By Carl S ~ W hen I was a child in Catholic school, the nun-teacher took offense at the words, “I adore you” in love songs. She told us we should never use that word except when talking about a relationship to God. (At least I'd get some response from a real person if I said “I adore you.”) Compare what she said to what Friedrich Nietzsche said: “There is not sufficient love and goodness in the world to permit us to give some of it to imaginary beings.” How pathetic and unjust, all the emotions wasted on her God, all gods; all the adoration denied to real, caring, lovers. There's no obligation to reciprocate on the part of the god; the obligations are always one-sided. Why? Children are taught the god is worthy of much more love than them and each other. It doesn't matter who the god is, either, whether it's a monotheistic or multiple-personality disordered one demanding human blood sacrifices, or a benign god; that's where the love goes. The God vortex sucks al...

By Michael Runyan ~ A ssuming that Christianity’s standard characterization of God’s attributes is correct- that he is omniscient and omnipotent, then it becomes evident that God has deliberately placed himself in an uncomfortable position that results in an unsettling feeling of continuous remorse. This is because he must be viewing every act of evil while simultaneously withholding his ability to stop it. By analogy, imagine a person is placed in a room with a button. The button is programmed to stun a person who is wearing an electrified vest. The person is told to refrain from pushing the button no matter what happens. The person is allowed to watch the vested individual and see what he is doing. The vested person begins to molest, rape, and strangle a child. He does as he is told and does not push the button. The child dies. Later, the person feels extreme regret for not pushing the button and saving the child. This is exactly what God must be feeling during millions of...

By Tina Rae Collins ~ T o reverence someone is to acclaim that person, to regard him highly, or to acknowledge his supremacy or influence or his strength and abilities. One definition of "reverence" is to fear. Many Christians, relying on biblical texts, reverence Satan by recognizing him as the god of the world in which they live. Whether they intend to or not, believers in Satan exalt him and bestow upon him tremendous honor. Hate him or love him, they grant him amazing wisdom and dominance. These fearful souls seemingly believe Satan has more power in this world than Jesus Christ does because, they claim, Jesus hasn't yet been able to defeat Satan. Therefore, he walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whomever he desires and causing humans grave harm--physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually (1 Pet 5:8). In the minds of those who believe in him, Satan obviously possesses more authority and preeminence than Jesus because Satan, not Jesus, is the prince of...

By Melissa ~ I grew up in a pretty Christian home. I went to church every Sunday and all relevant holidays. I even attended youth group when I got into middle school. The world made sense and my fellow Christians had all the answers. Growing up I knew that my father was way more fundamental than my mother and it didn't seem to matter that much until I got to high school and they divorced. The divorce itself was not an issue, it was a relief. I noticed however that my mother's faith seemed to be dying. I tried not to think about it that much, just prayed every now and again that her faith would become stronger. I followed what my father wanted and went to Boise Bible College where I obtained an AS in Bible Studies. Ironically that is what started my own loss of faith. I had several horrible experiences that showed me just how much the christian faith tears people down rather than build them up. Contrary to what they preached, I had never experienced such a lack of grace an...

By Carl S ~ M y beloved brought up something about Einstein after we’d watched the ten part TV series, “Genius.” She said, “He wasn't a very nice man. He neglected his family, especially his wife. And yet he found time to have sex with other women.” I pointed out he was human, that even psychopaths and the mentally-impaired have sex-drives. I mentioned a conversation I once had with her pastor's wife. “I have this book,” I said, “about medical pioneers whose work saved millions of lives. But they were not the kinds of people you'd want to know.” The pastor's wife was disappointed. Looks like she didn't notice her own people-saving Jesus wasn’t a pleasant individual, either. Maybe Einstein's obsession with finding solutions for the deepest questions humans have always asked was connected with his sexuality and his attraction to intellectual women. (Physics was his lifelong mistress.) Maybe he had no choice but to be uniquely himself; if he was different, he...

By Ben Love ~ I want to address an issue that seems to be cropping up now and then in my ongoing dialogues with Christians. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes I will encounter those Christians who use the atrocities committed in 1930s and 1940s by Nazi Germany  as evidence that an atheist government, devoid of belief in God , will run wildly evil and will, well…  fuck  everything up for everyone. The record on this matter, however, might not be as clear as these Christians want it to be. Indeed, any brief student of Nazi Germany’s history can, without much effort, discover several pieces of evidence that not only connect both the Lutheran Protestant Church and the Roman Catholic Church  to the doings of Hitler ’s Third Reich, but that also indicate indisputably that Adolf Hitler  believed that the  Christian  God specifically was on his side and that he, Hitler , was actually doing the work of this God. Consider the foll...

By ObstacleChick ~ I was raised in a Southern Baptist family where my grandfather was a deacon (at one time chairman of the deacons) and my grandmother was a Sunday school teacher and Women's Missionary Union teacher. I'm not entirely sure what my grandfather's feelings were about the church, but he was very active and loved the people. He did a lot of pro bono work in the community as well, fixing the air conditioners, freezers, refrigerators, etc., of people who couldn't afford to call a technician. My grandmother LOVED learning and studying, and her subject of choice became the Bible. She had a small library of Bible history books, concordances, archaeology books, etc., and she spent a couple of hours each day studying those books and putting together lessons. She loved teaching and studying, anonymously gave money to community members in need, and always felt like she wasn't good enough morally/spiritually/etc. as her religion proscribed. In another time an...

By Chelsea Blinston ~ I started by saying my pseudonym is a girl's name, and yes, I can associate with things more attributed to the opposite gender because I'm free to do so and also curious about gender. But I identify as male, currently. I'm in my middle 20s and just started going to college 30 minutes outside of my original town where I live now. So, deal with this intro, because I wanted to get that explanation about my pseudonym out of the way. For the last 10 years, my anxieties, fears, and negativity kept getting worse, and being brought up Catholic, I incidentally grew colder to God along my path. I do not question the existence of God/gods, but all I can argue is that I don't think he's really perfect, or maybe even malevolent sometimes. I agree with some points on another guy who posted his story here about hating gods/God. I really have anxiety about dealing with the end of the world or very large-scale catastrophe on that sort of level in my life...

By Carl S. ~ C lear the fog, part the curtain. What's going on? Mention an immoral act of a Christian, and you'll get, “He wasn't a real Christian.” The argument is, if that person really believed, he wouldn't have done it. This leaves a lot of examples of Christian behavior dangling. Real Christian denials of, and wars against, human rights, are ongoing. Aren't “virtuous and justified” crimes committed by real Christians? (Should Christians appalled by Christian behavior re-define themselves as Jesusites?) When Protestants killed Catholics and vice versa, which were the real Christians? Did real Christians save the Jewish people or did real Christians kill them? Are Christians of the Western churches, or Eastern Orthodox Christians, the real ones? After all, don't they disagree on what each maintains are soul-life and soul-death-deciding matters of faith? Which are real Christians, the executioners or the heretics they execute? Is a real Christian a peac...

By Anushka ~ H ello. I am originally from India. I grew up in a Gulf country. I came to England when I was 16. Now I am 28. I was a Christian all my life. My church in England taught me that according to the Bible God will guide you, tell you what is going to happen in the future and offer you protection from physical harm. All you have to do is read the bible verses according to your need and that need will be fulfilled. Even Joyce Meyer teaches this. I can confirm that there are bible verses according to all such needs. I have read them a lot of times every day. Okay, no one harmed me physically. But, God did not guide me nor did he warn me about the future. You have no idea how much Bible I read everyday. The more I went to church, the more I listened to Joyce Meyer, the more I read the bible, the more I talked to my crazy Christian friend over the phone about God and my choices, the more messed up I became. I didn't go into drugs or alcohol or sex. But, I felt sorry for t...

By John Draper ~ B ack when I was a Christian, it was important to me to always have the Word of God close at hand. So I would keep a “pocket Bible” on my person. No telling when a well-formed female would cross your path, exciting your animal instincts. Funny thing—those pocket Bibles were never the full Bible. They were just the New Testament and the Psalms. Why is that? Most Christians have learned to ignore most of the Bible—that is, the Old Testament. It’s just so bloody and harsh—over the top. Not to mention hokey and boring. Sure, they pay it lip service. For example, they may tell themselves that the Old Testament focuses on the justice of God as opposed to the love of God. (Somebody had to teach those sinners a lesson.) But not even fundamentalists try to live by the Old Testament, not really. Maybe a verse here and there that they can use to bolster some point about Jesus but, for the most part, they live to the east of Malachi. Check out believers’ refrigerator mag...