Posted on June 29th, 2009 by Staks
Recently, my more religious sister criticized me for speaking out against theistic belief. Instead of discussing my criticisms of theistic belief, she simply stated that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I have actually heard this claim made by a lot of people and not all of them were theists. A few silent atheists […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, free speech, Religion, scientology | 17 Comments »
Posted on June 26th, 2009 by Staks
Father’s Day was recently and so I thought about the alleged “Holy Father” himself, God. Aside from other roles for their deity of choice, Christians also claim that their imaginary god holds the role of father. It seems that society has changed the way we view the responsibilities of a father. It wasn’t long ago […]
Filed under: god the father, Religion | 13 Comments »
Posted on June 19th, 2009 by Staks
Guest Blog from The A-Team: Also check out The A-Team at the Examiner: One thing that always bugged me about Christians is their stance on death. Christians hold the viewpoint that death is a positive thing so long as you’re on Jesus’ saved list, since now you’re with God in paradise. But if this is […]
Filed under: death, Religion | 9 Comments »
Posted on June 16th, 2009 by Staks
In my conversations with Christians, many times they will tell me about how I must obey their deity of choice. When I ask why I must obey, they often tell me that God created me. For the sake of argument, let us say that were true even though there is no valid evidence suggesting that […]
Filed under: Religion | 7 Comments »
Posted on June 12th, 2009 by Staks
Earlier this week, James von Brunn went into the National Holocaust Museum and shot and killed Security Officer Steven T. Johns. This was news all over the country and if you want to find out more details on this story, just step outside cave you must be living in. The point of today’s blog isn’t […]
Filed under: Current Events, Religion | 36 Comments »
Posted on June 11th, 2009 by Staks
While I have talked about this topic before in my column turned blog post titled “Will the Real Christians Please Stand Up,” It seems that I have to go into a little bit more detail here. Every Christian (I can’t think of one exception) that I talk to seems to claim to have the monopoly […]
Filed under: Real Christians, Religion | 12 Comments »
Posted on June 10th, 2009 by Staks
One particular aspect of Religious Right Christianity which sometimes trickles into the mainstream of Christianity is the idea that all sins (or wrongs) are equal. I remember when I was younger, a Christian explained it to me with the following analogy: God is pure and can’t tolerate anything other than purity. Sin is like an […]
Filed under: Religion, sin | 45 Comments »
Posted on June 9th, 2009 by Staks
If you were to take a poll of Christians from 1700 years ago, I bet that about 95-98 percent of those polled probably couldn’t have a problem with slavery. If that same poll were taken 1000 years ago, the results probably wouldn’t change all that much. 200 years ago, that number would probably be closer […]
Filed under: Gay Issues, Religion | 20 Comments »
Posted on June 8th, 2009 by Staks
In modern society, the idea of the right to privacy is something that most Americans value. Liberals fight to keep government laws out of the bedroom and right wing groups are strongly support the idea of government non-interference. Whether someone is right or left, privacy seems to be a value that we all hold. So […]
Filed under: Religion, sex | 31 Comments »
Posted on June 5th, 2009 by Staks
In the winter of 2002, I met with my Republican Congressman to discuss several issues that concerned me and my listeners at WCUR. My Congressman at the time was a member of the Armed Forces Committee and bragged about his foreign policy knowledge. I asked him if America should be involved in trying to create […]
Filed under: Current Events, Politics, Religion | 8 Comments »
Posted on June 4th, 2009 by Staks
“And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” – Genesis 11:4 I was recently reminded of the story of the Tower of Babel and […]
Filed under: Religion, the bible | 17 Comments »
Posted on June 3rd, 2009 by Staks
While most Christians believe that he Bible was divinely written by God, some Christians that I talk to, reject the idea that the Creator of the Universe actually sat down and wrote a book. It seems that I am not the only one who thinks this is utterly ridiculous. If the Creator of the Universe […]
Filed under: Religion, the bible | 28 Comments »
Posted on June 2nd, 2009 by Staks
Many people today seem to be concerned about discrimination based on religion. Some how religion has become a protected class and I have to wonder why that is. Personally, I don’t support discrimination based on religion because that makes it seem like someone is being discriminated against based on some natural quality of that person. […]
Filed under: Religion | 20 Comments »
Posted on June 1st, 2009 by Staks
Without getting into the abortion debate, I want to talk about the terrorist attack on American soil that happened yesterday in Wichita, Kansas. Dr. George Tiller was shot and killed inside a church of all places. Tiller is an abortion doctor who runs a clinic which performs the controversial late-term abortion. I do find it […]
Filed under: Current Events, Religion | 46 Comments »
Posted on May 29th, 2009 by Staks
Christians are always telling me that I need to worship their deity of choice. When I ask why, they warn me of eternal punishment and damnation in the fires of Hell. Sometimes, they will entice me into worshipping their deity with promises of eternal bliss in Heaven. But all threats and bribes aside, they still […]
Filed under: Religion | 8 Comments »
Posted on May 27th, 2009 by Staks
President Barack Obama has announced his nomination for the Supreme Court. Judge Sonia Sotomayor is a mixed bag. She is a well known political moderate and as the first Latina nominee, she puts the Republican is a tough place since they would like to gain support within the Latin American community. She has been described […]
Filed under: Politics, Religion | 27 Comments »
Posted on May 26th, 2009 by Staks
While yesterday was Memorial Day, it was also Star Wars Day. It was May 25th 1977 that Star Wars first premiered on the Big Screen and the world took its first steps into a much larger world. I take my Star Wars very seriously. I have often said that while I am an agnostic atheist, […]
Filed under: Religion | 4 Comments »
Posted on May 20th, 2009 by Staks
Often times when I am discussing religion with a fundamentalist Christian, they will change the subject on me and say things like, “well, you believe that the Universe came from nothing,” or “well, you believe that people came from monkeys.” I wish I was making that up, but it is true that fundamentalist Christians have […]
Filed under: Religion | 21 Comments »
Posted on May 19th, 2009 by Staks
Yesterday, I took my 3-month-old son Orion to the doctor. While we were there, the doctor asked us the standard questions about his medical history and then she asked if there were any religious beliefs, which would prevent him from taking certain medicines or treatments. My wife just laughed. Personally, I can’t imagine anyone letting […]
Filed under: Religion | 40 Comments »
Posted on May 18th, 2009 by Staks
Over the weekend, I was on the ReasonProject.org website and someone suggested that a good public relations move might be to put a more person face on atheism. Even though more and more people are starting to come out of the closet and let those around them know that they question the existence of God […]
Filed under: Religion | 10 Comments »
Posted on May 15th, 2009 by Staks
Why is it that the Christian God is supposed to be all-powerful and yet it took him a full 6 days to create the world? Shouldn’t he have been able to do it with a snap of his metaphysical fingers? A real god should be able to think it and it happens. And while we […]
Filed under: god, god the father, Religion | 14 Comments »
Posted on May 14th, 2009 by Staks
For a long time now, the Democratic Party Leadership has held the dogmatic view that they believe that “marriage should be between a man and a woman.” During the 2008 Presidential campaign every Democratic candidate echoed those words with the exception of the two long shot candidates Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel. While most people […]
Filed under: Gay Issues, Politics, Religion, sex | 28 Comments »
Posted on May 13th, 2009 by Staks
For some reason, this argument has cropped up again in a conversation that I recently had with a Christian. Let me paraphrase the argument: The definition of God is a being in which no greater being can be conceived. It is greater to actually exist than it is to not actually exist. Therefore, God must […]
Filed under: Ontological Argument, Religion | 4 Comments »
Posted on May 12th, 2009 by Staks
The popular Christian argument is that in order for atheists to reject the claim that a god exists, we must first know everything. What they are claiming is that atheists must know the entire set of facts about the universe before we can look and that set and see that their God is not included […]
Filed under: faith, Religion | 14 Comments »
Posted on May 11th, 2009 by Staks
Not to long ago, I had a pretty lengthy conversation with a Christian that I had met. The conversation was going pretty well and we were both enjoying the discussion. I had thought that I had finally gotten him to understand that he really shouldn’t be trying to convert everyone he meets. It is intolerant […]
Filed under: prayer, Religion | 25 Comments »
Posted on May 8th, 2009 by Staks
Since that lecture and that June 6th blog, I have posted a number of blogs talking about new polls, surveys, and studies, which show religion on the decline and atheism on the raise.
Filed under: Decline of Religion, Religion | 12 Comments »
Posted on May 7th, 2009 by Staks
While much of this country is focused on conversations with their imaginary friend, the secular would have decided to celebrate today as the National Day of Reason. It is a day for people of reason everywhere to step up and celebrate and to raise awareness of the attacks upon reason, freethought, and the wall of […]
Filed under: Religion | 10 Comments »
Posted on May 6th, 2009 by Staks
For some reason, Christians often claim that atheism is a religion just like Christianity. I see this as their attempt to bring people of reason into the mud with them. Clearly religion is starting to get a bad reputation and being reasonable, skeptical, and doubtful or ridiculous claims are all traits, which are starting to […]
Filed under: Atheism NOT Religion, Religion, Uncategorized | 8 Comments »
Posted on May 5th, 2009 by Staks
This story is really two stories in one and both seem equally shocking to me. The first is that the United States Military seems to be doing religious proselytizing in Afghanistan.
Filed under: Preaching, Religion, Uncategorized | 10 Comments »
Posted on May 4th, 2009 by Staks
I have always been fascinated by prophecies. I read a lot of Nostradamus, Eager Casey, and of course the Bible. I even think I might have had a prophetic dream myself once (I’ll let you know in about 10 to 15 years if it comes to pass). I have gone to psychics and had my […]
Filed under: prophecies, Religion | 11 Comments »
