By Carl S ~ M y former co-worker was a black man raised in Alabama. He'd quote words of wisdom from his father, who lived through years of extreme racial prejudice in the American South. One time, my partner was summoned to the office on what he suspected were trumped-up allegations against him, and told me, “My daddy always said, 'Never give a man a stick to beat you with.”' Isn't “God” a stick used by others to beat you into feeling guilty or embarrassed about anything harmless you think or do - whenever they want you to? One dictionary definition of a tool is: “a means or instrument.” Words, as symbols, are tools. A physical tool is an extension of an organic body's abilities; symbols are tools of the imagination, extensions of ideas. For thousands of years it was believed only humans made tools, but observations have confirmed other animals make tools to accomplish their wants and needs. Humans, with more wants, needs, and more solution-driven complex imag

By Srdjan ~ F irstly, excuse me for my bad English, I am citizen of an ex-communist country. My name is Srdjan (derived from greek Sergios, meaning Saint from Hyos) and surname Michailovic (like famous writer Fyodor Michailovic Dostoevsky, looooool..) During my school years atheism was imposed to us pupils. I thought that humankind during thousands of years believed in God, and that my teachers must be wrong, that they cannot be smarter than many previous generations which believed in Christ, so I started to read and study Bible daily, and regularly attend orthodox Church (at least twice a week). I had met many interesting people there, and we all thought that we were right and the rest of the world was wrong. All we hated atheism, and communists (in spite of evangelical "love your enemies") for their imposing dialectical materialism and evolution as final truth that must be learned in school as "scientific" worldview. For my opposition to majority in school

By John Draper ~ T he most incredulous person in the world is a fundamentalist who is reading someone else’s holy book. Suddenly, they can smell subterfuge a mile away. But point out something ridiculous about their holy book—and watch the fur fly. Obvious discrepancies are “apparent” discrepancies. Any “apparent discrepancy” a True Believer can’t resolve is an “unsolved mystery.” We’ll just have to ask God about that when we get to heaven. Everybody seems to have a personal bullshit detector, which they’re eager to use on all holy texts except their own. I discovered this truth when I was researching my first novel, which is about a Mormon missionary who goes insane on his mission. I read more books about Mormonism than you can shake a stick at it. How can people believe this crap? Then I read the Book of Mormon itself. Here’s the Book of Mormon in 79 words: It was Jews who populated North America, coming over first in wooden submarines. The good Jews were “white and delig

By Thin-ice ~ (Prelude: I was a Bible school grad, a missionary in Europe, and de-converted about 8 years ago, after 46 years as an evangelical, born-again Christian. I have posted my original de-conversion story, and 3 or 4 subsequent updates, here on Ex-christian.net, first under the name "Portland Guy", and then under "Thin-Ice". Here's another small episode, that I experienced today.) T oday I was on the Portland streetcar, when I saw a young fellow near me, wearing a t-shirt with the name of a small rural high school near where I grew up in Spokane, WA. He was also writing in a journal which had a cover with an embossed Bible verse reference. I decided not to talk to him, seeing that we had different worldviews. But my curiosity got the best of me: maybe we knew people in common in that rural community. So I asked if he went to school there, and I mentioned the name of the church I grew up in, thinking he might even have attended there. But he didn&

By Susan ~ This is a letter I sent to my loved ones that have been concerned about me... H i Family and Friends:) Many of you have been interested/concerned/curious about my recent stepping away from the church/christianity, and I wanted to take some time to share my heart so you can better understand my decision. First off, thank you so much for loving me. It has been a long journey.   I once was a wide-eyed, the-world-is-my-oyster-as- long-as-I-love-Jesus kind of a girl.  I was unwavering in my faith and wanted nothing more than to live my life well, pure from pretty much anything of ‘the world’.  I was the girl that my friends would apologize to after swearing.  I felt  SO  guilty after drinking beer in Jen Carter’s basement in Grade 8 that I promised God I would never go to a party again.  I was always trying to bring other teens to youth group or a DC Talk (Kevin Max tho'....such a dreamboat...) or Micheal W. Smith (less hairspray and tanning cream please!) c

By Tania ~ My world has expanded. I am seeing a bigger picture now. There is so much is out there, out in the real world. My focus used to be so narrow! T hose are some of the phrases that I catch myself thinking and saying nowadays, as “post-Christian Tania” who has settled more into this life and is continuing to let go of the bits of religion that linger. Chances are, there will always be some things that I miss about the lengthy chapter of my “churched” life, but I’m moving on. As time goes on, I am appreciating the expansion of my world. There’s the freedom to question, to explore, to totally turn things on their heads and see them in a new light. The thing I remember most clearly about summer of 2011 — the year of the start of my deconversion — is curling up on my fake leather couch in my basement suite and reading, reading, reading. Unable to find satisfying answers to my “big questions” by reading books written by religious (mostly Christian) authors, I decided to…yes, c

By Dorothy Husen, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist: submitted by Karen Garst ~ D ear Emma & Dustin, These are my greatest hopes and desires for you today as I write this letter:              For you to love and accept yourselves;              For you to feel comfortable with who you are; and              For you to trust your intuition to be your inner guide through life.             These desires are quite different from when I was a Christian.             When I was your Christian mom, my greatest desires for you were:                           For you to recognize your need for God;                           For you to believe in Jesus to save you from hell; and                           For you to find your purpose and guidance through faith in Christ. I don’t think that any of these desires has anything to do with my love for you. I love you now and I loved you then. What HAS changed is my love for myself. Over the last six years, I