So what's the point? To laugh at evangelicals, or to get inside their heads? I can't tell from this excerpt what this book is going to be like, but it sounds more "madcap adventure" than thoughtful.

If evangelicals want to risk social opprobrium by taking their message to the fleshpots of Daytona, why should they not? In fact, trying to change people's hearts is what they SHOULD be doing, given their beliefs--not trying to turn other people into whitewashed sepulchers by forcing them via the law to adhere one particular version of morality. I can see they might be momentarily irritating to Spring Breakers, but I have no other problem with beach missions. I guess you could sneer at it, but it seems pretty innocent to me.

... wow, that's rough.

I have to wonder what would happen if a group of atheists went to a big fundamentalist Christian gathering and aggressively tried to "de-convert" people? Or even if they did it on a regular day on the streets of any regular city?

Actually, no, I don't wonder. They'd be lucky to get away with their lives. And people like the ones the author went undercover with would be among the first to show their committment to Christ by doing their best to send these hypothetical "anti-evangelists" straight to Hell.

Fortunately for everyone, atheists don't generally do that sort of thing. We're trying to do our best in this world, not acting out fairy tales about the next.

How honest are you with yourself?

Are you really there to witness? Are you sure? Is it the best way, the best place, the best time?

Or are you there for same reason everyone else is - to have fun, to see, to vacation? To experience, even vicariously, the thrill of the sin?

The Bible is pretty clear that the lord is just as willing to condemn you for the sins on your mind as the sins you might literally commit.

Repent!

It would be nice to be so sure about things, to know that there was an afterlife and somebody looking over me, protecting me. Then I realize that this is an idealized view of the world, and that even the most ardent Christian has doubts, if not about God then about themselves.

When I was younger me and some friends were approached by an evangelical while getting some McDonalds near our local nightclub strip, and it was an eye opening experience.

I was being polite and just trying to ignore this mans hellfire preaching, but my friends were pouring scorn all over this fella. And he just rolled with it.

Now I consider it very rude to approach people on the street and tell them if they don't believe and act the same way you do, then they'll go to hell. And I almost had time to feel angry at this guy for being such an annoying arse.

But when my friends took up the opportunity to joyously poke fun at him, I felt pity for him instead. Partly for the abuse he must suffer, but mostly for the strength of his conviction in what he was saying and doing.

He will struggle his whole life for an imaginary reward.

most of these pathetic losers will convert. The next time someone asks you if you've "personal knowledge of Jesus Christ," engage them. Ask them why they feel compelled to seek social validation for their fairy tale. Why they are afraid to live in the here and now. Why they are voluntarily limiting their social experience to a demonstrably archaic set of constraints?

Who knows... you may salvage someone's life!

what kind of person belives the best way to help people and the world is not to do good deeds or to fight to change injustice, but rather, to simply tell people they are bad and will go to hell if they don't spend their life worshiping their personal leader?

lead by example? no.

give without the need for praise? no.

try to get people to join their club. yes!

and yes the point of this is to laugh at evangelicals. its funny. they are stupid. ha ha ha.

the real Sodom and Gommorrah.?

If they could preach successfully against greed, deception and betrayal they could affect MILLIONS of American lives for the better , instead of just masturbating themselves into an orgasm of self righteousness.

What a childish devil they imagine, he's puking on his tail on a corner in Florida, while the the real Satan is signing away the homes of thousands of widows and children and arranging arms shipments to 13 countries.

Hypothetical:

2 people, JOE and BOB. JOE is a pious christian, who is kind, generous, helpful, etc. BOB is exactly the same. They live the exact same lives, except that BOB does not believe in god.

Will BOB go to heaven? If not, why? and if it’s because god/jesus demands that people must worship him, and only him, then, you know what, fuck god. what a control freak!

Then I remembered that people like this are how we ended up with 8 years of Bush and my sympathies dry up pretty quickly. I think it's irresponsible to ignore the political aspect to the evangelical movement. I have no doubt rejection like this is at least part of why they are trying so hard to influence the social narrative in this country. It might also explain the phony victimhood that people like Limbaugh and O'Rielly play on.

These people are not simply college kids out to do good, they are a political force and the future of the republican party. More wars, less aid to the poor, and the persecution of gays are these kids REAL legacy. This article paints too simple a picture of these people. All those kids that volunteered for Sarah Palin? Your reading about them here. No matter how "well meaning" they have convinced themselves they are being, they are a threat to freedom and democracy itself. Ralph Reed used to be one of these kids, so did that attorney that used to work for the Bush WH and refused to testify before congress.

Give it another decade, these kids will have replaced loyalty to Jesus with loyalty to the GOP. And all the backstabbing double standard moralizing that goes along with it. They will have convinced themselves that lying about donors for whatever southern congressman they work for is doing the "lords work" because he hates all the same things they were taught to hate. That setting up special arrangements for foriegn oil producing countries is okay but supporting gay rights is the untouchable sin. Just watch.

Ten or twenty years from now it may very well be one of these kids who sits before congress taking the fifth because the guy he worked for said Jesus a bunch of times during his campaign.