By Clay (aka, MooseinaCanoe) ~ I was raised Pentecostal until the age of 15 when my mother withdrew us from the church and she was shunned -- most folk that went there would not talk to her at all. We had the "Normal" Fire and Brimstone rhetoric. I was made to read " A Divine Revelation of Hell " at 12-13 so we could tell you what hell smelled tasted and felt like, but nothing about Heaven whatsoever. After that we did not go to church much until my mother joined a Baptist church , and I could remember the old pastor saying at the Pentecost church that Baptists are surely going to hell. Well I remained in and out of church. but always believed in God until I was around 27. I started asking myself questions. It became so disturbing I actually sent emails to pastors in large theological seminaries for answers -- most came back stating "they will not be led into an argument over if God is real" while my faith just fell to pieces. The more I though...

By Heart2Heart ~ I have been visiting this site for a while and stumbled upon it quite by accident. Reading the stories - has brought a sense of meaning and have found "kindred spirits" on this site -some stories leave me giggling, some fuming and others - I feel down-right sick to my core for what they have endured. I now have the option in front of me whether to be a story-teller (I am quite verbose) or to think about what I really want to say. The anxiety and trepidation I feel when I think about FINALLY putting EVERYTHING down on a blog for the world to see - is somewhat daunting - as I have never done this - end to end - tell somebody the how's the why's etc of how I came to "de-convert" - it's an on-going battle for me as I find that when things go wrong - I go into auto-pilot "please God, please Jesus - help me, make A happen make B not happen etc" I am sure many can relate. I can feel the perspiration happening already at just...

By D.A. ~ M y story begins in Iraq , circa 2010-2011. When I arrived in Iraq to begin my mission in finance, the intention was to be a great NCO . A great believer. A great person. What happened was, I began to question my beliefs and de-convert. My commander was an over-zealous, religious bigot. He was also homophobic. You see, he attempted the BRAINWASH everyone in our unit. He almost succeeded. Here are some of his concepts that made me question my beliefs in the Christian religion: Gays are evil. Homosexuality is perverted. Being in a relationship with someone you love, means separating them to prevent "fornication" and violations of General Order #1. Married people do no have the right to converse with those who are not married. Saying a "hello" is adultery. Now, I don't condone going outside your marriage for comfort. If you want friends, include spouses. I have several married friends, and I know both their husband and/or their w...

By Valerie Tarico ~ C onservative Christians think of themselves as the last line of defense for a time honored and holy tradition, marriage. In the conservative Christian view, marriage is a sacred union ordained by God. It binds one man and woman together so that the “two become one flesh” until they are parted by death. This view of marriage is unbiblical, to be sure. See Captive Virgins, Polygamy, Sex Slaves: What Marriage Would Look Like If We Actually Followed The Bible . But hey, who actually reads the Bible? Surely, what God meant to say , is that marriage should take the form that is most familiar and traditional to us: One male plus one female who is given to the male by her father--that part is biblical--for life. In this worldview, Christian marriage is under assault by an anti-trinity of powerful and dark forces: feminism, homosexuality, and godlessness. Faith, on the other hand, saves both souls and marriages. When I was young, a slogan made its way around my churc...

From sgcotton ~ T his is my main question. Everything about not following the Christian faith makes sense. It feels like I am so close to being free of life-long self-condemnation but I need to know this. If Jesus is not God why is it that you can find tons and tons of information and videos of people who are possessed by demons being delivered by the name of Jesus. Why must they obey the name of Jesus? Why are they afraid of the power of Jesus? This is a real question. Do your research before you answer because just telling me that Jesus or demons don't exist is not what I am looking for. I want to know why Jesus has power if He is not real. Also, I have had some other experiences. 1)During a prayer session of about an hour of just giving myself to God in prayer, I walked away with fine gold looking dust all over my skin and shirt. True story. 2)My son had a serious skin rash that would not go away for weeks it persisted, hard bumps on his hand and arm...2 doctor visits, ...

By Ramos27 ~ I have not posted on this site since 2009, when my de-conversion happened. Many things have changed since then, and i have experienced so much of the world and life. New jobs, relationships, experimenting with finding another spiritual belief (yoga, meditation, etc.), finding peace and happiness, getting engaged and also, having the relationship fall apart. Here is where the story picks up...The day of the break up I felt empty...spiritually empty and these were the words I told myself in my head, "I am spiritually disconnected". This is when all "heaven" broke loose. I started seeing signs and having weird experiences having to do with church and Christianity. Random phone calls from people in my ex-church, my non-religious mother suggesting I go to church again, and many more. There were too many signs to list here. All freaked out that Christianity was coming back I quit my job and went to California where my sister lives, for 5 weeks. The...

By Jazzybelle ~ I grew up something-of-a-Christian. I say something-of-a because my family wasn't necessarily religious. Around the age of nine, I learned about sexuality...via Sims Life Stories . I can't say what I exactly felt seeing my two female sims have romantic relations, but I had been taught that such an act is wrong and should be hated, so I hated it. I tore them a part and made them male husbands. I ignored the subject until a little later, I learned of something called the internet. I guess you can say that I was amazed. So many different views and ideals being tossed around. They made me question my religion. Just why would there be so many different religions if God was the one who created everyone? If God says he loves us, why does he also say he hates homosexuals ? How come I had to waste two hours of my life every Sunday at church, listening to this sweaty guy on the podium say the same thing fifty times (as if he hasn't made his point across the f...

By Carl S. ~ T wenty-five years ago, driving to work, I turned on the radio and got a call-in talk program. The subject was “The Bible’s influence on children." The host was reading various texts from that book, and exclaiming after each of them, “I won’t have my children exposed to this!” He was not content with that, however, as he followed each reading and statement with a ripping-out of the page on which the texts were printed. Many listeners were furious, calling in to condemn and berate him to no end. Still, he continued and did not lose his contract. Why should he? No one could deny that what he read was in the book, nor that he should shield his children from such filth and immorality found therein. The objectors focused with indignation on the right of anybody to criticize “the word of God,” no matter what harm might be done to children. Most believers who praise the Bible as a moral guide haven’t really read, or ignore, most of it. Many go through it highlighting ...

By Michael D. Speir ~ F andom is basically religion. I’m convinced the same psychological impulses lie beneath both phenomena. English: Rodrigo y Gabriela performing at Sasquatch 2011 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) I’m a huge fan of Rodrigo y Gabriela, the Mexican couple who play guitars like few others on this planet can. In fact, it’s become almost a meme among their admirers that the pair are in fact extraterrestrials, so seemingly preternaturally stunning are their performances. I allow myself to be caught up in this diversion, too, speculating about what star their home world circles and commenting on the skills of the plastic surgeons there, who have almost perfected the art of making squid creatures look like humans. Those fingers, though— They haven’t got the fingers right yet, and maybe it’s better that they don’t. Have you ever thought about how arrogant the whole idea of genius is? Oh, I’m not talking about the attitude of someone claiming to be a genius. I mean...

By Valerie Tarico ~ F ar too often, the news cycle includes a tragic story about a child dying because his or her parents applied religious teachings with too much vigor. The most recent victim, Hana Williams , was adopted from Ethiopia by Evangelical parents who believed that parenting required “breaking her will.” Stories like Hana's provoke rounds of collective soul-searching: How did we miss the signs? What can we do differently to protect children better? But some people find those questions more threatening than the abuse itself. Mark Meadows is the congressman and Sunday school teacher from North Carolina who rallied the Tea Party to shut down government operations this month. His passion for blocking contraceptive access has been on national display. Less known is the fact that Meadows also leads a fight against rights and protections for children. He is the sponsor of a “ parental rights amendment ” that has 64 signers in congress. Or consider Scott Lively, the a...

By Fabrizio the sailor ~ Genuine miracles or magic tricks ? T he answer to the preceding question is often a matter of perspective, as the following story illustrates. My girl-friend Patricia and I had reached India from Italy in 1975, after an adventurous 10,000 km trip overland by camper. During our 6 months’ stay in India, once in the city of Indore , a city in Madya Pradesh, we paid a visit, which turned out to be a 15 days’ stay, to our friend Virendar Sing Babar, a very wealthy person belonging to the Sikh religion . Among his many other activities, he managed one of the family’s four steel factories. His education was remarkable, because, due to his father’s social position and wealth, he had had the privilege of attending a high school, before the university, where only four other students had been admitted: these had been selected because they were potential claimants to the “throne” of the state, while Virendar “ad honorem”.  I have mentioned these details to sho...