By DocMike I don't know if it's the approaching holiday season, the global economic crisis, or just the fact that I'm getting a little older, but I've been feeling the pain of the world lately and I really want to do something about it. I'm a very fortunate person. I have financial security, a close family, lots of great friends, and basically everything I need and most of what I want in life. If I believed in a deity, I would certainly be thanking it for my good fortune. But since I'm a rational human being, I attribute it to hard work and lots of good luck! Anyway, I've been reading a lot lately about hunger and I really want to do something to help those in need. However, I don't like the idea of sending money to a religion-based organization. Now, I know many of them do a lot of good in this area. I won't try to take that away from them. But frankly, I don't trust them. I always wonder how much of my money is being spent to feed hungry people...

By DocMike I know I've done this one to death (excuse the pun), but I just love Leviticus !

The Return of Jephthah by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, By Neal Stone First off, Christians, don't give me the "That was the God of the Old Testament excuse," because in Heb 13:8 it says "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." and in Malachi 3:6 it says "I the LORD do not change..." So God is never changing, and Jesus is also God in the flesh, so your excuse doesn't work here. In a recent post we heard a Christian call an atheist television show and engage in a conversation where the Christian went down in flames. A story is mentioned about a guy named Jephthah who sacrifices his daughter after promising God he would sacrifice the first thing to come out of his home, should he when a war. We are going to look at this passage and break it down. Let us keep in mind the according to Christians and the Bible , God knows the past, present and the FUTURE. So, everything that is about to unfold, God foresaw ahead of time. Judg...

A video by cdk007 To deny evolution is to deny a direct observation. It's like denying the sky is blue while refusing to look up. Truth is not a democracy . Don't teach ideas just because they are different; teach ideas because they are supported by evidence . Intelligence is awareness of ignorance. Stupidity is ignorance of ignorance. Think about it.

God, as played by Morgan Freeman in Bruce Almighty By The Ragged Trousered Philosopher I met god the other day. I know what you’re thinking. How the hell did you know it was god? Well, I’ll explain as we go along, but basically he convinced me by having all, and I do mean ALL, the answers. Every question I flung at him he batted back with a plausible and satisfactory answer. In the end, it was easier to accept that he was god than otherwise. Which is odd, because I’m still an atheist and we even agree on that! It all started on the 8.20 back from Paddington. Got myself a nice window seat, no screaming brats or drunken hooligans within earshot. Not even a mobile phone in sight. Sat down, reading the paper and in he walks. What did he look like? Well not what you might have expected that’s for sure. He was about 30, wearing a pair of jeans and a "hobgo...

A Christian calls in to discuss morality on The Atheist Experience television show. The Atheist Experience is a weekly live call-in television show sponsored by the Atheist Community of Austin .

"Truth" (1870) by Jules Joseph Lefebvre By John Fraysse Thesis: The Truth Needs Little or No Defense Awhile back, I wrote a little snippet based on the premise that if religion is so important , it should also be simple to understand , easy to implement and ubiquitous in its application. I further submitted that since religions are not simple , especially the big three Abrahamic faiths , they either must be a) unimportant or b) untrue or, more than likely, both. Therefore, unnecessary complexity is a bellwether indicator of a false concept, religious Dogmas being prime examples. So, building on this line of thought, I think it also follows that if something is untrue but is being masqueraded as Truth, it will likely require much explanation . In fact, a method used by interrogators to detect lies in a witness or suspect is to note the length and complexity of their explanations. Long and complex explanations are, many times, strong indicators that the witness is tryin...

A video by ReligionIsACrutch

Image by jordi.martorell via Flickr By Neal Stone I have a Jewish friend who was going off about how the Koran actually had a verse about NOT to be a friend of a Christian or Jew. She took great offense. I have also had others concerned over Obama 's middle name and the fact he had Muslim influences in his life. Now first off, I am not defending the Koran or Muslin religion, nor am I supporting either. I state this for the Christians looking to twist my words and make it sound like I support terrorism. I don't! I just look at the FULL truth, not just the part that conveniently supports my beliefs. So here is the full, 100% truth. All religions have a bloody history: Catholics , Protestants, Israel, and so on. Just look at the list: The Spanish Inquisition The Crusades The Old Testament Even the history of America when our CHRISTIAN ancestors came here and proceeded to slaughter the Native Americans because we thought they were savages. Isn't it funny how people c...

By Daelin I used to believe in God and honestly even recently went to a church with a co-worker. They claimed to be open-minded and that they don't force their beliefs on others. I had a great time for a few weeks, but after being told how men and women should live and how homosexuality was an affront to God, I never went back. Something about religion makes people feel so strongly about their views or interpretation of the bible that they will impose their views on others or intimidate others to agree with the way they think. Once I never thought I would be an atheist and I even struggled to call myself one as I've also seen some atheists use their beliefs in a similar method to force those who believe to not be able to express their beliefs. That is also wrong to me as people should just leave others to their own opinions. When people start to talk about how I feel about religion, I tell them that I never read the bible. Their first reaction is to tell me that I shoul...

By Gabe If you have been on Myspace for a while, then you have undoubtedly read several religious bulletins. I wrote a blog recently titled, "Crazy Myspace Bulletins," which examined a popular religious bulletin that has been posted on Myspace several times. I honestly did not think I would find a bulletin more ridiculous than that particular one, but I was wrong. I recently read a bulletin entitled, "Pray for John McCain ." This bulletin would appear to a lot of people as nothing more than a sincere prayer from a passionate Christian for God to intervene in the presidential election, and to grant Senator John McCain the victory. But there are many statements in this prayer that are either contradictory, extremely arrogant, or simply not well thought out. This religious bulletin that I am speaking of is based on the common assumption, by evangelical Christians, that the conservative Republican party is on God's side, while the liberal Democrats are on Satan...

Image by Jeff the Trojan via Flickr By Neal Stone This time I am going to share two stories which will be followed by my point. Back in 2000, my sister, me and a few other family and friends all got ordained through the Unity Church . Our ordination was nothing to do with wanting to be a minister or run a church. We just had so many single kids in the family rapidly approaching marrying age so to save money we all got ordained. After all, preachers around here want at least $250 plus church rental to do the wedding. You could easily drop a $1,000 or more just for the church and minister. This from churches who ware always looking for ways to attract more members. Hello, churches and weddings!!!! Anyway I have done four weddings so far. I don't advertise, just get asked by friends and co-workers. Usually in situations where they can't afford a minister or they back out at the last minute. Just pay me what you can afford and I'm fine with that. Keep in kind I am n...

By Galen Image by almoko via Flickr Occasionally, the Mormons or JWs will knock on my door and offer their Mormon Bible, the Watchtower, or whatever. I wanted something brief to trade with them, so I put together the following 2-pager. The Bible as Primitive Nonsense Christianity is based on the stories and claims of the Bible. If the Bible is not largely accurate history, then Christianity has no foundation. Thus, either the Bible is dependable, historical truth or Christianity is just superstitious mumbo-jumbo. How could we prove the authors of the Bible were superstitious myth-believers and not skeptical, genuine wise men? We could begin by considering some of the creatures they wrote about in the Bible such as witches, wizards, sorcerers, spirits, ghosts, giants, dragons, sea monsters, satyrs, and unicorns. Modern science can't come up with the slightest trace of evidence that any of these creatures exists or has ever existed. This stuff was just made up. If someone we don...

By DocMike I love finding obscure Bible stories the kids never hear in Sunday School . Here's a nice little tale about one of the Bible- God 's favorite people, Noah . Apparently, after the whole ark thing was over, Noah planted a vineyard so he could get drunk whenever he wanted. One day, he got so drunk he fell asleep naked in his tent. When his son, Ham , wandered in and saw Noah's "nakedness", Noah got pissed off. Genesis 9:24 says, " And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him." I'm not sure what Ham did, but it sounds like Noah was mad because Ham didn't cover his eyes. So in retaliation Noah cursed Ham's son, Canaan , to be " a servant of servants." In fact, Canaan (Noah's grandson) would become a servant to Noah's other son, Shem , because of what his father did (or didn't do). It's very complicated and it really makes you wonder what the fuck kind of message the autho...