By Carl S ~ T here are pains that don't go away. You know what I mean. All you have to do is watch survivors of clergy rape or any rape and read about or listen to their experiences. Some survivors are over 80 years old. And fundies like to say they're being persecuted! Anyhow, grievances aren't welcome nowadays (except on TV “reality” programs.) And we're expected to be forgiving (let's not forget forgiving). And we don't want to offend anyone, do we? How boring! I occasionally have feelings of what once felt like betrayal, at a picnic with my spouse's family. You know how you sit around small talking and confide with family members? An in-law mentioned “God” and asked if I believed in “him”, and I said “No.” Another in-law heard me, and came over. This was my first close encounter with fanaticism. Someone else joined in, so I was trapped between two fundies. Bystanders listened. This went on for some time. I left that room, and went to cry in another...

By Lilith Lite ~ Ex-C hristians, you're so sensitive! Guests come on site, push the right buttons, and you grab the bait! (Are they also ex-Christians? I wonder.) How many of you are there, really? Ten? Fifteen at the most? You're more involved with Christianity than any Christians I know. They don't give a shit for thinking. You piss them off when you confuse them with “facts, truth, reasoning and evidence.” They wanna live forever and they're terrified of hell. Those guest objectors want to be left alone to enjoy their drug of choice and messing with the rights of others. They want their children to be just like them. Are you any different? Yes you are. Religions, like drug addictions, alcoholism, habitual gambling, and pedophilia, are addictions, and you're busy shaking yours. Many former believers are still in rehab. There are no rewards established for recoverers from religious addiction, but there ought to be. I imagine staying drug free in the midst of...

By Matt ~ I have clambered so hard for Christianity to be true. I love the story. The idea that everything sad will come untrue inspires me. I want to believe Aslan returns and tears apart the White Witch . I want to believe the ring is being carried to Mordor to be plunged into a pit of fire. I want to see justice delivered from a man on a horse. I want there to be Lucy’s and Bilbo’s and Frodo’s , and even a Mr. Tumnus . I want to believe my futile efforts at work and art will ring forever throughout the ages and reach their culmination at the end of this present age. For that idea—to quote the triumphal hymn by Martin Luther—I would “ let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also .” And I would have been happy to do it. Except, when it’s the epitome of the cultural norm in my own circle, you never have to lose a single good or kindred. You gain a bunch. There’s a faintly noticeable addiction to that gain, muted no doubt by the beauty of the story, by Aslan’s deafe...

By B ~ T here are innumerable and unforeseen ways in which growing up in the fundamentalist evangelical fold shaped who I am; for the most part I am horrified by the impact. I did not resist a lick of it, being a natural people-pleaser (is that natural? Or is that also part of the programming?). I was a ten-year-old prodigy preacher, considered by elders of my church and leaders of my close-minded Christian school to be “Lady Wisdom”, a manifestation of God’s efforts to guide his flock. I was good at it! I believed it in every crevice of my heart and mind. I vividly remember sobbing in my room at home, listening to worship music and begging God to deconstruct my life, take my world to pieces, and make me His disciple. I was maybe eleven. That is the start of the story. I am 34 now and I am here to find out if anyone has experienced anything like what I am currently experiencing. My Dad became a pastor when I was a kid, and I dutifully leapt into his mania. His Father (I generall...

By Carl S ~ A ll our lives we've been told belief itself is a treasure worth hanging on to. By what stretch of the imagination? Just what does it mean, ”to believe?” To believe is to trust in some things and persons as being genuine, honest, truthful! Let's be honest. Trusting in any god means trusting in those who speak for that god, in their opinions! To believe also means to have firm convictions and opinions. It's funny though, that many people who believe their “personal” convictions and opinions originate from their own minds, are merely repeating those of others, without thinking. And their “personal relationship with God,” sounds like everyone else's. Absolute faith is absolute conviction. The faithful want no connection to evidence, preferring to be connected feels true. There seems to be an unspoken faith that spiritual feelings never lie. Religious belief prefers to worship opinions. These are hardly reasons to adore faith; they are reasons to fear it....

By Michael Runyan ~ C hristians luxuriate in the romantic idea that Jesus died on the cross as a way to vicariously accept the penalty for their sins, thus providing them access to heaven. What is commonly overlooked is that by accepting this theology one is by default acquiescing to the legitimacy of the ancient practice of killing innocent animals as a means to gain propitiation from the gods. The Cross blatantly continued a theme that no longer makes sense nor meets modern moral or ethical standards. In other words, to be a Christian and also be consistent, you have to agree that at one time God ordered or accepted the sacrifice of animals as the principal method for forgiving human sin. After all, Jesus was the ultimate ‘animal sacrifice’ that obviated the need to continue the practice going forward. It would seem far more likely that the idea of sacrificing animals to appease the gods originated in human rather than divine minds (and indeed this practice preceded biblical ti...

By Carl S ~ I f a country is “Under God,” the citizens of that country will never be truly free. Not as long as its citizens accept that slogan and “everyone trusts in that god. As long as “the will of God” justifies those who make the legal decisions imposed on its citizens, they are not free. And they are not free to the extent they continue to remain “God-ly.” A murderer's defense based on a claim of, “God told me to do it, and we can't disobey God, can we?” is no different from any other made in history to justify an immoral act. In any court of law. And, “God commanded me,” is unacceptable by law, since, without presence, “God” is not evidence but “hearsay.” “God” is the emperor’s new clothes. Since “supernatural beings” are accepted by a jury as fact, then they must deal with the defendant's claim to justifiable homicide, since “God” commanded the criminal action. The jury looks to the judge. On the wall behind the judge, in dominant letters for all to see, are ...

By Free Unicorn ~ I 've been rummaging through the internet trying to look for answers to my questions and I'm so glad my quest brought me to this platform. I'm currently going through my deconstruction. I didn't even know the meaning of deconstruction from Christianity until I saw a post by the famous Joshua Harris who is no longer Christian. Here's my background. I'm from Kenya, Africa. Around here, religion is literally the foundation of everything - we are a very religious group of people is what I'm trying to say. So, of course, I wouldn't know who to share this with because I know how it would be received. My story is probably all over the place here but please understand that this is the first time I'm trying to gather my thoughts and explain my process. I grew up in an incredibly religious home - born and bred in the Anglican church. We hosted missionaries and church people in our home and I even went on missions at a very young age. M...

By Colin ~ I live in England and since my late teens have been believing in Christ. I recently turned 61 now and I can see that I’ve been fooled. I am or have been angry with myself and with the preachers and the church. I grew up around the Jesus "One Way" movement , including  "Spree 73" with Billy Graham , Johnny Cash and Cliff Richard . I must say I am somewhat thankful that my whole heart and soul was not 100% into all this over all the intervening years, though for the last 18 years I have been a devoted believer. I lost my mum recently. She had a real shit couple of years before she passed away with numerous medical conditions. In and out of hospitals constantly, though I regularly prayed for her to get better. My bigger, much larger concern was for mum to be saved. After all, wasn’t this God's will? However, all the praying never changed a thing, not in healing or in becoming saved. Then after my mum's funeral I was attending the evening...

By Carl S ~ S uppose an original, unexpurgated, ancient scripture was discovered in the monastic library of EinsIedeln, Switzerland . Further on, let's say this fragment was authenticated by biblical and secular scholars as dating from 21 BCE. Let us follow then, the translation of this scripture: “And Peter said unto the apostles, ‘Hear the word of the Lord. On the night before he died, Jesus spoke to me in the Garden of Gethsemane. Others, who pretended to be asleep, also heard his words. Jesus said, ‘I was wrong and Epicurus was right. This is the only life we will ever have. My talk of eternal life and the coming end of this world have been mistakes. Therefore, I adjure you, obey these my last commands. This is the Good News. Live this one life fully, to do no harm to others, and to love one another as I have loved you. This is the fulfillment of the law and my mission.’” Any man who does not write his own words gives up control over what is attributed to him after he...

By Michael Vito Tosto (Ben Love) ~ P RO-LIFER: Abortion is wrong. PRO-CHOICER: Why? PL: Because it’s murder. PC: You get to kill someone if they’re in your house and you don’t want them there. But you shouldn’t be allowed to terminate an unwanted life-form in your own body? PL: People who break into your house took a risk knowing that death could be the result. A baby in your womb didn’t ask to be there. It shouldn’t be punished. PC: Maybe I didn’t ask the baby to be there, either. Maybe I was raped. PL: That’s unfortunate… but you’re still stuck with that child. PC: Since it’s something happening within a person’s own body, that person should have a say in what happens. I don’t have the right to tell someone else what they can and cannot do to their own body. PL: That’s like saying pedophiles should be let off the hook because you can’t decide for them that their actions are wrong. It’s the same thing. PC: No, no, a pedophile is performing an act upon another sen...