By Dave, the WM Over and over and over, Christians come to this site and express their "informed opinion" that Evolution must be accepted on faith and is therefore equal to a religious belief in Creationism. Is this true? Is accepting the Theory of Evolution as the best model for understanding the natural progression of life forms akin to religious convictions about Christian Creationism? Here is a short list of some commonly accepted theories in a variety of disciplines: Astronomy : Big Bang Theory Biology : Cell theory - Evolution by natural selection Chemistry : Atomic theory — Kinetic theory of gases Climatology : Theory of Global Climate Change (due to anthropogenic activity) Computer science : Algorithmic information theory — Computation theory Economics : Decision theory Engineering : Circuit theory — Control theory — Signal theory - Systems theory Film : Film Theory Games : Game theory - Rational choice theory Geology : Plate tectonics [1] Humanities : Critica...

By Ian A few hours ago, my history of cinema teacher, according to fundamentalist doctrine, cemented her place in hell for all eternity. She is now, according to doctrine, damned for eternity, condemned to a place of eternal pain, torture, and, if you believe it, fire. She will be eternally separated from God, never again to see her loved ones, to see her friends or family. She is a kind, cheerful individual who isn't afraid to joke around. She's really a nice, good person who by no means should go to eternal punishment. But alas, according to Christian fundamentalists, she's now damned for eternity. I don't know if she's a Christian or not, or if she has accepted Jesus as her lord and savior. After what she did, she'll definitely need it. How do I know that she's damned? Well, go take a look at this survey (warning: Fundamentalist christian ideas ahead designed to scare you, induce guilt, make you feel like a rotten individual, so on and so forth. ...

Kent Hovind , the self anointed, evangelical apostle of Young Earth Creationism , is currently in prison for tax evasion. For a long time he has been pointing his followers toward the writings of an imprisoned tax dodger named Irwin Schiff as well as promoting the Citizens Rule Book , a popular standard in the Christian Patriot movement . Using these fringe teachings, Hovind has been encouraging Christians to stop paying taxes and assuring his followers that they can't be prosecuted for refusing to pay. The teaching is too convoluted to encapsulate here, but rest assured that anyone who elects to follow these odd ball ideas are likely to also land in jail. From his prison cell, Hovind is blogging to his flock, preaching from behind bars, sharing his holy adventures of bold evangeliztion and discipling of the prison population. At the close of each epistle, he writes, "Remember my bonds." OK, so what! We all know Hovind is a whack-job fanatic. Who cares? Frankly, I don...

One hour long Buy this video by clicking here . Holding modern Christianity up to a bright spotlight, this eye-opening documentary asks the questions few dare to ask. "Did Jesus even exist?" is just the beginning for The God Who Wasn't There. Your guide through the world of Christendom is former fundamentalist Brian Flemming, joined by such luminaries as Jesus Seminar fellow Robert M. Price , author Sam Harris and historian Richard Carrier . In addition to the film, which won the Best Documentary award at the 2005 Grassroots Cinema Film Festival, this feature-packed DVD includes: -Special commentary tracks with Richard Dawkins and Earl Doherty -Over one hour of compelling additional interview footage -An in-depth Web-enabled slide show -Music from the soundtrack -Bios of all participants This provocative DVD takes off the gloves and gives religion an unprecedented, no-holds-barred examination. So hold on to your faith. It's in for a bumpy ride. Buy this video by ...

By Dave, the WM I'm an ex-Christian and an atheist. This Christmas I have two overly decorated 9’ tall Christmas trees complete with twinkling lights and one tree is circled by a battery powered toy train. Perched in locations all around my house, dozens and dozens of Nutcrackers of every height and description keep vigil while festive smelling candles taint the air. A thick layer of snow currently blankets the ground outside my window, and holly and ivy decorate my neighbor's porches. It's holiday time at an atheist home! What? An atheist celebrating Christmas? Christ's Mass. The Catholic Mass held on the eve before Christ's birth. That's what Christmas means, doesn't it? I mean, isn't an atheist who is celebrating Christmas about as hypocritical as one can get? Aren't we always hearing "Keep Christ in Christmas" and "Jesus is the reason for the season?" Isn't there even an atheistic " War on Christmas ?" Well, I s...

By Wayne Adkins On July 18th, 2006 Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, lumped atheists and agnostics together with bigots and in a paraphrase of an old untrue negative stereotype declared that there are no atheists in foxholes. It is ironic that such a bigoted remark would come during his speech about diversity to the NAACP. The National Guard received a number of letters complaining about his remarks and several atheist organizations denounced them. But the Army, despite how it defines unlawful discrimination in its own regulations, has decided that the remarks were not discriminatory. I disagree. Blum’s remarks are just the tip of the iceberg. Since troops have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years there have been numerous bigoted remarks made by military chaplains and other officers disparaging atheists and perpetuating the myth that there are no atheists in foxholes. Some have gone as far as claiming that atheists are lesser soldiers than th...

By David Gleeson After watching Morgan Spurlock's "30 Days" episode on FX last night, about an atheist mother who agrees to live with a wealthy Christian family for a month, it became painfully obvious to me that most people have glaring misconceptions about what it means to be an atheist, and about atheism in general. In this article, I'd like to highlight some of the most common errors and offer a level-headed response to these misunderstandings. 1. Atheism is the belief that no gods exist. This statement's ubiquity is exceeded only by its utter falseness; not only is it misleading, but it is the complete opposite of the truth. The word 'atheism' comes from the Greek prefix 'a', meaning without, and 'theist', meaning having a belief in a supernatural deity. Atheism, therefore, literally means "without theistic belief". Atheism does not positively assert anything; rather, it is a statement of withheld belief. Atheists, therefore,...

By Dave, the WM I've never met a single person who became a zealous Christian after being presented an intellectual reason to believe. In fact, I would dare to say that there has not been one real conversion in history that can be entirely attributed to a simple, unemotional presentation of facts. That's not how religion works. Religion finds fertile ground in the field of a person's emotions. If a few random twigs on the periphery of a Christian's faith suffer damage during a violent storm of logic, the roots of that faith tend to remain deeply buried, far out of site, and untouched. I've never been accused of being overly sensitive or romantic, yet my own conversion to Christianity was highly charged with emotion. Tears ran down my face. I trembled uncontrollably. I felt that I was having a face-to-face meeting with the everlasting Godhead. Even today, the experience is strong in my memory. "How to Witness" classes I attended in following years encourag...

By Daniel Morgan Here is the video on YouTube . I wanted to point out a couple of things about the interview for clarification. I was contacted by FoxNews and asked if I would be willing to do this segment. I was not involved in any way with this story before, or besides, this small interview. I am not a lawyer, although they pitted me against one and tacitly framed me that way. The name of our group was mangled by Sean. It's the "Atheist, Agnostic and Freethinking Student Association" at UF. Oh well... I have never been to Dixie County ( map ) before last night. I have never spoken with anyone from Dixie County about the issue before last night. Thus, I am not "actively soliciting" any lawsuits. However, I would like to see someone from the area with the courage to challenge this illegal action on the part of the Dixie County Board of Commissioners . Sean said it was different than AL, and more "in keeping with" the KY and TX cases, although the...

By Pete Blackwell Some Atheists...assert that Atheism is not a religion but instead is the total absence of religion.... But this is like saying that "black," (which physicists define as the total absence of color) is not a color.... In common practice throughout the world, "black" is understood to be a color, despite the technical definition of the physicists. Likewise, "Atheism" is a religion, despite any technical definitions to the contrary. If black is a color, then Atheism is a religion. —Rev. Bill McGinnis, " The Religion of Atheism " You hear it regularly from talking heads like Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter (whose latest 'book', Godless, is subtitled The Church of Liberalism), and you're only going to hear it more now that the War on Christmas™ season is upon us: atheism is a religion just as sure as Christianity is, and all these heathens want to do is foist their religion on the good, god-fearing folk of America...

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 ...