By Bob O ~ I 'm an atheist and a 52-year veteran of public education. I need not tell anyone the problems associated with having to "duck" the "Which church do you belong to?" with my students and their parents. Once told by a parent that they would rather have a queer for their sons' teacher than an atheist! Spent HOURS going to the restroom right when prayers were performed: before assemblies, sports banquets, "Christmas Programs", awards assemblies, etc... Told everyone that I had a bladder problem. And "yes" it was a copout to many of you, but the old adage (yes, it's religious) accept what you can't change, change that which you can and accept the strength to know the difference! No need arguing that which you will never change. Enough of that. What I'd like to impart is my simple family chemistry. My wife is a Baptist - raised in a Baptist Orphanage (whole stories there) and is a believer. She did not know my religi...

By Paul Hannah ~ E very year articles appear in the mainstream press and magazines speculating on the 'real' explanation for the Star of Bethlehem. Given our modern understanding of astronomy, there are a number of candidates which have been given to explain the phenomenon and fit the Bible story. However, even if the ideal star or astronomical object could be found there are serious practical problems with taking the story on face value. The Bible gives the story as follows: Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east And then: Lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. – Matthew 2:1-12 The astronomical elements of the story are: The Wise Men came from the east, they saw a 'star' in the east, they followed it and it s...

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 Marlene Winell ~ 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 consciousness. In other words, don’t just blindly go home for Christmas, hoping it will be fine. What do you really expect it might be l...

By Valerie Tarico ~ T he wonder-filled birth story of the baby Jesus was centuries in the making. Picture a creche with baby Jesus in a manger and shepherds and angels and three kings and a star over the stable roof. We think of this traditional scene as representing the Christmas story, but it actually mixes elements from two different nativity stories in the Bible, one in Matthew and one in Luke, with a few embellishments that got added in later centuries. What was the historical kernel? Most likely we will never know, because it appears that the Bible’s nativity stories are themselves highly-embellished late add-ons to the Gospels. Here are six hints that the story so familiar to us might have been unfamiliar to early Jesus worshipers. 1. Paul’s Silence – The earliest texts in the New Testament are letters written during the first half of the first century by Paul and other people who used his name. These letters, or Epistles as they are called, give no hint that Paul or...

By Valerie Tarico ~ I n the gospel stories, Mary the mother of Jesus is a humble, devout young woman of her time--which means she has little choice in the matter. Set aside for a moment any debate about whether the Nativity stories in the Bible are history or mythology or some combination of the two. In either version, Matthew’s or Luke’s, does Mary consent to be the mother of Jesus? During recent holiday seasons, this provocative question has been hotly argued on both sides, scandalizing conservative Christians. But our modern concept of consent would have been alien and bizarre to the gospel writers. If we could ask one of them to resolve the debate, he might say, “How could a pure young woman not want to be the mother of God incarnate?! What is this consent thing of which you speak?” Behold, thou shalt conceive. The New Testament contains two tellings of the nativity story. The story in Matthew doesn’t address how Mary learns about her pregnancy. She is simply “found w...

By MTC ~ D ecember 23rd, the day one of my stepbrothers died. Today is the 11-year anniversary of his death, but it sure doesn't seem like it's already been a decade and a year! "Steps" have a negative reputation, but they wouldn't if they were all like Tracy. He was just like a real brother in every way. He was in the hospital for 18 days before his death, and for a majority of that time he was comatose. The whole ordeal was immensely painful, and I'll never forget! Christianity loves to harp about the power of prayer, and the claim that if you ask for something in Jesus's name you'll receive it (or something along that line anyway). There were many people praying for Tracy while he was in the hospital. But nevertheless he didn't pull through. Christian doctrine also claims that God doesn't want anyone to perish, or in their terms be condemned to eternal damnation for something as small as not believing in him or agreeing with h...

By Steve Dustcircle ~ M y wife and I don't have kids, but the topic eventually comes up in a hypothetical sense:  Would we tell our children about Santa Claus ? We both are in agreement:  No. The big man himself brings up the rear at the 2009 Santa Claus Parade, Toronto. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) I come from a household that pretended there was a Santa Claus when I was a small child. When my parents had “the talk” with me, I don't remember. But I do remember when one of my uncles played Santa and came down the stairs with a large sack of toys. I vaguely remember getting military toys. However, what is clear in my memory was one of my cousins saying, “That's Uncle Jeff!” I never forgot. I don't remember the trauma I might have felt, but I assume there was confusion, hurt, disappointment and possibly anger. There  had  to have been, because of the clarity of the memory of that event (Memories form when you repeatedly chew on an occurrence). ...

By Valerie Tarico ~ G uess who has been calling Christmas a pagan holiday for the last 500 years? Christians. If it feels like the “ War on Christmas ” is getting really old, it is. Over ten years have passed since Bill O’Reilly first opened December with a segment called, “ Christmas Under Siege ”—ten long years in which his cadences and refrains and echoing chorus have become as familiar to most Americans as Handel’s Messiah. More familiar, in fact. Not that O’Reilly invented the idea. During the 1920’s, Henry Ford’s newspaper published a series of anti-Semitic articles titled, “ The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem.” Among the complaints : “Last Christmas most people had a hard time finding Christmas cards that indicated in any way that Christmas commemorated Someone's Birth. . . . People sometimes ask why 3,000,000 Jews can control the affairs of 100,000,000 Americans. In the same way that ten Jewish students can abolish the mention of Christmas and...