I'd rather believe in an evil god than no god at all. I am also an atheist, but oblivion seems worse than hell, though supposedly non-existence is the eventual result either way. It's a shame the gnostics were ignored. That theory of theirs on the OT god would make christianity make a little more sense. On the other hand, the basic idea of Christianity doesn't make sense and nobody has been able to answer the following question: Why would God send himself/son to be tortured and killed so that he can change his own rules? If he was all-powerful and all-benevolent, then he would just forgive people who deserve forgiveness naturally without any need for being worshipped like some insecure fool.