By WizenedSage (Galen Rose) ~ I recently came across a comment on the richarddawkins.net site by “Stewman_Phil” that I found extremely clever. Phil’s essential argument is that no particular god can be proven to exist. I think he may slightly overstate his case, but I think it works if we add the clause, “at this time.” By this I mean that, given the available evidence at this time, no particular god can be proven to exist.  Now, if some god chose to  take some action in the future to prove his existence unequivocally, then all bets are off. To illustrate, like Phil, I will propose there is a god named Joe. Now, whatever is claimed for Bible-god, Joe did. Joe created the universe in seven days, Joe created man and woman and all the plants and animals, Joe caused his son to be born of a virgin, Joe created hell and dictated the Bible. But Joe loves screwing with people, so he also created an angel to talk to Mohammed, and led Joseph Smith to those golden pl...

By Brian Kellogg ~ G reen life in winter’s oncoming grasp Cold shatters the warmth of the past Fall portends the approaching dusk Of a soul’s ensnaring unquenchable lust For that which it must Grasp and hold in wasting trust What piercing pain the mind must bare For those who with too much care Hold to thoughts that do not spare Truth the slightest glance Nor questions given half a chance From a mind so mythically entranced Website: http://the-flakes.blogspot.com / Hold fast and do not doubt One’s faith must be forever stout Shadows of the mind slip in and out Ephemeral truth for the devout Snip the tongue and sew the lips Unquestioned faith is reason’s total eclipse

By TheThinkingAtheist ~ Francois Xavier Fabre, Death of Abel Once again, a big thanks to everybody that reads these articles/rants of mine, and of course a I'd like to thank the managers of this site. O ne thing that I haven't yet disclosed is that I used to go to a Catholic School . Before I start, let me make clear that this isn't a rant about how I "didn't want to go", or how BS it is that I had to go there. This is about death. I always found it both horrifying and amusing at how religious people could write a person's death off by saying "God needed him", "It was his time", or any variation of that. Because, let's be frank, death is a sudden and sometimes gruesome thing, and for it to be written off and even condoned is not what a healthy person would do. Take this favorite example of mine: a car was speeding down a four-way intersection, and the driver couldn't see a person that was turning left at the same ...

By Marina ~ I 'm a 23-year-old woman, and I was raised in an Orthodox Christian home. My parents fast, pray, and go to church occasionally (my mother, though, has cancer and she is unable to go and my father is very busy with his work), and even though they have struggles and difficulties they have never lost their faith. I was given the Bible at a very young age and for 2-3 years I used to preach and praise the Bible to friends and relatives. I never understood the real meaning of the words but it was very fascinating to me. As I grew up older I have started to feel that something's wrong or just didn't feel right. Some of the verses clashed with my code of ethics and some didn't make any sense at all. The Old Testament seemed to be inspired by a sociopath who wanted people enslaved, and despite the New Testament being slightly better, failure to obey God's will and living life in sin would be punished eternally. I asked these questions to myself: I...

By unoder ~ A s it is, Satan is a being in Christian mythology that needs no introduction. Both theists and non-theists know who he is and what he is supposed to represent. According to Christians, Satan (or sometimes Lucifer ) is the arch-rival to the all-powerful , all-knowing God and actively strives to undo his divine works. God, we are told is the source of everything good, and Satan the source of everything that is evil. We are also told that Satan is extremely influential, that he and his army of demonic minions are constantly roaming the planet deceiving and manipulating people. As such, all evil, death, suffering and unbelief in this world can be attributed to the devil and his schemes. In spite of all this chaos, Christians still believe that their god is in complete control, but for some inexplicable reason, has chosen to keep this cosmic malefactor around even though he could have simply just destroyed him at any time. This, we are told is part of some grand,...

By Desert Boy ~ I have one point to make that I don't think has been covered on your website. Why is there so much disagreement among Christian Fundamentalists on basic doctrine? Common points of dispute include predestination v free-will, Eternal v Conditional Security , Lordship v Salvation by Faith and KJV Onlyism v Modern Bible Translation Supporters. In other words, some of the different groups of Christian fundamentalists regard each other as unsaved. For instance if you enter " Billy Graham False Teacher" into google, the number of hits is staggeringly high. Some Christians I speak to about this blame the church and human nature for this confusion. However, I think The Bible, God's so-called handbook, must take the blame. All the above groups who oppose each other so passionately have earnestly studied the Bible with all their heart, all their mind, all their soul and all their strength. But they have come to different conclusions because of the con...

By Faithfool ~ I t’s so hard to say goodbye To the Almighty Lie in the Sky When almost everyone you love Hasn’t yet given Him the shove “I’m praying for you dear” they say In a very concerned and sincere way But it actually hurts to hear that line When you feel so betrayed by the Divine I never imagined I would be one To ever reject the Begotten Son It’s just that when I took a long, hard look I could no longer justify living by that Book Sometimes I wonder how I could’ve been so blind I loved God with my heart, soul, and mind Must be what it’s like to have your lover go Only I can’t fight with a Nobody that I used to know So with a litany of ‘facts’ unproved And faith-tinted spectacles removed It’s like I’m seeing life for the very first time Surprised to be moved by a world so sublime The trees, the birds, the sea, the sky, Yep, I still wonder how and why But I’m happy to let science figure it out I’ve got better things to do than be devout Things like...

By WizenedSage (Galen Rose) ~ W e hear this tired old cliché so often, that nearly all of you know the rest of it. But for that 1% who never got the word, this bit of Christian assurance goes like this, “God hates the sin, but loves the sinner.” Yes, Christians know this. There’s no “appears to hate the sin,” or “usually hates the sin.” There’s no equivocating, no waffle, no doubt in the way Christians press this Truth upon us. God loves sinners , and that’s that. Imagine my surprise then, when I came across this passage in the Christians’ foundational document: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. . . And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth . . . And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth sh...

By free@last ~ I 'll start my story with some history first...My mother and father were both raised very Catholic. My mother was very religious. My father left the Catholic church in his early twenties and was "born again". Shortly after that, my parents met and began their religious life together. My mother couldn't have children so they chose to adopt - Me. Here is where I come into the picture...I grew up in an EXTREMELY religious home. From when I was a baby throughout my childhood religion was a part of everything. We went to a baptist church where my Sunday school ritual began. We read bible stories at home. I had religious toys and lots of bibles. I then attended a baptist school for 1st grade. Growing up in this, I didn't know any different way to be. I thought that people who didn't go to church or believed what we believed were bad people. Oh we even went to the PTL club for a family vacation one year. Does anyone remember Jim ...

By redharry ~ T here are times in the lives of atheists, agnostics and freethinkers when the shouts of dogma are heavy and intense. As the days go by, the Christian theocracy sharpens its claws into the trees of knowledge relentlessly. For struggling believers grappling with their faith, there will be doubts. Is Hell a real place? What if I'm wrong? Why is God invisible? Whose God is correct? And why did Yahweh bother with us if we're born in "original sin? For both groups these questions, I hope, will serve as both an encouragement and an enlightenment in these trying doubting times when Christianity threatens to incite unnecessary fears into our minds. 1) Would a loving god ask you to fear your death, which is natural to all existence? After 200,000 years of evolved homo-sapien existence, would it make sense to believe that our primate ancestors were in any more fear of punishment then we are? 2) At what point did humanity decide that god was male? Notice that t...

By Carl S ~ T he following is approved for all Roman Catholic readers, text free from dogmatic error. Imprimatur: Bishop Paul Flannagan, Diocese of E. Salem, Mass. Nihil Obstat: Jesuit Seminary of Scranton , WI FATHER: Son, listen to me. First of all you have to be born to a virgin who doesn’t get the pleasures of foreplay or orgasm in your conception. There are precedents for this; besides, someone in the future will translate "maiden” as "virgin," so we might as well have the story fit the mistranslation. Then too, the whole "explanation" of how she got knocked up will be hers alone. After that, you spend 30 years of your life in obscurity. THEN you go on the road and do all kinds of miracles that you didn’t do for 30 years. You go around preaching contradictory messages, like telling the crowds one day that you've come to fulfill prophesies, ergo, won't change the Mosaic laws one iota, and another time, tell exactly how you've changed...