By Alan M. Perlman, Ph.D. I have always thought of Christmas as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their hearts freely. And therefore, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it! Those are the words of Charles Dickens, and I have completely come around to his point of view. I’ve always been a secular Jewish humanist – an atheist who believes that human problems can be solved by human beings, with no reference to any divine authority. But in Judaism, as in other cases throughout the world, ethnicity and religion tend to overlap. Just as many Arabs are Muslims (though some are secular), many Jews believe in God and in the truth of the Bible (i.e., the 19 books that comprise the Hebrew Bible or, as Christians and others ...

A church banner from US-1 outside of Princeton, NJ Sent in by a friend of ExChristian.Net This church banner asks the question "What if it's true?" The apparent intent is to solicit church attendance from those who aren't sure whether or not they believe in the Christian mythology, just in case Christianity is actually true. A recent Harris poll (Oct '06) found that of the 73% of Americans who believe in God, 16% aren't convinced there is a God. Does it make sense to go through the motions of practicing a religion, simply because you aren't sure if it's true or not? Do Christians believe that simply practicing the rituals will keep them out of hell? Wouldn't their all-knowing God realize they were just pretending to believe? What do you think?

Richard Dawkins at Randolf-Macon Woman's College reading from his book, " The God Delusion ." Part I, (37 minutes) : Part II, (70 minutes) :

"There is no such thing as a Christian child, there is only a child of Christian parents. Whenever you hear the phrase Christian child or Muslim child or Protestant child or Catholic child, the phrase should grate like fingernails on a blackboard."

Colin McGinn (born 1950) is a British philosopher currently working at the University of Miami. McGinn has also held major teaching positions at Oxford University and Rutgers University. McGinn is best known for his work in the philosophy of mind, though he has written on topics across the breadth of modern philosophy. Chief among his works intended for general audience is the intellectual memoir The Making of a Philosopher: My Journey Through Twentieth-Century Philosophy (2002). McGinn's "Atheism Tapes" were available for a time on Google Video, but were removed. Now the interviews are available again on You Tube, so for as long as they last, enjoy: Jonathan Miller interviews American atheist philosopher Daniel Dennett. Atheist Tapes - Daniel Dennett 1 Atheist Tapes - Daniel Dennett 2 Atheist Tapes - Daniel Dennett 3 Jonathan Miller interviews biologist Richard Dawkins. Atheist Tapes - Richard Dawkins 1 Atheist Tapes - Richard Dawkins 2 Atheist Tapes - Richard Dawkins 3 ...

By Slavoj Zizek For centuries, we have been told that without religion we are no more than egotistic animals fighting for our share, our only morality that of a pack of wolves; only religion, it is said, can elevate us to a higher spiritual level. Today, when religion is emerging as the wellspring of murderous violence around the world, assurances that Christian or Muslim or Hindu fundamentalists are only abusing and perverting the noble spiritual messages of their creeds ring increasingly hollow. What about restoring the dignity of atheism, one of Europe's greatest legacies and perhaps our only chance for peace? More than a century ago, in "The Brothers Karamazov" and other works, Dostoyevsky warned against the dangers of godless moral nihilism, arguing in essence that if God doesn't exist, then everything is permitted. The French philosopher André Glucksmann even applied Dostoyevsky's critique of godless nihilism to 9/11, as the title of his book, "Dostoyev...

Description for this video by the author: Atheists are often asked, "If you don't believe in God, why do you care about religion?" This is one atheist's answer to that very question. Note... I was recently informed that the quote attributed to former President George Bush, Sr. is in question. He allegedly made the comment when he was Vice-President and campaigning for the Presidency. The statement was heard by one journalist without other verification. I have been informed that the details given by the journalist may have changed over time. I am dedicated to the truth and would not wish to pass on falsehoods. Along these same lines, I was recently informed by someone that Maryland's statue was changed a long time ago. Atheists are no longer forbidden to hold public office there. However, a different individual told me that the statute is still in effect and that there are other passages in Maryland's laws that adversely affect atheists. Until I have concrete i...

By John W. Loftus What David Wood of http://answeringinfidels.com has called the Loftus-Wood Debate on God and suffering, is now on DVD! The production company did an excellect job. Both David Wood and I have written commentaries on the debate which will be posted before too long at David's website . David informs me he sent a copy to Reginald Finley and it will be aired there as soon as his schedule is open. Look for it.

Excerpted from The Evangelical Phenomenon: What is it? How should the rest of us respond? - a panel discussion at Town Hall Seattle on November 16, 2006. These remarks were addressed to an audience of modernist Christians, non-theists, and Jews. Sometime around 1986, after leading children to Jesus as a counselor at Child Evangelism Camp, after dialing to win souls during the "I Found It" Campaign, after attending the Wheaton College of Billy Graham fame, and after struggling for years to deal with the moral and rational contradictions in my fundamentalist Evangelical faith, I finally got mad at my God and said, "I'm not making excuses for you any more." I walked away, and didn't really look back. But something is happening around us that is hard to ignore. Like many others, I have spent much of my adult life honoring a "don't ask, don't tell" rule about religion. But for better or worse, the Religious Right has re-opened a public conv...

Having demonstrated a complete apostasy from Christianity, it is apparent that I am bound for a "Christ-less" grave. My purposeless, meaningless, hedonistic life will be snuffed out one day soon where I will be subject to the dark cold oblivion of death. Everything I have built on this Earth will crumble and fall. All the goals and ambitions I thought worth my time will amount to nothing after I am gone. All memory of me will be erased from history all too soon. Any possessions accumulated will be dissipated as those who come afterwards divvy them up between themselves, and I will return to the dust from which I came, rarely to be thought of again. My existential world view offers me no hope of continued conscious existence, no escape from the Grim Reaper's sickle, and no assurance of a higher purpose beyond that shared by the plants and animals. The law of the jungle is the rule of life, and the vain pursuit of pleasure is the only motivation to continue breathing. In co...

By Mattias Lehman Often I hear people claim that they are 'Agnostic.' However, this is a misnomer, due to misunderstanding of Agnosticism. What such people mean to claim, is that they are weak atheists, or negative atheists, who lack belief in god. Such a description applies to babies, or people who have never heard of the idea of a god. Some would argue that it applies to people who simply don't know what they believe yet. However, not knowing implies a lack of conviction. A belief is a conviction in some thing's truth. If they lack that conviction in the existence of god, that means that they are at least an implicit atheist. Furthermore, that claim of simply lacking a belief in a god, does not take somewhat of a middle ground. The fact that they lack belief in all gods they know of, means that they have rejected all the gods possible, which is a position of strong atheism, or disbelief, at least of all gods they know of. Therefore, all people who have no specific bel...

From The Hellbound Alleee Network Click here to get your own player. Godless Thanksgiving: Who Do We Thank? Author: Austin Cline There's a common belief among many American Christians that the American Thanksgiving holiday is somehow religious. Aside from the apparent desire to turn everything into an expression of their religion, the primary reason behind this seems to be the idea that the whole point must be to give thanks to their god – not any other gods, just theirs, thus making it a Christian holiday too. If this is true, then it makes no sense for non-Christians, or at least non-theists, to celebrate Thanksgiving. Having a Godless Thanksgiving: It is a plain, undeniable reality that non-Christians and non-theists all over America participate in Thanksgiving observances. This proves that the insistence on the religious or Christian nature of Thanksgiving is false. It simply can’t be true, but this doesn’t tell us why it isn’t true. For that, it must be shown that giving thank...

By Daniel Intro : I simply want to lay out a fair representation of the positive case for intelligent design (ID) in this article, and examine why the case has been ruled a failure by the greater scientific community. Because ID is so vague, eg defined by the Discovery Institute as , The theory of intelligent design holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection. Therefore, making an argument for such a claim is going to be difficult from the outset. "Some features"? "An intelligent cause"? We see the vagueness of the definition come back to haunt ID advocates in their inability to put forth convincing arguments which line up with "this is best explained by an intelligent cause" versus "random mutation/natural selection". For example, some of ID's cosmological arguments in The Privileged Planet (largely the anthropic princ...