by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
In a startling example of secularism running amuck, a new software program called GodBlock promises parents and educators to protect their children from online “religious propaganda.”
According to the GodBlock website, the new web filter targets religious content on websites and offers to protect kids “from the often violent, sexual, and psychologically harmful material in many holy texts, and from being indoctrinated into any religion before they are of the age to make such decisions.”
The non-profit organization claims that if its software is installed properly, it will test each page the child tries to visit, looking for passages from holy texts, names of religious figures, and other signs of religious propaganda.
The organization does nothing to hide its motives – which is to eliminate all religions from the face of the earth.
“In the last century, the United States has seen a resurgence of fundamentalist religion,” the site explains. “Fundamentalist Evangelicals, Mormons, Baptists, Muslims, and Jews have held back progress in science, human rights, civil rights, and protecting our environment. How can we reverse this trend and join the rest of the world in the gradual secularization of society and government?”
The site also offers t-shirts and bumper stickers sporting their logo, which is a red letter “G” encircling a fist holding a lightning bolt.
Surprisingly, the site has not only offended believers, it’s also receiving a thumbs-down from atheists, most of whom pride themselves on freedom of expression.
“I don’t like it,” said David Silverman, national spokesperson and vice presidente of American Atheists. “I don’t believe in sheltering kids from information,” he told People’s World.
However, he did agree that the Bible contained “some disgusting things” that he finds objectionable. “They’re talking about smashing babies against the rocks, talking about drinking [urine] and eating dung. There’s really horrible stuff: the genocide, of course, the hate, it’s all in there. The whole process of killing people because they’re different – ‘suffer not a witch to live’ – that stuff.”
But he went on to say that “We should not be afraid of information exchange . . .”
The good news is that according to Stephen Tomkins of London’s Guardian, as of today, no one has been able to download the software, which is leading many to believe the whole thing might be little more than a carefully executed hoax just to stir up a little controversy.
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