By Brian Kellogg ~  "23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.25 And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria." (2 Kings 2) T he above is from a book whose proponents and followers say qualifies them for moral superiority. Note that the prophet did this "in the name of the Lord" all because the poor prophet was being picked on. In other words his god stood behind and fulfilled this curse. If you are going to say, "well this is the old testament". Then please explain your unchanging god to me again. This reminds me of so many xians who find comfort, amusement, and soul satisfying vengeance in thinking their opponents are go

By Susan G. Bonella ~ M y husband and I were bouncing conspicuously through the dessert in a camouflage jeep. We were quickly approaching the barricade of armed soldiers ahead of us. As they moved into a defensive array, my husband and I gave each other a knowing look; I would do the talking and he would stay back in his threateningly masculine form until our identity was confirmed and our purpose was understood. We were there to pray, and people on the inside knew us from the underground church that we began. We certainly wouldn’t be shot, and our children were secure back at the safe house where they taught Jesus to the other children on this long missionary journey among strangers. It was my greatest hope as a mother that our children would grow up to become trained missionaries with an excellent knowledge of the bible. Such were the collective dreams of our fundamental family. We would leave the possibility of the kids going to college behind, rip them away from the rest of

By Sara ~ D ear Jesus, I know our relationship ended about a year ago, but lately I find myself thinking a lot about you. The breathing room this year has given me has been amazing, let me tell you! Now, I can let my mind soar free without having to ask your permission—or beg your forgiveness if my thoughts were not holy enough for your divine tastes. Postcard - Sexy Woman writing a letter (Photo credit: Rev. Xanatos Satanicos Bombasticos (ClintJCL) ) In recent weeks, I’ve been thinking about our anniversary—the anniversary of our relationship’s demise, that is. It seems like it’s some kind of cosmic joke that this particular date nestles itself within that buffer week between Christmas and New Year ’s. I got to break up with you on your internationally-recognized birthday. Then I got to start my new life without you on the celebration of new beginnings. At the realization of this most excellent irony, I would ordinarily exclaim your Father’s name in vain if I were still on

By Daniel out of the Lion's Den ~ This is a follow-on to my first testimony, “ Freedom Found in a New View of the Cosmos ”. M y parents were both atheist, and had never taught us kids any of the tenets of Christianity. At age 11, we moved next to a Christian family. The wife asked my mother if they could take her children to a vacation bible school. My mother was all too happy to have a few hours of peace, and relinquished her brood to the woman who would become “the sweet old Christian woman next door” in my “how I got saved” testimony. My parents would come to rue that day. As an adult, I found that the church we went to was the Plymouth Brethren denomination, a strict sect of Christianity with an oppressive doctrine concerning women. Of course, they tricked the young Daniel into reciting the sinner’s prayer (what 11 year old wants to go to hell?). For the next several years, I was indoctrinated with the Bible, and their interpretation of it. The church had many peo

By Okodee Mmowere ~ T he Tower, a tarot card that strikes fear into Tarot card readers and their clients, the very sight of this card invokes fear, anxiety and terror. It is the beginning of the reaping, the end has come all hell has broken loose, you have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and the world that you have built is crumbing, struck down by the hand of god, in this case a lightning bolt. We meet two people in this picture, a couple, both of whom are diving headfirst into what appears to be a sudden and possibly untimely death. The Tower is the source of all human fear; it is everything about sudden and violent change or events including, but not limited to, sudden upheavals, revolts, events such as divorce, expulsion, suspension, job termination, possibly a change of location, even having a change of world-view. The Tower is not only a change in the physical, but also the mental. It can symbolize having your world view changed suddenly, through college, work, poverty,

By Paul So ~ “When it is not in our power to follow what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable. ” - Rene Descartes M any people often think that atheism amounts to a dogmatic assertion that God does not exist; they think that to be an atheist one has to produce absolute proof that there is no God. Most of the time people have this impression that atheists are absolutely certain about the non-existence of God since they claim to know that God does not exist, however this impression is misleading. While there are atheists who claim to be absolutely certain that God does not exist, not all atheists are like this. Most atheists are not committed to the view that the non-existence of God is some kind of axiomatic or self-evident truth, even Richard Dawkins once said that he isn’t 100% certain of the non-existence of God. What most atheists would agree is that the belief in the existence of God is implausible, hence unreasonable belief. Most atheists do not feel compelle

By Yak ~ C hristians like a good lie --and They'll Go To Hell if They Don't Believe it. I was recently out on the Internet doing some research and happened across a link to a shame-on-us article about Ted Haggard , the infamous, scooter-riding, arrogant Mega Church preacher who on was outed for Riding the Baloney Pony and doing Meth on the side with his gay prostitute. The article (link below) is from Christianity Today (CT), a very conservative and influential Christian magazine. (The article on CT is currently open to posting comments...) http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2012/december-online-only/going-to-hell-with-ted-haggard.html Haggard made himself all the more famous in the world's eyes by his outspoken, arrogant and violent attitude toward Richard Dawkins and his camera crew, and by his anti-gay and anti-drug rhetoric that he spewed as if he was an authority of righteousness. Every day he duped thousands of people into thinking that what he said w

By Carl S ~ M any loyal citizens insist that our foundation originates from the Bible. They pick and choose from the private writings, even public pronouncements of the Founders as they do from the Bible itself, to bolster their claim. (This is understandable; it’s human nature to “seek and find” support for biased opinions.) Let’s consider if the tenth commandment alone is reason enough to question the morality of a Bible-based system. Recently, a Bible commentator pointed out something about the tenth commandment, as written in Exodus 20:17. “ You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” The writer asks if we noticed that all of the things mentioned in this commandment are the “property” of the male head of the household. Indeed, if we look at the Bible, this is normal. Prominent examples are Abraham , Solomon, David, Job, Noah . (This same book

By Pantophobia ~ D ear Whiny Christians*, There is no “ War on Christmas .” I know Bill O'Reilly has insisted otherwise. I know that Rush has kept you all whipped up, and the AFA and the Million Moms (give or take several hundred thousand) have almost daily updates of the atrocities committed upon your sacred holiday. But years into your annual tradition of false persecution, it's time to look at the information in front of us all. Let's see what is really being served on your holiday table and mine. Frankly, I'm not the only one who is sick of having you acting like you are victims of something tragic. You are not being “persecuted” for your faith. No one is trying to “destroy” anything. No one is preventing you or anyone else from celebrating Christmas, and doing it as Jesus-y as you want. In every retail outlet in the country, you can't escape Christmas. You can buy cards and wrapping paper and ornaments all emblazoned with the word in just about any gi

By Paul ~ F irst of all, I come from a very religious family. My dad has always been intensely involved in the church and my whole family are rock solid Christians... all but me. I recently came out to my mom and brother about not believing in God. It was hard, and they said they'll pray for me :| Anyway, how Christianity makes my life hard, is the way it makes them think, and the decisions they make, that sometimes effect me. I have two brothers: The oldest is an (ex) drug user, religious fanatic , and a bit reckless. The middle one is a very hard working guy, that has always been looking out for himself and not screwing up. I am the youngest, kind of in between those two, except for the drugs and religion. Now the history with my eldest brother is that he always got himself back into drugs and then he would reach a stage where god 'saves' him. 'God has taken me back into his arms, after the devil tempted me.' My belief has always been that if he didn'

by Vyckie Garrison “The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.” ― Oswald Chambers E ven though I'm 99.9% sure that December 21, 2012 is not the Last Day, I'm having an End of the World party at my house tomorrow night. To tell the truth, I am a little afraid - not that the world will end, but that life goes on and I have relatively little control over whatever the future might hold for me and my family. As most readers at No Longer Quivering know, I no longer count myself among the God-fearing faithful. When I was a Believer, I honestly thought that I was fearless - not that there was nothing to be afraid of - to the contrary, as a Christian, I had all the usual anxiety of living in an uncertain modern-world-gone-mad compounded by the added terrors particular to Evangelical culture ; namely, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil - all of which, I believed, were aligned against

Dealing with Family at Holiday Time (This is a chapter from the e-book,  Heretic Holidays: Tips from Two Religious Renegades , by Marlene Winell and Valerie Tarico) A t this time of year it’s hard to avoid dealing with the differences you have with your family. If you are a “reclaimer” (reclaiming your life after being religious) who has been raised in a religious household, holiday times can be very uncomfortable when other family members are still devout. Having worked through these issues with many clients, here are a few guidelines that might be helpful. I’ll start by suggesting you write in a journal, starting now and continuing through the holidays. This can help you sort through jumbled thoughts and emotions, stay on track with how you are trying to handle things, take care of yourself, and learn. There are exercises here to prompt your thinking. In general, if you plan to be with family at this time, it helps a great deal to approach the holidays with a high level of