By Bruise ~ I 've called myself an atheist for about six or seven months now. I haven't told anyone except my husband (who is all for it, thankfully! ha!), and one cousin and one friend, both of whom are atheists. The rest of my family (on my side and my husband's) are Christians and I've been debating telling them about my deconversion and am considering sending the below letter...any feedback would be appreciated! Thanks! Dear Family, I would like to share some information with you that will likely come as a surprise. I have deliberated for some time now regarding the sharing of this information (should I keep it to myself??). As you read I have no doubt you will understand why I’ve struggled with this decision! I so badly want to be “real” with you, my family. I do fear that sharing this information will alter our relationship in some way (for the worse!); that would be the worst outcome in my eyes. I also fear that sharing this information will make you fe

By ljo ~ M y indoctrination started when I was 12. My 22-year-old sister had this grand idea that she was going to teach me and my brothers the Word of God. She would pick us up every Thursday and Wednesday and take us to a Four Square Baptist Church. What does Four Square even mean? My mom never went with us; she always had some excuse. The church members made us very well aware of what sin was and where we would be headed if we chose not to follow the word of God. I just knew that my mom was bound for Hell. I love my mom and I wanted her in heaven with me. After the church had us watch the movie "Rapture," I started having nightmares of my mom being left behind and burning in flames. I hated bed time. I feared falling asleep. I was a basket case. This went on through my 9th grade yr. I stopped attending church on a regular basis and the nightmares finally ended. I did continue going on occasion, because I feared God and I knew it was my duty to keep him so

By xxkindofboredxx ~ E vangelicals and Fundamentalists alike claim that the Bible is “God’s Holy Word” and that it’s 100%, without a doubt, inerrant. However, there are a few logical fallacies that plague the doctrine of the faith. All of these contradictions can be found within the Bible. Does God Want Anyone to Perish? Most Christians say that God doesn’t want anyone to go to hell. They may cite excerpts such as the following, which blatantly state that God does not want anyone to perish (P.S. I’ve made some parts bold to help make my point): [2:1] First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, [2] for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. [3] This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, [4] who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. [5] For there is one Go

By Carl S. ~ A few days ago, I phoned my atheist friend and asked, “Has atheism anything to do with morality?” His answer was, “Of course not.” But I already knew that. It was the next question that I had thought about: Does Christianity have anything to do with morality? Since we didn’t have much time to spare, our discussion was limited, but a brief citing of examples of immorality being committed in the past and present was a good beginning for further discussions. Atheism is not a moral issue. Atheism is merely a declaration that one doesn’t believe in gods. My friend tells me that believers have made this a moral issue: clergy preach that without belief in a god, or God watching and judging over one's actions, one will not be moral. But this is pure propaganda. There is no evidence I know of personally, or probably the reader either, and no evidence in studies that shows the Christian to be any better or worse than the godless. The godless just don't have any backin

By Shauna J ~ I remember my mother teaching me that I needed to give my heart to Jesus Christ. She taught me that everything good that happened to me was because God was giving me blessings and everything bad was because of Satan's evil. She told me stories of Eden, Noah's ark , the great flood , and that a man of virgin birth died for my sins. I was baptized five times over the years, each time after falling from grace. I remember we saw The Passion of the Christ as a family, I remember the horror I felt watching a man being tortured and the sounds were even worse when I closed my eyes because I couldn't watch anymore. My church had raved about the film and how everyone needed to see this epic movie, but I just cringed. I remember every year my church would participate in the play production of " Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames ." A play about the choice that each person has to give their heart to Jesus right before they die. Those that d

By undercover agnostic ~ I have a junk drawer in the kitchen. This is the place where little things go that don’t have a real home, or when I’m too lazy to put them where they actually belong. They are the small pieces of life that don’t seem to fit anywhere. I have a few theological junk drawers as well. Everything that doesn’t fit neatly in my worldview gets tossed in one of the junk drawers. My entire life I’ve looked through only one lens—A Christian lens. I grew up going to church every Sunday. I went to Bible camp in the summer and youth group throughout my teen years. I even graduated from Bible College after high school. I’ve only listened to Christians explain how the world came into existence, why we have suffering, what happens to us when we die, what God is like, what man’s primary purpose is, how we got here and where we are going. Creation, Fall and Redemption was the template to explain the deepest questions and yearnings of the human soul. The story goes li

By Carl S. ~ E veryone is familiar with the formula movie in which a bunch of losers, against the most difficult odds, go on to win the championship. Or the ordinary horse wins the derby. The paralyzed walks again. Everyone loves a winner. Nobody loves a loser, a quitter. Or so they say. Sometimes, the best decision is “I quit.” I must confess that I'm a failure. I failed the eighth grade in parochial school and went into a monastery (at that time the Marine Corps of religious institutions), which I also failed. And then, I was referred to another monastery, which, after three plus years, I also failed. I failed celibacy. And for all these failures, I'm most grateful. I have two fine children to be proud of, and a wonderful wife; all of which would not have happened if I had not failed. Now, I've been put down, humiliated as a 'failure,” because I didn't meet the criteria of others. (For example, once, when applying for unemployment benefits , my previ

By Daniel out of the Lion's Den ~ A s I began to give my Christian friends notification that I was no longer a member of the club, I found that they didn’t really believe me. They would say things like, “It’s perfectly normal to doubt or question.” And, “I know exactly where you’re coming from, I feel unworthy at times, too.” On top of that, the invitations to come to this meeting and that outing were relentless. I didn’t realize how deep in I was, and that I had to be pulled out by the roots. I could see that a more forceful approach would be required. One friend heard of my “faith issue” and wanted to talk about it over lunch. After an hour, I was no where near finishing my explanation. I saw that it would be logistically impossible to meet individually with all the people I needed to tell for three hours each. As much as I don’t like the impersonal approach of e-mail, I decided to write a letter explaining my deconversion. I understand that I could just say, “Adi

By Nature rules ~ M y story starts when I was about 5 years old. It was a Sunday evening and Jesus of Nazareth was on t.v. (the Robert Powell version) I was sat, curled up on the sofa with my mother and there on the screen I saw a vision of the man they called Jesus. He was beautiful and I was hooked. As young as I was, I had fallen head over heels in love with this perfect, kind, gentle man. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. Week after week I waited for Sundays to arrive so I could watch my hero on tele and then the B*****ds crucified him. My heart broke. I can still remember the pain I felt and how devastated I was. Did this really happen to Him? How could they do it to Him? I was so hurt and confused but I knew I loved Him so for the next thirty five years my love remained. It was a private and quiet faith. Only attended church a handful of times over the years. I always came out feeling empty so I just kept Him in my heart and it was enough for both of us. About

By slave2six ~ I n this recent posting , the idea of Morality without god came into question. In my experience, the question posed to agnostics and atheists is always the same: "Upon what do you base morality without god?" I think there are two possible meanings behind the question "How can you be moral without god?": 1) You are unable to distinguish what is and what is not moral without god informing you. It's possible to take the view that god is responsible for our innate, instinctive morality in that he created us with brains that include a moral component. Paul seems to support this view when he says: For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law... Morality is an instinct or a biological process. If morality is innate, instinctual, and a common aspect of human biology, I fail to see where god comes into it at all. 2) You are incapable of making the right moral choice without god empowering you.

By Luke ~ W ow, I am amazed at how much I've changed over the course of two years. Here is my testimony: Two years ago, at 17, I would immediately shut out of my mind any doubts about God's existence or His Holiness . I would never think twice about any of the Bible's teachings. I wouldn't even dare to think about having second thoughts, doubts, or disagreements, because it would lead to fear of straying off the narrow path, or just feeling guilty. Funny, it was stressed in the church that I attended that guilt and fear were definitely NOT the reasons why you should be a Christian. Oh, I started WAY too far ahead, let's start again. From the beginning, I was in church. My grandmother encouraged Christianity more than either of my parents did from the get-go, and it was difficult to even imagine a lifestyle where you didn't go. As a result, I respected and loved her more than I did my parents for a long time. After all, my mother was a drug addict (to

By philhellenes ~

By undercover agnostic ~ I n Christianity, God is our father and Jesus is our older brother, right? But when we die, we are united in marriage to Christ. He is the groom, and everyone in his harem, including men, women and children, become his “bride.” Perhaps the incestuous relationship is okay, since we are, after all, adopted children and not biological offspring. But, then, how do we explain that Christ’s love affair includes boys, men and even infants? It almost sounds like God is presenting a double standard, by sanctioning marriage only between one man and one woman, while his son’s relationship is a polygamous cacophony of hetero, homo, and bi-sexuality not to mention pedophilia! The Bible also speaks of the groom, not as a man, but rather an animal—a baby sheep to be exact. Are we to infer that God is promoting bestiality to boot? One can only wonder. So how does one enter into eternal holy matrimony with the Son of God ? According to the doctrine of election, Je