Says Tonya, one of my many Christian coworkers, to my coworker Chase, another, as he voices his agreement. Of course this kind of statement is commonplace in an office in which every employee (except your humble narrator, of course) is Christian. One is a youth pastor (Chase). Four others work for the church they attend (including Tonya). All except two or three (who don't have radios at all) play gospel music constantly throughout the day. Every single one has some form of Christian material in their office space. Given these statistics, I can conclude that my coworkers are oblivious to the fact that a proud Atheist has penetrated their ranks. But their guesswork isn't illogical. I mean I am a black young adult living in southern Alabama, one of many states that comprises the Bible Belt (what a ridiculous name!). But I digress. The question is why must everyone be saved, Tonya?

Am I somehow less than a human being if I'm not? Will being saved comfort me in troubled times? If I'm saved, why would I even have troubled times? Because I didn't pray enough? Because I'm unworthy of Yahweh's governance? Seems like being "saved" is synonymous to having a skewed sense of self-worth (and trust me, I know about a low sense of self-worth). Christians equate being saved to being set free, but how free are you when you have to incessantly beg your God for forgiveness or risk death and an eternity of torture? Once again, why must everyone be saved?

Maybe because being saved will give me a sense of morals, of right and wrong. So what is wrong? Premarital sex? I have no problem with that, but neither do most Christians. Smoking, drinking, gambling, cursing, etc.? I have no problem with that, but neither do most Christians. Murder? What if Yahweh told you to kill someone, would you do it? You wouldn't be the first. Yahweh told Andrea Yates to kill her children. Can you fault her for trying to get to Heaven? Morals come from having the maturity to realize that you will get more out of life by treating people as you would want to be treated. You shouldn't need the Bible to tell you that. So why must everyone be saved?

Maybe I should be saved just to reduce my chances of going to Hell. Maybe I shouldn't take a chance at being wrong. Oh, how faulty your reasoning is. Everyone who has ever walked the face of the Earth has taken a chance of being wrong. A follower of any one religion dismisses all the other religions as mythology and has deemed them all wrong. And if I am wrong, who says I'll end up in Yahweh's Hell? Maybe it'll be Hades. Maybe it'll be a Hell belonging to a religion not yet discovered by man.

I've run out of reasons to dispute, so you all tell me. Why must everyone be saved?