By Carl S. ~ T he subject of secret lives has engaged my mind for years. Perhaps it all began with a revelation. An acquaintance, a veteran of WW II, now deceased, found among his deceased wife's belongings, a birth certificate of a child he never knew she had. No doubt, this experience or other revelations of a partner's untold life are commonplace. Indeed, even within the lifetimes of couples and friends, we take their private lives as just that, private, and go no further. And we also note the growing concern we feel at the possibility of government overreach, in prying into our lives. Novels, murder mysteries, actual criminal cases, tell-all books and media reports are saturating societies with revealing secrets. (My older brother had to meet his future wife secretly. He was German, she Sicilian. This stuff goes on all the time.) Celebrities "come out" or are caught off-guard in their actions or words. There are wives and husbands of famous authors, scient...

By J. S. Dollin ~ “Why do you think that is?” M y dad asked me the question that stopped me in my tracks. I couldn’t be honest. That’s just not how I was brought up. Every compulsion I had to be true to myself stopped with that question. I couldn’t bring myself to tell my religious father that I believe Christianity is what makes us like this. We both grew up in the Christian lifestyle. Going to church every Sunday, perhaps once or twice a week besides that for small groups and youth group gatherings. My grandparents were missionaries in Nigeria . Both of my parents went to Wheaton College . Let’s just say that I was coerced strongly into the Christian world since birth. As Dad and I considered the reasons for our perfectionism, my thoughts raced to Jesus. Jesus wanted us to be perfect. How many times had I been told that I wasn’t good enough because I constantly needed to confess to Jesus my shortcomings? How many times had I convinced myself that I could not be anyone with...

By Valerie Tarico ~ W hy aren’t Muslim and Christian extremists extremely peaceful? The answer lies in the Iron Age setting of the Bible and Quran—when literate cultures replaced the Golden Calf with the Sacred Text. Diplomats, religious leaders, and peacemakers of many stripes keep insisting that ISIS isn’t about Islam. They point to a host of other factors including colonialism, injustice, lack of economic opportunity, and hopelessness. They’re not altogether wrong, but they are missing the tyrannosaurus rex in the room. At one level, ISIS cannot be about “Islam,” because Islam is as varied as the number of sects or even the number of adherents that claim the label, some of whom are pacifist mystics, and most of whom abide by the dictates of compassion and by the secular laws that govern the countries where they live. So, to say ISIS is about Islam is to say something far too broad and nonspecific to be either substantially true or useful. And yet, it is equally clear that th...

By Ronna Russell ~ A nother new city, another new state, the third one in high school alone. My sister had tickets to Hawaii and was taking my mother along for a vacation. Preacher Dad took them to the airport in San Francisco, a couple of hours away. He wouldn’t let me come along and then stayed overnight, doing whatever it was closeted gay men did in the 1980s. That is how I found myself home alone on my 18th birthday, six weeks into a new place, knowing no one. I had a car, a bright orange Pinto wagon that ran most of the time, and I remembered the way to the Casa Maria restaurant and bar. I was damned if I was going to sit in that house by myself, staring at the walls. Also I hadn’t had sex in three years. I drove to the restaurant and walked in. The bartender saw me, but before he could ask for ID, the only guy sitting at the bar said, “Come here.” The bartender wouldn’t serve me. We walked out together moments later, tried another bar, but I got carded again, so we c...

By Klym ~ N ext month I will celebrate my 60th birthday. I have also decided to retire from 37 years of being an educator (public and private schools) and mental health professional (school counselor, past work in a women's shelter, and an MHMR caseworker). Both these 'events' are huge in my mind. The decision to retire is probably the hardest decision of my life, second only to the decision to divorce my first husband at the age of 20, when I attended a fundamentalist Baptist church . I am a bit terrified of the prospect of not having a job to get up for each day, and of having no "regular" paycheck. On top of all that, I am seriously thinking of coming out as an atheist, once and for all. Most of my close friends and family know that I am a non-believer, but it is very rarely discussed. My husband knows I'm an atheist and respects my intelligence and thoughtfulness on religious issues. But, he's not quite ready to give up his extremely liberal chri...

By Valerie Tarico ~ J esus has been described as the best known figure in history, and also the least known. If you mentioned the name 'Jesus' and someone asked Jesus who?, you might blink. Or laugh. Even people who don’t think Jesus was God, mostly believe they know a fair bit about him. You might be surprised that some of your most basic assumptions about Jesus are probably wrong. We have no record of anything that was written about Jesus by eyewitnesses or other contemporaries during the time he would have lived or for decades thereafter, and as best scientists can tell, all physical relics of his life are later fakes . Nonetheless, based on archeological digs and artifacts, ancient texts and art, linguistic patterns, and even forensic science, we know a good deal about the time and culture in which the New Testament is set. This evidence points to some startling conclusions about who Jesus likely was—and wasn’t. Cropped hair, not long. Jewish men at the time of Christ...

By Carl S ~ Y ou may ask when we will know for certain that the times are finally ruled by the Lord. The evidence will be everywhere you look. God's truth will remain forever and will be universally recognized; and only God's truth. All the vile filth of blasphemy and mockery of faith and dogma will be punished. Disrespect for the voice of God speaking through his clergy will be severely punished. Criticism and negative "revelations" of clerical "abuses" will be banned. Those who do so will find their writings destroyed, they themselves executed. God's words and commandments will be displayed on every public building, constantly reminding his children to utterly obey him. Children will pray every morning before their education begins. The fear of the Lord and the terror of hell is the beginning of wisdom. Teaching the "theory" of evolution will be unlawful. Then, church bells will ring the hours for daily prayers. Freedom of religion does...

By Rico the Atheist ~ I am not exactly sure where I should begin? But, I guess I can start with I am 32 years-old, Puerto Rican, a U.S. Army veteran, I have two kids and I have been married for also 10 years to my wife. I also go to school for Digital and Multimedia design. Please forgive any grammar errors you see in this essay of sorts. English: Photographs of the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) I became an atheist back in October 2014, and then I told my wife that I no longer believe in GOD. She was not exactly happy to hear this, and she did not initially believe me.(The thing is I use to be a christian back in 2012 and I was one since I was 12 years old). She is a Christian, who not only believes in the bible, but she is also one who believes this is the end times. At first, when we use to live in Texas it was only about me changing my mind on Gay marriage.(I will admit that I use to think it was a choice and that it was wrong to be LGBTQ)....

dealdoctor ~ I t is interesting to me with all the news about ISIS and fundamentalist Islam that there are ex-Muslims who feel about Islam what EX-Christians feel about Christianity. I have been in the process of researching the fact that the famous black sacred stone in Mecca which the Islamic pilgrims circle in worship once per year during their pilgrimage of Hajj to Mecca is in all probably an artifact of Goddess worship once practiced in exactly that same location in pre-Islamic pagan worship days. Holy patriarchy! The good old boys club was once a good old girl hotspot. The article below points outclearly that Muslims who value the truth more than they value religious authority can and do wake upfeeling just as screwed by Islam as some here on ExChristian.net feel screwed by years wasted in Christian fundamentalism. It is kind of like looking in a mirror and seeing a reverse image that issomehow very revealing. Rock ON! http://www.islam-watch.org/Lennard/Islam-Sacre...

By illu minati ~ I n this post I'm going to discuss two basic contentions based on my own knowledge (I'm open for comments, suggestions, and violent religious reactions) which are fundamental on misotheism and on atheism: 1. If God/gods does exist, then we should hate Him/them and 2. If God/gods do not exist, then we should hate religious people. First contention says "If God/gods do exist, then we should hate Him/them." In order to explain it, we have to use points and explanations in order to make it a sound argument. Here are they: 1. God/gods are must be hated for His/their lack of respect on human life. a. For everything is pre-destined to play on His/their great soap opera a1. According to Jesus, it is finished before He died on the cross even though the Revelation event haven't take place yet, a2. According to Moslem people, EVERYTHING that happen/happens/will happen is God's will, and a3. So say the other polytheist religion. b. For...

By Carl S ~ I f you should happen to be present when a church service ends and the believers are exiting, you might ask, "So how was your tribal meeting?" They might wonder, "Now, what's that all about?" Tribal chief from Atappadi (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Dr. Edward O. Wilson , U.S. biologist and social analyzer, in a recent interview (24 Jan. 2015, New Scientist .), spoke about our anciently-established structures. He notes that religions “have their own answers to the big questions, but these are usually bound as dogma to some kind of tribe." Later on, he talks about the theory "that humans, as a species, share a religious impulse, and that ... this transcendent searching has been hijacked by the tribal religions . So, I would say that for the sake of human progress, the best thing we could possibly do would be to diminish, to the point of eliminating, religious faiths." In pondering these words, I have come to some conclusions, starti...