By George in KC ~ R ecently, my wife and I had to rush our 20-year-old daughter to the emergency room for a serious condition. I drove like mad, carried her inside, and the nurses sprang into action. In a short time she was stabilized and starting to recover. Image via Wikipedia It was about three hours into the ordeal when I realized - I didn’t even think about praying! This was a big change for me. I am 51 years old and was a Christian for 49 years (I posted my deconversion story in April 09). I thought back to 15 years ago when I once again had to rush my daughter to the hospital when she was 5 years old. One of the first things I did at that time was call our pastor and ask him to pray and come to the hospital. He did, but she stayed seriously ill for several days. I remember all those church services from the time of my youth onward when the weekly prayer list was read. Did you ever notice how some people were perpetually on the list? God could cure a tummy ache, b...

By VeryBerry ~ I was involved in a love affair with a man whom I loved dearly. He made me feel loved, secure, and accepted. I used to spend countless hours talking to him... I thought that he was a great listener. Beneath the Sheets, by Cloe-e via Flickr Moreover, he knew about my dreams, hope, fears, secrets, and desires. He even promised to help me overcome my fears and help me fulfill my dreams. In other words, this relationship was my raison d'être. I must also confess that I was so in awe with my lover that I divulged certain aspects of our perfect relationship to several women. In fact, my matchless lover encouraged me to do so. He loved when I bragged about the happiness that he had brought into my pitiful life. Why wouldn't I tell other women? My lover's promises gave me an exhilarating feeling that words could not describe. But, a few months ago, I decided to end our long- term relationship. Although I trusted my lover, I decided to perform a backgrou...

by dharma ~ A s a child, I had my share of imaginary friends. These imaginary friends were perfect. When I was terrified in the dark, thanks to the bible stories I had heard in church, these imaginary friends helped to ease my mind. And when I was punished for having done something typically kid-like my sight-unseen buddies were naturally exiled to my room along with me. Oh yes, we were ‘as thick as thieves’, as my aunt used to say. However, even as a child I understood the difference between fantasy and reality. So I was not surprised when I started school and my imaginary friends did not protect me when a bully took my lunch tokens or my book bag. My imaginary ‘friends’ were nowhere to be found when some much larger kid threatened me with future bodily harm as he shoved me to the ground and took my skateboard. Image by Dom Dada via Flickr Even as a child, I knew these ‘friends’ were created by me. I knew I had dreamed them up. I had given them names, physical characteris...

By Carl S ~ T hose who remember Andrea Yates ’ seemingly never-ending trial know she was found guilty of drowning her three children. Since then, several other mothers have been found guilty of murdering their children. Image via Wikipedia Were all these children disobedient, unruly, disrespectful, deserving of the death punishment? (Some died in a closed car, coasting into the river. Imagine their screams.) On a TV courtroom case ( Judge Alex ), a woman who was being sued by her daughter looked across at her and said, “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it.” The mother did not point out all the years of service, her emotional and financial investments involved in raising this “ungrateful” child. And, if she had taken her Bible’s injunction to heart, would have “taken her out of this world” by stoning. Bring up this case, the Yates story, and the other mothers committing infanticide to Christians, argue for their justifications, and wait for their response...

By WizenedSage (Galen Rose) ~ I t is statistically obvious that the vast majority of the earth’s people are in one false religion or another. Interestingly, they all seem quite untroubled by this fact. Image by antonychammond via Flickr According to recent surveys (and they differ by only small amounts), the largest religion by membership is Christianity (including all of the vast array of sub-groups), with about 34% of the world’s population. Other groups can be summarized as approximately 19% Muslim, 14% Hindu, 18% other religions, and 15% non-religious. Since only one religion, at most, can be “true,” (because of contradictions between them) then at least two-thirds of the world’s people are in a false religion. If one of the smaller religions – or none - is true, then an even larger proportion is in a false religion. There is no escaping this statistical fact. Since there is a very clear geographical distribution of the world’s religions, with only minor overlaps, it becom...

A screenplay based on the Bible and written by Ken Browning ~   FADE IN: EXT - BACKYARD PATIO - EVENING ADAM, a sullen 13-year-old sits at a patio table surfing on a brand new iPhone. His father, MR. GOOD isacross from him eating a piece of birthday cake while now and then clicking on a laptop. FATHER Adam, you know you can’t break my rules. ADAM I know but like, he really, really wanted to see them. FATHER I should have known not to invite that kid. ADAM All we did was look at your Playboys! FATHER How many times do I have to tell you,  ADAM                      FATHER Don’t break my rules!      Don’t break my rules! FATHER (CONT’D) Young man what you did wasn’t perfect and now that you’ve reached the age of accountability you have free will. Think about that. ADAM Yeah. So I used my free will. FATHER Just like I was saying. You missed the mark here s...

By ooglyman -- D ad was a preacher. Not one that was trained at a seminary, but he was a school teacher who had been a missionary, taught Sunday school, and occasionally was invited by different churches to speak against Communism. Both of my parents were raised Mennonite, and after they were married became Baptists. Every few years we moved to another church. Dad was never content. He didn’t like the least hint of liberalism in any church we attended. Finally, when I entered my teens, my parents discovered a church they liked. The denomination even had fundamentalist in its name. ( Independent Fundamentalist Churches of America .) The head pastor had been a minor league baseball player who never made it to the big leagues, so he started a church instead. One time I heard him say from the pulpit that it was against the will of god for men to wear polyester suits. They were too comfortable. No one was supposed to be comfortable in church. I remember not being comfortable in his. ...

Forgiveness is for people who never walked in your shoes. By summerbreeze --  T he bible demands that YOU MUST forgive, absolutely, regardless of the situations involved, regardless of the individual make-up of the person wounded. Colossians 3:13 "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as The Lord forgave you." Luke 6:35-38;42 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven......." Religion made me feel guilty about forgiveness. I thought that I was a poor excuse for a christian for wanting revenge on someone that I despised. I tried as hard as I could, and I could not forgive... religion had yet again given me another reason for feeling like a failure, and not to forget the knowledge I had that I surely was going to hell, because I could not forgive. I know that each person reading this must have at least one person, p...

A Bryan Texas church is facing a test of faith Wednesday night after their pastor is arrested. Police say he was meeting men online and then forcing them to have sex with him. Pastor George Randall Scott resigned from the Bethel Temple Church Tuesday following his arrest. Pastor Randy Scott was arrested Saturday in Houston after returning from a trip to Sweden with his wife. He's charged with burglary of a habitation with intent to commit an assault . The alleged incident happened in November when a victim claims to have been lured into sex by Scott after meeting him online. 51-year-old Pastor Randy Scott is accused of forcing another man to have sex with him after police said he met the victim on Craig's list. Police said Scott posed as a 17-year-old and hooked up with the victim after several e-mail conversations. It's left the Bethel Temple Church congregation shocked but supportive. "On behalf of Bethel Temple we express our love, prayers and s...

By Lola -- I was sent to an Anglican Boarding School in Kent , England, when I was 3 months shy of my 11th birthday. It's the English way - or was. Image by jimmedia via Flickr I was lucky; middle class boys get sent away to Prep School at eight! My parents were separating, unbeknown to my older sister and I; my father ( a Navy vet) was going overseas again, and my mother was going to live with her mother. My sister and I were inconveniences, so we got sent to Boarding School. WE had not been raised as strict Christians, my mother had a muddled upbringing between her Catholic Aunt who raised her, and her birth mother, an Atheist by choice. We were nominally Anglican, and my father attended church when he was home, mainly I suspect so that he could sing in the choir (he had a remarkable baritone). I am not sure if they knew how "holy" the boarding school was when they sent us, but we soon found out! Assembly first thing in the morning, with prayers and hymns, pra...

By Carl S -- I didn’t plan to be a troublemaker; maybe it’s in my DNA. Maybe I am as my wife said, “too sensitive” about justice and honesty . . . and hypocrisy. Yet, never a change for the better takes place without this. Honoring belief above reality dismisses truth itself, and the avoiders of reality can be obstructive of human rights while they bask in the sun of their own authority and wisdom. At the age of 72, I told my wife that there’s a point at which a person becomes intolerant of bullshit. Although I know men in their 80’s and 90’s who still can’t recognize it. One of them, at 95, is a Catholic (still, after what his church has done.) who still bows down to a cracker and is a misogynist in regards to women becoming priests. Image by bopuc via Flickr Which brings me to the subject of “THE CRACKER,” and a suggestion that we all get on the bandwagon. Hey, people have been killed over this wafer. Let’s challenge those authorities to prove they know what the hell they’re...