In the distance a sun rises over the gruesome hillside called Calvary. There stand three crosses stained with the blood of the guilty. Dangling from them three lifeless corpses, in the center of them one man who has suffered and is about to make the ultimate sacrifice. As the life leaves his beaten body, he looks to the sky and shouts "why have thou forsaken me?" The sky cracks open and a voice booms down "Now that would make a great refrigerator magnet". Was this the voice of the almighty? Close it's the self proclaimed "God of the Atheists", Normal Bob Smith. A man who's voice never quivers no matter how loud the fundamentalists and Jesus-zombies whine.  Surrounded by controversy and attempts of sabotage, he stands on the frontlines of battle. A war waged within the mind of the masses. On one side the brainwashed, spoon fed delusional cross-huggers. Their minds severed from rational thought, enslaved to an idea that guilt and suffering are the only means of attaining enlightenment and fulfillment.  Bob Smith is armed with logic, intelligence, and in my humble opinion a great cynical sense of humor. This is a look at the mastermind behind http://www.normalbobsmith.com .
 
  The first question I asked Bob was "How exactly do you define your beliefs, if at all?" Bob's answer was;

  "Well, foremost, I am an atheist. I am a staunch, hybrid, thinking atheist, with no belief in ghosts, psychic powers, spiritual realms, magic potions, gremlins, karma, miracles, angels, demons, good luck, bad luck, or pelicans. Wait. Scratch pelicans.
I love the study of evolution. And science fascinates me. I'd say that I study science too, but I'm not quite smart enough for that yet. However I am smart enough to follow along, so that's what I do. I am also extremely logical. Like, to a fault. A couple friends of mine refer to me as Robob, because of my robot-like logic. My next goal is to be less Spock-like."
 
 Now if you've ever been to http://www.normalbobsmith.com or http://www.jesusdressup.com you quickly realize there is more to Bob than just robotic logic. He is creative, innovative, and a walking carnival with a cause. I asked Bob if he had a message he'd like me to get out.

  "My whole life is presently all about getting the message out in some form or another. So I suppose the answer to that one is, yeah. But who's the audience?
Message to believers?
Lose the idea of faith as a good thing. It's not. It's a bad thing. You've been taught a bad lesson that you need to drop. And drop it fast, because it only makes things worse for everybody the longer you hang onto it.
Message to atheists?
Study your beliefs further and defend them at every opportunity. Changing minds is the solution. Don't sit quiet and polite.
Message to the ladies?
I'm still not taken, yet." 

Changing minds is definitely the solution. That's not always as easy as it seems. You have to have a functional approach. Some people can be shown logical reasons and from there they evaluate and correct that which appears flawed in their belief systems. But what do you do to encourage thought in those that follow something simply because "that's how they were raised"?  I asked Bob how he suggested we as free thinkers could combat herd mentality.
 
  "Confuse the entire herd, together, as a whole. It's fantastic. It's as satisfying as waving your hand through a swarm of those annoying gnats."
 
  That is exactly what Bob has been doing. His website is loaded with pages of hate mail and fan mail, but unsurprisingly the hate mail dwarfs the fan mail in comparison. Is this overwhelmingly discouraging to Bob?
 
  "Do I receive threat mail on a regular basis? Yes. How do I handle it? As potential fodder for my site; it is all entertainment waiting to be discovered in some way or another. Even the death threats. It's all free material that I will not let go to waste"
 
  Not at all rather Bob uses it to fuel his growing number of supporters and as a corner stone for some extremely humorous opportunities to debunk the ignorance of his opposition.  Though it's not always been smooth sailing, Bob takes it in stride. As a matter of fact he even boasts the multiple attempts that have been made to shut his site down. One of the more recent attempts to take down Normal Bob Smith was made by a group called the "Laptop Lobbyists" who put enough pressure on Bob's Web Host to force them to shut him down. Was Bob even worried?
 
  "I was never that concerned for the site. I knew I could simply find another host, which I did, that couldn't be bullied as long as I paid my monthly bill.
Basically as soon as I heard from my host that they were going to drop me because of the harassment they received from the Lobbyists, I put the word out what all was happening. Eventually I got hooked up with the same host that Landover uses. He hooked me up, and they've been great."
 
  One would think with all of the controversy surrounding http://www.normalbobsmith.com and http://www.jesusdressup.com it has to be taking its toll on Bob. So I asked him about it and this is what he had to say:
 
  "Personally? Well, it's given me my dream job and some level of fame (although I have no clue what kind of fame I've got. What exactly is internet fame? What does #1 on a Google search for Jesus really mean? I have no idea.) But most importantly, it's given me something productive to obsess over. I love it, I appreciate it, and I'll do anything to keep it for as long as I possibly can."
 
  Job isn't the word for it. His list of things to do is almost as big as his stack of hate mail. He has recently been one of the subjects in a documentary called Bob Smith U.S.A. a film by Neil Abramson. In this flick the filmmakers document the lives of different "Bob Smiths". It shows that despite the fact that they have the same name, they couldn't be more different. I've yet to see this film but it's definitely on my "must see" list. Check it out for yourself at http://www.bobsmithmovie.com . Aside from this he also stays on top of these sections in his website: Special People Club, God Ate My Balls, Satan's Salvation (a hilarious comic), The Sheeples (again a very funny comic), Hate Mail, Fan Mail, Love Diaries, Crisis, Ask God, and much more.
 
  To highlight a couple of my favorite sections on http://www.normalbobsmith.com , I asked Bob some questions to find out a little more about them. In the section entitled Top 10 Worst Movies that can't be missed, Bob reviews movies like Dream a Little Dream, Welcome Home Jellybean, Roadhouse, and The Passion of Christ. I thought it'd be interesting to ask Bob, if he had to pick a film to watch by the starring actor which he would choose, Patrick Swayze, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr., or Mel Gibson and why?

  "What? No Corey Feldman? I suppose that out of those guys I'd choose Anthony Michael Hall. He's the most intense, with the most shared history. Have you seen Johnny Be Good? Priceless!" 

Super Chics is a section of normalbobsmith.com that sort of reminds me of a playboy centerfold, minus the center folds >:) Bob puts some atheistic females on display for all to see. Armed with a creative Q & A and a small pictorial, this section definitely speaks for itself. Recognizing Bob's obvious attuning to his libido, I figured it would be interesting to see if he had a favorite Super Chic, and if so would he reveal who?
 
 "A favorite Super Chic? That's impossible! I suppose that I do, but I'm not stupid enough to say. I want them all."
 
  Smart fellow! Just like a rooster in a hen house, he never counts his chickens before they hatch. While we are on the subject, I asked Bob a question I think every woman wants to know about a man they are interested in, boxers or briefs?
 
  Bob's replied with "They should wear white, cotton panties. That's my favorite."
 
  As was stated before the man has a full plate and he has no plans on thinning out his work load. In fact when I asked him if he had any plans underway, he answered enthusiastically with;
 
  "Since the movie came out, Bob Smith USA, I am trying to get some kind of show, somewhere. I've got a ton of ideas, whether it's radio, or television. I'd love to be able to do the radio thing full time. I know I could make a great show. I already had NoBS Radio! It just ended too soon. I'm also trying to get more of these gigs like the one I had at ASU a month ago, as a guest of the school's Secular Free Thought Society; to promote the movie, magnets, and myself. I'd like to go to more schools, speak, answer questions, make a scene on campus, whatever you got. That'd be a great thing to call a job."
 
  Even when the pays not there you can find Bob out there interacting with people. Whether he's dressed in his Devil-suit complete with red make up and horns or his everyday "Bob Smith" apparel, he is out there spreading the word. With his cleverly designed anti-theistic pamphlets in one hand and his devilish charm in action. He's all about removing the bible-sized blinders from the feeble minded. He gave me an idea of how many of those slick little booklets he hands out in a day;
 
  "Well, not a day goes by when I don't at least drop a couple along the way. But if it's a day when I'm in hustle-mode I may hand out 200 or more. But on a regular wake-up-go-to-the-coffeeshop-get-dinner-out-with-the-girl-go-home-and-to-bed day; I probably giveaway at least 10 or so." 
  
What lesson is there in a look at Normal Bob Smith? Could it be to study our beliefs and defend them at every opportunity? Perhaps it's that one man can make an impact on the world and elevate to internet rock star status? Can our voice not be heard louder together than as one? Should we as free thinkers loudly proclaim ourselves as the devil undisguised?