By Teal ~ I welcome anybody's comments (or even comfort that the friend I describe below isn't completely toast) who has had the soul-crushing experience I have--maybe your own struggles can help me understand this. I'm a mature adult, former teacher, and was never really a Christian (unless you count boring Sundays-only 1960's Methodism as Christianity). I am part Native American , and I believe in all the paths--except the ones that say they have the Only Path and condemn women, gay people, intellectuals, artists, etc. etc. By college, I was firmly left-wing, feminist, anti-racism, and deeply involved in the human liberation politics of my day. I went on to become a college teacher, and was finally thrust out of that vast morass of ego-driven anti-education. (The boy profs didn't like really smart girl profs, and I was one.) But life went on, I moved away from that, and found solace in the desert--I have rewarding work and still get behind all the libera

By Bob903 ~ F or me, the God I understood as loving, kind,etc; was very abusive. I am going to share my definition of Atheist, but let me just try not to offend those that really understand physical abuse . I have never been in, nor do I want to make light of those who have struggled to survive and live past a physical and emotionally violent relationship. My first memories of prayer and how to pray came from a Southern Baptist missionary, my father. This man believed the bible was the word of god and did everything humanly possible to live by his belief. This man was not a hypocrite. I learned how to pray by listening to his prayer, Lord, not my will, but thy will be done. I want what you want, I will do what you choose for me. This was a total willingness to sacrifice self, reasoning and logic to find Gods will. In the broader since he always acknowledged when something went wrong, He missed Gods will. If he had only, listened better to God this would not have happened. If y

By WizenedSage (Galen Rose) ~ A theists get to be non-believers for many reasons, but perhaps the most common is finally getting around to reading the nastier and dumber parts of the Bible. What they find there is an enormous number of outrageous stories, contradictions, and head spinning incoherence. The guys who pulled these texts together into the “official” canon provided all the evidence anyone should need to know that the Bible is not the work of a perfect god but of primitive men. Had those men done their selecting and editing a little more carefully, they might have fooled a whole lot more of us. But as they stand, those texts, over and over, make the sensible reader want to just scream, “Are you kidding me?!” In this vein, the “Jesus is god” story is one of my favorites. In standard Christian teaching, Jesus is god. This dogma is expressed in the trinity concept where god, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are thought to somehow be one entity in a kind of “new math” where 1+1+

By Carl S ~ T here are different types of confession. There is confessing to wrongdoing, confessing as used in praising, and the romantic one expressed in the song title, “I‘m confessin' that I love you.” An old adage: Confession is good for the soul. Supposedly, ordinary people do feel better, even relieved, after “fessing up” to a misdemeanor. Another kind of confession was one common in my primary family, where each member was encouraged, in the words of my dad, to join him and to “get it (your grievance) off your chest.” This didn't resolve anything, because he was always drunk at the time he said it. But, such confessions did have the result of venting pent-up resentments. Nevertheless, both in one-on-one interactions and societies, confession is usually accepted as a good idea. This is deceiving. Let's look at confession as a loss of power and a tool to control through power. Police officers interrogate suspects in order to obtain confessions. Sometimes their

By Tim R. ~ I never, in a million years, would have thought that I would lose my faith in God. I was "saved" when I was seven years old at a vacation bible school at the church my family attended. It was a Wednesday night. We had finished our game time and snacks, and we were all filing into the sanctuary to here the message. The preacher began telling how God made us and loved us very much, but that we were sinners, unable to do the right thing and obey God. He explained that God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to die for our sins so that if we believed in him, we would go to heaven when we died instead of hell. I had heard this message many times before and was convicted by it. That night, I decided I would pray to be saved. I walked down to the front where the preacher, my aunt, and cousin all lead me in a prayer to ask Jesus into my heart. It was a very emotional experience for me. I believed I was truly saved. I spent pretty much all of my teen y

By xtify ~ I finally decided to tell some of my story, for whatever it is worth. My parents became born again Christians when I was seven years old. Prior to that, my childhood was full of bad experiences of domestic violence and bullying from my older siblings (I was the fifth child of six). Things had been so bad right before they converted that both my parents were regularly attempting suicide. Both my mother and father would take the gun with them out behind the barn and tell us all they were going to end their lives and then fire the weapons so we would all be in tears. Then, thankfully, we would see them coming back to the house and we would hug them and thank them for staying alive. Whatever was going on inside their mentally ill minds, I guess they were coming to the end of their ropes, and then, the ANSWER presented itself. A couple who were pastoring the Pentecostal church in a nearby town somehow became involved with my parents. I am unclear as to the detail

Sent in by DealDoctor ~ D id you see the debate between Bill Ney "the science guy" and the Crazy Creationist guru,Ken Ham which happened right at the come let us dupe you Creationist Museum in Kentucky? If there was anything that should change a fundamentalist I believe the bible from Genesis to Maps believer person it is the plain, simple statement of the facts by Bill Ney "the science guy". Then again you can't fix stupid and facts have a hard time changing the Faithful. Check out the debate in the video below and see what you think. Imagine if you were still a crazy headed dogma filled believer and that you were in the audience would what you hear change you? What happens when facts meet faith?

By Carl S ~ H ello, it's Diznie, reporting from Jerusalem, planet Earth, year here 38 C.E. (Some call this year 38 AD . I think it means “attention deficit,” which seems to be common around here.) I hear interesting stories about a man who made quite an impression around here within the last years of his life. (No, he’s not the one who has disciples preaching and begging in his name, the famous Harvey Chrishna.) The word is that this man was a rabbi, meaning that he was one of the few around here who could read and write. And boy did he write! He had so much to say, and spent most of his life leaving behind his thoughts for posterity. In fact, it's claimed that all the books in this world could not contain the tales of his life. So, where are those writings? The word is that his followers destroyed them. Because they had their own version of their idol, they changed his “image” for their own purposes, and made up what they thought he should have said and done. I've co

By Valerie Tarico ~ C oca-Cola’s America the Beautiful ad on Super Bowl Sunday aimed to be a celebration of diversity, showcasing the many ethnicities that make up our modern social fabric. Right wing pundits jumped on the ad as a symbol that White Christian America is under assault. Not surprisingly, the Left reacted by praising and sharing the ad all the more because Right wingers hated it. To criticize the ad from the Left, then, is like rooting for the wrong team in the Super Bowl itself. But according to some liberal and secular Muslims , Coca-Cola did women no favor by choosing the hijab as one of their symbols of diversity. Americans value diversity in part because it is a proxy for another cherished value: freedom. Different styles of clothing and hair, skin colors, and family configurations are symbolic reminders that here in America we are free to pursue our quirks and interests, to become the best we can be, to love whom we love, and to worship (or not) as we see fi

By Cody ~ H ello fellow Ex-Christians . Early in January I posted my situation in the " Kind of Lost " headline and I read through all of the commentary and the supportive responses from all who did so. I just wanted to say thank you to all who had anything to do with it like those who gave advice and their own personal testimony. I was about to type "thank you for your prayers" but I forgot that "wait a minute, these are ex-Christians, I doubt they do that". Here is why I am thankful: 1. I told my parents, sisters, and my grandmother that I was no longer Catholic. I explained to them that I never really felt anything "other-worldly in my life" and how I projected "God's voice" in my own head every time I prayed. I told them how my lector, Eucharistic minister , and mission trip services were for social reasons, not for theological purposes. I told them I agree with virtually none of the Catholic Church's stance

By Liz ~ I still feel a terrible grief within when I reflect back at how many times I have been manipulated in the name of God. I am fifty years of age now, and my life has been ruined through so-called do-gooders, who in the name of their so-called "God" robbing me of my potential to have a good career, the right partner, and the freedom and opportunity of becoming a successful singer in my twenties. My first encounter with a Christian who screwed with my head was a girl at university. I was going out with a guy who was a Christian like myself at the time, and she had a supposed "Word from God" that it was not his will for me to go out with Phil, and that I should finish with him if I was to be obedient to God. She spent five hours talking about her gift of prophecy and the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament part of the Bible. I was heartbroken but felt compelled to finish with him. Likewise he was heartbroken when I did. The next occasion was when I had

By triedtobeone ~ I grew up in a non-Christian household, thank goodness. However, in my early school years (K-6), I was given the opportunity to go to private school . It happened to be Episcopal . Since no one on my mother's side of the family had a religious bone in their body, I can only assume I went there because it was a good school and no one thought it would do me any harm. Every morning before class started the entire school would head to church for 45 minutes, with a Mass on Thursdays which included confession and communion, confirmations, etc. Then, off to classes and home at the end of the day. The church was beautiful -- stained glass windows and all of the bells and whistles one would expect to see. I don't ever remember us reading bible passages, although I am sure we must have. There were bibles in the pews. Although my school mates would tease me, I could never bring myself to go to confession. Even at that early age I could not understand how if god

By Bore Venal Charlatan ~ I s it possible to become so absorbed in an idea that it is impossible to be persuaded otherwise? At what point does a human mind become so fixed that it ceases to think independently? If so, is it ever possible to wake up? For me the act of actually leaving the Christian faith was, compared to others’ experiences, relatively uneventful. I had always been far more logical than emotional; changing my beliefs internally was not much more complicated than changing their listing on Facebook. I had been mainly content with Christianity, but decided based on science and history that the religion was not absolute truth. However, what I do feel strongly about is what I learned afterward, specifically from the responses I received from Christian friends. What I expected was a fun-filled theology debate, like the ones I have with deist and agnostic friends. But when I informed a church member of my reasons for leaving, I was surprised to see my de-conversion bla

By I_love_Dog ~ I have never posted on this site, but I have been a fan for over 5 years... since I lost my faith. I know that the bible is not true, and I do not believe in a god. Recently I have been terribly depressed and have been questioning why this was done to me: Why would someone teach a child they are worthless without god? Why would a loving parent instill fear in a child of everything and fear of a eternal place of punishment, not even thinking of it critically? Sorry for the rant... I just don't understand why I am to respect these beliefs when they have literally ruined my life. Are people really that happy knowing most of the world will burn in hell? They say it helps people... I will never understand this way of thinking. I never had any self confidence and wonder if I am ruined. Did anyone ever really love me? I constantly try to rationalize their way of thinking as if it would ever make sense to me. Where do I go from here? I am constantly hur

 By Ken Hood Jr. ~ O ne of the things that I've had to deal with since losing my faith is my attitude towards both my "past life" (I can't draw too much of a sharp line here) and my Christian upbringing. Past Life How should I feel about the fact that I once taught people to believe what I now reject? I am not bragging here, just stating the facts. I was no "pew filler" or " Sunday Christian ." I bought into the message wholeheartedly. I told others that the most important thing they could do in life was to get right with God and that failure to do so would earn his eternal wrath. I remember having a long conversation with my agnostic roommate. We walked down across the West Bank of the University of Minnesota as I tried to convince him that life without an afterlife was purposeless and void. "Why not just go crazy?" I really believed it. My pastor at the time, Steve Treichler, used to say that if you believed that this was t