By Carl S ~ P eople sincerely believe this crap: In chapter one of their book, their god creates everything, and pronounces this creation "Good."  In chapter 8, he wipes it out.  On top of that, in the very same chapter, at verse 25, he proclaims that never again will he destroy the world by drowning, because... and get this, he concludes after it, that "man's heart is evil from his birth"! Wait one minute. Concluded this. Shouldn't he have known this before he committed genocide, nature-cide (ecocide)? True believers are stupid to believe stories like this.They want it both ways; a loving god who is at the same time, excused for the evils he constantly commits. We've had over two thousand years of this shit. Apologists "explain" why his evils should be tolerated, why evil is good, telling us "You can't understand the mind and wisdom of God."

By Carl S ~ I 've known my relative and his family for over 25 years now. I decided to share something with him in an email: "I woke up at 5 a.m. with a very peaceful and comforting thought. I don't know if there's an actual Heaven or Hell (no one does), but it doesn't matter because after I'm dead. there won't be a 'me' to experience either one."  (You can imagine the responses to that.) Later on,  "This particular Carl you think you know, will be dead, and won't experience Hell, Heaven, Paradise, Reincarnation, or any other 'afterlives' ignorant men have created." Once again I was chided with his repetitive – over 25 years – interpretation of Pascal's Wager,  "If I'm wrong, I've lost nothing; if you're wrong, you've lost everything."  (WTF?). I told him, “That's ridiculous.”  I knew all the good he'd done, so I couldn't think he wasted his life if he didn't bet on belie...

The Tower of Babel by Pieter Brueghel the Elder By Carl S ~ C hildren are still being taught the Tower of Babel tale about building something so high it would enter God's realm in the sky. For thousands of years it's been a warning: Don't ever go there. Be afraid, don't even think of going there. What's up doc? What if we do? Pictures coming from the James Webb Space Telescope are available for the whole world to see. So why aren't the Christians broadcasting them in their megachurches and singing "How Great Thou Art" to the one they claim created everything? Do you suppose it's because there's no relation between their puny biblical deity and reality? And, oh look! No “Heaven" in the Universe with "many mansions," nor Paradises for Muslims, JW's, or Mormons! No god is in control in the billions of light-year distances. Certainly, not their "God" who cares about the sex lives of humans occupying a pin-prick of i...

By Carl S ~ I s Dumbo more real than Jesus? The answer depends on who you ask. Doesn't every culture have fantasy-fabricated individuals, often with lives of heroic proportions? Haven't celebrities with their real/imagined lives, been around forever? In the beginning, man created gods and keeps altering them. My oldest brother was an artist. He could paint a portrait of someone you'd know, and change the character of that person with a couple of brush-strokes, or make a sculpture of a figure and change its proportions daily, even hourly. He made figures out of Silly Putty, and watched each one as it changed form. Eventually each melted into a puddle. All gods are like that, because they're only as "real" as a person's imagination continues to create them, at whim. Humans need outlets for frustrations, anger, fear of the future and the unknown. Ergo, in the beginning, man created entertainment, Those seeking explanations for the origins of nature, death,...

By Carl S ~ D ear readers: This was composed over a period of several days of re-writing, revising, adding and subtracting entire paragraphs, etc., in order to convey my thoughts and conclusions as honestly as possible. I hope you feel as free reading it as I do after writing it! I was born in 1937. At that time, Adolph Hitler was in power. He and I had something in common: Both of us were raised in societies which accepted the daily sight of a Jewish corpse, predominantly displayed, as the highest symbol of love. Read that again.   In parochial school we were told an invisible god's pre-determined PURPOSE for our lives: "God wants you to serve him on earth and to be happy with him in Heaven. All you have to do is obey his will." Don't worry, WE will tell you what his will is for you and your parents for the rest of your lives. Trust us. (All those "anointed authorities" are STILL making up shit.)   On my own, over decades, one way I tried to fin...

By Carl S ~ T he American Psychological Association site features an interview with Karen Douglas, PhD. on "Why people believe in conspiracy theories." Wondering why I'm tying beliefs in conspiracies directly to religious beliefs? You may figure it out before she finishes talking. On page 6 of my printout, Dr. Douglas is asked, "What makes a conspiracy theory catch on and have staying power? Are there certain types of theories that are stickier than others or some that are more enduring?" She finds that a "really, really, fascinating question." (Because they come back again or come back again in a different form, for instance.) She says sorts of conspiracy theories have always been there. They mutate. They change. Dr. Douglas didn't get into a connection between religious beliefs and conspiracy theories, but I couldn't stop thinking about a very, very, large conspiracy theory that has endured for thousands of years, unchanged and invoked...

By Carl S ~ W izened Sage and I entertained the idea of writing our own obituaries. We don't want others taking advantage of our deaths to impose their superstitious absurdities. We don't want people assuming we were believers. What led me to bring up this subject? Got a letter from a true radical believer I've corresponded with over the years. Referring to something I mentioned in three letters, he writes, "You can believe what you want to, just as I do, although you can change your mind any time at all." So I wrote back, "You too." I wrote about asking a pastor, "If I am a good moral person, but don't believe, can I get into Heaven?" His answer was immediately, "Yes." I asked my wife's pastor the same question. His answer, after a long silence, was "No." When I told my wife about her pastor's answer, she said, "WELL, THAT'S HIS OPINION." I envy her ability to sum up things so fast. This guy ...

By Carl S ~ I f you've watched videos of police interrogating suspects, you'll understand. Sometimes there's a time of relief for both questioner and suspect. It's when the cop reaches a point where he can safely say, "Quit the bullshit, okay? You and I know you did it." And the perpetrator begins to unburden. That's the kind of relief, of liberation, we need more of. Curiously, I revisited a biblical text you won't find discussed in bible teaching classes, ever. There's an interesting site, Bible Gateway, to find texts merely by punching up book, chapter, and verse. So let's approach the texts with the maxim of the British Royal Society: "Take no man's word for it." Here we go. Bible Gateway's "Genesis 8, v. 21, in all English translations." (I counted 54 on the same text, and suggest reading all of them.) Of course, they each say the same things in their own way. Number One: The Lord says, in his mind or ve...

By Carl S. ~ O ver the span of my 80+ years on earth, I have read many historical and spiritual accounts of the life of the Apostle, St. Paul. Only recently have I read of discovered ancient writings in regards to his private, as compared to public, missionary life. Two or more writers, including a convert to Christianity himself, mention one particular revelation. Once I discovered their texts, my pre-conceptions of Paul as a noble, spiritual man, also reveal him to be even more like one of us. Paul, after all, did admit to being just another sinner. You may or may not change your image of St. Paul even after finding out he had an ongoing sexual relationship with a girl, beginning when she was twelve years of age. Whether she bore him a child, or had a child by him aborted; a common practice in his day, is unknown. This, of course, would have had to be covered up. Throughout periods of history, a marriage to a twelve year old girl was acceptable. It may also be said the laws ...

By Carl S ~ L ucky you to see what humans have never seen in the entire history of humanity! The James Webb Space Telescope is gushing out a constant stream of pictures from the farthest reaches of Space-Time. Some day, it might find the beginning of this Universe as a "Go boom!" followed by multiple orgasms ever since. No good or evil relativity involved. Absurd? So what's the point of it all? I don't see the "point" of any or all of it, just like my life or that of any other organism. While the Webb and Hubble are scanning, analyzing, and photographing, are they looking for signs of "Heaven?" "Since "Heaven" is by tradition, a physical place, with "many mansions," where the hell is it? Billions of people have been told "Heaven is for real," so why can't it be found? Millions of people still believe Jesus and others floated up from Earth, unaided by balloons, rockets, etc., through the clouds, to this ...

By Carl S ~ I 'm married to a Christian woman. We've been married for over 26 years now. I'm just now asking myself how she puts up with my outspokenness. Our relationship began when she responded to my description of myself in a "Personals" column she read in the newspaper. She said all the guys mentioned their physiques and/or money, stuff like that, but she liked my frankness. (She forgot I also mentioned, "Tired of Platonic relationships.") The second night we went out together, I told her, "I'm not a Christian," knowing that was important to her. She answered that she didn't consider it a problem. After we were married, I'd attend church services with her, and remembered after one of them, saying, "These people act as if they really believe this." Attendance with her went on for years, and since we moved, this meant two or more congregations, until she settled for one in particular. Even then, after one service, I to...

By Carl S ~ I t's that time of year when people hear the story of a star traveling right above Earth, leading men to a structure, where it stops and hangs around for hours! ( Global Positioning Star, or Ancient UFO?) The reason for the Christmas story is said to be of utmost importance: It's claimed (no witnesses), the first humans did something naughty by following the advice of a Talking Snake! This “evil” was enough to punish the entire human race, forever. In order to pay the penalty for it, the child born on the first Christmas had to be tortured to death for three hours! This gory “solution” is preached as the greatest example of love! If you're willing to accept this package: would you believe all animals on Earth, predators and prey, could live peacefully packed together, on a boat, for over a hundred days? Would you believe only a few people on Earth worth saving were the ones standing by watching their friends and neighbors drown? What about five loaves of br...

By Carl S ~ O ne man made a very astute observation. He said before the ten commandments came to be, there were tribes. Mankind, therefore, already had social laws in place. People co-operated, loved, cared for, and supported one another. So who needed commands from one more invented invisible deity? All of this natural morality existed before the ten commandments. But what happened after them? What about that Golden Calf story? It's in Exodus 32, if you're wondering. Long story short, after the Israelites are delivered out of Egypt, they make a stopover near Mt. Sinai, and Moses, the leader, goes up the mountain alone to speak with the “god” no one has seen. He's up there so long, it looks like he's skipped out on them. They're bored, and ask the second-in-command man to fabricate this god upstairs into an image representing that “god.” After he does (here again, according to Moses alone), the “invisible god” on the mountaintop tells Moses he's pis...

By Carl S ~ D o fundamentalist Christians buy vibrators, condoms, birth control pills, pornography? Amazon, ebay, Paypal and Home Shopping Network won't tell. Do they have abortions? But they'll show up in force when they want to make public statements against their own personal choices. After mass tragedies, families and community members buy huge amounts of stuffed animals and flowers, purchased in mourning, to honor the victims. Those are primal responses, originating long before the burial practices of ancient Egypt! And not one Christian is aware the pagans initiated this response: toys and implements were originally buried with the deceased to be used in their afterlives. Now, thousands of years later in a market economy, lamentation, grief, and loss are sales opportunities for businesses taking advantage of the lucrative business of religion. (Doesn't this remind you of Christmas?) After these things, comes the ceremonial praising of a god by survivors, the prattl...

By Carl S ~ I 'll never back off from saying that churchgoers, “are only telling each other stuff.” I once told a man in his church's parking lot, “You don't really believe a man standing here can float right up into the sky, do you?” But the one thought sticking to me like a burr, means more than any other: “Life is too important to be wasted on religion.” You'd think that's ridiculous, coming from me, one who has written on religion both here and in letters to the editor, for years. Have I been wasting my time and energy, better spent on just about any other activities, esp. pleasurable ones? Maybe. Do “true believers” have problems wasting their lives on their beliefs? Or are they only exercising their imaginations in mental masturbations? It's like wasting bottles at a shooting range in innocent fun. I may offend and anger believers. I criticize, disrespect, and mock their beliefs, but I've never incited or encouraged them to torture, deprive...

By Carl S ~    I live in a country with a motto “In God We Trust” on its currency. It's a stupid motto, since the “God” it refers to, as every Christian child is taught, out of all the gods, is the only one who is “creator of Hell,” and therefore, never to be trusted. Any nation which unquestionally accepts this slogan is an unthinking nation. Let's just take a look at this “Hell.” Have those who claim to believe in Hell really thought about Hell? Have they thought of what it's like to suffer intense unremitting pain, so the only ways out are in pain killers, opium, inebriation, and if it goes on, insanity and/or death, even by suicide? You'd do anything to escape pain like that. Some pet owners, when the only future for their pets will be hopeless suffering, choose to have them euthanized. Those who get bored with inflicting torture will kill their victims. The objects of torture eventually become used-up pieces of crap to them, They're no more fun. So ...

By Carl S ~ G ot some emails from a Fundamentalist Christian woman recently. They were products of fundy organizations. I couldn't download them, and told her so, adding: “If you voted for a man who ordered children must be torn from their parents arms and imprisoned, then shame on you.” Her response told me I had no business talking about voting for compassion (as I said in a letter to the editor),when I voted for a man who okayed “252 babies torn from their mothers wombs at birth, and having their limbs torn off.” I asked her to show me evidence for that, adding, “Don't send me any more b.s.” She answered, We are through; don't bother her any more. I responded, again, asking for evidence, and added, “666 children. Shame.” I understand she's another victim of a lie her president kept repeating. It's a shame she's suffering because of bullshit. She's very vulnerable because she's high-strung, and Christian media makes a hell of a lot of money by keep...

By Carl S. ~ F or more than a dozen years, I've followed the testimonies and comments on this site. The most responses ensue whenever a troll comes in to caustically criticize or preach. It's weird, so much time, energy, and emotion wasted in arguing and fighting over beings that don't exist! On that note, here's a quote from children's author Robert Munsch:  “I'm not saying there isn't a God, but there isn't a God who cares about people. And who wants a God who doesn't give a shit?”  Why waste time on those who suck up to superstitions? It'd be interesting to find out how many believers don't believe in the “theory” of evolution, but believe wholeheartedly in conspiracy theories. For that, they can thank religion. I've spent most of my life as a humanist, not a believer. It's a really good feeling I've tried to share with others, and sometimes their attitude is “fuck off.” Really, many people don't know they're enc...

By Carl S ~ Article originally published on 12.19.2019 in the author's local newspaper. E very December, clergy take center-stage. Every time they preach of Jesus, I'm reminded of a fact: any man who does not write down his own thoughts and words gives up control of what is attributed to him after he has died. In the case of Jesus, this seems to be puzzling, since, as a rabbi, he was literate, and had at least more than 20 years available in which to write before he began his mission. There are various gospels, all by unknown authors, written decades after he died. From them, early Church bishops chose merely four. We are presented with only what those men allege Jesus said and did. Some people claim their words are fake news of the times, and there is no way to deny this. What we're told to take on faith means to believe and trust hearsay, handed down by those writers and their echoers. This tradition has created terrible problems for mankind; any faith of exclusion ...

By Carl S ~ H abitual rationalizing. Some believers don't think twice about ripping off people they don't know, esp merchants. It's like, “They won't miss the money, they overcharge anyhow.” Or, “Everybody does it.” (So that makes it right?) “She should know better, so she deserved just what she got. Some justify terrorizing children with descriptions of hell, “for their own good.” And lying to children by indoctrination? “Everybody lies to children.” Believers habitually make excuses for their interpretations of their god, clergy, and politicians. Morality doesn't enter into these choices. People ask, “How could that politician accept the ten thousand dollar bribe?” And the answer is, he began with accepting the hundred dollar bribe. Historically, Christian habitual rationalizing follows the same expansion. Small immoral acts become big ones, while easily justified, brushed off, by the saved. Example: 250 years of torturing and killing hundreds of thousands of wo...