One of the things, which really helped the gay community in gaining more mainstream acceptance is the portrayal of gay characters on television. Shows like Will & Grace were able to introduce many who have never met a gay person to that community and to show that gay people are just like everyone else. Today, […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, Decline of Religion, Religion | 5 Comments »
Recently, a Christian commented to me that the fundamentalist worldview makes more sense than the atheist worldview. The idea is that either people see the world with a fundamentalist worldview or they see it with the alternative atheist worldview. The interesting thing about this is that there is no atheist worldview. I think this stems […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, Atheism NOT Religion, culture war, Religion, science | 4 Comments »
I want to once again stress that I am not trying to defend Scientology, but I do think that Scientology performs a valuable service to our society for the moment. Right now, it serves as a comparison to show the dangers of Christianity. In a previous blog, I talked about why I think that Christianity […]
Filed under: culture war, Evils of Christianity, Most Dangerous Religion, Religion, Religious Manipulation, scientology | 11 Comments »
I have noticed that often times when I am discussing and/or debating Christians they assume the worst about me and my arguments. This I think is a symptom of their belief that humans are all evil sinners. It is hard to have a friendly conversation with someone who won’t give you the benefit of the […]
Filed under: conversation, discussion, Evils of Christianity, morality, Religion, responsibility, sin | 6 Comments »
Ever since I was in college I have had evangelical Christians coming to my door to “witness” to me. Many of these evangelicals like to tell me about how they became “saved,” “Born again,” or whatever other cult-term they come up with. I like when they tell me about their story. It is a perfect […]
Filed under: conversation, de-conversion, delusion, discussion, missionaries, Preaching, Religion, Religious Manipulation | 2 Comments »
If I had a dime for every time a Christian told me that, “You Just Don’t Understand the Bible,” I would be a rich man. Maybe they are right and I really don’t understand the Bible. That is certainly a strong possibility. I have read the Bible cover-to-cover and I have spent some time reading […]
Filed under: Biblical Scholarship, ignorance, Real Christians, Religion, the bible | 23 Comments »
There is an issue that generally comes up with creationists in particular. For some reason, some creations believe that if they attack Charles Darwin, they are attacking the scientific theory of evolution. What they don’t understand is that while Darwin wrote the book The Origin of Species, he isn’t the authoritative source of evolution. When […]
Filed under: Authority, Biblical Scholarship, evolution, ray comfort, Religion | 1 Comment »
Back in the day, there was a popular religious phrase that people used. People didn’t ask whether someone believed in God but rather asked if you were a “God fearing” individual. In the age of public relations and individual empowerment, theists no longer use this phrase. Today, people don’t like to be afraid. When most […]
Filed under: God Fearing, Religion | 11 Comments »
It is kind of funny sometimes when religious fundamentalists claim that America is an atheist nation. Sometimes they even say that in the same breath as when they tell me that America is a Christian nation. Of course I have to inquire. Sometimes religious people don’t understand the difference between atheism and secularism and as […]
Filed under: atheism, church/state, culture war, education, Religion | 4 Comments »
Many well reasoned atheists disagree on issues of taxation, foreign policy, states rights, etc. So I can understand why not all atheists are politically active and that all the atheists that are politically active may not all be Democrats. But what I can’t understand is how any well reasoned atheist could possibly be a Republican. […]
Filed under: atheism, church/state, culture war, evolution, free speech, Gay Issues, global climate change, palin, People of Reason, Politics, Religion, science | 22 Comments »
Christians often ask me for evidence for god’s nonexistence. Right from the start, that is a ridiculous demand. But as it turns out there is actually really strong philosophical evidence for god’s nonexistence. Christians created a God that is too perfect to exist. The Christian theologian Anselm once defined God as a being in which […]
Filed under: blood sacrifice, delusion, Disproving God, free will, god, logic, Ontological Argument, Religion, sin, Vague Higher Power | 20 Comments »
There is a difference between knowing and believing. Fundamentalist Christians often think that if they believe something is true, that makes it true. They might even claim that it is “true for them.” More often than not, they will even say that their view of their religion is Truth. I want to point out that […]
Filed under: delusion, Religion, truth | 2 Comments »
Often times when I get into a conversation with a fundamentalist Christian, they tend to get offended by the mere possibility that they don’t know everything. I think people of reason and fundamentalists have a very different view of knowledge and a much different view of what it means to lack knowledge. As a person […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, education, god of the gaps, ignorance, Religion | 5 Comments »
Whenever I talk about all the immoral and horrible things that Christianity is responsible for in the world, some Christian will always respond by reminding me that Martin Luther King Jr. was a Christian. Guess what? The Christian is correct Martin Luther King Jr. was indeed a Christian. So what? Hitler was a Christian too. […]
Filed under: Evils of Christianity, Martin Luther King Jr., Religion | 7 Comments »
I often get into prolonged conversations with fundamentalists. Usually after a little while our conversation changes from antagonism to a genuine exchange of ideas. The fundamentalist then starts to see where I am coming from and begins to reason on his or her own through the theological bullshit that has been drilled into their head. […]
Filed under: conversation, discussion, Every Knee, free will, god, Religion | 3 Comments »
Yesterday Haiti was hit with a massive earthquake. It didn’t take long after the earthquake hit the news for televangelist Pat Robertson to say something stupid and insensitive in order to make money. The thing that gets me is that people seem surprised by this. What did you expect from Pat Robertson? After the 911 […]
Filed under: culture war, Current Events, pat robertson, Religion, satan, science | 8 Comments »
For many mainstream Christians (usually not the fundamentalists), religion isn’t about divine truth. In fact, to these particular Christians, their religion isn’t even about the Bible. Instead, religion basically boils down to one simple question, what would Jesus do? When I say this however, I don’t mean that these mainstream Christians think that their religion […]
Filed under: Mainstream Christians, Religion, Vague Higher Power, wwjd | 6 Comments »
My father used to tell me this old Jewish joke about a Jew praying at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. There was this Jew who came to the Wailing Wall every day for ten years to pray. One day, someone asked him if any of his prayers were every answered. He responded by saying, “No, […]
Filed under: conversation, discussion, evolution, Religion | 8 Comments »
One of the big issues that I often have with fundamentalist religious people is that more often than not they will make wild accusations about atheists and sometimes these accusations even come in the form of a question. These questions often have implied answers which are not true and are just mean spirited toward atheists. […]
Filed under: atheism, conversation, Hope, Religion | 9 Comments »
While the holiday season is fresh in my mind, I wanted to talk about yet another aspect of Christian hypocrisy. During the holiday season, fundamentalist Christians often yell at the top of their lungs that if atheists are offended by Christmas crap, that’s too bad. O’Reilly friends have are happy to inform us that the […]
Filed under: Blasphemy, censorship, Christmas, culture war, free speech, Political Activism, Religion | 21 Comments »
A number of years ago, when I was doing the Dangerous Talk radio show on WCUR 91.7 FM in West Chester, I had a fundamentalist Christian preacher on. This particular preacher would travel to different Universities and tell everyone that they were going to Hell… even the other fundamentalists Christians. In any case, I invited […]
Filed under: blood sacrifice, morality, Religion, the bible | 10 Comments »
Yesterday, two of my favorite authors verbally attacked each other on the interweb pages of foreignpolicy.com. Sam Harris and Karen Armstrong have both written outstanding books. As an atheist, I frequently recommend Armstrong’s The History of God and The Bible: A Biography to Christians. I also recommend Harris’s Letter to a Christian Nation. Armstrong asserts […]
Filed under: atheism, education, People of Reason, Religion, Vague Higher Power | 5 Comments »
Over the break, I got a lot of e-mails asking me about my de-conversion story. To be honest, my story isn’t that interesting. I was never a fundamentalist nor did I have a lot of family pressure to stay religious. But it’s a new year, so I guess I’ll tell the story. First, it is […]
Filed under: atheism, conversation, de-conversion, Religion, Religious Manipulation | 6 Comments »
Whenever someone is in a difficult time in life or is dealing with difficult circumstances, religious people are quick to push their religious beliefs. They often say something like, “God only gives us what we can handle.” While I understand that the believer has the best of intentions and I understand that the message they […]
Filed under: discussion, god, People of Reason, Religion, responsibility, Self-Help | 2 Comments »
One of the things that Christian fundamentalists always tell me is that I should worship their God because he is all powerful. I talked about this in previous blogs about the praise-worthiness of the Christian God, but I think it is an important issue in and of itself. If God were evil, would Christians still […]
Filed under: god, morality, Religion | 13 Comments »
I am sure by now everyone is aware of the death of evangelical televangelist Oral Roberts. The man was a legend. He was considered by many to be the father of televangelism and the inspiration for Jerry Falwell and James Dobson. Last night I wrote my very polite and politically correct perspective on his death […]
Filed under: Current Events, Oral Roberts, Preaching, Religion, sex | No Comments »
I know that Christianity is supposedly a monotheistic religion and everything, but after talking to various Christians throughout my life, it seems like various Christians are talking about two gods rather then one. The Bible talks very specifically about God and who this character is. God is wrath and vengeance. God is an angry and […]
Filed under: god, Religion, Vague Higher Power | 15 Comments »
Many times when I am engaged in a conversation with a fundamentalist Christian, he or she will ask me to read one of their apologists. They convince themselves that if only I read this other book, the Bible will make perfect sense. If only I read this other book all the immoral, unscientific, false history, […]
Filed under: conversation, de-conversion, discussion, morality, Religion | 7 Comments »
Fundamental Christians often tell me that whether I believe in God or not, I will have to respect his authority. Of course, I inform them that even if their God does exist (and I am reasonably certain he doesn’t), I still see the God as portrayed in the Bible as immoral and would not follow […]
Filed under: Authority, Judge God, morality, Religion, sin | 9 Comments »
If I had a penny for every time a Christian has told me that I would one day stand before God and have to account for my sins, I would be a rich person. Even after I inform the Christian that I don’t believe in God, the question is still asked as a “what if.” […]
Filed under: god, Judge God, morality, Religion, sin | 3 Comments »
