James “The Amazing” Randi has spent his life exposing mumbo-jumbo, but has largely stayed away from mainstream religion. But he’s apparently reached his breaking point in this 7/25/03 column (“Why I Deny Religion, How Silly and Fantastic It Is, and Why I’m a Dedicated and Vociferous Bright”). Worth a read. About religion, Randi says the following for starters:

I’ve reached the point where I just have to unload on this subject that until now I’ve felt was just outside of the matters that the JREF handles… its embrace is of the same nature as acceptance of astrology, ESP, prophecy, dowsing, and the other myriad of strange beliefs we handle here every day… As a child, I was told to believe that savages were doomed to boil in molten sulfur if they did not accept the “merciful” deity… [who was] capricious, insecure, jealous, vindictive, sadistic, and cruel, and demanded constant praise, sacrifice, adulation, and ego-support, or the penalties could be very severe.

Good for you, Jimmy. About time you pointed out that belief in big invisible daddy in the sky is way crazier than thinking we might have some kind of minimal telepathy.