By Dave, the WM "A man's ethical behaviour should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." "There is nothing divine about morality; it is a purely human affair." — Albert Einstein When it comes to ethical decisions and moral behavior, What is right? What is wrong? What is good? What is bad? And, do we really need a god to tell us what these words mean? Ethics and morals aren't exactly the same thing. However, in Christian circles the terms are usually used interchangeably. So, for the sake of this discussion, morality and ethical behavior will be considered synonymous. When I was a Christian, innumerable sermons, messages, pamphlets, and books crossed my eyes and flooded my ears with the dogma of moral absolutism . God had decreed HIS Law. He had embedded it in the hearts and mind...

Posted by Brett Keane OnelessGod is a YouTube friend of mine: an awesome atheist who never fails to make great points.

Posted by Brett Keane This is a friend of mine. His name is CapnOAwesome. You may find him to be entertaining as well as informative.

Ex-Christian atheist Brett Keane is convinced that Jesus never existed and in this short video he briefly explains his thinking on the matter. Apollonius of Tyana | Justin Martyr

By John W. Loftus David Wood has just posted both his and my reviews of our debate on evil as featured articles here . As I read David's review it seems he went beyond merely assessing the debate itself by attempting to answer arguments of mine that he didn't answer that night. I look forward to dealing with these additional arguments of his sometime in the future. For the most part I merely reviewed the arguments that were offered during the debate itself. In neither of our reviews will anyone get a sense of my whole argument as laid out in my opening statement, since I didn't think I needed to repeat it, and David is mainly concentrating on defending his arguments in his review. But for now he has the last word. For anyone who wants to purchase a copy of the debate itself I have been putting a few on ebay. You can also e-mail me , or contact David to buy it. I can bill you via Paypal . To order through either of us the cost will be $19.95 and we'll pay for 1st Class ...

The following is a video clip from The Secret Family of Jesus , a special BBC program narrated by Robert Beckford . This documentary examines the real nature of Jesus as believed by his followers and the Early Christian Jews. Taking a close look at early Christian history, it examines the rise of Paul's version of Christianity vs. the rival group of Christian Jews who were the followers of Jesus. The video is about 41 minutes long. A well researched and excellently written book on this topic is " The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity" by James D. Tabor. I highly recommend it. It's fascinating, makes a lot of sense, and is a quick read.

From John Stewart's television program:

Recently an atheist (The Amazing Atheist) posed questions to ex-Christians regarding what being a Christian was like and how it compares to no longer following Christianity. 16 video responses are included here. If you decide to post a video response, contact the webmaster with the URL to your video and it will be added to this list.

By John Fraysse When I was in college, the scientific community thought they knew fundamentally how the universe came to be and how it got to its present state. However, the better we made our instruments and measurements, the more questions we had regarding the theories we once held as true. It seems we now "know" less than we did 40 years ago, but, alas, this is the nature of true discovery! If you care, below is a well-written link that succinctly captures the issues surrounding the "standard model" of the universe as science understands it today. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/missing.shtml The bottom line is that 96% of the universe is missing and we don't really understand the nature of these absentee entities. We simply infer that "something else" must be out there. We have made up the "place holders" of "Dark Energy" and "Dark Matter" that make our current understanding of physical laws work...

By Dave, the WM We human beings like to think we are right, all the time. Why is this? Is it: ⇒ An insatiable need to be right which masks a deep fear of being wrong? ⇒ A high need to expect others to see it our way? ⇒ An inability to say, "I don't know." and "I was wrong"? ⇒ A feeling of being threatened from new ideas from other people? ⇒ A fear of hearing new information that threatens our beliefs? ⇒ A preoccupation with winning approval from a god or other people? ⇒ The need to always be seen as tough, powerful and strong? ⇒ A belief that others who disagree with us are wrong and should change? It could be any of these things, a combination of these things, or something similar, because this issue affects human beings the world over, and not just when it comes to religion, but politics and nearly every subject. What we human beings don’t like to admit is that we are frequently wrong. I am quite aware of my ability to be wrong. I believed for d...

Just for fun:

A 45-minute video clearly showing that that roots of Christmas celebrations extend to thousands of years before the birth of Christianity. A short 10 minute podcast by Brett Keane:

By Rob Swindell Amherst News-Times Traveling down Route 2 upon our first snow of the season, and our first taste of the holiday season, I trailed a car that had a bumper sticker that read, “Merry Christmas: How is THAT offensive?” Not long after I learned that Wal-Mart had decided to greet their customers with “Merry Christmas,” rather than the politically correct, “Happy Holidays.” I found these two incidents oddly related, and contemplated the issue a bit further. My question was, is wishing someone a “Merry Christmas” offensive? I am among the staunchest civil libertarians and an outspoken non-theist, yet I do not ever remember being offended when wished a Merry Christmas. However, according to the media, there seems to be a “War on Christmas.” And, for many, the war is real- as evidenced by those that rejoiced in Wal-Mart’s decision and the amount of Christmas Cards sent to the ACLU. My curiosity was aroused, and I decided to find out if there was indeed a “War on Christmas,”...

By Ian Where do atheists and non-believers go? That's a question that seems to be universally answered in all religions. The answer? You probably know it. Those who do not believe, no matter how good they are, go to hell, where they suffer for eternity for their idiotic and selfish choices while on earth. Pretty much every non-liberal Christian theologian, such as Billy Graham and Greg Laurie, says that those who don't believe in Jesus are in for an eternity of suffering. However, when you point out how unjust and cruel such a fate that is, you'll get one of the now-standard fundamentalist stock answers, such as: "God is perfect and just", "God cannot stand sin" "God cannot behold evil" "God doesn't send you to hell, you send yourself there", "It's your choice to go to hell", "Our sinful natures mean that we cannot enter heaven", etc. You've probably heard all the excuses trying to explain the j...

From http://beyondbelief2006.org : Just 40 years after a famous TIME magazine cover asked "Is God Dead?" the answer appears to be a resounding "No!" According to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in a recent issue of Foreign Policy magazine, " Why God is Winning ." Religions are increasingly a geopolitical force to be reckoned with. Fundamentalist movements — some violent in the extreme — are growing. Science and religion are at odds in the classrooms and courtrooms. And a return to religious values is widely touted as an antidote to the alleged decline in public morality. After two centuries, could this be twilight for the Enlightenment project and the beginning of a new age of unreason? Will faith and dogma trump rational inquiry, or will it be possible to reconcile religious and scientific worldviews? Can evolutionary biology, anthropology and neuroscience help us to better understand how we construct beliefs, and experience empa...

Recently, Left Behind Games released its controversial Christian-themed real-time strategy (RTS) game, Left Behind: Eternal Forces . Having been a one-time video game addict turned web geek, I decided to download the demo version (available here ) and see what it was all about. For those not familiar with what "real-time strategy" means, it's not very different from a game of checkers or chess, but all the pieces can move at the same time, restricted only by the speed and accuracy of the player and unit availability. Those more familiar with gaming will recognize similarities to other RTS games like "Age of Empires." Unfortunately, the demo version isn't complete enough to give a full review of its potential theological components. However, even the demo version provides enough insight to give this game a firm "thumbs down" in that department. The unit types (people) available in the demo include: Friends - Untrained individuals. Builders - Can...

When I was 10 years old, my father told me he was gay. For most of the next eight years I lived with him, except for a two year period living with my mom & stepfather. Most conservative Christians today would probably assume that living with my mom & stepfather was a healthier situation. They would be wrong. That's why the following bothers me. On Dec. 12th, Dr. James Dobson contributed a guest column to TIME magazine entitled Two Mommies Is One Too Many (see also here ), which he apparently wrote as a reaction to Mary Cheney's recent announcement that she's pregnant. That announcement rekindled the public debate concerning same-sex parenting, and has prompted mixed reactions from both conservative and liberal pundits, bloggers, and leaders. In his column, Dr. Dobson expressed his concern that children raised by same-sex parents suffer from the lack of an opposite sex parent. He asserts that 30 years of social-science evidence tells us that by every measure...

By John W. Loftus Christian people dispute whether we are truly ex-Christians. Since this particular question comes up so often, I am creating this Blog entry on it, so ex-Christians can simply refer these Christian people here, rather than continually arguing over and over about the same question. At one time we were all members in different churches, from various denominations (anyone who doubts this can check our respective church registries). I am not opposed to believing anyone who claims they were a former Christian, whether Catholic or Jehovah’s Witness, or Seventh Day Adventist. As an atheist I no longer make judgments about whether someone was a Christian. If these people say they were one, that's good enough for me. Judging whether somone is/was a Christian is something Christians do, not me. If you think other groups who claim to be Christians are not really Christians, then start a Blog called, “I know who the real Christians are! I know what they should believe! I know...