Prayer doesn't affect heart patients

NEW YORK -- In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that having people pray for heart bypass surgery patients had no effect on their recovery. In fact, patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher rate of complications.

Researchers emphasized their work does not address whether God exists or answers prayers made on another's behalf. The study can only look for an effect from prayers offered as part of the research, they said.

(Click here for more...)

NEW YORK — A Bronx special education teacher was arrested Tuesday for telling school officials he was being deployed to assist with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts when he actually traveled to Brazil for personal reasons, investigators said.

James Thomas, who is also the pastor of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Bronx, was charged with forgery, false records and larceny.

Thomas, a teacher at the Fordham Leadership Academy for Business and Technology, received $828 in salary for four days in October during which he claimed that he had been on active military duty in New Orleans, according Richard Condon, the special commissioner of investigation for the city schools.

(Click here for more...)

sponsored by:


How does your god stack up? With so many gods on the table, how can you be sure you’re worshiping the very best god?

15 minutes could save you 15% or more on… oh, wait. Sorry. Just take this simple test to see how your god compares. But be HONEST! If you aren’t honest with yourself, the results will be worthless and why even bother? Each question has two choices so pick the BEST answer.

(Click here to take the test...)

Technorati tags: ex-Christian | exchristian

The following is an excerpt of a podcast made available HERE.

Welcome to the ex-Christian monologues, a podcast from the webmaster of exchristian.net.

I’m Dave, the webmaster, and it’s March 26, 2006.

Here’s a comment someone posted on ExChristian.Net just this morning:

“May I ask you a question?” writes the poster. “How are you so sure that there is no god. I think I understand well the position of agnostics. But I am curious about your conviction of no god. Anybody tell me?”

(Click here for more...)

Technorati tags: ex-Christian | exchristian

A convicted sex offender who directed the youth choir and taught a Bible study group at a Waco Baptist church was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday.

Curtis Jene Smith, 38, music director and Bible teacher at Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church, 2919 McKenzie Ave., pleaded guilty Friday to indecency with a child and was sentenced in a plea agreement by 54th State District Judge George Allen.

(Click here for more...)

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL -- American’s increasing acceptance of religious diversity doesn’t extend to those who don’t believe in a god, according to a national survey by researchers in the University of Minnesota’s department of sociology.

From a telephone sampling of more than 2,000 households, university researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in “sharing their vision of American society.” Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry.

(Click here for more...)

WILMINGTON, Delaware — A 59-year-old pastor was sentenced today to three months of home confinement for groping a teenage boy and a young man who were parishioners at his church.

In November, Talbert L. Gwynn, pastor of Wilmington Church of Christ in Penny Hill, pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree unlawful sexual contact.

(Click here for more...)

The search is on for a Chenango County teen that hasn't been seen since this past weekend. Authorities believe they know who she's with.

A felony arrest warrant is out for a former pastor from Chenango County. The sheriff's department believes Lewis Lee, 54, disappeared with Elizabeth Thomsen, 15. She's been missing from the town of Sherburne since last Saturday.

(Click here for more...)

The wife of a popular preacher has confessed to shooting her husband in the bedroom of their parsonage in Selmer, Tenn. and will be brought back to the small city to face first-degree murder charges, officials said.

At a televised news conference, Chief Roger Rickman of the Selmer Police Department said Mary Winkler confessed to authorities in Alabama. No motive was announced.

(Click here for more...)

Rev Nathon Q, Dees

My name was the Rev. Nathon Q. Dees Associate Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Sheldon, Texas an alumni of The Abundant Life School of Ministry and a prospective member of the Alliance Christian motorcycle ministry.

Now my I’m just plain old Nathon living on a beach in Jaco, Costa Rica on a US government pension check for being mentally disabled from Schizoaffective Disorder 295.7 as defined by the MSD IV.

(Click here for more...)

Technorati tags: ex-Christian | exchristian

It's new — it's the podcast pages of ExChristian.Net.

Podcasts are all the rage these days, and ExChristian.Net is making its first tentative steps toward joining the fray. As with anything new, it'll start small, is incomplete, and undoubtedly there will be some hiccups as we learn our way, but in time this section of the site will surely grow and grow along with the rest of the site.

Check it out and leave your comments.

A special thanks to Tim Simmons for providing our first podcasts.

(Click here to listen to the ExChristian Monologues...)

Warning: Graphic — Religious Right Definition of a Child

by Valerie T

In light of this week's massacre of apparent children.

Lesson II: Child-ness

A good Evangelical must be able to recognize children on sight. This is because God loves children and every one is precious in his sight. He watches over them and protects them from harm, just like an all-powerful shepherd watching over his lambs. The Bible says so. Although this may not seem obvious in the world around us, when you understand the difference between a child and not-a-child everything becomes clear. You know who to take care of and how to keep from getting distracted by child-like creatures that don't merit your attention. It also becomes obvious who God wants you to vote for - politicians who prioritize children over not-children. After studying the following series of photos, you will be able to differentiate between children and not-children almost as well as God himself — though not quite, because, as the photos illustrate, God is infinitely wise and you are not.


(Click here for more...)

sent in by Max Furr

In 1961, Bible class was an elective at my high school, and I, desirous to be counted among the faithful, faithfully elected to attend. In those early days, there was no doubt in my mind that God was in His heaven, that Adam and Eve begat human-kind, that a talking snake enticed Eve to disobey God, and that two representatives of every kind of animal on earth held first class tickets for a cruise aboard the Ark.

There were no alternatives to these beliefs because there were no other religions offered, and biological evolution was never mentioned in general science or biology.

(Click here for more...)

Technorati tags: ex-Christian | exchristian

sent in by Shannon

Thankfully my parents were not and are not Christians. (The same cannot be said for the rest of my family.) In a misguided attempt to provide me with a better education than public schools purportedly provide, I was sent to private Christian (Episcopal, and later, Assembly of God) schools from grades 1-9. At these fine instutions of learning, I was taught to quote Bible verses, sing hymns, and all about how God created the earth and so on and so forth. By the time I reached the 9th grade, I had witnessed a string of hypocrasies which "tested my faith". The devout English and Science teacher ran away together during the summer between 8th and 9th grade; the Science teacher leaving her husband and 3 children behind. How do you explain that?

(Click here for more...)

Technorati tags: ex-Christian | exchristian

Julie LeMoyne and Russell Fike of Sunny View NC had been living as a married couple for almost two years before they learned their marriage was not legal in the eyes of the state.

When the couple discovered their pastor had not officially married them, Fike says he “about hit the floor.”

Rev. Larry Devon Blanton has since been charged with a misdemeanor...

(Click here for more...)

sent in by Bill

It took my wife leaving me to realize this. For years, I struggled with guilt. I was not what you could call an "active" Catholic, however, my upbringing was such that to not consider myself a Catholic was wrong, and to not follow the basic tenets of the Catholic church was a sin.

When she left, I was completely devastated. I felt betrayed, and was putting my faith to the test. I thought that God would help me save my marriage. That was 25 pounds and several months of antidepressants ago. To make a long story short, she never came back, and I was left dealing with the guilt and shame of divorce, and with the idea that I couldn't be remarried in the church unless this marriage was annulled.

(Click here for more...)

Technorati tags: ex-Christian | exchristian

Israeli Singer, Liel, singing John Lennon's "IMAGINE" with 40 Jewish children, 40 Arabic Children and Bill Clinton.

This isn't meant to be an endorsement for Clinton, Israel, or anything else.

But, can you imagine?

I can.

(Click here to watch the video...)

GUAM—39-year-old Pastor Andrew was arrested by Juvenile Investigation Division agents today accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old female known to him. JIS agents arrested Andrew on charges of criminal sexual conduct, child abuse, jurisdiction over an adult, and terrorizing.

(Click here for more...)

sent in by Steve Lee

My transformation from active mormon to exmormon gay atheist took just over two years. It's seems too easy to write that sentence now after experiencing some of the most challenging days I've ever faced. To even think about the fact that Mormonism might be slightly flawed was a mind-rattling sin, but to act upon thoughts of change was at first a seemingly fatal endeavor and ultimately the most freeing task ever undertaken.

Most people agree that the LDS church leans more toward a cult than a loving religion, but most have no idea the depths of spiritual violence wrought upon a member when practicing it. And the difficulty of being born and raised into it, makes a change away from it even more fearful.

(Click here for more...)

Technorati tags: ex-Mormon | exmormon | atheist | gay

sent in by a Texarkana man

Before I delve into any story of my struggle to remove myself from the shackles of religion, I will introduce myself. I think it only prudent to do so. My name is Mitchell H, and I am a 20 year-old male living in the middle of the Bible-Belt in a relatively small town on the border of Arkansas and Texas. This area is infested with a horribly regressive conservative ethic which lends itself to mindless obedience and rampant intolerance, which is a central theme of my story.

(Click here for more...)

HOMESTEAD, Pa. - The founder and pastor of a suburban Pittsburgh church molested a 15-year-old boy he counseled four years ago, police charged Thursday.

The Rev. Duane Youngblood of the Higher Call World Outreach Church in Homestead, told reporters he was innocent and asked for prayer as he surrendered to Allegheny County police.

The teen was molested after his mother sent him to Youngblood for counseling, police said.

(Click here for more...)

ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) -- A St. George man described by police as a pastor and teacher at a private school, has been arrested and accused of sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl, who was a student at the school.

Gabriel E. Carlin, 32, a teacher at East Harbor Christian Academy in Washington, was booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility on four counts of first-degree felony sexual abuse of a minor.

He was being held on $100,000 bail.

(Click here for more...)

I was wishing to post a comment but could not find a topic to which it specifically belongs - it is relavent to almost all of the topics on your site. I'm not sure if this is the best way to address the question/comment to you and if it's not, please tell me the best way to do it from now on.

Anyhow, to the point:

(Click here for more...)

Technorati tags: ex-Christian | exchristian

sent in by xrayman

Despite the fact that I have been skeptical of God existing most of my life, at 43 I have sincerely tried to find God many times. I was an out of control alcoholic in my mid 20's. Many of my best friends also fell into serious alcohol addiction. Gary one of my oldest and dearest friends from childhood finally stopped drinking and found God. Almost over night he became a preachy born again Christian. I really wasn't too fond of his ways, yet he did succeed in putting the cork in the jug. I continued to drink heavily. He always said that Jesus was the way to overcome my addiction. At age 27 I was married with a small child when I finally hit a complete rock bottom. My drinking took me as low as a man could go.

(Click here for more...)

sent in by Piprus

I thought about not bothering with telling my evolution to unbelief, but then as a new poster I thought it might be better to at least introduce myself somehow. It's a boring uneventful story, no doubt shared by many others here. An evolution, not a revolution...a gradual process.

I came from a small family. Two parents, two sons. My father, and his family were agnostics who never went to church, and didn't incorporate any religious beliefs into their activities or lifestyles. My mother's side was southern baptist, although my mother herself was very liberal and tolerant in her beliefs. She was never a regular churchgoer either. She was a "nominal" Christian.

(Click here for more...)

Hi,

I've come to this site off and on for the last few months to see what's being talked about and I really enjoy it. You see, I'm a Christian (as in, one that worships God and believes that Jesus is the only way to Heaven, although there is obviously more to it than that).

(Click here for more...)

sent in by tigg13

I don't remember the first time I was told about the god of Abraham. His existence and that of Jesus always seemed to be a given fact - like Lincoln or Napoleon. The bible was just as trustworthy as a dictionary or an encyclopedia. I never heard anyone questioning Christianity in any way.

The first church I ever attended was with my father, I couldn't have been more than 4 or 5 years old. All I really remember was a man in the front yelling and everyone else sitting quietly. Oh, and the round, mint candies I got for going.

(Click here for more...)

You people are pathetic.

You use a lot of big words for having the brains of a small rodent (and I am talking about anyone who isn't a christian).

What is it like to go through life not knowing where your going, or whats going to happen.

(Click here for more...)

MOBILE Al -- A judge sentenced an Irvington preacher to 23 years in prison for a sexual abuse conviction that involved a father and son, who described similar cases of abuse 20 years apart.

The Rev. Dennis Lamar Fields, 52, pastor at Bethel Holiness Church in south Mobile County, was sentenced Thursday by Mobile County Circuit Judge Charles Graddick.

A large group of Fields' friends, family members and church members attended.

(Click here for more...)

by Deamond

ORDINARY THEIST

oh, look, there's the King!


AGNOSTIC

Is... is he... is he wearing skin-colloured clothes or something?


ATHEIST

Oh, god, he's naked.


(Click here for more...)

sent in by Jeff

Well, I've been reading through this site for some time now and I figured I might as well put up my anti-testimony — if not for anything else but my own sort of closure to Christianity.

I was born and raised in a "uber-church" one of those gigantic churches that doesn't claim any denomination and people have to meet in small groups to even get any sort of community going.

Anyway, I was a Bible-thumper from the get go...

(Click here for more...)

For the second time in one week and a third time overall an Austin, TX pastor was accused of indecency with a child.

A warrant was issued Wednesday morning for Rodolfo Sosa, 48, after the allegations were made.

He was charged with fondling a 12 year-old-boy who lived in the apartment complex where Sosa worked as a maintenance man in March 2005. The boy was afraid to talk to investigators so the case was suspended.

(Click here for more...)

Despite being charged this week in U.S. District Court with falsifying paperwork to obtain $824,000 in loans to open a nondenominational church in Greensburg, PA, the Rev. Roy E. Smith, founder and pastor of the Church of Dominion, will be in the pulpit tonight.

"Oh yes, that's correct. The minute I was made aware of this, I made the board aware of what was happening, and they support me," Smith, 32, said Tuesday.

(Click here for more...)

Last Thursday, Ron Jeremy, the world’s biggest porn star, came to Northeastern to debate pornography with a pastor named Craig Gross. Gross founded an anti-porn website, xxxchurch.com, and claims God avenges masturbation by killing kittens; he also ministers to porn addicts and former adult film stars. Jeremy and Gross met at last year’s Erotica LA convention. We’re not making this shit up.

Hordes of porn-crazed students milled about the Blackman Auditorium, anticipating the titanic clash. Allison Romano came looking for “a good debate.” She also predicted a victory for Jeremy, in no small part because the Hedgehog “can suck his own dick.”

(Click here for more...)

Fort Washington Church Suspends Member Over Charges in Fairfax City

A ministry leader at one of Prince George's County's largest churches has been charged in Fairfax City with raping and beating a woman in a hotel parking lot in January, and this week he was suspended from his church duties.

The Rev. Eugene A. Marriott Jr., 41, of Clinton was the "minister of men" at the 10,000-member Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church in Fort Washington, one of the largest AME churches in the country. Marriott was arrested Jan. 14 and spent four days in the Fairfax County jail before a $20,000 bond was set. The church placed him on administrative leave with pay.

(Click here for more...)

Hi,

Well, I don't like sneeking in on people so I'll just say it straight away: I'm a christian.

I havn't looked much on your site (yet), but a few things I want to say:

First of all: I found this site when I was looking for free-to-watch christian movies and found you got one of Hovind's debates online here :)

(Click here for more...)

I had the experience of growing up in a family where there was more than one brand of religion - i.e. Baptist and Anglican. Later on I attended the Mormon Church and then later a pentecostal church. Some would say that this would lead to confusion - but I tend to think that it has clarified the fact that there are so many inconsistencies among the various denominations, that it is better to get away from everything just to think for ones' self.

(Click here for more...)

sent in by Ray

Was born and raised a catholic. Went to catholic school. Did the entire sacraments thing. But everything still felt false and hollow. A Baptist friend shared the gospel to me and I ended up being born again via a Bible study in our office back in 1986. I then joined a full gospel church. For 10 years, I was a hardcore fundie. I became music leader in our church, attended seminars, symposiums, held Bible studies, joined outreaches, left Chick tracts everywhere, I was on fire, as fundies would say. Then the cracks in the foundation started. The old Armenian-Calvinism controversy. That created a big division in our office Bible study. Whereas before, everyone attended the bible study, conservative protestants started shying away from it after that. It was painful for me because naively, I’ve always believed we were one family. Well, months later, the bible study ceased altogether. “Work of the devil,” my fundie friends would explain.

(Click here for more...)

sent in by Clay

So my name is Clay, and I'm 19 years old. I go to the University of Washington in Seattle. It's nice.

Although I have moved to different areas my whole life, I don't actually remember going to church until I was about 7, right when we moved to a suburb outside of Dallas, Texas. My Dad was raised Catholic and my Mother Methodist, and it just seemed normal that I went to church with my family every Sunday. I went to sunday school, then the church service, and when I was old enough, the youth group. I was never big on religion and was definitely not big on going to church, but I just thought I had to believe in God and that was it, that's all religion was; I was never a hardcore Christian or anything like that.

(Click here for more...)

HUNTINGTON, Ind. -- A youth pastor has been charged with fondling a 10-year-old girl in his apartment at a northeastern Indiana church.

Kevin Whitacre, 33, was charged Monday with two felony counts of child molesting. He surrendered to authorities at the Huntington County Jail and was released on a $20,000 property bond. He is the third youth pastor at Good Shepherd Church to be charged with such a crime in the past 10 years.

(Click here for more...)

sent in by Adam

I was raised in what you could call "Medieval Catholicism". There was lots of emphasis on Hell, Purgatory, blood, sins of the flesh, penance. I sure wish I could have a "do over" of my younger years, because I spent those years scared and burdened with theological bs that a kid should not have to worry about. But my past is what it is, and now I am a better person because of it.

Sometimes I think I can enjoy the present more because I am able to contrast it with the difficult past. Overall it would have been better to have a healthier, functional past, but if I had, perhaps I would not have the insight that I do now to help others.

(Click here for more...)

sent in by S.L. Nield

I come from a family of pure Atheists! My Dad and Mum answered my childish questions 'what happens when you die?' With I believe unashamed and commendable honesty 'I don't know, but you do live on in the minds of those who love you'. 'Does Jesus love us all' 'If he did exist, I suppose he would'. When I got a bit older, I found myself gravitating to Biblegod and all his works! I got involved with some intense evangelical types (Yes, they exist across here) and due to personal circumstance, I reached out and found what I was looking for in them. At 17 I( gave my heart to the Lord, which (honestly)upset my Mum and Dad. My Dad, now dead, lectured me on how it was all pretense, kiddology, as he put it, and my Mum switched the living room light off and said, 'see, that's what happens to us when we die, we just disappear, like that light did'.

(Click here for more...)

sent in by Born Again Atheist

Hmmmmmmm, where do I begin? Shall I just ramble? Ok, then!

I was born and raised Catholic. I first read the Bible cover to cover as a young teenager, and was anti-catholic from then on. I still had to pretend, as I had no choice but to attend their voodoo rituals where their priests droned on and on until I fell asleep, bored out of my mind.

My upbringing was so conservative that TV was considered evil, and I grew up on a ranch in the middle of nowhere, so my only escape was walking around the desert and exploring, reading, and...

(Click here for more...)

Victim's brother found images on defendant's camera phone.

Were it not for the suspicions of a protective brother, former pastor Donald Domelle might still be molesting a teenage girl, rather than making his way to prison.

Domelle, former pastor of the Baptist Temple of Salinas, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison on Thursday for molesting two girls, one of whom left the area to escape him.

Domelle, 65, was arrested after the brother of the second victim, a developmentally delayed teenager, followed the pastor and his sister and observed Domelle taking photographs of her. The boy later checked Domelle's camera phone and found what prosecutor Gary Thelander described as pornographic digital images of his sister.

(Click here for more...)

By Wayne O

Gen.1
[1] In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
[2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. [3] And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
[4] And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
[5] And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

(Click here for more...)

sent in by Bernard Fields

"To all the varied peoples of the world, nothing is so out of reach, yet so deeply personal and controlling, as the concept of god. My experience in my homeland showed me little of these supernatural beings beyond the influences of the vile drow deity, the Spider Queen, Lloth.

After witnessing the carnage of Lloth's workings, I was not so quick to embrace the concept of any god, of any being that could so dictate, codes of behavior and precepts of an entire society. Is morality not an internal force, and if it is, are principles to be then dictated or felt?

(Click here for more...)