Zeno's Story

My name is Zeno and this is my conversion… and deconversion story.

I loved my life growing up in my middle class family just north of Detroit. Life was exciting. Skateboards, break dancing, virgin sex, Nintendo, and boom boxes were sure to make most days pass on with a smile.

Most of my friends and I were doing drugs by the time we were fifteen. Those were great beginnings in my naivety, but things became much darker and stale as time went on in my lustful pursuits. What used to be a party just became a lifestyle… and I’ve never done anything small. This was sure to lead into some extreme forms of behavior just to get a thrill. Fires, fights, familial destruction, LSD, sexual conquest… all decorated with loud music and a constant flow of pot were my diet of choice.

Soon, all the ‘sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll’ became the natural emptiness it is… when it is the consummate substance of your existence. Like most youthful extremists, I had to push it to the edge of the wall until it came crashing down.

It did.

I crashed into Christianity. I was weak, tired, frustrated, and needy. I went back to the only thing I knew before the party… Jesus.

I did not start going back to church. No ‘sinners prayer’ was prayed to ‘get saved‘ as is the ‘formula‘ for many. Journaling, thinking, being alone, challenging myself, and reading the bible was the attraction now. The book of Proverbs lit up my life with its nuggets of ‘wisdom’ and the example of Jesus was my new aim. I was nineteen when I finally got off drugs and began making new friends.

Where does one find friends that will support these ‘pure’ activities? The answer to that question according to my Middle American experience was… among Christians.

Campus Crusade for Christ became my cult and my popularity grew like a California Fire. Dynamic speaking, heartfelt music, and sincere hunger for the ‘Word of God’ became my reputation and my magnetic way was the force I needed… to be a dynamic soul winner.

I spent more time doing evangelism, leading bible studies, and writing Christian music than I did in scholastic activities without question.

Graduation from college was a huge shift for me because I was now living without the cult community that is so common in the University experience. I was no longer surrounded by young, impressionable, and confused college students receptive to the ‘good news of Jesus.’ My Christian fame had ended, but my passion for ‘things of the Lord’ certainly had not.

Marriage came quickly and kids right on its coattails. Searching for a church was a chore. We were picky and most at church seemed stale, watered down, and void of passion. We found our home in a United Pentecostal Apostolic Church. Their convictions were strong and their passions were aflame. These were good authentic people with a fresh look and seemingly logical view of the scriptures. The first few years were new and exciting.

Everything Changed when I started asking questions.

Questions were asked, not out of skepticism, but out of a growing hunger for the truth. I wanted the Absolute Truth and I eventually found exactly that. I now know the Absolute Truth.

The bible says…

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.“ 2 Corinthians 5:17

I wanted to understand my identity in Christ more than anything and what I found wasn’t exactly ‘Christian’ and certainly not smiled upon within my community of fundamentalists.

My journey out of Christianity was at first a spiritual one… and then an intellectual one.

Intense searching lead to the first recognition that the bible ‘seems’ to contradict all over the place and it takes devotion and an ear attuned to the voice of the Lord within you to understand what the ‘Spirit sayeth to the churches.’ I stopped trusting others around me to interpret the bible for me and I started to trust myself. According to Fundamentalist Leaders, this would have been my first mistake.

This lead to my drifting among other sets of Christian sub-cultures and modern Christian thought.

It is safe to say that I have researched or been involved with all general sub-cults within Christianity. I have heard every major interpretation of the bible and know how to argue both sides of the argument. It was always rare, and still is, to find a Christian that knows the bible better than I do.

The walls eventually came crashing down in my attempt to reconcile the four gospel accounts of the Resurrection Story. It simply can’t be done. All of the four accounts must harmonize, though they are from differing perspectives. My horrid and devastating (but honest) conclusion was that they can’t logically commingle. It’s impossible.

 These days were the most psychologically devastating days in all my adult journey. 

Everything I believed in, worked towards, and invested thousands and thousands of dollars and hours in… was a Pile of Shit! The gospel message I preached was based on myth perpetuated by controlling fucks and swallowed by ignorant peasants for millennia.

I Was Wrong!

Destruction was married with my Ultimate Freedom and the recognition of the Absolute Truth that I originally sought. As devastation as this period was, I found the Truth I was looking for I discovered the answer. I could now recognize the reality that…

NOTHING IS TRUE

In that, I mean… nothing is permanent and all things are permissible. All things change, are born, and will die. I faced my death and stopped the chase. I finally could settle into My Self. I was finally free… and began pissing on the Cross of Christ shortly thereafter for the shame that it is.

This obviously lead to mass personal destruction in my life. I lost all of my friends and my lack of commitment to Christ naturally lead to marital divorce.

I found much comfort in the new communities I was discovering online.  My diet migrated over to some fantastic forums.  The people at Debunking Christianity, Ex-Christian.net, and Dr. Marlene Winell let me know that I wasn’t alone and supported me in my Journey.

Who would have known that this straight laced street preacher, worship leader, moral fundamentalist, Christian song writer, and Class A bible thumper… would one day create Obscenitease.com … selling the most offensive, blasphemous, and hilarious Anti-Christian Shit on planet earth?It was January 3rd, 2008 around 3 am. Some of the most blasphemous and hilarious sayings I’d never seen came flashing through my mind and I knew… Those have to be on t-shirts!

Obscenitease Apparel
was Born!

Over the next year, I began the conquest of building the Most Blasphemous Company that Planet Earth has ever seen. We’re certainly have much further to go, but the tremendous sales, support received, and excitement shared by many is proof positive that we are not alone in our heresy.

My personal mission is to be a source of entertainment for the sinners of this world… and piss off the uptight fundamentalist along the way. We are here to be a beacon of Free Speech. Our torch is the Light of Tolerance of All… save Intolerance. I will spend my life supporting ideals of freedom and personal choice all whilst laughing in the face of the rule makers and guilt slingers. Many will hate me for what I’m doing… but as I always say…

FU(K EM!!!

Who Is Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf?

Submitted by dealdoctor --

Which is more likely to happen: Going to hell or hell when you die, or getting hit by an asteroid?

Image by Torley via Flickr

Do you know any people who are obsessed with their loved ones not being with them in heaven when they die?

Do you know any others who ask every non-Christian they meet, “ If you died tonight do you know for sure you would go to heaven?”

The Dead-End Response

By AncoraImparo --

My search for the reality of the world began in college, provoked by an unassuming paper in which I was to evaluate my faith journey from a sociological point of view.

Image by ~Sage~ via Flickr

At the time, I was quite proud of the final result: an analytical study of the factors that influenced me throughout childhood to be the dedicated Christian I now was, including a strong Christian family whom I love and respect, an inspiring and authentic circle of Christian friends, and intensive discipleship by my pastor. Underlying all these external factors, I also outlined my own personal and conscientious desire to serve and love God, prompting me to seek out apologetics, leadership within my youth group, keyboard in the praise band, mission trips to Mexico, becoming a counselor at a Christian summer camp, and an earnest struggle for understanding God through a genuine relationship with him.

However, despite the sense of accomplishment in my critical self-analysis, several discordant ideas in my reasons for belief were highlighted which I couldn’t stop thinking about. Since the main purpose of my writing is more recent thoughts, I don’t want to go into too much detail here, but the general theme I began to consider was the power of the mind. I saw that every time I had looked at reasons for belief, I had always looked to validate the belief I already had, and I strongly believe that one can almost always find what one is looking for when it comes to rationalizations in the mind. I was shocked at my previously-hidden bias and unbalanced approach to what I considered the most important decision of my life. For this reason, I decided to ‘take a step back’ from Christianity, as I called it in my head, to attempt to eradicate this unacceptable partiality. Naively, I figured I could sweep the cobwebs of prejudice away, quickly evaluate other worldviews, feel the hollowness and inanity of a life without Jesus Christ, and return to Christianity with renewed and enriched faith, probably in a couple weeks.

Instead, I was shaken up by a completely new world. I began to really listen to people’s differing worldviews, not automatically pinpointing where they were wrong and I had the answer, but hearing their honest struggle and life experiences which contributed to fashioning what made the most sense to them. I realized that non-Christians weren’t just ignoring the obvious truth of God, reveling in rebellion against God and attempting in vain to satiate their gluttonous appetite for sin. I mean, I never would have voiced it that way, but that is what I imagined a life without God was like. I felt like I was loving people in a way that I never had before, and it was a beautiful thing! I began to read what atheists, agnostics, and non-Christians had to say about the world, instead of just what Christians said they said, closely followed by easy refutations. The first time I picked up a book by Christopher Hitchens, I stopped halfway through, terrified that I couldn’t write it off as easily as I had imagined, overwhelmed by the vastness of knowledge and reason which seemed to be in contradiction with everything I had built my life upon. It was exhilarating, and frightening, and I was completely alone.

I began to really listen to people’s differing worldviews... I realized that non-Christians weren’t just ignoring the obvious truth of God, reveling in rebellion against God and attempting in vain to satiate their gluttonous appetite for sin.That birth of my quest was about two years ago, and since then I have been trying to catch up on the world. Philosophy, science, history… I am often overwhelmed by the immensity of things to understand, the centuries of people wrestling with the same questions as me, and I feel ill-equipped to absorb, test and make any sort of substantial decision about what I “believe” anymore, whatever that even means. Through all this, there is one fairly concrete theme which keeps my skepticism a close companion. In engaging with my many Christian friends and family and revealing my questions to them, I always get these answers which sound so good when you start with the presupposition of Christianity, but which are completely unfalsifiable once you step outside their set of assumptions. They halt any conversation, not because of their merit, but because they create a dead end in reasonable discourse. Perhaps this is general knowledge and has already been discussed many times, but the absurdity of these unsatisfactory answers boggles my mind.

1) ‘God isn’t answering because of something wrong with you’. Eg: sin in my life, tainted motivations, I don’t have enough faith, I am rebelling.’

Any silence from God’s end during the countless times I cried out to him, alone and begging for anything, can always be explained away by the imperfections on my end. With this handy explanation, God never has to intervene or interact with his creation, because an introspective critique can always lead to a discovery of a roadblock in the questioner which justifies God’s righteous absence.

2) ‘There are evil forces at work in the world, deceiving, confusing, distracting.’

This conveniently responds to other people’s religious/spiritual experiences which they have found validation through, which may be in direct contradiction to the truth of the Bible. Those demons do an excellent job, convincing millions of deluded people that they are justified in living lives of submission, discomfort, self-denial and sacrifice even to the point of death for an illusion. The obvious turnaround question: how would I discern that I am not simply being duped by some other religion’s sly and deceitful forces which create my Christian experience?


3) ‘Faith with no validation is virtuous. The greater the leap, the more virtuous one is. Faith is being certain of what we do not see’

While this doesn’t directly answer objections, it can also be used to venerate the denial that discrepancies even exist. A verse in the Bible that I always wrestled with says we should all have the faith of a child. My picture of child-like faith revolves around trusting in absolute authority, since the child does not have the faculties or resources to make their own decision yet, and this seems like a terrible reason to believe in something.

4) ‘God’s ways are higher than ours, his ways are mysterious, he knows the grand picture and we have but a sliver, etc.’

When believing in an infinite God and recognizing our own finiteness, this will of course be true. But it can be used to rationalize absolutely anything, and no longer gives us even a semblance of a standard to decide anything. Once our human faculties and reason are ultimately discounted, we become powerless under our own characteristics. This is my largest frustration: that a God would hold us accountable to believe in him after creating us with the faulty reasoning equipment that he made unreliable.

I know that a watertight rejection of Christianity’s claims can’t be built upon these common, meaningless responses, but they are biblically-based. Their insufficiency and yet continued overuse by many Christians makes me cringe, and reinforces that I am right to continue seeking and questioning and wrestling with the reality of the world.

Pastor arrested, charged with indecency with a child

PALESTINE, TX — A 74-year-old Palestine man who has preached at churches in Anderson County for more than three decades has been arrested and charged with indecency with a child.

Hezekiah Stallworth

Hezekiah Stallworth, 74, of Palestine was arrested around 1 p.m. Friday at the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office after he had come in for an interview, according to Anderson County Sheriff Greg Taylor.

Stallworth was charged with indecency with a child by sexual contact, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, according to the sheriff.

Stallworth has served as a pastor at both Oak Grove Baptist Church in Elkhart and Beulah Baptist Church just south of Palestine, according to the sheriff.

“He preaches regularly at both of those churches,” Taylor said Friday.

The alleged offense involved a female victim and occurred this past Sunday in an office at Oak Grove Baptist Church following services, authorities have said.

“This particular incident involved a 7-year-old child that he fondled and touched inappropriately in a sexual manner,” Taylor said.

Stallworth, whom authorities say has admitted to the offense, allegedly invited the child into his office by offering candy, according to the sheriff.

The girl’s mother came to the sheriff’s office Sunday night and an incident report was taken, according to Taylor. The girl had made an outcry to her grandmother earlier in the day, the sheriff added.

A forensic interview was conducted with the alleged victim Thursday, with Stallworth being arrested one day later on Friday, according to the sheriff.

“We have reason to believe there are other victims,” Taylor said. “...Investigator (Wendell) Wilcher has got a lot of work ahead of him -- lots of interviews to do and lots of people to talk to.”

Although authorities believe similar offenses may have occurred, Stallworth “did not divulge other activities in the interview,” the sheriff stated.

Taylor acknowledged the investigative process could be lengthy and “very far-reaching.

“If there’s victims out there,” the sheriff said, “they need to come forward.”

Taylor said Stallworth is a well-known figure in the Anderson County Christian community who also occasionally attends other churches as a visitor.

Elders at Oak Grove Baptist Church acted swiftly, according to the sheriff, and “resigned him permanently.”

The sheriff said such allegations are troubling.

“A pastor entrusted with our children,” Taylor said, “it’s scary.”

As of late Friday afternoon, Stallworth was awaiting arraignment in the Anderson County Jail.

A holy friend?

By Cullyloden --

In a recent article, titled "Some things just don't make sense," the author made mention of God posing as a "friend" to fearful and needy believers, helping to map out their lives for them and giving assurance and justice. This makes sense and is in my estimation a common reason for religious devotion, especially Christian devotion.

From Dave's article:

"Some people need a friend, a friend that is totally in control and gives them the assurance that their lives are mapped out for them. Some people want to believe that no matter what difficulties they may face in life, all their efforts and the injustices they may endure will be lavishly rewarded or at least made right"
-webmdave

My "Friend," who was there to "map out" my life and make things right and comfort me in fear, was snatched away from me by religion. This friend was my most cherished mother. She was and could still be a witty, urbane, open minded and comfort giving person. A friend. My best friend... Once upon a time.

As for the last twenty-five or thirty years since her conversion at the hands of a zealous fundamentalist pastor, I could count the normal, non-Bible-quoting, non-Jesus-praising conversations I've had with her on my fingertips. Sound familiar to anyone?
In my sadness at her sudden absolute disinterest in anything non-Jesus, I tried to re-make myself.

I wanted to once again be someone to her, a real person with an interesting opinion to discuss. I changed myself from an ordinary, god-believing little boy into a balls-out, fire-breathing Christian. I did everything in my power to convert myself and any unlucky person I encountered (close friends backed off, strangers backed away). I shelved all of my science books in favor of the Bible. I stopped subscribing to any idea which was not Bible sanctioned. I even stopped composing my music and drawing my cartoons and replaced them with Jesus music and Jesus cartoons, none of which reflected my insides in any way; none of which were either lovely or funny.

I soon learned to spend most of my time feeling guilty, impotent and fearful. I wasted countless hours and days trying to imagine what hell was going to be like, so that the fear would somehow help me stop thinking "sinful" thoughts (The opposite is true; those sessions shattered my childish innocence.). None of it worked, I kept on missing my friend and we both kept on praying, praising, worrying and hurting every single day. My mom, my studies, my art, my friends, my MIND! no longer mine to cherish, vanished into the blinding, choking fog of unquestioning devotion to a cruelly silent god.

Well, I have since obviously given up on god and religion for my own self, but my rage and outrage continue and will likely do so until the day I die. Christianity and Christian fundamentalists stole all that I held dear. They stole it and I want it back!

GOOOOOOOOOd &@%$ing luck to me and to all of you others whose holy 'friend' left your hearts broken, your minds disturbed and your happy little spirits cold, confused and alone.

P.S. I expect this rant will explain some of the responses I give to preacher troll types whom I meet on this site. Or anywhere else for that matter. Any honest, well thought out Christian responses welcome, but for (your) god's sake bring your dueling pistols...

I am an EX-Christian

By arise212

Child porn charges involve church boys' group

A Granite City man charged with child pornography was a leader in the Illinois Royal Rangers, a ministry of the Assemblies of God church.

Joseph Emil Klug, 29, was a staff member of the Frontier Group of the Royal Rangers and the leader of a Collinsville church's group. Klug was charged on Feb. 17 with child pornography after police said Klug put a video camera in a tent, recorded a boy masturbating, edited video clips and stills and sent it out over the Internet.

Illinois Royal Rangers Director Thomas Kesteleyn said he removed Klug when he heard the allegation on Feb. 9. Kesteleyn would not comment on whether the victim was a Royal Ranger.

"There is an ongoing investigation. This is now in the hands of law enforcement," Kesteleyn said.

The indictment stated Klug hid a mini video recorder in a tent. The indictment also sought the forfeiture of computer and video equipment and a green backpack with a hole cut in the front pouch.

Royal Rangers is an Assembly of God mission for boys from third to 12th grade that provides outdoor experiences coupled with Christian teachings. The group holds meetings, devotionals, camp outs and other outdoor activities. Boys can earn pins based on their mastery of certain skills.

None of the group's local leaders would comment.

Juleen Turner, the communications director for the national Assembly of God Church headquarters in Springfield, Mo., released a statement stating they couldn't comment on Klug because they didn't know about it. She said the church does offer a screening process for local churches.

"The Assemblies of God is firmly against this behavior and we urge our churches to carefully screen any volunteers who work with children," Turner said.

Turner suggested a call to the pastor of Klug's Royal Ranger ministry for further comment. Klug was listed as a Royal Ranger commander at the First Assembly of God Church in Collinsville.

Jeff Gowen, the church's minister, could not be reached at his church or home.

Klug remains in custody. His trial is scheduled for April 26 before U.S. District Judge Michael J. Reagan.

STORY LINK

No more lables except "human being"

By Ex-paulist --

Yes, I am a recovering human being. Why do I say this? Simple, I was born into this world as a human being. Beyond that semantically driven statement lays the fact that all of us are merely mammals.

When I was a child, the church instilled fear and hatred in me. The world was a dark and terrible place! Jesus would be returning at any moment. The Devil and his minions lurked around every corner. “Mother, I thought the earth was young?” I would observe as the history channel explained that many people disagreed. “Do not ever question the Lord young man!” This was typical in my home and the church.

One day I realized something. My faith was sinful, vile, and dirty. My faith was nothing more than a reflection in the mirror. Legalistic Christian had a negative and damning view of god. The liberal Christians took a salad bar approach, and made scripture fit any situation. “What that about the speed of light from distant stars you ask?” Well son, Jesus caused the light to travel faster. I was kept in an abysmal state of ignorance.

I am a human being. I will say it again. I am a human being!! I am so happy to be free. I than began preaching this nonsense to all my friends, who I thought would be tortured endlessly. As I grew older something did not feel right. What was I doing to myself and the others around me!? Then a thought crept into my mind and shocked me. I learned how to talk by placing sounds to mental pictures! Does the term Christianity even mean anything? Are the sounds and vocalizations of the pastor’s valuable in any sense? I began to think and evaluate my delusion. As chance would have it, my friend lent me a copy of Quest for Fire. I was shocked. Early man did not have complex marriage ceremonies or ideas about gods. They were not worried about cutting the throats of animals and dripping blood into a fire so god could smell the delicious odor. Our earliest prehistoric ancestors had one motivation and driving force -- survival.

What struck me were the differences in what I had been taught. Far from being led by god, early man eked out a miserable and difficult existence. On the one hand, it was brutal to watch. Sticks, stones, and biting were weapons. But then it hit me. Is it more likely that we survived on our own? Did we evolve over time along with nature, the environment and learning? Or did god magically create us?

I than thought of my emotions. It made sense that anger, jealousy, and violence would help early man survive. I realized that these skills are why I am alive and typing. I kept these blasphemous ideas in my head for a couple of years. What a strange feeling to contemplate, that the god of the bible was a reflection of the hate, anger, and jealousy of those who wrote it.

Eventually, I decided that I would research human origins until I found the answers I was never told. Eventually, I came to realize that I am no different than the grass. I am part of nature, and that is it.

Now, labels seemed ridiculous and immature.

You see Christianity was the most convenient system of control ever devised in history. No matter how vile god acts, he is always right. No matter what science and research show, the Bible trumps it. If you dare question the Lord, than he has a place for you to go. This place is filled with more pain and suffering than Jesus could have ever suffered from that silly so-called sacrifice.

So here it is my friends -- this needs to be done.

I am a recovering human being that has dropped the labels we have been accustomed to. I am not an atheist or agnostic or non-theist. I am a human being, living a happy and productive life. When people ask me “What are you,” I simply smile and say that I am a human being. Religion has taken the beauty out of our humanness, nakedness, expression, sexuality, and turned it into a vile neurosis.

Like all drug addicts and alcoholics, part of the process is admitting your mistakes. Here is my confession to all of you reading this.

I am terribly sorry to all the gay and lesbian people who I so cruelly dismissed as sick and evil. It pains me to think that I actually was taught to look forward to these people going to hell. I want to apologize to all the people from my previous deluded state who I rejected as friends because they were not sharing my delusion. To all the people I routinely judged, please forgive my ignorance.

You see, the biggest lie of Christianity, is that it promotes love. Let’s think of the language used: Sinner, wicked, vile, abomination, hell, suffering, pain, pestilence, war, annihilate, utterly destroy, vomit you out of my mouth, weeping, grinding, and gnashing of teeth. I am so stunned and ashamed, that I actually viewed fellow human beings in this manner.

And what a cop-out my attitude was!! When I sinned, I was a fallible man in need of forgiveness. When non-believing humans supposedly sinned, they needed Jesus badly. They were lost. It is no wonder that unrestrained Christians in the Middle Ages inflicted so much pain and misery. I shudder to think what would happen if Christians had free range to rule this country. The tinder and poles would be erected and witch-burnings would continue. Yet, I had the audacity to judge and pretend that this so-called incomprehensible yet somehow knowable personal god was on my side, listened to my prayers, and would squash the wicked while I sat in heaven and watched. When the full weight of this crashed down on me, I hung my head in shame!

I am a human being. I will say it again. I am a human being!! I am so happy to be free. To all of you reading this: Screw labels! Let’s enjoy the time we are here, and make this planet a better place!

Dr. Marlene Winell speaks about indoctrination by authoritarian religion

By Dr. Marlene Winell --

The effects of authoritarian religious training can last a long time and run deep, seriously impacting your ability to enjoy life. Often people have intense feelings of confusion, grief, anxiety, and anger as they let go of a harmful religion.

Image by ArcaHeradel via Flickr

Full recovery can be difficult if the issues are not clear and you feel alone in the struggle. At the same time, you can feel enormous relief and liberation, especially if you have support.

As a "recovering fundamentalist" myself, and with years of experience working with people coming out of many dogmatic religious traditions, I have written a self-help book called Leaving the Fold: A Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving Their Religion. For some time now, I have been counseling people of many backgrounds – evangelical and Pentecostal Christian, Mormon, Jehovah Witness, Christian Science, Seventh-Day Adventist, Scientology, Eastern groups, and any organizations of a cultish nature. I can work with you individually or in a group setting to help you understand what you have been through and take steps to recovery.

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• The Search for Meaning (exchristian.net)

Kenya: Thousands pray for pastors to rise from dead

They came from the four corners of the country and even neighbouring Uganda with one mission — to pray for a miracle.

Two pastors in the Kingdom Seekers Fellowship International church were killed in a road accident on Monday last week and the faithful believed that God would resurrect them if they prayed hard enough.

There was a large congregation of faithful and curious onlookers who were eager to witness the resurrection.



Nothing happened.

By this time, one could sense doubts creeping into the minds of some of the faithful. To banish any such thoughts, Apostle Steven Bulungi from Uganda chased away the doubting Thomases.

Pallbearers carry away the bodies
of two pastors after a bid by a
church to raise them from the
dead failed.

He kept on telling the congregation that they were not being “fanatical or emotional” enough. ‘‘You are practising the word of God,” he exhorted them.

Nevertheless, the worshippers eventually lost hope. One of the pastors announced: “Some miracles do not happen instantly, as was the case when Jesus cursed the fig tree.”

He told the crowd that if the “two brothers’’ were not raised to life, it meant that they had concluded their earthly mission. Even Jesus lived for 33 years, but served his purpose on earth, he said.

Although the miracle did not happen, the faithful did not lose hope. It was resolved that if the pastors will not have risen by Thursday, the bodies will be buried.
[...more...]

- Source / Full Story: Rare prayers to bring back dead pastors, Simon Sielep, Daily Nation, Feb. 22, 2010

Mother says she agreed to starve son to rid him of demonic spirit

The mother of a dead child testified Wednesday that she agreed to starve her toddler son, who refused to say “amen,” to rid him of a demonic spirit that was potentially placed there when her own mother offered the boy up to the devil.

(Left) Ria Ramkissoon and her son Javon Thompson,
(top right) Queen Antoinette and
(bottom right) Trevia Williams.

Ria Ramkissoon, 23, also said she has faith that God will resurrect her son, Javon Thompson, and she’s not afraid to say so, even if it makes her sound crazy. [...]

Ramkissoon has pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in death, and expects to receive a 20-year suspended sentence, along with inpatient counseling and five years of probation.

Her official sentencing has been repeatedly postponed in anticipation of her testimony Wednesday against three other defendants who are accused of running a religious cult and are charged with murder in 16-month-old Javon’s death.

On trial in Baltimore City Circuit Court are accused cult leader Queen Antoinette, 41, her daughter, Trevia Williams, 22, and Marcus Cobbs, 23. Antoinette was developing a religious organization called 1 Mind Ministries and had plans to open a shelter for kids, according to testimony.

She ran a religious household that required its members to read the Bible, travel outside in pairs for safety and wear certain colors, namely blue, white and khaki, witnesses have said. [...more...]

- Source / Full Story: Mother says she agreed to starve son to rid him of demonic spirit, Tricia Biship, The Baltimore Sun, Feb. 24, 2010

---

Ramkissoon said Antoinette told her that her son, Javon Thompson, had a ‘’spirit of rebellion” inside him and that denying him food would excise the evil spirit. She said she had no reason to think Antoinette was lying.

After Javon died, Antoinette told Ramkissoon to ”nurture him back to life,” and she stayed beside his decomposing body for weeks, even trying to give him water, Ramkissoon said.

”I still believe that my son is coming back,” Ramkissoon said. ”I have no problem saying what really happened because I believe he’s coming back.

”Queen said God told her he would come back. I believe it. I choose to believe it,” she said. ”Even now, despite everything, I choose to believe it for my reasons.” [...]

Under cross-examination, Antoinette asked whether her statement about not feeding Javon was an order or a ‘’suggestion.”

Ramkissoon said she has consistently told prosecutors and her attorney that she was not forced to starve her son, but she made clear the idea was Antoinette’s.

”When I was about to feed him,” Ramkissoon said to Antoinette, ”you said, ‘You shouldn’t feed him anything,’ and then you told me why. … I believed you.”
[...more...]

- Source / Full Story: Mother of Starved Child Believes He’ll Live Again, Associated Press via the New York Times, Feb. 24, 2010

---

The former boyfriend of an alleged religious cult leader testified Tuesday that he encouraged the mother of a starving 1-year-old boy to feed the child.

Steven L. Bynum took the stand at the trial of Queen Antoinette, her daughter and another man. The three are accused of denying food and water to toddler Javon Thompson after the boy did not say “Amen” before a meal. [...]

Bynum was initially charged along with the other followers in Javon’s death, but prosecutors formally dropped the charges Tuesday. He did not make any deal in exchange for his testimony.

Javon’s grandmother, Seeta Khadan-Newton, also testified Tuesday about her efforts to get her daughter and Javon away from the group. After living with the group for just two days, her daughter was “emotionless” and did not return a hug from her, she said.

As they cross-examined the witnesses, Antoinette, Williams and Cobbs appeared to take exception at the characterization of their group as a cult. The three defendants are representing themselves.
“Where did you come up with or where did you hear that we were a cult?” Antoinette asked Khadan-Newton.

Khadan-Newton cited the group’s restrictions on what its members wore and on their movement outside the residence. “In my head, that’s a cult,” she said.
[...more...]

- Source / Full Story: Testimony begins in murder trial of three alleged cult members, Ben Nuckols, Associated Press via The Baltimore Sun, Feb. 23, 2010

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Pastor swindled nonprofit

A minister charged with qualifying people for cash assistance stole money for three years from a nonprofit organization, police say.

Thomas Croyle, 44, Carpenters Park Road, Davidsville, embezzled $18,615 from St. Francis Sharing and Caring Inc., a nonprofit organization located in Conemaugh Township, between May 2005 and June 2008, according to court documents.

He is charged with 56 counts each of theft by deception, failure to make required disposition of funds, theft and receiving stolen property.

Conemaugh Township police said the organization’s primary goal is to provide cash assistance and food to eligible individuals in need. Through the cash assistance program checks are made directly to utility companies, landlords or mortgage companies, police said. Croyle determined individual eligibility and forwarded cash assistance requests to the corporation’s treasurer, police said.

Croyle created a fictitious company, C & A Management Services in Jerome, and had checks made payable to the company, police said.

Stahl Mennonite Church

Wessel & Co., a Johnstown accounting firm, conducted an investigation, examining accounting records, cash assistance request sheets, vendor invoices, cash receipts registers and cash distribution registers. The investigation revealed a financial loss as a result of Croyle’s actions.

The nonprofit is still open and Croyle is no longer with the organization. He is the former pastor of the Stahl Mennonite Church in Johnstown.

A woman who answered the telephone at Croyle’s residence said he was “not interested.”

Croyle is scheduled to be arraigned before Windber District Judge Joseph Cannoni at 9:15 a.m. March 16.

STORY LINK

Countermeasures: Dealing with fundy-in-laws, part II

By exfundy --

This is the second installment of the countermeasures I use to deal with my fanatical fundy-in-laws.

Story #3

Jane (the sister-in-law) refuses to have a computer in their house. Why? Because of all the evil things that can be found online. That age old Christian belief that it's better to completely avoid something good because it can be used for bad things. We have tried to tell her how important it is for her kids to learn to use a computer these days. The argument falls on deaf ears because she is afraid they might see something they shouldn't.

Of course she has no problem coming to our house to use our computer. Many times she either arrives unannounced or calls when she is two blocks away and asks to use the computer. We are generally very accommodating because we do understand that these days there are some things that are just much easier to do with an Internet connection. The thing that frustrates me the most though is she will volunteer to do things for her Sunday school class or some church event that requires the use of a computer and she doesn't own one.

When she is by herself it's not a problem. She goes into our 'home office' and we don't see her. It's when her kids are with her that we have issues. When the kids are with her Jane will come in and lock herself into the office. This obviously means she can not watch her kids. She expects whoever happens to be in the house to watch her kids while she is on the computer. She does not ask if we mind. She does not ask if we are doing something. She has walked in while my wife was cooking dinner and still left her kids to run around the house while she is locked in the computer room. I'm not surprised by this because she thinks about no one but herself meaning she could care less what we think.

Of course I finally reached a point that I had taken enough and began to plot yet another passive-aggressive response to her deplorable behavior.

Within a few days I received a call from Jane explaining that she was just a couple of miles away and she really needed to stop by and use the computer. I could hear the kids in the background and smiled as I told her that would be fine. For the record, she never once asked if I would watch her kids while she used the computer and I was actually busy.

Jane was completely predictable. After entering the house she walked straight to the office and locked the door. Or at least she thought she locked the door. What she didn't know was that the 'lock' on her side was for appearance only. I had switched the handle to actually lock from the outside.

I immediately gathered both of her kids, opened the door to the office and put them inside. After they cleared the door I closed it and locked it from my side.

I stood outside the door as Jane quickly told her kids to get back out because "Mommy was busy." Imagine her surprise when they told her they couldn't open the door. She got up and tried to open the door herself. Finding she could not open it either she hollered to me telling me there was something wrong with the door. Guess what I got the pleasure of doing?

I hollered back telling her the door was just fine. I explained that I had switched the lock to the other side of the door because I was busy too and could not watch her kids nor could I have them running around the house unattended. I even told her I would be more than happy to unlock the door for her when she was ready to leave.

She actually told me she had something really important to do for church and I should have had the courtesy to tell her when she called that I couldn't watch her kids.

Of course I quickly responded to her selfish delusional logic. I said:

"Let me get this straight. You asked if you could use my computer. I agreed. You never asked me if I was busy. You never asked if I would watch your kids. You just decided you would leave your kids out here with me without finding out if that was alright. So how is it that I had an obligation to tell you I couldn't watch your kids when you never asked? You're the one that should have had displayed courtesy by asking me whether or not I could watch your kids before walking in there and attempting to lock them out here with me."

I suppose it wouldn't surprise you to find that Jane was ready to leave that very instant. I happily unlocked the lock and opened the door. She haughtily stomped towards the front door with her kids in tow. I just smiled and waved at her kids as I told them bye.

I think I've made Jane a little paranoid and it's really funny. To this day when Jane goes the bathroom in our house she checks to make sure the door locks from the inside even though it wasn't the bathroom door involved in my little prank. I can't help but laugh a little for a couple of reasons. The first is simply that I love realizing I have made the simple act of going to the bathroom in my home something uncomfortable for her. The second reason is the mere thought of walking into the bathroom on her mistakenly scares me to death. It's something I never want to see.

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Some things just don't make sense

By Webmdave --

I have problems with several issues when it comes to Christian Soteriology. For those reading this who are not familiar with Christian theological terms, Soteriology is the study of salvation, and the term is generally used in reference to Christian salvation.

First is the idea that salvation is unconditional. Following is that grace is freely bestowed on the believer; the believer is not saved by works or by earning salvation in any way; salvation is a gift, offered freely and without cost to the believer.

Or at least so we are led to believe.

I contend that this salvation concept does not make sense. If salvation is a free gift, and we as human beings can contribute nothing to our own salvation, and if it is all a work of the grace of GOD, then why isn't everyone on the planet destined for eternal life in heaven? While Christians throughout history have debated this issue from either an Arminian freewill approach or a Calvinist predestination interpretation, neither camp believes everyone is bound for the heavenly city paved with streets of gold. Most Christians would unanimously agree that most of humanity will find themselves in a very uncomfortable position at the "Judgment seat of Christ." So, if we are not saved by works but by grace, I ask again, why aren't we all saved?

Let me attempt to explain more clearly what I am thinking here. If there is any requirement for us to receive salvation, it can be said that we have earned our salvation through the performance of the said requirement. I have heard it explained that we must "believe the gospel" in order to be saved. Another description is that we must "accept the free offer of salvation" -- that we must figuratively reach out and "take the gift." In my mind, since I am held accountable for doing something in order to receive salvation, then in a very small way I have contributed to earning my salvation. Admittedly, accepting a gift is not doing much, but it is still doing something. Another analogy presented to me by Christian evangelists sounded like this:

"If a deposit is made in your bank account making you a millionaire, then you have the free gift, but it is up to you to make a withdrawal to reap the benefits of the gift. You have to believe that the gift is there in your account in order to receive it." 

This particular analogy was persuasive to me for quite some time, but I realize now that it breaks down in the fact that whether I use the money or not, I am still rich. On my death my estate will benefit someone even if I lived like a pauper. I do not lose the money in the bank simply because I do not believe it is there. The existence of the money and my ownership of it is not impacted by my acceptance of it's reality. The only thing likely affected is my spending pattern.

I am constantly told that the Christian religion is different because all other religions require its adherents to follow some code or perform certain established rituals or do good works to earn the favor of whatever god the religion promotes. In my opinion Christianity is no different in this regard. True believers in Christ must pray the "Sinners Prayer"; they must repent, turning from their old lifestyles and sins; they must ask Jesus to become the Lord of their Lives. This is the basic formula presented by Campus Crusade for Christ, by Billy Graham and by most of Evangelical Christendom. If this is not a ritual or a good work in order to achieve the notice of GOD, I don't know what is. If I do not submit myself and conform to these established rules, I won't be ferried into heavenly realms when I cross the Stygian depths.

Another thing that just makes no sense to me is the propitiation for sins embodied in the death of Jesus on the cross. Supposedly Jesus suffered the condemnation that I deserve. He stood in my place and took upon himself all the consequences for not only my sins, but the sins of the whole world. Correct me if I am wrong, but according to Christian doctrine if I do not have the propitiative blood of Christ on me when the last trump shall sound, I will face eternal separation from God as the recompense for my unrepentant life. Or more simply: I go to hell forever. Apparently my punishment is more severe than that endured by Jesus. The way I understand it, Jesus spent about three hours in agony on the cross, with perhaps a few more hours being beaten and scourged prior to crucifixion. I do not mean to minimize the pain suffered by being tortured and executed in such a cruel way, but even a few weeks of torture do not seem to really compare with an eternity in horrific torment.

In the book of Genesis, the consequence of sin was death. Adam and Eve and all of humanity began to die (at very old ages, but still they died), and continue to do so to this day. Christians are supposedly absolved from that curse of death since Christ died in their places. So why do Christians still die? Obviously everyone dies, so religionists spiritualize the Genesis curse to mean "spiritual death" instead of physical death so that Christ can be said to have set the believer free from the wages of sin (death) through his free gift.

If I accept that the free gift of eternal life is resigned to some future time after my death -- a resurrection life -- then let me ask this: Did Jesus really die? Oh sure his body died, but his bodily death did not win an escape from physical death for us, so it must have won an escape from spiritual death for us. So, did Christ die spiritually? What is spiritual death exactly? Isn't it eternal separation from GOD? Hell and death are thrown into the Lake of Fire, which is the second death -- at least that's how the writer of Revelation concludes the final book of the Bible. So Christ suffered eternal separation from GOD then, right? No, wrong! If he was separated from God at all it was only for a few days.

Then of course there is the whole Trinity thing. Christ prays to himself; He dies and is separated from himself; He turns away from himself when he sees himself on the cross. None of this makes a bit of sense.

Now let's consider the justice of someone dying for a crime that someone else committed. If my son -- my only son -- were to commit some heinous crime deserving of death, is there a single court anywhere on Earth that would accept my sacrifice in his place? If I were to die, while my depraved son went free, would anyone believe justice had been served? The people whom my son victimized, would they be satisfied with my death in his place while my son roamed guiltless for his own crimes? The concept of justice promoted by the Biblical writers defies explanation. It is quite frankly bizarre.

The response of Christianity at this point is to foam at the mouth and state emphatically that we cannot ever understand the workings or mind of God. We must simply accept these contradictory concepts... on faith. I contend that such statements are a bold admission by the believer that indeed, salvation does not make any sense. But, the believer believes it anyway.

The need to believe is powerful. It is terrifying to many people to think that this is the only life we will ever have, that there is no one in heaven pulling the strings, that our happiness or our misery is dependent on us alone. Some people need a friend, a friend that is totally in control and gives them the assurance that their lives are mapped out for them. Some people want to believe that no matter what difficulties they may face in life, all their efforts and the injustices they may endure will be lavishly rewarded or at least made right in the next life.

In the Gershwin musical Porgy & Bess there is a line in one song which goes,

"It ain't necessarily so... The things that you're liable to read in the Bible, it ain't necessarily so."

The ancient Egyptians spent their whole lives preparing for the afterlife. Some of their bodies are on display in museums to this day. While their extravagant preparations for a life after this one helps us understand the past, it should also give us reflection on our own beliefs and how we spend our lives now.

This is the only life we have.

Disabled kids are God’s punishment

RICHMOND – Western Prince William Del. Bob Marshall (R-13th) says disabled children are God’s punishment to women who have aborted their first pregnancy.

He made that statement last Thursday at a press conference to oppose state funding for Planned Parenthood.

“The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children,” said Marshall, a Republican.

“In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest.”

Marshall was among more than 20 people, mostly Christian pastors and clergy, who gathered for the press conference in the General Assembly Building.

They called on Virginia officials to eliminate state funding for Planned Parenthood because the organization provides abortions.

“We are gathered this afternoon to draw attention to the unethical, immoral and racist practices of the largest abortion provider in America,” said Dean Nelson, executive director of the Network of Politically Active Christians.

Delegate Brenda Pogge, R-Williamsburg, has joined Marshall in co-sponsoring a budget amendment to eliminate state funding for Planned Parenthood.

“I think that the reason it’s gone on so long is that most people don’t have a clue what’s being paid for by taxpayer dollars,” Pogge said.

The press conference was held by a group called Virginia Christian Action. Its members presented a petition calling on Gov. Bob McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to stop funding for Planned Parenthood. All three top officials are Republican.

The petition was signed by a number of prominent Christian leaders, including the Rev. Jonathan Falwell of Lynchburg and the Rev. Pat Robertson of Virginia Beach.

McDonnell has publicly supported calls to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood. His predecessor, Democrat Tim Kaine, supported funding for Planned Parenthood.

“Looking at it from a cultural, historical perspective, this organization should be called ‘Planned Barrenhood’ because they have nothing to do with families, they have nothing to do with responsibility,” Marshall said.

Nelson suggested that the organization be called “Klan Parenthood,” saying that the group’s founder, Margaret Sanger, made racist comments in the 1930s and that the organization has shown a “willingness to take donations from people who are racist.”

According to Marshall, Planned Parenthood receives “about $500,000 a year” from the state.

But Jessica Honke, director of public policy for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, said the only state funding Planned Parenthood receives is from Medicaid reimbursements. That amount was about $35,000 in the 2009 fiscal year, according to the Department of Medical Assistance Services.

Planned Parenthood provides a wide range of gynecological and other health services, from cancer screening and HIV prevention to birth control for low-income women. Honke pointed out that abortions represent a minority of the group’s services.

At the press conference, the Rev. Joe Ellison, vice president of the Council on Biblical Principles, said that when he was in college, he paid for girlfriends to get abortions. He said he still feels guilty about that today.

Ellison said he was “declaring war against Planned Parenthood.”

“We’re asking pastors to shut them down in the community. We’re asking pastors to pray them out. And we’re asking Planned Parenthood to leave our children alone,” Ellison said.

In 2008, the Senate approved a budget amendment to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood. However, that proposal was not included in the final state budget.

Story Link:  http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1894168

More: http://www.newsleader.com/article/20100222/NEWS01/2220318

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Poo-cakes anyone?

By Discordia --

"But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?" 2 Kings 18:27

“And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.” Eze 4:12

That sounds totally disgusting. Who in their right mind eats dung? The very idea is nauseating to us here. A popular insult is telling someone to “Eat s**t and die.” Yet here are verses in the bible where people are eating dung and drinking urine and it’s a good thing. What is up with that?

None of those verses made sense to me until I started gardening. A quick survey of organic products for plants in most dedicated gardening stores is gross when you really think about it. Blood meal (for nitrogen), bone meal (for calcium, something tomatoes need to avoid blossom end rot) and fish emulsion (made from pureed fish left-overs). Milorganite is a popular nitrogen fertilizer made by the Milwaukee Metro Sewer District. As a gardener, I have used composted cow, earthworm and chicken manure on plants. I know people who use rabbit and horse manures as well. The plants love poo and grow like crazy when they have it.

Ever notice after an animal pees in your yard, the grass in that area is green, except for the middle, where it is dead? That is from the ammonia and nitrogen found in urine, also good fertilizers once bacteria in the soil break them down into a form plants can take up. Those same chemicals, however, will burn and kill plants when too much is applied. The same is true of any fertilizer for plants and is also true of vitamins for humans. (By the way, fertilizer is nothing more than vitamins for plants. It is NOT food. Plants use photosynthesis to make their own food.)

Imagine yourself a primitive human, worshipping a thunder-mountain god. You notice that where ever your animals relieve themselves, the plants grow better. The grass is greener and the plants larger and probably the fruit of those plants is bigger too. WOW! That smelly stuff that comes out of you and your animals is MAGIC! It makes plants bigger and better and they have better and tastier fruit! You want more children and…. (pause in thought)…BAM! It is like god has spoken to you!! If it is good for plants then it must work on people too! After all, if dung is good for plants and plants are good for people then dung is good for people!!!! Since humans are better than animals then the human stuff is better too!!! YAY! It’s a miracle!

It seems to me that the people in the bible (primitive humans) noticed that animal droppings made healthier plants so used what passed for logic and concluded that dung would be good for them as well. That’s why the ignorant people who wrote the bible put that in. They knew NOTHING of the bacteria that live in guts and come out in feces. They had absolutely no understanding of sanitation or the diseases that come from unsanitary waters or food so they had no aversion to the practices in the above verses. So, from that angle, it isn’t so disgusting and it follows logically from observation. After all, they thought that the demon-theory of mental and physical illness was cutting edge science for everyone living on a flat Earth so why they'd think that poo-cakes would be bad is beyond me.

Gardening has taught me many interesting things, and that insight is one of the more memorable ones. Is my conclusion correct? I do not know but it does make those verses appear less crazy.

Former Pastor John Loftus debates Christian Apologist Dinesh D'Souza

John W. Loftus earned M.A. and M.Div. degrees in theology and philosophy from Lincoln Christian Seminary under the guidance of Dr. James D. Strauss. He then attended Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where he studied under Dr. William Lane Craig and received a Th.M. degree in philosophy of religion. Before leaving the church, he had ministries in Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana, and taught at several Christian colleges. Today he still teaches as an adjunct instructor in philosophy at Kellogg Community College and has an online blog devoted to "debunking Christianity." His book is Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity.

Dinesh D'Souza (born April 25, 1961) is an author and public speaker who once served as the Robert and Karen Rishwain Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. D'Souza is the author of numerous New York Times best selling books and a conservative writer and speaker. D'Souza is a Roman Catholic.

More information on D'Souza available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinesh_D%27Souza.

God designed us like this

Lesch-Nyhan syndrome causes compulsive self-mutilation. Children eat their lips or fingers, and stab their faces with sharp objects. They feel the pain, but they cannot stop themselves. Why would a loving, all-powerful creator allow anyone to be born with such an awful disease?

Image by Colin Purrington via Flickr

Lesch-Nyhan is just one of the tens of thousands of genetic disorders discovered so far. At least a tenth of people have some kind of debilitating genetic disease, and most of us will become sick at some point during our lifetime as a result of mutations that cause diseases such as cancer.

The reason? Our genome is an unmitigated mess. The replication and repair mechanisms are inadequate, making mutations commonplace. The genome is infested with parasitic DNA that often wreaks havoc. The convoluted control mechanisms are prone to error. The huge amount of junk, not just between genes but within them, wastes resources. And some crucial bits of DNA are kept in the power factories - mitochondria - where they are exposed to mutagenic byproducts. "It is downright ludicrous!" declares John Avise, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of California, Irvine.
The human genome, Avise concludes, offers no shred of comfort for those seeking evidence of a loving, all-powerful creator who had a direct hand in designing us, as not just creationists but many believers who accept evolution think was the case. If some entity did meddle with life on Earth, it either did not know what it was doing or did not care, or both.

There is a need for a popular book explaining what a botch job our blueprint is, as creationist-fuelled misconceptions abound. For instance, there has been a rash of claims recently about how junk DNA isn't really junk after all. In fact, only a very tiny proportion of the 98 per cent of our DNA that doesn't code for proteins has been shown to have some kind of function, and biologists expected this all along.

Unfortunately, Inside the Human Genome is not the book we need to set the record straight. For starters, Avise's lecturing style and fondness for jargon make it heavy going. It is not going to fly off the shelves in Kansas.

Then we come to his attempt to reconcile evolution and theistic religions, which made my jaw drop. "Evolution by natural selection emancipates religion," Avise writes. "No longer need we agonize about why a Creator God is the world's leading abortionist and mass murderer. No longer need we query a Creator God's motives for debilitating countless innocents with horrific genetic conditions. From this refreshing perspective, evolution can and should be viewed as a form of philosophical salvation of theology and religion."

I'd call it emasculation, not emancipation. If there is a deity but it played no role in human evolution, why would it intervene in human affairs at all? What's the point in praying to a being that either can't help or simply doesn't care?

As the subtitle of this book makes clear, Avise's target is the form of creationism marketed as "intelligent design". Right at the start, he claims that "evolutionism" does not necessarily lead to atheism.

This book, however, will not win the hearts of the few indoctrinated creationists who actually read it. And it seems to me that religious believers who accept evolution are the ones who will find Avise's central argument most troubling. Opinion polls suggest most believers who accept evolution think their God intervened in human evolution. If you believe this, you face the dilemma that Avise highlights: why did this deity make such a god-awful mess of it, causing so much needless suffering?

If, on the other hand, you absolve this God of blame by assuming it did not dirty its appendages with evolution, you face equally troubling questions about its nature and its relations with humans. For instance, such a deity could hardly be described as the "Creator".

Avise does not acknowledge this problem. Indeed, he seems oblivious. He approvingly quotes The Clergy Letter Project, an open letter claiming Christianity and evolution are compatible, yet the letter specifically refers to the "Creator".

He also quotes Francis Collins - former head of the human genome project, current director of the US National Institutes of Health and evangelical Christian - on the compatibility issue. Yet Collins believes "God" knowingly chose to create life through the horrendously cruel process of evolution, meaning that deity can be blamed for all our genetic flaws. Collins has also veered into pseudoscience in his attempts to reconcile evolution with the idea of a deity that intervenes in human affairs.

Notably, Avise never comes clean about what he believes. It is not clear whether his don't-blame-God-for-our-genome's-mess approach is a desperate attempt to salvage something from the wreckage left when his own beliefs collided with reality, or an attempt by a non-believer to pander to the religious.

Either way, neither believers nor atheists are likely to find his approach satisfactory. Take Avise's conclusion: "The evolutionary-genetics sciences can thus help religion to escape from the profound conundrums of Intelligent Design and thereby return to its rightful realm - not as the secular interpreter of the biological minutiae of our physical existence but rather as a respectable philosopher counselor on grander matters including ethics and morality."

Really? The morality of theistic religions is inextricably intertwined with the notion of an all-powerful deity that created us. After summarising the compelling evidence from our genomes that no such entity exists, it is downright ludicrous to then turn around and suggest religious believers have some privileged insight into the morality of issues such as IVF, childcare, abortion and homosexuality.

To me, Avise misses the crucial point: Why do we still allow children to be born with hideous diseases that could be prevented? Why do we rightly glorify efforts to cure diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's, but still regard tackling the root cause - our dismal, degenerating DNA - as taboo?

Our ethics have been so hideously distorted by superstitious nonsense that we cannot see the clear moral imperative: we need to start sorting out the mess of a genome evolution has left us as soon as we can.

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