by Dr. Marlene Winell Image by Te55 via Flickr R ecently I had a very short, but encouraging little dream right before waking up. I had been feeling burdened by all the problems in the world. In my dream I got the message that “the butterflies are working to lift our spirits.” I woke up surprised and delighted. Later I shared it with a couple friends who also liked it, amused by the image. Then I mentioned it to a Christian I know, who responded, “Maybe that’s why God made them.” Perhaps some of you who are also “recovering Christians” can help me understand my irritation. My guess is that I’m tired of this pattern of making everything good one step removed from our direct experience. In the typical Christian view, nature’s beauty is always “God’s handiwork.” When you look at a sunset or the intricacy of an orchid, you have to give credit to God and be thankful to Him. Nothing is simply beautiful or amazing for its own sake. This Thanksgiving, lets enjoy and reclaim our g...

by MtlRedAtheist The Holy Bible tells a story of how Elisha cursed some children to be destroyed by wild bears, because they mocked his bald head. Apparently killing children is not immoral when you do it by evoking God's supernatural powers. Why are we allowing our children to be taught this stuff? All music in this video is written and performed by MtlRedAtheist .

by summerbreeze I t's nice to be "courted," isn't it? But, not when you are asked to return to something that caused you so much unhappiness to begin with. Amongst other bible studies, I was enrolled in Community Bible Study (CBS) when I was a Christian. I jumped ship after I realized that Christianity was a lie, and it made me feel so beat-down. After I left, CBS ignored me for several years. Now this past year, they have been continually sending me news letters and forms galore to fill out and rejoin. A few weeks ago, I got fed up and decided to write on the form WHY I left Christianity (I was hoping something just might "register" with someone). Today I received a two-page letter from Mr. Pat Robertson, Executive Director of Community Bible School. I'm sure that he's not the doofus who we're familiar with. Anyway, at first I tore it in two and tossed it in the kitchen waste basket. After a while I decided to fish it out and read it (it...

by Nathan I no longer consider myself a Christian and told my wife, her parents and my parents earlier this year. However, I still go to church with my wife (a “non-denominational, a cappella ” congregation with about 10-12 members) because we have three little ones and it doesn't seem right to make her drag all three out the door and drive 25 miles alone. So I have been sitting in church every Sunday listening to a particularly conservative, literal message and it has driven me nuts. Sunday's sermon was particularly egregious and so I thought I'd write something just to get things off my chest. The guy bringing the message started by saying science is a religion in and of itself, then moved on to saying that god is like wind and gravity; you can't see wind or gravity, but can prove they exist by the effects around you. He moved on to say that the defining characteristic for Christians is the resurrection of Jesus and if you can prove there was no resurrection then ...

by Oddbird1963 People who are familiar with my family often say that I look a lot like my late father. I may have received my appearance from my dad, but I also received a love of science and history from him. Thanks to my father's thirst for knowledge we always had a recent copy of Scientific American , National Geographic , Science News , Science Digest and Popular Science lying around. I would read them, look at pictures, read the captions and soak in anything that seemed interesting to me. I am not a scientist or a mathematician but I certainly have a love for science, and layperson’s explanations of cosmology, physics and evolutionary biology. Such things inspire me when presented credibly and creatively. Good job Dad! When I was growing up our house was not a religious household. We only had occasional encounters with friends’ churches, my maternal grandmother's church and then the pious ramblings of my paternal grandfather about God, faith, and religion. And the...

Sent in by Anonymous Image by a hundred visions and revisions via Flickr I was born into a Christian home, my parents both having been raised in the faith, as Baptists . At the time of my birth, in the 1960's, they attended a large non- denominational evangelical church in the Northeast where I was baptized by the pastor, one of the founders of the Neo-Evangelical movement in the 1940's. Neo-Evangelicalism, while supporting fundamentalist doctrines, distanced itself from fundamentalism's anti-intellectual , anti-cultural bent. It was in this church that I was raised, up until around the time I graduated from high school . Growing up, we always attended church on Sunday. I remember hours of boredom during Sunday morning services, not having the attention span to listen to a 45 minute to one hour-long sermon. The music was also less than inspiring with it's “old-time religion” hymns. (They have since moved on the “contemporary Christian” music.) I hated going. ...

Image via Wikipedia I have not read the actual book ( Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion ), but I thought it was an apt title for my own story as a parent, because in the end, even with everything I dealt with as a child myself, I somehow managed to parent beyond belief, at least beyond belief in Evangelical Fundamentalist teachings. This also included beyond the trappings I still had to pull my own self out of as an adult too. I do not know how I did it, but I seemed to have done it. When I was little, I made a vow to myself not to do to my children what my parents, grandparents, and other relatives did to me. This also included on the religious front too. Now of course I did not have children yet, but like every little girl I had dreams about adulthood and family. To this day, I believe I kept that promise to myself and the other day, a conversation with my older son, seemed to confirm that I did in at least one area. When my sons were litt...

King of Kings (Also known as "Touchdown Jesus" or " Big Butter Jesus "), is a 62-foot-tall sculpture of Jesus just outside of Cincinnati . Jesus appears to be rising from the waters behind the amphitheater at Monroe's Solid Rock Church . Music by Heywood Banks , the version originally broadcast on the syndicated Bob & Tom radio show . All images except the first three reproduced with the permission of the web creationists at jeeebus ( www.jeeeb.us ). Accept no imitations!

by Neal Stone Image by benuski via Flickr E ver notice that the Creator of the Universe always needs money -- money that is a monetary system created by man? Ever notice that when one out of 100 is cured of cancer it's considered a miracle? What about the other 99? Ever notice that Christians like to say “Christ is the Answer” followed by “No one can understand the Lord's ways?” So what's the point? Are we supposed to find the question? Friends don't let friends convert to Christianity. Ever notice that those who reject God are “lost,” yet many Christians are still looking for God's Will? Ever notice that Salvation is supposedly free, yet you are expected to tithe 10 percent of your GROSS income after being saved? Ever notice that the amount of money, time and help you give to a church or religious organization is far more than it either ever give back? Ever notice how churches preach about seeking the lost, but once you leave church no one comes knocking on y...

by Janus Grayden For most of us who left religion, the schism wasn't a swift knife stroke but a slow, and oftentimes painful, process. This is especially true for those whose entire lives were completely entangled with their faith. If you've ever had the misfortune of crossing paths with a prickly pear cactus , you know that the large, obvious spines are the least of your worries. It's always the minuscule, nearly invisible barbs that drive you insane, poking you even after you were absolutely certain that you had plucked them all out. With no malice intended, this was my deconversion experience. When all of your friends, mentors, and close family are deeply religious, there is always more to religion than Sunday morning. The church I attended stressed an active involvement in almost daily activities. Without exaggeration, my life was completely involved in Christianity. So, when depression took a stranglehold on my life and, for years, no amount of prayer or any piec...

By Valerie Tarico Bas relief of a massage abortion from about A.D. 1150. Image via Wikipedia D ear  Bishops – In our struggle to get health care for all, you saw an opportunity to make sure that American women can’t afford abortions, a way to be the deciders for all of us.  You look at someone like me who has had an abortion , and you see a sin.  Perhaps you think that those of us who terminate pregnancies haven’t thought these things through from a moral standpoint.  Or maybe we are simply less moral than you are:  thoughtless, selfish, or promiscuous.  On the other side of the equation, you believe you know the Divine will.  You claim a position of moral authority, confident that the God of love guides your judgment.  I don’t trust that this is true.   Time and again your predecessors made decisions in the name of God that in retrospect are shameful. My abortion was a profoundly moral decision A council of Christian Bishops included ...