I heard on the radio about a boy who had been sodomized, tortured, and killed. It seemed as if I’d been hearing about that a lot lately. 

I imagined the child, reaching out to a trusting adult, only to be slowly and painfully murdered. 

I imagined the grief the parents felt, knowing that their son not only died, but horrifically so. 

It was not even my sorrow to bear, but I broke into tears. If there were an omnipotent God, he surely would not let this happen to an innocent child.

No explanation about God leaving us to our own devices could make sense of tortured children. 

No prayers that the faithful prayed asking God for silly things, such as houses or a new job, mattered. 

No one—and I mean no person, no matter how gifted in preaching—could convince me that a “kind and loving God” sits watching over us while allowing ininnocents to suffer. 

The God of the Bible—with all his supposed omniscience, power, and fatherly love—had failed as a parent. 

In an instant, I lost my faith.

– Excerpt From: Mitchell, Deborah. “A Parent’s Guide to Raising Kids without Religion.” Sterling Ethos. iBooks.