The Bible is unquestionably one of the most written and talked about -- if not the most written and talked about -- book in the world. It may also be one of the most lied about. I know that's harsh. But bear with me. It is the only charge that can conscionably be leveled by a person who believes in science and reason as the paths to truth. There are basically two ways of learning the truth: reason and faith. They have been in conflict for millennia. Almost everything about our daily lives requires the processing of information and, oftentimes, we must act upon that information. So the questions of what we believe and how we believe, even if we don't think about them, are very important. Some people subscribe to science. Some to faith. Some try hard to reconcile the two. Others, as we’ll see, don’t even bother. Most of us in the industrialized Western world in 2006 live by science and reason. "Science" is more than computers and labs and people in white co...

Deliver Us From Evil (2006) is the story of Father Oliver O'Grady, the most notorious pedophile in the history of the modern Catholic Church.

George Carlin -- "Religion" and "There Is No God" (1999) When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle mone...

Christians believe they have the truth. Muslims believe they have the truth. Each will tell the other that hell is their destiny, that eternal torture awaits those who refuse th embrace to truth. God is a righteous judge, they both say, and will recompense the unbelievers. To a Christian, this service will look and sound whacked. But compared to a television broadcast in a charismatic mega-church....

By Adam Woodworth I recently saw a news story on my Yahoo home page that was titled, “Rev. Falwell decries stem cell research.” In it, Falwell cited his belief that life begins at conception and said he opposes stem cell research even though it shows great medical promise. He said that “any medical research must pass a three-part test: “Is it ethically correct? Is it biblically correct? Is it morally correct?” In case you missed it, Rev. Falwell says we must ask if the medical research in question is biblically correct. Herein lies the problem. Reverend Falwell makes an assumption that scientific research has to use the Bible as one “test” to see if they can move forward with the research. Reverend Falwell fails to accept that we are a nation of diversity when it comes to our religious beliefs. He continues to believe the myth that we are a “Christian” nation ruled by the laws of his God. And, perhaps we used to be. Times have changed, Reverend. For you to even suggest that the...

Controversy surrounds a man who claims to be the man Christ Jesus here on Earth. He explains what he preaches and why he is the second coming of the Lord.

Huw Edwards interviews Richard Dawkins on BBC News 24. Aired on October 9, 2006. The interview is approximately 11 minutes long.

By Alan M. Perlman, PhD. There are dozens of reasons why people engage in prayer and religious ritual, but one of them cannot be that it does them or anyone else any good in the real world. I don't doubt that prayer works, but not in the ways that the pray-ers think it does. Chanting, toning, meditation -- all of these put people in a relaxed state in which it becomes easier for them to find a solution to their problems. There may be physical benefits as well. But again, no matter how much you beg God, no matter how assiduously you obey his multitudinous commands, it won't have any effect on the way things turn out. If you don't believe me, try one of these two experiments -- and I put this challenge to every religious believer in the world: Pick an interval -- any interval of respectable length. A month, six months, a year. And during that interval, simply go cold turkey on all prayer and religious ritual. Just say no. I am aware that implementing this suggestion could ups...

From the Cincinatti Post If you believe in God, knowing that Union attorney Edwin Kagin opposes something might make you support it. Kagin is the national director for American Atheists Inc., the organization founded by famous atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair. Kagin founded and directs Camp Quest, a summer camp in Hamilton for the children of nonbelievers. He writes books like "Baubles of Blasphemy," a collection of essays and poems ridiculing religion. Some of them are quite funny, like the poem written to God, "Dear Intelligent Designer." Here's a sample: "Why do we jettison out our waste so near the port of birth? "Why should any of (our) organs quit? Were we designed just for Thy mirth? "Why does Intelligent Design make so many people fat? "Why have we not the grace or ease designed into the cat?" In other words, if faith in Jesus amounts to fire insurance, Kagin's policy expired a long time ago. But he's a smart, well-infor...

"No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God." - George W. Bush A recent survey conducted by the University of Minnesota shows that atheists are the least trusted group in today's society. The survey was conducted by phone - which helps to eliminate the pressure for specific answers unlike face-to-face surveys - to 2,000 households. Atheists were rated below Muslims, homosexuals, recent immigrants and other groups as "sharing their vision of American society." It seems that there is an understandable, although ignorant, fear of atheists that has caused a great prejudice to arise in American families. Could it be that we associate religion with being a good citizen? It's a well-known fact that we, as humans, fear the unknown, but to lower atheists below groups that we may have reasons to fear (not that any prejudices are justified) is a disgusting reality. With on...

The birds and the bees may be gay, according to the world's first museum exhibition about homosexuality among animals. With documentation of gay or lesbian behaviour among giraffes, penguins, parrots, beetles, whales and dozens of other creatures, the Oslo Natural History Museum concludes human homosexuality cannot be viewed as "unnatural". "We may have opinions on a lot of things, but one thing is clear -- homosexuality is found throughout the animal kingdom, it is not against nature," an exhibit statement said. Geir Soeli, the project leader of the exhibition entitled "Against Nature", told Reuters: "Homosexuality has been observed for more than 1,500 animal species, and is well documented for 500 of them." The museum said the exhibition, opening on Thursday despite condemnation from some Christians, was the first in the world on the subject. Soeli said a Dutch zoo had once organised tours to view homosexual couples among the animals. ...

I am issuing a debate challenge to any believer who wants to debate me on the problem of evil. I want a worthy opponent who is knowledgeable and also cordial. Tell any theist you know of this challenge. Then I will choose the one most promising for this debate. See here .

Fred Phelps and his crew at the Westboro Baptist Church are strictly anti-gay. Watch how one of their men react when Australian 'reporter' Charles Firth flirts with him.

Ali G has a deep conversation with a priest a jew an and an atheist. Watch the priest... hilarious.

By Queer Texan There are plenty of horrific stories about growing up Pentecostal, but here's something I remember that wasn't so bad (I hope you'll pardon me as I go help myself to another plate of KFC). ---------------- I shouldn’t worry so much about my weight; it’s genetic. No, I’m not going to blame “glands” or “big bones." No, it’s genetic because of my breeding. I was a spiritually-engineered Pentecostal. Okay, before you click that back button – no, I’m not about to start a typical Queer Texan rant about how my religious upbringing ruined me for life. It did … but that’s another story! (Deep breathing . . . focus, focus . . .) Seriously, though – my presence on this planet is nothing less than the good intentions of a country-preacher in the Big Easy who hatched a plot to unite my unwitting parents in Holy Matrimony. They didn’t know each other prior, they both just had the good fortune (or misfortune – depending on who you ask) of sitting in this man’s pews in...

By Alan M. Perlman, PhD Don't look now, but your neighbor, uncle, cousin, coworker -- or even the person next to you in church or synagogue -- might be a (gasp!) secular humanist. A secular humanist is almost the same thing as an atheist. If there's a difference, I suppose it's that the atheist focuses on the absence of God, whereas secular humanists, if they don't deny the existence of God, simply consider him irrelevant --and get on with the business of improving the world. To quote Dr. Melvin Shaw, writing in the September 2006 issue of The Jewish Humanist, “A humanist is one who adheres to the principle that all human beings are created equal and should enjoy equal opportunity, and that we are capable of solving our own problems by ourselves with a little help from our friends. We do not ask for divine guidance and do not pray to a nonexistent deity.” That seems pretty innocuous, doesn't it? Yet today it’s not too much of a stretch to call atheism “the new homos...

This post is excerpted from The Dark Side: How Evangelical Teachings Corrupt Love and Truth, by Valerie Tarico, www.lulu.com/tarico If devotion to truth is the hallmark of morality, then there is no greater, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking. —Ayn Rand IN JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY, TRUTH IS ONE OF THE CORE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6), and seeking truth is one of the core attributes of a godly person. Sometimes when truth is mentioned in scripture, the writer is talking specifically about spiritual issues. But an overall reading of the Bible makes it clear that honesty and truth-seeking belong to God and the righteous, while obscuring truth is evil, even Satanic. The writer of Isaiah speaks of swearing by the God of truth (Isa. 65:16). In the book of John, Jesus promises that God’s spirit of truth will dwell in his followers. “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you i...

I don't know which is more sad, a little girl's funeral or the Phelps family and their church .