By WizenedSage (Galen Rose) ~ I submitted the following for the Letters-to-the-Editor page of a local weekly newspaper. It was not printed. Why? Well, I don’t know really, but my best guess is that I provided way too much evidence that Jesus didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, or . . . maybe the editor didn’t care for my calling religious superstition a menace. Most of my submissions do get published, but now and then, I guess I push just a little too hard. Anyway, I thought some of you might find it moderately entertaining. The End Is Nigh! D id you know that the end is nigh? No, really! This time it’s for sure, according to preacher Harold Camping , President of Family Radio . Camping says Jesus will return on May 21, 2011 and the world will end five months later on October 21. Billboards paid for by supporters of Family Radio are promoting the prediction in major cities like Nashville, Louisville, St. Louis and Detroit. Of course, Camping is not the first to pr

By Dethblight ~ S ometimes I wonder why I even bother... then I remember sites like this and the testimonials they contain about how the seed of doubt was planted. The following is a facebook conversation I had with a friend of mine (we'll call him "L")who for a long time was largely atheistic/ agnostic/ "I don't really care about religion", but then was "saved" a few years ago. L: "It’s especially cool that Will Smith is developing the project ($$$), will produce the project ($$$), and is planning to cast a minor over whose income he has full legal control ($$$). It’s just fun stuff.- gabe from videogum.com. (he's also a scientoligist (lololol forever)) so this guy is using his children to get "audit" money for his family. what a dirtbag cult loser" Responses from his other friends. L: "Sorry I don't believe misleading money sapping cults should be allowed. I think the people who "audit" should

By Thinks4Herself ~ E ven though I was raised in a relaxed Christian home, it has taken me over 20 years to admit I'm a nonbeliever and much effort to shake indoctrination. Although I now consider myself to be a satisfied and happy secular humanist , I'm still working to snip the last religious tentacles away that were deeply embedded within my mind. I continually have "Aha!" moments. For example, so many things I was taught in my youth I accepted at face value and never with a critical mind. Recently, it struck me powerfully and stunningly how absurd it would be to punish, torture, and execute a child in order to remove the "sin" from another child and forever make the "wrong-doing" child feel guilty. Image by DING52 via Flickr Then, on top of that horror, order the sinful and now shamed child to both love and worship me and also be afraid of my power to send him or her to hell for eternity. How is that moral, fair, just, loving, or log

H ello there, I am an Associate Producer with a New York City Production Company and we are working on a new series about couples dealing with issues with their In-Laws. I am reaching out to the former Christian community because we would like to devote an episode to a couple looking for acceptance from their parents/ In-Laws who do not share the same belief system. The show is being produced by a major cable television network. The show aims to treat everyone involved with respect and understanding. It is handles tough issues as light heartedly as possible, and everything is produced in the spirit of reconciliation! Travel costs are covered by the production and any families involved will be compensated for their time. Hope to hear from you soon, Amy Cummings 545 8th Avenue Suite 14 South NY, NY 10018 212- 564-2607 ex. 2339 212- 967-7573 fax

By Oktober ~ Ages are believed by some astrologers to affect mankind while other astrologers believe the ages correlate to the rise and fall of mighty civilizations and cultural tendencies. Aquarius traditionally “rules” electricity, computers, flight, democracy, freedom, humanitarianism, idealists, modernization, astrology , nervous disorders, rebels and rebellion.[5] Other keywords and ideas believed associated with Aquarius are nonconformity, philanthropy, veracity, perseverance, humanity and irresolution. The appearance or elevation in status of many of these Aquarian developments over the last few centuries is considered by many astrologers to indicate the proximity of the Aquarian age. There is no uniform agreement about the relationship of these recent Aquarian developments and the Age of Aquarius . Some astrologers believe that the influence of a New Age is experienced before it arrives because of a cuspal effect or Orb of Influence. Other astrologers believe the appearance o

By R.E.Allison ~ I t's difficult to explain my lost “faith in God,” I was brought up in a family of teachers, farmers and construction workers. My grandfather was a Baptist minister who had built a church on his own family's land. He had been preaching there since he was in his early thirties. My grandparents raised their family, including my mother, with solid Christian beliefs in a setting I would consider to be about equal to “ Little House on the Prairie .” The children worked in the fields as soon as they could walk, did chores before the sun came up and they grew everything they ate. My father grew up no more than ten miles away in a similar setting although his father was an abusive alcoholic and died in a bar fight before I was born. Both my parents became school teachers and my father also worked as an iron worker and carpenter throughout my childhood. We attended church at my mothers demand except for my father. When I asked my mother why my father did not atten

By Valerie Tarico ~ I n his latest book, The Moral Landscape , Sam Harris goes boldly where angels and demons dare not tread, and both end up supporting him. Harris is not one to mince words. Reacting to the 9/11 attacks, he picked up a pen and strode onto the public stage with his bestseller, The End of Faith . In it he argued that, given current levels of interdependence and destructive capacity, we can no longer afford our traditional deference to religious faith, which he calls beliefs based on insufficient evidence. Moderate religion, he said, creates social acceptance for “belief in belief” which in turn allows fundamentalisms to flourish. In making this argument, Harris positioned himself against a broad range of believers and secularists who had been arguing that faith is compatible with science and civil society. They responded with scorn and fury, labeling him a “fundamentalist atheist,” whatever that means. Then, after a year of collecting hate mail--mostly from

By Allan Potter ~ I feel like I could write for days on this subject. My journey has been a very fluid one and I know that it is not complete. One thing I have learned is to keep an open mind, without one, I would not be where I am today. I grew up in a very non-religious family. My single mother never once forced me to go to church and constantly reinforced to me that I was to come to my own conclusions. (Thank you Mom) I decided to try church because my Mom gave me that opportunity and I have always taken the viewpoint that I cannot judge something unless I am informed on it. I doubt my thoughts were that coherent at age 8, but nonetheless they were there. Plus, a few of my friends helped persuade me to go with them. I can remember going to church every Sunday for years. Being a Lutheran Church, I was confirmed, saved, and thought it was cool that I got to drink a sip of wine every month. But it was in the teachings that I was the most interested. Our preacher’s sermons were, fo

By atheistnurse ~ O K. So I get the news I had the big "C." Shock, fear, and then I got religious. Doesn't everyone who has a potentially fatal diagnosis? No? Well, call me gullible. At the time it gave peace to think that a loving benevolent god was in charge and I could trust him to take care of me. I think that is religion's most powerful draw--a psychological crutch to deal with things we don't want to deal with. Fast forward to a successful treatment. I am totally enmeshed in a church by that time. I teach Sunday school, volunteer for almost everything, lead people to the lord, home-school my kids teaching them creationism.... You get the idea. I was totally brainwashed. Then my husband got a traumatic brain injury in an automobile accident. He went from a funny, nice guy to an angry, selfish, unpredictable, childish man. It was the hardest freaking thing I ever lived through. I prayed and prayed and prayed because it was horrible and I bel

By Carl S ~ Below, is an e-mail that was written in response to a visitor's request for more information - a visitor who is familiar with the Gethsemane monastery I had written about . Several days later, it occurs to me that others may have had similar, interesting experiences, coming from different religious backgrounds/upbringings. Those who will dismiss or denounce the majority of us ex-Christians, as never having been committed to the faith, need to be educated on this matter. REPLY T hank you for visiting exchristian.net, where my first writing, "My Unique Experience," was about some of my experiences as a Trappist monk. I entered several months short of my 15th birthday, so my age at the time needs to be considered. On Halloween night, 1954, I was sent home with two postal workers who had been there for a retreat. Although the world has changed since then, I suspect Gethsemane is much the same. On that note, I will say that what the public sees is not what

Dear Friend, This February 12, people all over the world will commemorate  Darwin Day, an international celebration to honor the discoveries and life of Charles Darwin —the man who propelled science forward by first describing biological evolution via natural selection. When I reflect on what Darwin accomplished, I'm also reminded of the challenges that science and evolution face in our nation today.  A recent Gallop poll still found that 40% of Americans believe in creationism. And stealth creationist organizations like the Discovery Institute are spending millions of dollars to push so-called "intelligent design" into public schools. Help us fight back! You can start by doing two simple but meaningful things: First, please watch this brief two-minute video by the American Humanist Association about the importance of Darwin Day—a day to celebrate science and humanity.    Second, sign our petition to President Obama asking him to officially declare Febru

A South Carolina woman has been charged with felony ill treatment of an animal because she hung her nephew’s pit bull from a tree and then set it on fire after it chewed her Bible. Hopefully her lawyer will point out that here behavior was perfectly biblical. Here are five points in favor of the “It was biblical, so how can it be cruel?” defense. The Bible says that animals can be possessed by demons. Chewing a bible seems as good an indicator as any. One online forum mused on the animal possession possibilities after an East Coast woman was mauled by her chimp. The Bible prescribes capital punishment for over thirty six kinds of evildoers. (I encourage you to check the list and find out for yourself if you would qualify.) Bible chewing appears well within the range of capital offenses. Animals are not exempt from capital punishment. When a man or woman has sex with a goat for example, the goat must be put to death. Fiery torture is the ultimate punishment for unr

By aka mtbdude E veryone is appalled saddened by the shooting of those people in Tuscon recently. We are especially hopeful for the recovery of those who survived it. Image by Ninian Reid via Flickr But the kind of crap that I just read this morning really drives me up the wall. Dr. Michael Lemole, one of the physicians in charge of the care of Rep. Giffords, in a comment regarding her progress said, "We're wise to acknowledge miracles." No doctor, you are a fucking irresponsible idiot who ought to know better than to say something like that. The miracle will be if Rep. Giffords pulls out her tubes and walks out the door today. This unfortunate, apparently very good-hearted woman suffered a grievous injury and will likely never be the same. So let's praise God. This just sickens me. I went through my own near-death experience , and heard the same kind of garbage. Miracle. The miracle would be if the 30% total body surface area of my skin grew back s

By Pat Condell

By WMDKitty ~ I n the words of Marilyn Manson , "It's a long hard road out of Hell ." This is my journey along that road thus far. I was raised Catholic, and-- No. I suppose I should start at the beginning. My birth. I was born to a 16 year old girl, whose medical and personal history are unknown to me. Three months premature, a very sick baby, I wasn't supposed to live. But live I did. I even dared to thrive and defy the doctors' "best case scenario" predictions. At the age of one year, I was adopted, and taken in to my forever family. Despite the doctors' dire predictions, all they knew was that a little blond-haired girl was available for adoption. From what Mum and Dad have told me, it was love at first sight. Health problems? Potential disabilities? They didn't give that a second thought. As I grew up, they encouraged me to reach (literally and figuratively) for ever higher goals, be it crawling, walking, dressing myself, they

By Suzi Q ~ B etween this past Christmas and New Years I was physically assaulted by my own brother, a Christian, for being an atheist. But that is not where I want to begin my story. I want to go back to my childhood. My parents divorced when my mother was eight months pregnant with me, so I laughingly call myself a reverse bastard. But the sad reality is that my father was an apostolic minister and terrorized my mother, which is why she left him. I have seen my father exactly five times in my whole life, and I am now 31 years old. I am the only child that my parents created together, but have 12 brothers and a sister of which I am the youngest by almost 10 years. My siblings started having grandchildren before I ever had my first child. There is quite a generation gap to say the least. Amongst all those siblings I have various levels of relationships – two I’ve never met, three deceased, and two I haven’t seen since I was three years old. Growing up I was only close to t