By Unborn Again Christian ~ 1 . It is impossible to disprove god. However, it is not possible to prove the existence of god either. So keep your beliefs to yourself and be happy in your own bubble. 2. Do not force your beliefs on others nor condemn anyone for not being like you. Show mutual respect. Do not harm anyone physically or mentally. 3. Do not force religion on kids. Expose them to the wide array of knowledge available and let them decide for themselves what they want to believe when they grow up. 4. Homosexuality is not a choice. There is enough evidence to support it. And even if it were a choice, it is not your business to interfere in someone else’s life. If a homosexual, transgender or bisexual person is living his or her own life peacefully without bothering you, you make it a point to not bother, judge or condemn them. 5. Circumcision, except for medical reasons, is bullshit. Do not mutilate the genitals of children without their pe...

By Just Me ~ W here do I start? I came here because I'm looking for others who I can relate to. I'm not surprised to find so many who have decided that Christianity just does not make sense. God gave us brains to use and it took me too long to start using mine. I grew up in a strict Baptist church . My mom took me and my sister. I don't remember my dad ever going. I got "saved" in my home during a vacation bible school because I didn't want to go to hell. So many decisions I made growing up were because of what I was taught while growing up in my church. It's really sad to think of what so many kids are being brain-washed to believe. I now tell my own kids what I believe, but that they will have to find what they believe on their own. It's up to them what they choose to believe. I am, in a way, thankful that I married into a family that was so extreme. My ex-husband was abusive, not happy, insecure. My experiences put me on a road t...

By David Philip Norris ~ T his story begins with a boy, seven or eight years old, outside on a mid-summer day under a clear blue sky. He is peering down into a puddle. It had been raining the day before and there were many such muddy puddles all around. He stares down into it, wondering if another world lies just beyond the reflection of the sky above; if that reflection is the mirror image of another universe, with another boy, who is also looking down into his puddle beneath his own clear blue sky. He stares at it a while, and then it hits him. He is looking into a puddle, at his own reflection, at a natural mirror. No such worlds lie beyond. This is all there is. That, I suppose, is one of the formative moments of my development as a skeptic. Growing up on the outskirts of a farming town in Kansas, there weren't many opportunities for entertainment. My two younger sisters and I had to create our own. We read books. We ran through fields. We acted out our favorite movies....

By lungfish ~ Introduction “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.“ Philippians 1:6 I once called myself a Christian. I thought I was a child of God among the children of Satan. I was convinced of the absolute truth of the Bible and no amount of human reason could convince me otherwise. I believed the Holy Spirit lived within me, allowing me to be a reflection of Jesus and his love. But, when I finally looked into that reflection, I could not stand what I saw. Every day, for more than a year, I sat in the same corner of the cafe at my university for lunch – always facing outward so no one was behind me. Everyone there brought up such an unbearably anger within me – to the point that my muscles would tense into painful spasms and my vision would blur white around the edges. These people never did anything to me, except give the impression of having lived normal lives. My grades began to fall...

By Daniel out of the Lion's Den ~ N ow that I’m out, I’m finding that I must going through an out-processing of sorts. There was the talk with the pastor who wanted me to know that I was no longer welcome to play with the worship band (I told him I didn’t have a heart for it anyway with my new worldview and was looking for an out). My wife interviewed me and made notes concerning the tenets of Christianity with which I disagreed (“All of them” was not an acceptable answer). Then there was the well-meaning adult Bible class teacher who wanted to do lunch to find out what was going on in my head. Upon deconverting, I had no idea that I would have to generate my own set of ex-Christian apologetics, but that is exactly what I had to do in order to not come across as petty and shallow. I’m concluding that there are major tenets of ex-Christianity , such as the mortal Jesus (who died and stayed dead just like everybody else), Old Testament mythology (Adam & Eve, Noah’s Ark, T...

By Apostate Paul ~ E ven though I no longer believe in the Bible, I still love and respect many of those who do, including several of my close friends and family from before I left the faith. The powerful effects of love are hard to shake, even when you abandon the religion that taught it to you. But I'll be honest. That respect and love can be a little difficult at times, especially when we talk about hell and God's perverted version of justice -- at least, it's difficult until I take a glance at my dozens of old prayer journals and recall with humility and empathy that I wasn't all that different not long ago. So, the other day, when my mom asked me if I would read a short book her church's pastor wrote called "Beyond Existence" with her and discuss the content, I went ahead and agreed, knowing full well that I wouldn't get much out of it. And so I plowed through it. It seemed like pretty standard stuff you'd hear from behind the pul...