By Dano ~ I am at a hiatus in my longstanding altitude of skepticism concerning almost everything. It just doesn't work for me anymore now that I have to come to a complete and unequivocal disbelief in all things religious. Offered as explanation~ The evidence for the Christian religion and the Bible as being just a plagiarized collection of parts and pieces of other religions all cobbled together with a large amount of Jewish history and belief that had been passed down for many generations and codified into a cannon, for the purpose of unifying and strengthening emperor Constantine's control over the Roman empire, is all too obvious. So obvious that I have become bored with it. I used to love it when a Jesus freak, christobot would come to this site ( Ex-Christian ), spouting all of his/her hackneyed phrases, full of circular reasoning, and ridiculous biblical jargon, about how Jesus died for me and by doing this, all of my sins are forgiven. I knew from reading o...

By Paul So ~ I n the documentary from PBS Frontline called Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero, there were varying religious and non-religious perspectives about the tragic event. One of them was from a fundamentalist Christian whose occupation is that of a fireman. From his perspective he saw the whole tragedy as an example of the supernatural conflict of Good vs. Evil, and the fireman feels that it is his duty to fight against it. This sounded very odd to me, because in the philosophical and theological topic called Problem of Evil , very few thinkers would bring up the supernatural evil the Devil as the culprit for all the human suffering. But aside from this curious fact, but what are the implications if one brings up the devil as an answer to the problem of evil? From what we know about from traditional Christianity, many Christians believe that the devil is a fallen angel who enslaves humanity by tempting them into sin. This enslavement, however, does not merely consist of tempti...

A Blue Springs, Missouri woman said she wanted her family to remember the reason for the Christmas season but was surprised to get a divine reminder through Crayola crayons. The woman said her child's crayons led her to an encounter with Jesus. Read more: http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/local_news/water_cooler/Woman-says-Jesus-appears-in-son-s-melted-crayons#ixzz1h4C7OFEt

Image via Wikipedia Cynthia Yih Shih (b. October 3, 1978, Saratoga, California ), better known by her stage name Vienna Teng , is a Taiwanese American pianist and singer-songwriter based in Ann Arbor, Michigan . Teng has released four studio albums : Waking Hour (2002), Warm Strangers (2004), Dreaming Through the Noise (2006), and Inland Territory (2009). She has also released one live album, The Moment Always Vanishing (2009), on which she is double-billed with her percussionist, Alex Wong. -- Wikipedia

By Ben ~ W ell, It's kind of a long story but Ive been wanting to get this off my chest for awhile. I have tried to talk to friends and family about it but everybody thinks I am the person who is in the wrong. I was raised in Washington state in a moderately christian household. We went to church based on how my father felt Sunday morning. It was my grandfather who even though he lived an hour away dictated almost every facet of our life. My dad got more religious when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was about 12 or 13. A condition she battles to this day, I am 25 now to put things in perspective. I can understand his new found glory and I do not blame him for anything. However my grandfather is the biggest bible thumping Jesus-freak ever. Like no joke, he is the guy in church with the shitty voice that sings louder than everybody else just to show he is more devoted to the lord than everybody else. As far back as I can remember I never believed. My parents...

By WizenedSage (Galen Rose) ~ A ccording to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, anachronism means: a person or a thing that is chronologically out of place; especially : one from a former age that is incongruous in the present. Christianity is an anachronism as it comes from the ancient world and does not fit the facts of modern science, morality, or politics. But, curiously, the majority of people in the Western World fail to recognize this easily established fact. Christianity is based on a collection of scripture written 2,000-3,500 years ago by Iron Age primitives in a superstitious, pre-scientific age. This was an age when kings and emperors and their like, individuals of great power, ruled every nation. A nation’s laws, and its national, international, and military policy, were almost always decided by one man and reflected his beliefs and judgment alone. The Enlightenment (also known as The Age of Reason), of the 18th century, brought the recognition that mankind be...

By Carl S ~ My letter-to-the-editor, below, was recently published in the Lincoln County News, a Maine weekly newspaper. I suspect that many of you will appreciate the sentiments expressed. T o the Editor: It’s been noted that the reason greeting cards were invented was to express feelings the sender had difficulty articulating, but in better words than the sender would use. I wish to say some things in this season on behalf of others whose words are not heard, perhaps because they cannot find the proper words. For the majority of people in our society, this season represents a time of strengthening and renewing our interconnectedness, of showing and giving care in special ways, even of gift giving beyond what is normally possible. Along with these traditions is that of celebrating the winter solstice , the beginning of the lengthening of daylight hours. These are all causes of celebration for everyone everywhere. They are the traditions that predate all religious uses for ...

By Rachel ~ I don’t think that my story is particularly unique to the individuals posting their stories on this site. I identify with them in many ways. Long story short- raised in fundamentalist Baptist home- black sheep of the family… went to a Baptist college, did what I wanted with the perpetual cloud of religious guilt hanging over my head. When I married I decided it was time to stop messing around and embrace the religion I “knew” was true like a grown up. I started “studying” the Bible and embracing things I never had before. It all fell apart years later- studying the Bible and attending church never really “took” with me, even though I knew deep down that was due to my own sinful failing… and that I was fighting the “free gift of Salvation.” I saw my parents and sisters and their families living relatively blessed lives in every way, and knew that I was only a dedication away from that life. But then one sister converted to Catholicism, and then the other. The...

Thin-ice (Wesley) ~ A s an ex-christian, like many - if not most - of you reading this, there are some teachings from this faith that we used to believe, that make me angry, even today. I was reminded of this last week, when I got the monthly email from the alumni department of Multnomah University (previously Multnomah School of the Bible ) where I got my Bachelor of Theology . I still receive the newsletter, for the laughs if nothing else! The particular teaching I refer to is "God uses pain to get your attention". Now, I'm not sure how prevalent this teaching is in, say, Catholicism, or Mormonism, or even traditional orthodox Christianity. But as an evangelical, I was raised with it. Every time something bad or sad happened to me as a youngster, my parents would predictably say, "God is trying to get your attention", or "God is trying to teach you a lesson". As an example, when I was 16 years old, with a fresh driver's license in hand, I w...

By Matt ~ I suppose the moral or point of any testimonial is invalid without a background into the main event in question, and the events that led to it's dismantling. In my case, it was the acceptance of what I felt to be the answer to 'life, the universe, and everything.' My coming into Christianity was not a grand event like you would find at a Pentecostal church. I didn't spasm in uncontrollable numinous convulsions, or burst into fits of tears at the thought of my state of worthlessness before a deity and the magnitude of his grace. For me, it was almost a building block approach of 'logic' mixed with some emotion. In short, I began to reason that life was far too complex to simply be a result of time and chance. For me, evolution was too far fetched, and I felt that such claims as 'irreducible complexity' held scientific weight. This led me to reason that some supernatural or intelligent being must exist. I then followed that premise that if suc...

By Carl S ~ W hen we look at the actions of believers and compare them to their asserted beliefs of moral superiority, the first thing that often comes to mind is hypocrisy. I'm beginning to wonder if they can see it that way, because it looks like they operate on different standards than the morally sensitive. For instance, seeing nothing wrong with a deity whose "mercy endures forever," yet sometimes sends humans to eternal torment. In fact, the language of belief systems is loaded with oxymorons and double standards, " do as I say, not as I do ’s.” Just what is the standard that sees nothing wrong in lying to children, and terrorizing them with Jesus Camp indoctrinations? Parents send their children to Gospel camps and Sunday school to be taught matters of faith they themselves often don't believe. Why? How they don't see such things as being hypocritical must have something to do with what they consider right and wrong. And, then there is, "...