Guy with a Pen ~ I n the beginning was God. All else was nothing. God saw that the Earth was empty and so he said "Let there be light!". Behold, for the Earth became filled with sunlight. God then created the land, sea and air. God created the animals we eat, the plants, the trees and the humans. Or did he? What is religion? What is mythology? What is so different between these two things? What is a God? What is a devil? What is a death God? What is a false prophet? What is this thing called 'The Path of God'? Fact is, religion is bullshit. Its one of the biggest bullshit the world has ever known. In fact, religion has managed to convince millions and millions of people around the world to believe that there is an 'Almighty One' who lives high above us. He has the power to exterminate all mankind, he can do all sorts of fancy magic tricks that is beyond the imagination of mankind in a matter of nanoseconds, he has a list of things he does not want you...

By Valerie Tarico ~ F all is prayer season. Some folks think of it as football season, and indeed, images of football players circled with heads bowed or pointing to the big guy in the sky are almost as familiar lately as birds flying south. But the real season kick off this year was the Republican convention, where the fervent supplications of Evangelicals and Pentecostals miraculously diverted Hurricane Isaac , so that the party could go on. Praise the Lord, Tampa was spared, and the death and destruction that might have befallen people who live there . . . befell somebody else. Should the families of those who died in Louisiana and Mississippi sue the Republican prayer warriors for not being a little more specific? Couldn’t they have gotten the hurricane to touch down somewhere remote, where the only homes destroyed would be those of, say, birds and non-pet, non-farm and most importantly non-human mammals? Ironically, the best defense of the prayer warriors might be the evi...

By Carl S ~ T here's a current saying: "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger." l suspect a Darwinian survival list of experiences are behind that saying. An older saw is: "One man's food, another man's poison." Centuries ago, there was a practice of poison-resistance, when a person would consume ever-increasing doses of poison over time, until he could tolerate an amount that would kill another who had not been exposed to the poison. The resistant one could thus poison another without any concern about being poisoned himself, accidentally or intentionally; a sure way to guarantee that the other would die. Maybe indoctrination works like that. The poisons of indifference to another's sufferings, of intolerance, and acceptance of the irrational, are sneaked in small doses, into the minds of children with a spoonful of sugared poison to make the "medicine go down." Gradually, the dosage is increased. After so many ever-inc...

By Ryland ~ I 'm just going to dive into this head first. I am a 21-year-old veteran and current college student living at home. I grew up with a younger brother and two loving, fair, and intelligent parents who instilled good, strong ideologies and morals in both my brother and I. We never went to church as a family despite my parents both having Christian beliefs and identifying themselves as Christians. Parents with child Statue, Hrobákova street, Petržalka, Bratislava (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) No complaints here. They never tried to shove a Bible down my throat nor did they ever become angered when I reached the age of half-decisions and decided to attend church briefly. However, now that I have reached the age of somewhat-informed logic I just don't buy the whole Christian thing; I don't buy into any religious concept actually. So when in conversation with my mother a few nights ago religion was brought up by way of a question from my mother. I respond...

By Tom Johnson ~ S o while driving home with my wife on Saturday, I saw a billboard for a Xian college. As I drove past it, I couldn't help but come to the realization that money is what drives religion. Common practice is to tithe 10% of your earnings to the church. When you think of the millions of people who attend church every week, sometimes 3 or more times, it is staggering to think of the amount of money the church rakes in. Not only that, but it is tax free! Talk about a scam! Now factor in the religious schools and colleges that charge tuition. The number just keeps climbing. Now besides the direct church funding, you also have to factor in the peripheral businesses. People who print the bible, who write xian books, papers. People who make xian art, or how about crosses, candles, etc? It was once said that the Vatican had more money that the US. I can only imagine. The amount of money that religion receives is just staggering. Now, keeping this in mind...

By: Log1c187 ~ E very time I turn on the T.V. or get on Facebook , I continually see facile and subjectively based bullshit that makes shy away from both of them. Whenever I do post something to facebook—or have a rebuttal that’s incredulous in nature, people either never like it or totally ignore it. Me being ignored is not an issue, but the unavoidable fact that people latch onto platitudes and reject raw information is something that really grinds my gears. Most of the posts I compose or comments that I make are completely innocuous, but people act like they are allergic to them. I guess it’s possible that they feel a certain type of ambivalence about the things I say. Either way, it seems as though their self-serving bias and their own presumptions seem to create an automated rejection of the subject matter. Recently, I actually conducted what I call a “Facebook Status Experiment”, in which I posted several subjective and rather shallow statuses over a period of two days. ...

By Danimal   (aka  Aspieguy)  ~ A s I have mentioned in past postings, I am a 47 year old man with Aspergers sydrome, a form of autism. Like many people with AS, I am also afflicted with bipolar disorder and social anxieties. Certain fabrics, people touching me, lotion on my hand, fluorescent lights, bright lights, sudden loud noises. and crowds of people drive me nearly insane. My iPhone ringing even frightens me. I think in very literal, concrete terms. I cannot discern facial expressions, nonverbal communication , and abstract ideas. Some days are just harder than others. Like many Aspies, I am also an atheist. Unfortunately, I am socially naive. I am unable to understand peoples' motivations. I wish I could, but it probably won't happen. Logo of Aspies for Freedom (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Up until a few months ago, I was a regular attendee of a United Methodist church . I could sit through an entire service and not understand a word of it. When I discov...

From James ~ I am a Seventh day Adventist trying to leave Christianity. I am in need of others who are going through the same struggle to leave something that has been pounded into my head all of my life. I want to leave Christianity for other beliefs. Christianity has knocked the wind out of me. I left Christianity for 20 years and last year came back to it; was re baptized. I now have a desire to return to my free thinking days. I was into Wicca , the occult etc and would like to interact with others who find the struggle to leave a difficult journey, especially when you only have friends from church. Most of whom look at my Facebook page and run. I have always been different even as a child, I was a thinker. Christianity has a way of burrowing deep into the mind and brain and settling in and devours ones ability to think for themselves and you literally become a robot or like the women on the " Stepford Wives " movie. I want to finally be free. Please allow me ...

By John Shores ~ My best friend is an Orthodox Christian . He recently sent me a link to this post by an Orthodox priest which I found to be intriguing. The author makes an interesting statement: The result of the distortions caused by faulty theologizing about God’s justice, is a God who is not worthy of worship. There are those who not only glibly consign sinners to hell, but also postulate that the righteous will rejoice in the torment of sinners because of their delight in the goodness of God’s justice. Those with normal human sensibilities are repulsed by such notions. This caught my attention because I have never heard a Christian admit it. The remainder of the article touts "god's mercy" which, honestly, has the same foundation as "god's justice"; we are all guilty of some offense against god. While I find this foundation to be ludicrous, I was pleased that this article admitted the absurdity that has led many of us to leave the faith entire...

By Carl S ~ O ne of my favorite resources for inspiration is the comic strip, “Calvin and Hobbes," by Bill Watterson . Though the strip has been out of syndication for years, it still lives on in many books available in stores. At one time, I copied a strip in which Calvin asks Hobbes, "Do you believe in the Devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?" Hobbes answers, "I'm not sure man needs the help." As Hobbes retreats, Calvin faces us and says, "You can't talk to animals about these things." I posted this on the bulletin board at my wife's church, where it remained for weeks, and then one day, I crossed out "animals," and wrote in "Christians." The next time I looked, it was gone. Certainly, such an observation was contrary to dogma. Watterson hit on something I think he did not intend to: the connection between "Calvinball" and dogrna. The...

By Kathlene Marie ~ I was born into a mostly Christian family. My mother's side of the family is Christian, and, aside from my father, his side of the family is Mormon. What a crazy mix. Anyway, I was enrolled in a private goody-goody Christian school the day I was old enough to attend preschool. There, they read us "Bible Stories" and gave us snacks. As I progressed through this school, (although I didn't realize it at the time because I didn't know any better) their lack of coverage of science was astounding. Science in a private religious school is most definitely not top priority. But, little did we know, we were all being transformed into bible-toting toddlers. "Bible Class" was a regular scheduled class, in which we were forced to learn and recite passages from "His Word" in front of the rest of the school on "Chapel Days". This was when they would take a whole hour and a half of our valuable learning (or not) time and ma...