Thanks to the folk at the Athiest Alliance
#1:
Distract Christians so they start arguing about peripheral questions like church history and the age of the earth, instead of the heart of their faith which is Jesus’ death and resurrection. We cannot answer that, so avoid it at all costs.
#2:
Accuse Christians of ignoring the scientific method, while failing to mention that Christianity is a faith based on historical events, and therefore uses legal/historical evidence, not scientific proofs. Make it sound like believing the Bible is irrational, even though we implicitly believe our scientific textbooks.
#3:
Exaggerate and misrepresent Biblical concepts and stories to make them sound inane and absurd. Then locate a Christian with limited Biblical literacy and ridicule them for believing such nonsense. Make sure you choose only the passages that seem nasty, not all the nice ones.
#4:
Use the same kind of idealistic rhetoric for which you criticise religious fundamentalists. This is really important, since you are actually promoting a faith system, you know.
#5:
Call people who bring up their children in the Christian faith ‘child abusers’. Because it’s such a hostile and inflammatory statement, it precludes a rational response. Ignore the fact that refusing to give a child any religious education actually deprives them of an opportunity to understand the foundation of nearly every culture that has arisen in human history.
#6:
Quote something ‘A Christian’ said rather than what the Bible says, as if the view of one follower represents the consensus of all Christians everywhere at every time. Ignore the fact that that Christian may well have misunderstood the Bible on that point, as well as the likely possibility that many people who profess Christianity are not actually true Christians.
#7:
Use words like ‘Secular’ and ‘rational,’ and terms like ‘freedom of religion,’ instead of ‘Athiest’ in describing your movement. This will throw your opponents off guard and make them think you are a benevolent organisation with goodwill. Heck, Christians do it with the Intelligent Design movement, so why can’t we?
New Jerusalem 