15 Good Reasons to Skip Church

1. There probably is no real God.
   
   
2. Churches spread bad ideas.
   Vicarious redemption is the idea that another person was tortured,  mutilated and died for your personal benefit. This is not an ethical concept.
3. If a real god exists, it probably isn’t at your church.
   There are at least 200,000 proposed gods in history and many thousands of sects and religions. Probably all of these gods are man made. If a real god exists among them, the chances of you worshipping the correct true god are 1 in 200,000.
4. Church is a staged, scripted repeat performance.
   You’ve already seen the show. There is no evidence a God cares if you miss the repeats.
5. If God exists he can’t care where you are.
   If he birthed you in a hospital perhaps that is where he’d rather see you worship him. There is no evidence God wants you in a church, in a park, at a beach or anywhere else.
6. The God of the Bible is not worthy of worship – even if he exists.
   He arranged for his son to be slaughtered even though Jesus begged for an alternative at the Garden in Gethsemane (supposedly). If God can’t figure out a better way to save humanity except through an agonizing blood sacrifice he is no more creative than primitive humans who were using blood sacrifice already for centuries. (Hint: this is a sign that this god is also man made)
7. Most churches waste your money on costumes and set pieces.
   Your money will heat the building, repair the roof and feed the clergy. Expensive outreach programs will indoctrinate children into attending repeat performances every Sunday and tithing – donating 10% to the church – while threatening Hell, a mythical place of punishment for which there is no evidence.
8. Churches insist on demeaning behavior.
   Your role in the Church performance is to play the obedient slave. Kneeling and praying with hands together is the customary position of a slave begging a master (a Lord) with manacled wrists and chains about their legs. It is demeaning and inhumane.
9. Church leaders lie to children. 
   There is no evidence a Hell exists. There is no evidence masturbation or condoms are bad for anyone. There is no evidence that church helps anyone behave better. There is no evidence Jesus loves anyone.
   Yet churches make claims about these matters based on no evidence at all.
10. Religions are just ideas, not obligations.
    People change religions often. Religions are ideas about reality which are completely arbitrary and malleable. Churches create “Holy Days of obligation” which are just fancy words invented by church leaders, to pull at your emotions and get you to participate and contribute to the performances. There is no evidence any god is “obligating” you to do anything. And based on the slim results of prayer there is no evidence any powerful god feels any obligations to you.
11. The Church does not deserve the benefit of the doubt.
    If a good God exists it makes no sense for him to want us to support an institution which demeans and lies to humanity. It remains unaccountable even as society demands justice in child rape cases.
12. The pews are uncomfortable.
13. Sermons are mostly boring and badgering, full of claims which remain unsupportable and silly. 
14. Worshipping gods is superstitious, primitive and wishful.
    There is no evidence that wishful or magical thinking is particularly good for people. Snake handlers, healers, gay bashers, climate deniers, evolution deniers, tongue speakers and voodoo all get vast support from churches.
15. Thank Secular Law for your right to skip Church.
    Your right to skip Church is a victory of our US Constitution – not of religion.

    “Congress shall make no law establishing a religion, nor prohibit the free exercise thereof.”

    This law strikes the perfect balance. You can have religion if you want – or not. The best way to honor such an excellent law is to exercise those Constitutional freedoms.
    Skip church.