believe in a god or gods or in a supernatural world, and that the defendant and his entire family were such persons. Many of the prospects said they could not believe such a person over a Christian and were struck for cause. To their credit, many members of the jury panel, including two ministers' wives, told the judge they could not be fair to an Atheist in such a situation and were excused.

Edwin also told the prospective jurors that his co-counsel Tim Gungoll believed Jesus Christ to be his personal savior and that Tim was a practicing Roman Catholic who asked if the jury might feel him a hypocrite to his faith for defending Chuck. Ultimately a jury of twelve was seated who had sworn that they could believe the testimony of an Atheist over that of a Christian.

In closing argument, Edwin told the jury that it really should not be necessary for an Atheist to tell them it is wrong to lie under oath, as he reminded them the Christian school officials and the police had done in their sworn trial testimony. "Thou shall not bare false witness against thy neighbor. Ninth Commandment. Eight if you are Roman Catholic," Kagin said.

The jury believed the Atheists. Unanimously.

The night of the verdict, tornados of unusual violence descended on the panhandle of Oklahoma. The home of the Principal who had brought the false charges against Chuck Smalkowski was severely damaged.

This fact has no relationship whatsoever to the verdict.

A civil lawsuit in Federal Court, with the Smalkowski Family and American Atheists as Plaintiffs, is contemplated. (source)

That is significant. What I find even more significant from my point of view as someone who doesn't have to see a church around every street corner anymore, is that the principal of a high school, who we assume didn't get there without a few brain cells and somewhat of a commitment to education, turned into a three-year-old with a commitment to fighting and whining.

What in God's name could do such a thing to a person? Do you know of anything that would make someone act that insane? I can think of several. Islam is one and sports is another, but I'm thinking of something else, something that has slowly and surreptitiously taken partial or total control of the minds of 2.1 billion people around the world. This army of 2.1 billion salvation-hungry, selective-parts-of-the-Bible followers is trying its best to win the war of ideas and turn the other 4.5 billion people equally insane. That's scary.

What's even scarier is how truly dumb this idea is. Christianity is a religion that tells people they were created with a flaw by a perfect being and are responsible for fixing it or they will suffer eternally. In other words, it's your fault that you were given a fault by a faultless creator. How fucking dumb is that?

Now, do you see why I think theists—or at least Christians—must be on average less intelligent than atheists? They have the mind of a child, and they like it!