By Grace ~ I was raised having to go to church every Sunday, mostly catholic church although on Saturdays mom would make us also go to a Christian church just so she could have free time from us. She made us go to Catholic School as well and so when I became a mom I did the exact same thing with my first two children until I began to have doubts about religion and then my last three children would refuse to go and would preach to me about how church just brainwashes people and stuff like that and so they created doubt but for my oldest son it was just too late.  My son who is now almost 40 years old becomes christian and then gets out of it and while doing this when he is a christian he is extremist about it and when he is not a christian then he is depressed and always fearful of punishment for becoming a man of the world rather than a man of God. I would prefer him be just a man who is fearless and mentally strong rather than a " Born again Christian ," becaus...

By John Draper ~ A gay Christian friend of mine likes to point out that Jesus never said a single word one way or the other about homosexuality—this by way of suggesting that Jesus would have been in favor of committed, monogamous homosexual unions Puh. To me, it’s a silly argument. In the first place, it’s an argument from silence. Jesus didn’t talk about a lot of things. He was focused on the Kingdom of God. That was his main message—the messianic age is nigh. Anyway, why should Jesus talk about homosexuality? He didn’t need to tell the Jews that homosexuality was sinful. They already believed that. In fact, it was such a gross offense it was considered a gentile sin. (The same people who like to point out that Jesus never spoke about homosexuality also like to point out that there are only six verses in the entire Bible that speak against homosexuality. To me, that’s not surprising. The Bible assumes heterosexuality. A man and woman joined to make one flesh was conside...

By Sara B ~ M y father was a fundie speaking in tongues preacher. My mother was mentally ill . I experienced being beaten by a belt since the age of 2. Belts were normal to beat children with in the cult I grew up in. Jesus Camp (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) I was sent to a " Jesus Camp " style youth camp and was pressured to speak in tongues . While at one of the camps, I was shown a movie about the rapture and taught if I did not make it (was not raptured), I would have to die by the guillotine for my faith. The government would kill those who would not bow to the anti-Christ and take the "mark." I had an anxiety attack during and after that film ("A Distant Thunder"). I attempted suicide at age 10, by hanging. I had a nervous break-down at 19. Fundamentalism is so damaging it should not be allowed. They still try to induce fear into people by scaring them into conversions (the propaganda films on and off the Internet are sick). I am free ...

By Valerie Tarico ~ I thank God I was raised Catholic, so sex will always be dirty. ~John Waters T he Catholic hierarchy is obsessed with sex: who does it, when, how, with whom, and for what purpose. In fact, I might argue that one of the most fundamental ways conservative religion hooks people is by creating deep psychological hang-ups about sex, for which it then claims to offer a solution. Sexual intimacy and sexual pleasure are two of humanity’s most cherished experiences. A recent study showed that sex makes people even happier than religion does . The Church knows that. It also knows that forbidding something we crave—making it taboo—can make the craving even stronger . It’s the perfect set-up for an institution trafficking in guilt and redemption . Most people, including most lay Catholics and many clergy, recognize that the senescent men running the Vatican hold some archaic and ignorant notions about sex. What we often don’t recognize is how many of our own sexual...

Our Senior Year is a novel about high school, growing up in a small town, and how it's tough to escape that world. But it's also about dealing with religion in your life and how in a small-town, rural environment it can be difficult to escape fundamentalism. The novel takes place in a town not unlike the one the author went to high school, and involves the main character Jack beginning his senior year ready to escape his parents, which are conservative Christian types and can be over-bearing. The mother is fairly judgmental and the father, while having given up any kind of faith years ago, still remains under her thumb due to their history together. Jack meets a girl through the youth group meetings his mother attends, but the relationship falters in various ways due to the clash between his non-belief and her belief. The author tried to create believable Christian characters while still retaining his own viewpoint on the topic. Enjoy the following excerpt from Our Senior ...

By John Draper ~ I have this friend, a gay man struggling to come to terms with the fundamentalist Baptist religion he was raised in. He insists that he is a Red-Letter Christian. His point is, he doesn’t buy any of harsh passages of the Bible—things like God commanding the Israelites to kill every Canaanite man, woman, child and animal. Just give me the pure words of Christ, he says, which in many Bibles are printed in red letters to make them stand out from the rest of the words. Hence Red-Letter Christian. The logic is that Jesus was all about sweetness and light—tolerance. Wouldn’t hurt a fly. Truth is, Jesus was often a hard ass. Almost all of the references to hell in the Bible come from the mouth of Jesus. He was all about sending people to hell—separating the sheep from the goats. And so extreme! He said that if you hate your brother it’s as good as killing him. He said that if you think lustful thoughts about a woman it’s as good as sleeping with her, doing all sorts ...

By Carl S ~ T here is an old movie about the war between the Crusaders and the Muslims. In one scene, a king was demonstrating to a Muslim leader just how strong his knights’ swords were, by cutting through a very hard object. The Moslem, demonstrating his saber, flung a veil of silk into the air, and as it wafted down, the silk piece fell on the saber and was cut in half. But it isn't just the sharp blade that is mightier than the over-heavy sword; the pen is mightier than the sword, as they say. And the visual film, if used with artful finesse, can be also a powerful weapon of war against cold brutality. Truth, gently and honestly stated, is one enemy of ignorance and bigotry. Gentle and honest isn't popular these days; grossness and brutality sell. Sex sells. What is needed to get through is romantic sensuality. How do we go about destroying religious ignorance and hatred of women with reality? This might not be easy. First, find a reputable and sensitive director. This wi...

By Carl S ~ S ome readers might find your acerbic style to be off-putting. My friend prefers a logical, non-offensive tack while seeing the necessity of your approach. I welcome your insights and input, as coming from so many years of experience. While there are those of us who are the Rosa Parks of the freethought movement, for the most part, we're all engaged in antisepsis of religious poisons. I think you and I don’t give a damn what others think of us, including other freethinkers. We say that the emperor is naked, knowing that many of those in the past and present who point this out have been murdered. The world needs transparent truth, deeply. Okay. I'd like to share a few thoughts with you, and ask your input about any of them. I remember when one person protested he didn't think churchgoers pretended, your response was, "Yes, they really are pretending." A conclusion I also reached after going to church services; they were telling each other stuff. ...

By Anthony ~ The following is an excerpt from my book, The Evangelical Experience: Understanding One of America's Largest Religious Movements from the Inside . In it, I document my de-conversion experience, outline some core doctrines of Evangelicalism, and discuss how these doctrines affect the believer in different ways. This excerpt is from the chapter "Salvation"... T he primary effect that these experiences of salvation have on the believer is a sense that they are markedly different than the rest of the world. Born-again Christians, a group with which they now identify, are filled with the Spirit of God, assured of going to Heaven, and being changed into better people. The rest of the world is not. This creates a massive insider/outsider, believer/nonbeliever dynamic. Those inside the group are generally seen in a positive light, as "brothers and sisters in Christ" who have the Holy Spirit in them. Born-again Christians can say Namaste - "t...

By Carl S ~ L et us pray. Dear God we thank thee for those who have died in wars for our freedoms. We thank thee especially for the deaths of gay and lesbian members of our armed forces, as well as for the deaths of the atheists, agnostics, and other non-Christians. Because of their support of our freedoms, not only we, but Father Couglin, Bill O'Reilly, Mike Huckabee , Pat Robertson , Justice Scalia , and many other true Christians, are free to mock those just like them, tell lies about them, encourage others to hate them, and to work religiously and without ceasing to deprive them of their rights. We also thank thee for their sacrifices that enable us to deny their wives, mothers, and sisters access to health care and decisions for their own bodies. Truly thou hast worked in mysterious ways to bring thy good from the deaths of the wicked and unbelievers. We thank thee in Jesus' name. Amen. From June 2-4, 2016, the Reason Rally was held in Washington, D.C. Media cha...

By Carl S ~ S o you want to understand this "God" everybody is talking about. You know people who have a "personal" relationship with him, who tell you this is what he desires: a personal relationship with his creation. So on your own, you start perusing the scriptural accounts believers refer to. Scriptures of three major religions speak in storied detail, to convince us to take their words on faith, of a creator-father-god and the history of his relationship with creation related in HIS OWN words. You're skeptical. But you decide to approach these scriptures AS IF THE ARE TRUE. You become an investigator. Have you noticed how woefully inadequate this alleged all powerful father figure has been in dealing with this creation, and his failure to understand how it naturally functions? Strange, isn't it that someone who creates something DOESN'T really understand how it WORKS? A perfect creator would get things right at the beginning, with no regre...