I discuss religion with a lot of different believers and believe it or not, some of them should actually know better. In fact, I suspect that they kind’a do know better, but are afraid to express their doubts. While some are afraid that their doubt could lead to the eternal torture of their soul, others […]
Filed under: doubt | No Comments »
I was having a conversation with my wife the other day about how atheists tend to be less outspoken about our views than religious believers… even very outspoken atheists like me. We both agreed that atheists usually have an internal governor which helps us to determine when it is appropriate to talk about our lack […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, Coexist, culture war, morality, Preaching | No Comments »
There are two ways I can go with this blog. First, religious believers often tell me that they know that nothing they say will convert me to their religion of choice and that they know that I have already made up my mind. Second, it bothers me when people take something I said years ago […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Certainty, conversation, culture war, forgiveness, People of Reason | 2 Comments »
I get e-mails, messages, and comments from Christians all the time either telling me flat out or eluding to the belief that I will be tortured for all eternity in Hell. It is more than them just stating a belief however; they are also making the claim (either upfront or covertly) that I should be […]
Filed under: de-conversion, God Fearing, hell | 4 Comments »
Yesterday, I posted a status update on facebook and one of the comments that was left was from a friend of a friend. It was overly religious and basically said that someday I will be tortured for all eternity, but that as a Christian they wouldn’t say, ‘I told you so’ but instead say, ‘ha […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, Evils of Christianity, facebook, Personal Experience, torture | 5 Comments »
I don’t believe in original sin. As a result, I don’t treat people as if they are evil sinners right from the start. Instead, I am a Humanist and so I treat people as if they are trying to be the hero in their own story. I generally give people the benefit of the doubt […]
Filed under: Ad Hominem, anti-intellectualism, atheism, humanism, morality | 2 Comments »
If you ever go into a Christian bookstore or read a Christian newspaper (yes, they do exist), it is generally filled with testimonial stories about how great their God is. But don’t Christians already know how great their God is? If they didn’t, they probably wouldn’t be Christians, right? So what’s the point of these […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, culture war, Religion, Religious Manipulation | 4 Comments »
I was watching American Atheists president, Dave Silverman on Fox News yesterday and toward the end of the segment, his opponent made the remark that atheists believe in nothing. In fact, yesterday after I posted a comment on an article at Huffington Post, a Christian made the same remark. But yesterday wasn’t the first time […]
Filed under: Ad Hominem, Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, atheism, Atheism NOT Religion, culture war, ignorance, Nothing, Religion | 1 Comment »
I have often said that I don’t believe in a deity believe the idea is ridiculous and no sufficient evidence has been put forward to support such a ridiculous belief. I have told many Christians that if they wanted to convert me, all they had to do was to present some valid evidence for such […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, atheism, Authority, Belief, free will, Glory to God, god, hell, Religion | 3 Comments »
When we talk about atheism, we are talking about a lack of belief in a god or gods. But not all atheists are the same. Duh, right. Not all Christians are the same, so why would anyone expect all atheists to be the same. All the term “atheism” tells you about someone is that they […]
Filed under: atheism, Atheism NOT Religion, Certainty, culture war | No Comments »
Occasionally, I run into Christians who are very upset when atheists oppose their attempts to push their beliefs on everything from high school gymnasiums to dollar bills. They are so upset that they can’t give a shout-out to their deity on everything that they actually try to play the persecuted card. At some point in […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, atheism, Belief, Religion | 6 Comments »
I’m guilty of this too, but atheists show too much restraint and respect for other people’s beliefs even the ridiculous literal beliefs of fundamentalist believers. Over the weekend, I was at a party that a fellow atheist was hosting. Knowing that my friend has some very religious family members, I pulled him over and asked […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, atheism, conversation, delusion, discrimination, humanism, People of Reason, Religious Manipulation | 4 Comments »
Many times when I get into a conversation with a fundamentalist believer, they do more than strawman atheism; they tell me what I MUST believe because of my lack of belief in their deity. Well, that is very kind of them to tell me what I MUST think, but they are almost always wrong. Not […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, atheism, Belief, conversation, humanism, ignorance, logic, prophecies, ten commandments | 8 Comments »
Over the last few years, atheists have been putting up billboards, bus ads, and even aerial banners. Most of these have been pretty tame by any standard and if you compare them to the billboards of the religious, they are extremely tame. Yet, despite this obvious fact, we get criticism for “pushing our beliefs…” or […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, atheism, billboards, Coexist, culture war, free speech, Media, Preaching, Religion | 6 Comments »
One of the most popular things Christians ask me is, “What if you are wrong?” Aside from the obvious attempt at a Pascal’s Wager, this question tries to force the non-believer to consider the possibility that we might be tortured for all eternity simply because of our lack of belief. It’s true, if atheists are […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, Belief, Certainty, conversation, Religion | 6 Comments »
When I criticize religions like Christianity, I almost always criticize the system of belief rather than the believers in the system. There are reasons for this however many Christians don’t see this distinction. I view the belief system of Christianity as a living system, like a virus. They system adapts and changes in order to […]
Filed under: Belief, de-conversion, delusion, Religion, Religious Manipulation | 5 Comments »
When atheists and Christians discuss religion we often talk past each other. That being the case, I came up with an idea that might change that. I think we should try to meet Christians halfway… as long as they are willing to meet us halfway. Here is how it works. First, we offer to meet […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, conversation, de-conversion, delusion | No Comments »
Religious believers often accuse atheists of being angry, but if you ever read comment on any article dealing with atheism, it really seems like it is the theists who are the angry ones. Why is that? Last weekend, atheists rallied to protest our exclusion from the “Free Speech Zone” in West Chester, PA. The local […]
Filed under: culture war, Religion, truth | 5 Comments »
Last week, when I was at the Silverman/D’souza debate, Dinesh D’souza accused David Silverman of being dogmatic about his “belief” concerning death. Silverman asserted that there is no afterlife. He later walked back his assertion to say that we know that to the degree that we can know anything. But the thing that gets me […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, Belief, Certainty, death, Dinesh D'Souza, Religion, science, Soul | 2 Comments »
Sometimes I get into conversations with New Age religious believers. Interestingly enough, they often start the conversation with three interesting words. Christians sometimes use these same three words in conversations too, but they usually don’t start the conversation with them. Those three words are, “In my reality…” The problem is that I think these people […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, Belief, Coexist, New Age, Religious Manipulation | 1 Comment »
The other day I was discussing religion with a Christian and he commented that in order for me to be an atheist, I have to prove that life can come from chemicals. This is an attempt to switch the burden of proof while invoking the God of the Gaps argument. For starters, atheists don’t have […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, Atheism NOT Religion, god of the gaps, Religious Manipulation | 7 Comments »
This morning, I was at the hospital with my wife who was getting an ultrasound to make sure the fetus is developing normally. While there, there was a woman in the waiting room also getting ready for an ultrasound. She was telling me that she believes that she is having a boy do to some […]
Filed under: delusion, Personal | 2 Comments »
Yesterday, I saw a great video on YouTube by Dusty Smith. In the video he talks about the claim Christians often make that atheists believe in nothing. Then, last night I attended my local monthly atheist meetup group. If atheists believe in nothing, then a social group of atheist must have nothing to talk about. […]
Filed under: atheism, conversation, discussion, People of Reason | 1 Comment »
Over the weekend, I was having a conversation with a Christian over twitter. Nothing beats twitter for intellectual conversations in which you have to simplify your points down to 140 characters. The Christian in question told me that he considers himself to be a reasonably intelligent person. Toward the end of the conversation he asked […]
Filed under: conversation, culture war, Religious Manipulation, Self-Help | 7 Comments »
Every once in a while, when I criticize the ridiculous beliefs of religious believers, some atheist comes along to complain that I am not respecting these ridiculous beliefs and I am being intolerant. They blame me for the reason Christians hate atheists. Occasionally, I even get someone who self-righteously proclaims that everyone is entitled to […]
Filed under: atheism, conversation, humanism, People of Reason | 3 Comments »
The theme I have been hitting lately that many Christians don’t seem to get is that their belief is ridiculous superstitions is no different than Harold Camping’s belief in ridiculous superstition. Christians can’t distance themselves fast enough from Camping with good reason. He makes them look bad. I know that Christianity is a pretty broad […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, Argument by Popularity, culture war, End of the World, Projection, Religion, The Rapture | 8 Comments »
A lot of people are laughing at Harold Camping and his followers lately. In less than 48 hours Camping’s prediction will be proven wrong, but what I find interesting is Camping’s most fervent detractors are not atheists, but Christians. As an atheist, I have no problem laughing at Camping and his ridiculous beliefs, but Christians […]
Filed under: context, delusion, End of Days, End of the World, prophecies, Religious Manipulation, The Rapture | 4 Comments »
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 »
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 »
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 »
