By Kremer ~ W hen I first dropped Christianity, it was because of the shear nonreason that religion seemed to display: the ease at which I knew others religion to be false taught me that my own was as well. This observation was made when I was lying in bed trying to sleep, when all of my doubts creep out and haunt me. All of my worries and all of my stresses are amplified at night for whatever reason. Most of my " Enlightenment " moments would either occur during those times, or when I would obsessively pace for hours on end talking to myself. After I made the conclusion that Christianity was probably false, I became a Theistic Agnostic. I was really torn up about it, after all, there was so many years of falsehoods I had believed in? It wasn't terrible though. I lived in a family of religious moderates, not crazy Fundamentalists . Science was open to me, and me and my family had political and philosophical discussions that would go on for ages. As a kindergartner, ...

By Agnosticator ~ I t can easily be argued (and I am) that American religious cults owe the New Testament for their existence because it contains a blueprint for the cults. The believer is told to focus upon doing God's will, while surrendering his own will, family, and all worldly possessions to God. Next he must separate himself from the "world" by living in a community of believers (see Mt.19:21, 1Thess.3:14, 1Cor.5:9-13, lCor.6:l). So why are we continually shocked and appalled by Christian cults ? Image by LZ Creations via Flickr The story of Ananias and Sapphira illustrates the importance of this communal life. They sold some of their own land and gave most of the money from its sale to the apostles, to be distributed to anyone who needed it. The married couple made one mistake by lying so as to keep a portion of their own proceeds for themselves. So of course, God struck them dead as an example to anyone who does not obey and give all their possessions to the...

By Mriana ~ T he idea of hell, heaven, and eternity are very much a human concept and I going to attempt to show just how they are. A word of warning for people now, concerning what I am about to “show” you: this article maybe difficult to stomach and not meant to be family oriented. However, if you read on, you will see “My Little Box”* that I live in when I have nightmares and waking flashbacks of a “torturous hell.”It is quite a different definition of the Christian hell and is in this life, right here on earth. Towards the end of 2010, I came out to my mother as a humanist and explained to her why am I not a Christian. The main reason I am not a Christian is that I have studied Christianity, other religions, mythology, philosophy, and psychology. The study of religion and psychology were the big two that helped to deconvert me. My experiences as a Christian, especially as a child, are only minor reasons, but these experiences helped me to define my thoughts concerning heav...

By Joshua ~ I 'm a police officer. This only matters because anyone who has a job whose tools include a gun and body armor has a strong disposition towards being religious. My job is in the south suburbs of Chicago, an area generally known as being less than pleasant. Every time I strap on my vest and duty belt I am reminded why I wear them, death is real, violence is real, and the people who would love to put a bullet into me are real. I grew up in a Christian fundamentalist household, and the beliefs that were taught to me sat well with the nature of my job. It's a pretty nice thought to believe that an all powerful being has your back, it's the ultimate back up unit. So why would I give it all up? In the beginnings of my faith as a young teenager, I always had problems with the Christian view of predestination and free will in coordination with a supposedly omnipotent and omniscient God, and that the suffering in this world was the result of two people listening to a...

By Sarah ~ I would like to share a story that may sound strange to most, but this situation is what has brought me to this website and also caused me to question some of my beliefs. I was dating a man in a serious relationship for five years. We discussed plans of marriage, both of our families got along well, and overall we enjoyed each other. When I met him in 2005, he told me that he had gone through a two year period where he believed he was saved and had been compelled by God to do many things, including preach the gospel. He followed Family Radio and someone called Harold Camping . He was also compelled to marry a woman who he was teaching the bible to. The marriage only lasted a few months, he divorced her, and also stated that at this time he felt that God abandoned him. For the years to follow he became a rebel of sorts, partying, womanizing, etc. When we met he seemed to calm down a bit, but there were still some issues that we were working out. However, we wer...

By Tracy ~ I was born into a Southern Baptist Christian family. Before I could hold my head up on my own I had been “dedicated” to God. I accepted Jesus as my savior when I was four years old and was baptized when I was five. Image by tpeñalver - TPG via Flickr I attended a Christian school from preschool through third grade (and again in eighth grade) where I was forced into chapel ever day, not counting regular church and Sunday school on Sunday mornings and nights, as well as church on Wednesday. At the age of eight my parents felt that God was telling them it was time to move. And so began my experience with the Pentecostal Holiness Church . The Pentecostal Holiness denomination is based on the belief in the Pentecost and the “gifts of the spirit” which include “speaking in tongues” as well as being “slain in the spirit” and many others. Growing up, all of this made perfect sense to me and I didn’t understand why anyone would live any other way. I was “witnessing” to my f...

Repentance and Reunion By Ex-Pastor Dan ~ Traveling Mercies T here’s nothing quite like the sounds a WWII era Willy’s Jeep makes as it squeaks and squawks along a dirt road (really a glorified trail), mile after mile. Usually the knobby tires would whine a high-pitched wail as we drove into Can Toh village, on pavement. Out here, the roar was a much lower octave, slightly muffled by the 3 inches of dry, red powder that used to be clay, and would be again, after the next monsoon struck. “Oh God, don’t let it rain today! We’ll never get Chaplain Vin all the way to An Xuyen province if it starts raining.” It was funny how my mind worked. All of my thoughts seemed to be framed into silent prayers. I guess that came from being told my whole life that God saw all, and heard all; even our thoughts were open to his constant monitoring! My mom had pounded that into my head and Brother Mac had reinforced it with a thousand sermons on the topic, e.g. - ‘Pray Without Ceasing’; ‘Let...

By RickO ~ A few weeks ago a friend died. She was a beautiful, gentle person in her early 50’s, struck down by cancer. She ran a small shop where she sold books, clothing, crystals, incense, world instruments and things like that. She was very much into the ideas of metaphysics, eastern philosophy and the wonders of the natural world. Hers was the type of little shop where you would go for a warm smile, some cheerful conversation and carton of Nag Champa . Her parents are hardcore fundamentalist Christians , the type that even view Catholics as infidels. As it turns out, one of the first things her parents did after their daughter’s death was to gather up her large collection of books and burn them. She had a substantial library on her favorite subjects, many rare and first editions, the passions of her life, literature so apparently repugnant to her parents that they saw fit to destroy it all even before she was laid to rest. Her long-time boyfriend and companion, a man w...

By Slow Break ~  T he process of de-converting from Christianity can be very difficult, at least has been for me. I will never go back, but at times the constant disconnect with family and friends wears on the soul. Image by Rajesh Vijayarajan Photography via Flickr One of my favorite movie moments comes from a marginally successful Nicholas Cage film called Eight Millimeter . (I recommend it. It’s disturbing like Seven was disturbing and even though it revolves around the world of pornography it is not a skin flick) In the movie, Cage is a private detective hired by a widow to look into the origins of a 8mm film reel found in her husband’s safe after his death. The film is pornographic and includes a grisly depiction of a girl being killed. We learn that these videos are called “snuff” films. Along the way Cage meets Joaquin Phoenix who plays an intelligent kid who happens to work at an adult book store and spends his days reading texts books disguised as pornography. Cage ...

An Albany youth pastor was arrested Friday evening for luring a minor, the Albany Police Department reports. Sean Feltman, 24, is a youth pastor at the Willamette Community Church in Albany, and was taken into custody Friday following a grand jury indictment. Read entire story here: http://www.koinlocal6.com/mostpopular/story/Albany-pastor-arrested-for-luring-14-year-old-girl/t31n97PVwE-IcO1SxaL1MA.cspx

By TamaBrett ~ I t's Sunday evening and I'm sitting in my Tokyo apartment taking a break from cleaning up the mess and watching the news. They are going through each town in the north listing the number of people, dead, missing, and in evacuation centres; thousands and thousands of people. Firstly, I'm fine and everyone I know is fine. When the earthquake hit I was in a convenience store getting lunch and I was quite oblivious to how bad it was. Back at the office it looked like a bomb had gone off. Our company is a telecommunications company so part of essential infrastructure, and we had to get back to work straight away. Just like millions of others, I had to walk home, but only 4 kilometres and up 13 flights of stairs. In my apartment a bookcase fell over scattering books and CDs, but no damage at all. Tokyo got off pretty lightly, for us it was basically just a transport inconvenience. But this isn't about me. Japan is one of the most atheist countries in t...