By Charissa ~ Y ou arrogant Christian. Image by h.koppdelaney via Flickr Are we not human the same as you? Do we not feel if you hurt us, do we not bleed and bruise when you strike us? Just because you are off fighting a spiritual war with the enemy and his minions, are we "heathens" only concerned about the flesh and gratifying the pleasures within? Are we some lowly thing that needs your preaching and your knowledge? You pretend you have it all figured out. You have answers to all the questions, and your stance depends on the denomination that suits your preference of how god should be the best. But I know deep down you are the same, questioning, doubting, searching for an answer. Why do we know this, because we may have been you, a week, a month maybe years ago. You find comfort and security in your blanket of religious beliefs, regardless of how ridiculous they may seem. I believe because I believe! Why because you have a personal relationship with your god. ...

By James A. Haught ~  P hilosopher-historian Will Durant called it "the basic event of modern times." He didn't mean the world wars, or the end of colonialism, or the rise of electronics. He was talking about the decline of religion in Western democracies. The great mentor saw subsiding faith as the most profound occurrence of the past century -- a shift of Western civilization, rather like former transitions away from the age of kings, the era of slavery and such epochs. Since World War II, worship has dwindled starkly in Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan and other advanced democracies. In those busy places, only 5 or 10 percent of adults now attend church. Secular society scurries along heedlessly. Pope Benedict XVI protested: "Europe has developed a culture that, in a manner unknown before now to humanity, excludes God from the public conscience." Columnist George Will called the Vatican "109 acres of faith in a European sea of unbelief....

By ExPenty ~  A t this time of year, lots of children’s dreams are shattered by adults and other children who tell them that Santa Claus does not exist. This is, of course, a wicked lie. As such, I shall now refute some of the most common arguments used to “prove” that Santa does not exist. 1. Santa is based on the myth of Saint Nicholas This is not true. There are some similarities between the story of Santa and the story of Saint Nicholas, it’s true, but they are just coincidental. Just because two stories share some similarities, it doesn’t follow that one was based on the other. The stories about Saint Nicholas are interesting to believers in Santa, but they are irrelevant to Santa’s existence. The stories about Santa are undoubtedly true, whereas the stories of Saint Nicholas may well be mostly legends. 2. Your Christmas presents are really delivered by your parents Your parents may well bring you some presents, because it’s natural to want to give presents to those...

By Mitch ~ I have been an atheist for about ten years due to my study of religion, history, and philosophy. So there is no need to tell a story that so closely mirrors the multitude of others on this site. One thing that has always bothered me about any religion is the complete and utter desire to put faith at the center of one's life. Scientific Evidence , image by kanelstrand via Flickr What is faith? My understanding is that faith is a belief in something without evidence even in the face of evidence to the contrary. Basically, you have to maintain a presupposition of(insert idea here) no matter what the evidence says. Outside of religion do we use faith in our daily lives at all? I have heard people say "I have faith in you" as one example, but are we not simply confusing the term faith with belief. Are you not speaking with someone to whom you know or have known? If you know this person at all then you have a basis for evidence. You have some idea what thi...

By Renoliz ~ S o, how did Christian Hell become such a gruesome concept? It didn’t start out like that. Let’s reach far back into time. Some four thousand years ago. In “The History of Hell” by Alice K. Turner we have a resource that shows the beginnings of the concept of an underworld. At least, the first accounts about an Underworld that were put into writing in the area of the Middle East and Mediterranean. Image via Wikipedia The Sumerians [and the Babylonians] write of a goddess, Inanna , who visits her sister, Ereshkigal in the underworld. Inanna arrives from the world above and descends through seven gates to confront Ereshkigal. The sisters fight and Ereshkigal is the winner. She hangs Inanna on a stake for three days and nights. Inanna’s faithful vizier petitions the gods for Inanna’s return and Ereshkigal reluctantly permits her sister to return to the upper world provided Inanna provides a substitute or a ransom for herself. So, Inanna’s shepherd consort Dumuz...

By Greenworld ~ I t never ceases to amuse me just how apologists like to use the “vacuum analogy” when responding to the statement that if evil is caused by “The Devil ,” and “The Devil” came from Yahweh , then Yahweh certainly allowed “evil” to exist. (Oh, but wait: if there was no “evil” then we’d all be ROBOTS !!!) Do you really think that belief in “some red guy with an arrow-pointed tail carrying a silly little trident ” would prevent us from being “robots”…? No. Incorrect. “Evil” comes from nature; animals always display this “evil” that religious fanatics spew about because in nature it is all a matter of life and death through survival: the strong shall prevail and reproduce as the weak perish like mosquitoes. For other animals to cause “evil” they would need a “Devil” to represent their enemy, which Christianity has failed to provide. Therefore, these animals are “robots,” even though they share emotions alike ourselves. What’s the difference, other than threats of “burnin...

Pastor Mark Griggs CLEVELAND — Rev. Dr. Mark Griggs, pastor of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Olmsted Falls , has been charged with trading in child pornography. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason announced that Griggs, 48, faces 112 counts that include downloading, trading and possessing child pornography. Griggs is one of 27 adults, along with three juveniles, charged in a six month investigation called "Operation Lake Effect." The investigation has been conducted by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. Prosecutors charge that Griggs downloaded and saved images of children being sexually abused onto his computer. They say Griggs traded child porn images from both his home and church computers. "Shocking...always," Mason says of a pastor being indicted on such charges. But Griggs', attorney, Jay Milano, says his client will fight the charges. "Reverend Griggs is going to plead and he's going to de...

By EChamberlainMD, San Diego ~ Modern Medicine Versus Modern Christianity Image by Foxtongue via Flickr W e see it on TV. From the comfort of the couch. The desperate poverty. The hopelessness. People we've seen on those infomercials, they're dead now. Starvation. Cholera. HIV . The Human Condition. I saw a patient today. Or, rather, a person. She's been in the U.S. now for about a year and a half. Illegally. She was picked up at our border-- homeless, begging. She's been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and faces deportation one day unless somehow she gets asylum here. Looking back at the description of how she was found back then when she was picked up-- "homeless, begging at the border" of the U.S.-- I imagine her along the side of the road, hovering like Jethro Tull's Aqualung in the shadows of Tiajuana. Starving. Cross Eyed Mary . But just a few miles from the sanctity of San Diego where I'm privileged to ...

By Neal Stone ~ S o once again my family will have Christmas dinner. My oh so religious parents will be there as will others who also believe. So I have prepared a special holiday prayer. You can read it below. Image by Laenulfean via Flickr Why would I do this? To make a point. Because they always ask me to say the prayer and it pisses me off. REVENGE BABY! Hey, a guys gotta have some fun! Oh Lord, We come to you today and would like you to bless this food and our family here together. But then, why should you answer our prayers when there is so much more need in the world. The cripple down the street who would love to walk again, the amputee who lost his arms in the war who would love to be able to hug his children again. After all, it's not beyond your power to grow back his limbs as you do it with lizards and other amphibians all the time. Aren't we, your most precious creation, more important than a lizard? After all we just have to ask in your name a...

By Miggy Evans ~  I needed a place to share, but I just didn't realize it until I found it. I think the hardest part about leaving the church, leaving Jesus, leaving it all is the loneliness it brings with it. I can't speak with ANY of my believer friends, I can't speak with my parents, my brother, not objectively anyway. I'm sure this is common for ex Christians so I don't really need to expand on that, except to say I'm glad this forum, with all of its sanctuary and protection exists. Sometimes it just helps to put the words on paper, so to speak. NOTE: I'm not sure what the swearing policy is here, since this is my first post, so I've self censored myself to avoid any sort of cheesy language filter affect. But feel free to read the Fs and what not in all their intended glory. My Story I was raised by two very committed believers. My father was saved when he was 25, my mom when she was 19. My father had several jobs in his life, including ...

By Carl S ~ T here's a column featured in "The Week" magazine entitled, " It must be true... I read it in the tabloids ." (Some would add – or on the Internet. Recently, even CNN reported as true a fictitious story they got from the Internet.) Image by brownpau via Flickr If you reported that Elvis' newborn daughter was seen recently in Memphis, Tennessee, some people would believe this, for you can fool some of the people all of the time. How about an alien abduction covered up by the FBI? (Aha!) Ditto. The face of Jesus photographed on the Martian landscape? Whoops, that's been done already. Many people will, and do, believe anything. And, if you have more than one tabloid writing about the same movie star, for example, what they say MUST be true, right? Scriptural writings are just like tabloids. For starters, there are no historical accounts of a man named Jesus working miracles in the time period he allegedly lived; curing blindness, raising ...