Posted on May 13th, 2011 by Staks
While this isn’t a new argument against the idea of Hell, it is still a pretty good one. How could any genuinely good person be happy for all eternity knowing that so many people will be tortured for all eternity in Hell? I know we deserve it since we just can’t seem to believe in […]
Filed under: faith, hell, morality, Religion | 2 Comments »
Posted on May 12th, 2011 by Staks
One tactic that I often run into when discussing religion with the religious is a variation of the old sports strategy called, “running the clock.” The idea is to load the atheist up with stuff and waste our time. Here are a few examples: The most common example is when religious believers simply make multiple […]
Filed under: context, conversation, debate, discussion, Religion | No Comments »
Posted on May 11th, 2011 by Staks
Religious believers always talk about how God grounds morality. The view is that religious people can be immoral and that non-religious people can be moral, but it is all based on God’s standard. That being the case, when a religious person does something immoral, they know it and they have to repent. But the problem […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, delusion, faith, morality, Religion | No Comments »
Posted on May 10th, 2011 by Staks
Recently, Sojourner’s Magazine refused to run an advertising campaign which welcomes gays. Sojourners Magazine is supposed to be the liberal good guy Christians, so a lot of people seem to be shocked by their position on this issue. Jim Wallis is the founder of Sojourner’s Magazine and their principle spokes person and decision maker. While […]
Filed under: church/state, culture war, Evils of Christianity, Gay Issues, Progressive Christians, Religion | 3 Comments »
Posted on May 5th, 2011 by Staks
Religious fundamentalists tend to be a politically conservative which is actually pretty funny considering that political conservatives whine about big government all the time and religious fundamentalist love to use big government to push their religion every chance they get. For the last 60 years, they have used the power of big government to declare […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, atheism, church/state, culture war, Current Events, People of Reason, prayer, Religion | 2 Comments »
Posted on May 3rd, 2011 by Staks
Christians often tell me that Jesus conquered death. They tell me that this is what makes him the real deal. But if this is the definitive “proof” that Jesus is the real deal, then where is he? If he really conquered death in the manner that Christians claim, then he should be walking around the […]
Filed under: death, miracles, Religion, Star wars | 5 Comments »
Posted on April 29th, 2011 by Staks
My friend Greg is former Harold Camping follower and still one of the most fundamentalist Christian I know. He is the type of person who doesn’t really listen to what you are saying and just regurgitates the standard arguments as if they are brand new. Yesterday, he e-mailed me a “challenge.” The catch of the […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, death, Religion | No Comments »
Posted on April 25th, 2011 by Staks
So I was on the Huffington Post’s religion page over the weekend and saw a ton of articles that just seemed silly to me. Here are a few examples: Who Killed Jesus? An Examination of the Evidence Pontius Pilate v. Jesus: Was It a Fair Trial? Re-Enacting The Trial Of Jesus The Mysteries Of The […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Biblical Scholarship, journalism, Religion | 8 Comments »
Posted on April 22nd, 2011 by Staks
First things first, Easter’s NOT a Christian holiday. I know Christians hate to hear this, but there is no reference to the Easter Bunny, chocolate eggs, colored eggs, egg hunts, etc. in the Bible. All this nonsense about Jesus coming back from the dead or whatever has nothing to do with Easter. Christians should call […]
Filed under: culture war, Easter, Religion | 9 Comments »
Posted on April 21st, 2011 by Staks
Today is April 21st, 2011. It is the day SkyNet goes online and everyone on earth is going to have a “very bad day.” The machines are going to start killing everyone and some kid named John Connor, is going to become the leader of the human resistance. Judgment Day is here! This is of […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, delusion, End of the World, prophecies, Religion, The Rapture | 2 Comments »
Posted on April 20th, 2011 by Staks
Currently 80% of America considers themselves to be Christian. Almost all the politicians are theists and religious believers hold a lot of influence in our society. Worldwide, religious belief is still very strong and the Pope still acts as king over a billion people. Life is short, so we really have to ask ourselves, why […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, Decline of Religion, Religion | 3 Comments »
Posted on April 19th, 2011 by Staks
A lot of fundamentalist religious believers are fond of telling me that life has no means to me when they don’t even know anything about me except for my lack of belief in their deity of choice. Aside from the arrogance of such a claim, it is also completely false. Theists should be careful with […]
Filed under: conversation, death, ignorance, Projection, Religion | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 18th, 2011 by Staks
I really love this time of year; I get to easily destroy two of the three Abrahamic religions without trying all that hard at all. First is Passover. Yesterday, I published an Examiner article which talks about the fact that the Jewish Exodus never happened. This is the widely accepted view of pretty much every […]
Filed under: Biblical Scholarship, Easter, jews, Personal, Religion | 2 Comments »
Posted on April 15th, 2011 by Staks
Many times when I am discussing religion with the religious, I talk about how the Bible does not support critical thinking and instead praises faith over reason. This to me is one of the biggest problems with religion. Every once in a while however a Christian will tell me that the Bible supports reason and […]
Filed under: atheism, Authority, conversation, discussion, logic, Religion | 2 Comments »
Posted on April 13th, 2011 by Staks
There seems to be a pattern to many of the conversations I have with religious believers. It doesn’t even matter if the believer is a fundamentalist or a mainstream believer; the conversation is usually the same in this regard. First, the religious believer will make some ridiculous claim based on their fictional book. Then I […]
Filed under: conversation, discussion, Religion | No Comments »
Posted on April 12th, 2011 by Staks
Generally speaking, I tend to get quite a few demands from fundamentalist religious believers to engage in some sort of debate. I imagine that some of the more famous atheists get hundreds a day. There simply is no time to debate every fundy wishing to make a name for themselves so obviously atheists need to […]
Filed under: atheism, debate, Religion | 2 Comments »
Posted on April 11th, 2011 by Staks
Over the weekend, I read a story about a cross made out of the steal girders from 911. You see, when all the dust cleared, two girders shaped as a cross was miraculously found in the wreckage. Now Christians are worshiping the miracle. The thing that bothers me is that some Christians are claiming that […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Current Events, delusion, miracles, Religion | 4 Comments »
Posted on April 4th, 2011 by Staks
Some of you may not know this, but I am a loving father. I have a two year-old son at home with me and like all loving parents I only want the best for my son. So over the weekend, I demanded that he kneel before me and worship me. I really want him to […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, Authority, Belief, blood sacrifice, delusion, Every Knee, Evils of Christianity, family values, free will, god, God Fearing, god the father, hell, Judge God, Love, morality, Parenting, Religion | 3 Comments »
Posted on March 29th, 2011 by Staks
Last night, I attended the Freethought Society’s monthly meeting. Our special guest was Jill McDevitt, who is a Sexologist and the owner of a “sex shop.” In other words, her store, Feminique Boutique sells lingerie, vibrators, and has sex positive lectures. I was working in West Chester, PA (where her store is located) when her […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, family values, Religion, sex | 3 Comments »
Posted on March 28th, 2011 by Staks
“Atheists have no moral grounding. There morals are grounded in egoism.” While logically these two statements are contradictory, that never seems to bother the ignorant religious believers that make statements to this affect. Why is it that religious believers seem to think that without a moral grounding egoism must be the moral philosophy? Let’s say […]
Filed under: humanism, morality, Religion, Religious Manipulation | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 25th, 2011 by Staks
So everyone is talking about this new study that religion is becoming extinct in nine countries. I wish I had the link to the actual study, but I don’t at the moment. Do wonder however, which of our modern religions will die first. We know that religion is trending down world-wide. It is also probable […]
Filed under: culture war, Decline of Religion, Religion | 2 Comments »
Posted on March 23rd, 2011 by Staks
Most Christians will attempt to argue their position using some semblance of reason, logic, and evidence. There are however a small but special few who will not even bother. These few, proud, believers will admit that all the evidence, logic, and reason in the world will not convince them of anything… god related of course. […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, conversation, Religion, Religious Manipulation | 5 Comments »
Posted on March 18th, 2011 by Staks
I once heard it said that being an atheist in a theist world is like being the only sober person at a party. I think this is pretty accurate sometimes. I also think that it seems like I’m one of the few sane people in a world gone mad. The way I see it, religion […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, culture war, delusion, Evils of Christianity, Religion | 5 Comments »
Posted on March 11th, 2011 by Staks
Once again we come to the conversation about how critical atheists should be when criticizing religion with the religious. It seems that some atheists think I should be more respectful of the religious and realize that they sometimes feel personally attacked when their beliefs are criticized. I realize this, but that doesn’t mean that I […]
Filed under: atheism, conversation, Criticism, Offensiveness, Religion | 6 Comments »
Posted on March 10th, 2011 by Staks
Last night I was pretty surprised to get an e-mail from the executives at Examiner.com. I write for Examiner as the Philly Atheist Examiner to help fund Dangerous Talk. Apparently, they received a complaint about one of my articles and determined that a statement I made might be libelous. The article was the one I […]
Filed under: Blasphemy, censorship, Offensiveness, Personal, Raelians, Religion, scientology | 3 Comments »
Posted on March 7th, 2011 by Staks
I occurred to me that when atheists message our billboard campaigns and other messaging, we always criticize things that religious people consider to be positive. For example, “Religion is a MYTH.” Many of our twitter messaging is the similar. We talk about how God is imaginary, the Bible is fiction, etc. There is nothing wrong […]
Filed under: atheism, billboards, culture war, hell, Hope, Media, Religion, twitter | 2 Comments »
Posted on March 3rd, 2011 by Staks
The other day, I got an e-mail from an anonymous Christians which was short and to the point. The two word e-mail said, “Jesus Rules.” I was not really in the mood for debate, so I thought I would have some fun with the guy instead. I was surprised that I actually changed the conversation […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, conversation, debate, discussion, Religion | 2 Comments »
Posted on March 2nd, 2011 by Staks
What do Christians hope to accomplish when they start an argument with an atheist? Do they think they are going to convince us with no evidence that some ridiculous ancient story is obviously true? They know that we know a lot about religion and we have probably heard all their arguments before they even come […]
Filed under: atheism, conversation, de-conversion, debate, discussion, ignorance, Religion | 9 Comments »
Posted on February 25th, 2011 by Staks
For the last few weeks, there have been some pretty big protests going on in the Middle East. Governments have fallen as a result. Twitter and Facebook were key weapons for the rebel groups. I think it is type that some kind of protest starts here in America. I think it is time we demand […]
Filed under: atheism, church/state, culture war, Election, facebook, People of Reason, Political Activism, Politics, Progressive Christians, Religion | 9 Comments »
Posted on February 23rd, 2011 by Staks
Religious believers often tell me that science can prove God exists. It is at this point that I start laughing in their face. But still they insist on continuing this line of evangelism. Next the theist will use the argument by design, the first cause argument, the fine tuning argument, and a handful of other […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, discussion, god of the gaps, Religion, Religious Manipulation, science | 12 Comments »