by MtlRedAtheist

Last week was the 9th anniversary of my grandmother's passing. She died on my mother's birthday.

I decided to visit her grave site for the first time since the funeral 9 years ago. I needed to have some alone time to remember her. The circumstances surrounding her death were rather terrible, but I needed to revisit them. I needed to say a final farewell and set her to rest in my own mind. Aware she could not hear me, I still shared a few personal words with her. I felt I owed myself the therapy.

I loved her very much. Sometimes I get emotional, when I see her strong features in my children's faces. I see her in my father and his sisters and when I look in the mirror and a sadness comes over me, because I miss her.

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by Patricia

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Some of you might of seen me around posting from time to time on a few things, but not really know who I am or what I am about.

Well let me start by saying my mum is a Catholic, born in Egypt where most of the country is Muslim who hate Christians (she claims) and would say disgusting things to her. In the end she immigrated to the land down under where we enjoy the black salty yeasty brewers tar known as vegemite.

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A letter from Mikel

Image by bhardy via Flickr

I was thinking back on times I had questioned a religious teacher, and thought up a short list of questions I asked. I asked all of these perfectly sincerely, maybe a bit naively. Anyone is welcome to try answering--most of the time I was just given "that look" as if I was just trying to disrupt the lesson, or was told that "that's just what we believe."

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Image by char1iej via Flickr

A tribute to some famous televangelists. Would Jesus Wear a Rolex, performed By: Ray Stevens. Written By: Chet Atkins and Margaret Archer.

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by agnosticator

Once again, I am reminded of the primary difference between a "true" Christian and the rest of us. Here is a quote from a Christian in the forums:

"Christians are capable of greater levels of love than unbelievers. Not because of who we are; but because of God's work in our hearts."

This is an example of a common belief shared exclusive to believers. They are better than anyone else because God touched them and made them special. But not only special, God makes them superior in every way. They magically become more empathetic, more honest, more loving, and morally superior. Simultaneously, they possess a mean streak; an attitude that is palpable to those unlike themselves. This is the arrogance of faith.

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by Jon Castro

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To His Majesty the King of Kings and Lord of Lords,

For years and years we asked, yet did not receive. Sought, yet did not find. Knocked, yet were never answered. Did we not ask enough? Seek enough? Knock enough? Truly you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you have not scattered seed. In vain we rose up early, and in vain we sat up late. Your ear did not attend to our cries and in you we found no mercy. You set us in slippery places and cast us down to destruction.

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by Sharon

Image by davidsilver via Flickr

Oral Roberts, the 91 year old founder of Oral Roberts University, now semi-retired, has taken to reminiscing on the Christian TBN network, about how he founded the University that bears his name. His fond remembrances of how "God" revealed to him the "seed faith" theology (a coin he termed), is enough to make any fiscally responsible persons' blood boil !

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by Godless Vagabond

Image by TimOve via Flickr

My life has been the epitome of cognitive dissonance. When I was a little girl in church I remember wondering why there wasn't a goddess because it didn't seem fair that the boys had a divine role-model and I didn't. I also knew that women are moms and if we were all children of god and if he is father in heaven and if we were made in the image of god then there should be a goddess mother somewhere...

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by TheWrathofDog

I grew up in a religious household. I don't mean that we were Fundies or any such nonsense, just that we were a typical middle-class family living in a "Leave It to Beaver" suburb and we attended church and Sunday School every week until I was 10 years old.

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The young man in the following video interview on the Tyra Show is no longer gay, he says, because an unclean spirit was cast out of him one day at church.

After listening to this young man talk, what do you think? Is he still gay?

And what do you think about his "pastor?"

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Whydowebelieve's plans for a lovely picnic at Huntington Beach are interrupted as Ray Comfort shows up to tell him that knowing Jesus is like knowing Comfort's wife.

We felt compelled to expose these falsehoods to his gathered audience in the same way our blog challenges religious beliefs in other arenas.

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A South Carolina pastor is arrested after an Internet Predator sting by Greenville Police.

44-year-old John David Helmuth, of Pelzer, was arrested on September 22.

Investigators say he was attempting to solicit sex from a 13-year-old girl over the internet.

He was actually talking to an undercover police officer.

Police say he arranged a meeting with the “girl” and he was arrested at the predetermined location.

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The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Bart D. Ehrman talks with Jon Stewart about some of the inconsistencies of the bible, how he contends
that the Bible has changed many times over the years.

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by Louisa May

Image via Wikipedia

I have heard this argument so many times. But, to be honest, it did not take me much time to invent my own theory.

I am not very good at physics, but it is generally accepted that the universe is expanding, with solar systems bursting in and out of existence all the time. The Earth is the perfect distance from the sun to support life, and the Big Bang needed the right pressures and angles (and so on) to create the Earth as we know it. I accept this as fact. Yet, if solar systems are continually being made and destroyed, wasn't our solar system statistically bound to happen eventually, coincidentally, anyway? There doesn't need to be a God -- or a Creator -- just a continually expanding universe. And considering the fact there would be no universe if it were not expanding...

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by Neal Stone

Christians love to use the watch maker analogy to prove God exists because it takes an intelligent being to create something complex. I guess Christians don't watch much Red Green and if you've ever watched it you know what I am talking about.

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by WizenedSage

I finally figured it out. I’ve wondered for the longest time why you believe the silliest religious nonsense imaginable. And it’s so simple. It’s really not because it makes sense to you. No, you believe because you were told to believe; most of you as children, since we are all hardwired to believe authority figures when we are children.

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by billybee

Image by giveawayboy via Flickr

Dear Jesus,

Hi. You probably won't remember me, but I use to be a member of your body on earth. I know you've seen millions of folks come and go and I was nobody special that you would have noticed me. Most of the time I just did the minimum stuff that all of the other guys were doing (i.e.; praying, believing, tithing, fearing,..etc,etc...). That's why I feel so awkward ask for a special favor from you. I only devoted around 30 years of my life to serving and believing in you, so it is pretty brazen of me to expect you to do anything for me...

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In a discussion on the Rachel Maddow Show about the harm that Evangelical Christian thinking has done to the United States, Frank Schaeffer, the son of the prominent Christian thinker Francis Schaeffer, speaks out about how extremist views in religion have led a third of our population to reject facts in favor of faith.

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One in every 33 women who attend worship services regularly has been the target of sexual advances by a religious leader, a survey released Wednesday says.

The study, by Baylor University researchers, found that the problem is so pervasive that it almost certainly involves a wide range of denominations, religious traditions and leaders.

"It certainly is prevalent, and clearly the problem is more than simply a few charismatic leaders preying on vulnerable followers," said Diana Garland, dean of Baylor's School of Social Work, who co-authored the study.

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The pastor of the Solid Rock Christian Center in Ventura and his wife were arrested Thursday for allegedly duping an elderly man into signing over the deed to his home.

Alonzo Gene McCowan, commonly known as the Rev. Lonnie McCowan, 49, was charged with two counts of theft from an elderly person and two counts of money laundering in an amount that surpassed $500,000, according to a felony complaint.

His wife, Kimberly Ann Oglesby McCowan, 45, is charged with one count of grand theft and one count of money laundering in the same complaint.

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by Larry Spencer

Image by smlp.co.uk via Flickr

I would still be an Evangelical today were it not for Christians overplaying their hand.

About four years ago, a decision we had to make as a family forced me to get off the fence about young-earth creationism (YEC). Having been an evangelical/fundamental Christian for over 35 years, I had always rooted for the YECs. I had had my reservations (for example, the conjecture of better-developed animals seeking higher ground during the Flood [http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v1/n1/humans-and-dinosaurs] was preposterous enough, but how did the advanced plants climb the hills?), but I cheered any “evidence” that YEC was true.

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By Valerie Tarico

Image by [Filhi][bahthi] photography ( camera damaged ) via Flickr

A couple of years back, I dragged my agnostic husband, Brian, to a Calvinist megachurch. Calvinist means God preselected a few humans for salvation and the rest for eternal torture. We sat there for an hour, goats among the sheep. Brian’s reaction? “That was the best indie rock I’ve heard in a long time!”

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by Neal Stone

We all recall the old Peanuts comic strip and cartoons. There is one scene that plays out many times. That is the scene when Lucy holds the football and Charlie Brown and then as Charlie Brown runs to kick she pulls it away at the last minute. This scenario happens over and over and Charlie brown falls for it every time.

Sound familiar? How many times I recalled God's promises that if I followed him and served him he would take care of my life only to yank the football away each time.

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by randomatheist

Image by costales via Flickr

This one man named Jesus, born of a virgin, is actually God in the flesh. He came on Earth to serve The Father's will by dying on the cross for the world's "sin." Jesus: The ULTIMATE Sacrifice.

The Gospel follows as written: The individual believes in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. The individual's "sin" is paid in full by the blood of the Lamb since 2,000 years in the past. For the individual to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the believer must repent from his "sin", accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior, and receive forgiveness for his wickedness.

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by William Howard Agnew, OD

Hello all. Praise the FSM and pass the parmesan.

My story is completely different than most I've read on this site so far.

I cannot believe the horrors described by most of the testimonials I've read here. How people who think themselves to be loving creatures of their god can be so hateful to anyone, let alone a family member, is beyond the comprehension of anyone without the psychic disease of religion.

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Skeptic Michael Shermer pleads his case before Jesus and Mr. Deity.

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by MtlRedAtheist

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The Sunday School Bible story Joshua and the Battle of Jericho describes the God ordained extermination of the people of Jericho, otherwise known as Genocide.

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by GumbyTheCat

Image by richardhod via Flickr

Have you ever rid yourself of a car that turned out to be a total lemon? Have you ever experienced the odd mixture of feelings that roil within you as you watch the clunker being towed away for the final time? You know, the simultaneous feelings of relief and happiness that you are finally rid of that worthless wreck, coupled with feelings of sadness and anger because you know how miserable that car made you and how badly you were ripped off over the years?

Well, I know exactly how you feel. A few weeks ago, I went through that very experience.

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by Mriana

(In loving memory of a WWII atheist in a foxhole; one of my heroes)

"I want you to be all love. This is the perfection I believe and teach. And this perfection is consistent with a thousand nervous disorders, which that high-strained perfection is not. Indeed, my judgment is, that (in this case particularly) to overdo is to undo and that to set perfection too high (so high as no man that we ever heard or read of attained) is the most effectual (because unsuspected) way of driving it out of the world." —Works, vol. vi. p.715. ~ John Wesley ( http://homepage.mac.com/craigadams1/WESPERF/SECTN02.html )[sic]

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by summerbreeze

One of the most disgusting displays of pompous self-congratulation ever seen, was during a T.V. sermon a while back, by Joel Osteen. I was a believer at that time, but my reaction to that particular program really hit me in the gut.

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Image by cliff1066 via Flickr

A great "forward" to fellow infidels and religious adversaries, this animated satire is a fresh new look at the familiar, biblical account of Creation.

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A letter from Gee Will

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Last weekend my wife and I sent out e-mails to notify our family members that we aren't going back to church and are actually not christians any more.

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A letter from Lisa

Image by zedzap via Flickr

My daughter went to the gynecologist the other day for a sonogram (12 weeks) and the fetus no longer had a heartbeat. I went to my daughter and son-in-law's town to take care of the baby they are adopting while they went to the hospital for the procedure.

Just got home.

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by Kristyn Rosato

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I like to tell people that I was birthed in the church, and it’s pretty much the truth. My mother’s water broke when she stood for the final benediction. I’m sure if the Bible held a clause about the importance of birthing a child within the walls of a church, she would have made sure it happened. I say this to impress upon you the fact that I was indoctrinated with Christianity since I was a small child. I was raised in Church and in private Christian schools. The path I took from what I was taught growing up to where I am now has been the biggest struggle of my life.

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Sent in by Amy

Hi! I just came across this site and I wanted to share MY story. I was raised by two Catholic parents in Maryland. where I live, religion plays a major role in the daily lives of people. More than 90% of my friends are Christian, and the other 10% is predominantly Jewish.

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Sent in by Yoonhee

Hello!

I'm a Korean woman who's in my late 30's.

I worked as an English teacher for a while, and now I work as a freelance translator. I visit the Korean anti-christianity site quite often, and I read about this site in there. Altough I'm a Korean, I wanted to share my horrible story with you. (Sorry for my poor English...)

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by Kev

Image by Chiot's Run via Flickr

I was raised to be Christian. Christianity is a religion. I think society created religion to cope with the inevitability of death and here is why...

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Image by Quiplash! via Flickr

Gay scientists have isolated the gene they believe makes people Christian.

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An Exchange with Christian Apologist JP Holding

By Kris Komarnitsky, author of Doubting Jesus' Resurrection: What Happened In The Black Box?


While getting my knee x-rayed for a recent injury, I noticed a sign on the wall saying that a radiologist’s “interpretation” fee would be added to my bill. I thought it interesting how even photographic evidence involves interpretation and how much more so interpretation plays a role in making sense of Christian origins evidence. A recent discussion with popular Christian Internet apologist JP Holding illustrates this point.

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by MtlRedAtheist

Image via Wikipedia

This is the first in a series of videos I plan on doing addressing some of the violent, absurd and atrocious Bible stories being taught to children in Sunday School around the world today.

This one deals with the story of Abraham and Isaac. In the Bible, God wanted to test Abraham's faith by commanding him to murder his son as a sacrifice. Abraham was completely willing and plotted to kill his son, right up to the very moment that God stopped him, as he passed the test by showing his willingness to kill his own son. Children are taught that this is the type of faith they should have and that they should put God before everything, including their own children, even if it means killing them at God's request.

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