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 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 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 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 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 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 22nd, 2011 by Staks
Although my Twitter profile photo is always the Dangerous Talk “A,” my facebook profile photo is usually me. This week, atheists are asked to change our facebook photos to the uniform scarlet A, this year in grey, for the week. The reason for this is so that people on facebook and see that there are […]
Filed under: atheism, facebook, humanism, Neighbor, People of Reason | 2 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 17th, 2011 by Staks
I find that after I write an article of blog entry, Christians tend to be the first to misrepresent something I said and assume the worst. When I read a theist article (even one which I know I will comment on critically or write an entire response to), I tend to read carefully the parts […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, conversation, debate, discussion, language | 3 Comments »
Posted on March 16th, 2011 by Staks
Yesterday, a Christian on Twitter called me “ignorant” because he didn’t like the title of my article which he did not bother to read. I tried to explain to him that ignorance is of a particular nature that it can be cured through education. In his case, he could read the article he commented on […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, education, ignorance, language, Projection | 3 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 4th, 2011 by Staks
Right wing Christians love to talk about people should take personal responsibility for themselves. This usually is in reference to when minority is being persecuted. Whenever I heard this type of thing from them, I can’t help but laugh. Of all the people in the entire world the one group that is God bent on […]
Filed under: culture war, faith, humanism, Projection, responsibility | 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 March 1st, 2011 by Staks
The other day I was having a discussion with a Christian and I cited a scientific study. In return, the Christian cited an opinion poll. Then she said that since we both have resources that support our point of view, it must be a wash. It seems to me that many Christians don’t understand the […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, logic, science | 3 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 »
Posted on February 22nd, 2011 by Staks
Sometimes Christians really do amaze me with their ridiculous claims. But it is when they may ridiculous claims about other Christians that I have to laugh the most. There is an old expression, “Is the Pope Catholic?” The expression is meant to show that the answer to a question is obviously yes. But if you […]
Filed under: Catholics, Coexist, Religious Manipulation | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 21st, 2011 by Staks
Over the weekend, I had a little problem with a particular Christian. A few weeks ago, a Christian e-mailed me asking for a collaborative project where we each ask each other 5 questions on our Examiner pages and then we each answer them. The way it was pitched to me, we would refrain from personal […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, Coexist, conversation, debate, Personal, Religion | 4 Comments »
Posted on February 18th, 2011 by Staks
The other day I had a profound thought. I was coming out of the shower and thought to myself, “maybe Christianity is true.” Then I started laughing out loud. My profound thought was that I am moving beyond atheism. It isn’t just that I lack the belief in a god, now I lack the ability […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, Belief, delusion, god, Religion | 19 Comments »
Posted on February 17th, 2011 by Staks
I want to make it clear that God is a character in a series of books known as the Bible. He is a fictional character. With that in mind, Christians often fall back to the view that we can’t know the mind of God and that God works in mysterious ways. But this really isn’t […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, god, image of god, Religion, Vague Higher Power, wwjd | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 11th, 2011 by Staks
I often hear the argument from Christians that because I spend so much time thinking about and arguing against their imaginary deity, I must secretly believe. One Christian even told me yesterday, that I haven’t sufficiently convinced him that I was an atheist (as if I had to convince him I don’t believe). So it […]
Filed under: conversation, Religion, truth | 11 Comments »
Posted on February 9th, 2011 by Staks
Recent, a Christian informed me that he has evidence that God exists. Part of me expected him to take the Bill O’Reilly route of “the tides go in and the tides go out.” But he didn’t take that route. He didn’t even go with the Argument by Design or the First Cause argument. Instead, he […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Argument by Popularity, Authority, Projection, Religion | 5 Comments »
Posted on February 4th, 2011 by Staks
I was debating with a Potter-Head yesterday and he kept insisting that the reason I don’t believe that Harry Potter is real is because I am a muggle. He told me that he is hoping that someone in the Ministry of Magic reveals the Truth to me about the wizarding world someday. I pointed out […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, Biblical Scholarship, Harry Potter, Religion, truth | 13 Comments »
Posted on February 2nd, 2011 by Staks
I was watching a clip from a local news in Alabama which was covering the American Atheists convention. One of the Christians interviewed made the argument that all an atheist has to do is look around and see God’s miracles in the trees or something. I hear this a lot and even big bad Bill […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Argument by Design, culture war, god of the gaps, Religion, science | 8 Comments »
