Image by FadderUri via Flickr Leaving Your Religion? It's not the end of the world! Join us for a powerful weekend with others who can understand and support you. “RELEASE AND RECLAIM” Recovery Retreat March 13-15, 2009; Amherst, Mass., and more... This program is for you if you want to let go of toxic, authoritarian beliefs and reclaim your ability to trust your own feelings and think for yourself. Leaving your faith can create intense confusion, grief, anxiety, and anger. Recovery can be difficult if the issues are not clear and you feel alone in the struggle. For more detail, comments from previous participants, and videos of retreats, please visit http://marlenewinell.net/page/release-and-reclaim-workshop WANT TO TALK? If you are unsure, you are welcome to join a conference call to chat with previous retreat participants and others interested. Just send an email to express interest: recoveryfromreligion [AT] gmail [DOT] com , subject line “retreat chat.” The “Release a...

Image via Wikipedia By Mriana I was born in May 1966, a few months before the Star Trek Original Series came on TV. From the very first episode, my mother watched it, with me on her lap nursing, without knowing or at least not comprehending the Roddenberry’s underlying message, which even Majel confirmed that Gene did use the media to convey a message to the public. I attribute this message as being part of what kept me holding on to some sanity, even though I did not figure out what the philosophy was until I stumbled onto it in my teens. This gift, which I now hold dear, was taken from me, by my mother, even before I had a chance to claim it as my own, but it was not lost forever, even though it became a long journey to make my way back to it again. I guess you could say I grew into their philosophy and they indirectly helped raised me. Maybe I did not better humanity in some manner, but I was struggling to better myself and it was indeed a struggle. I read Sam Harris’s “ End o...

Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters portrayed by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith , respectively, in Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse , a fictional universe created and used in most films, comics and television by Kevin Smith, which began in Clerks .

Image via Wikipedia By Virginia I submitted an article about quitting Christianity to exchristian.net last August after a 23-year-ambivalent relationship. This year I took on a special course -- to lead a civic campaign against the religious right in our city. Our society is recently caught up in arguments because of a proposed amendment and review of two legislations: One is to extend protection from domestic violence to include divorced couples, non-wed couples, extended families, and of course gay pairs The other is on the Control of Obscene and Indecent Article Ordinance (COIAO) -- one that classify materials that may depict sex/violence on publications The Religious Right here demands the extension of COIAO for censoring “speech” or “article” that “instigate and advocate” abortion, prostitution, criminal act and terrorism, etc. A pamphlet circulated among conservative Christian groups in Hong Kong asks all Christians to support a stricter definition of “offensive” and “obscene” a...

Image by Cody Simms via Flickr By Jeffrey Amos The biggest reason I am an atheist is that I grew up evangelical and later rejected evangelical Christianity – that is the topic of my blog and will be overlooked here. But evangelical Christianity rejected doesn't imply atheism; in my case, non-Christian theist to deist to agnostic to atheist took from April '08 until October '08. Here, I will cover my reasons for being an atheist rather than an otherwise undecided non-Christian. Atheism: What it Means I need to first clarify what I mean by “atheist.” I don't believe in a God of any kind, or even see the existence of one as plausible, therefore I am an atheist. I don't claim to know for certain, and I can't prove God doesn't exist. I'm not an atheist in an absolute certainty sort of way, which is what some people still use it to mean. Oftentimes, the definition of a word has a subliminal effect on how we think. Take the word “discipline,” for inst...

Image by Caio Basilio via Flickr by Astreja It's been over a year and a half since I wrote My Ex-timony Heaven, Hell and My Bodhisattva Vow . In the interim, a few noteworthy things have happened to My belief stricture, uh, structure. I've shifted ever so slightly, from agnostic theist to agnostic atheist . "Whaaat?" you exclaim. "Theist to atheist is not a 'slight shift'." Well, it was for Me. Even at the height of My ecumenical polytheistic woo-woo, speaking ex officio in full Springy Goddess regalia (White linen robes, bag of hand-carved runes, snifter of Green Chartreuse liqueur, and razor-wit-sharp Clue-By-Four), I remained open to the possibility that maybe... ...Just maybe... ...The gods exist only in the human imagination. Oddly enough, that admission instantly made those gods more accessible to the imagination. I can't prove to you empirically that the Parking Gods provided that great spot at the mall last Saturday afternoon. I...

Make up your own Bus Slogan at http://ruletheweb.co.uk/b3ta/bus/ . Related articles by Zemanta Atheist bus: 'Sleep in on Sunday morning' adverts banned (telegraph.co.uk) Atheist Bus Poster Campaign Spreads to Spain and Italy (friendlyatheist.com) -UK: Atheist Bus Ads? (answersforthefaith.com) The Atheist Bus Campaign (atheistwisdom.blogspot.com) Atheist bus ads roll in London today: massive success (boingboing.net)

Image by Getty Images via Daylife By Valerie Tarico Reprinted from the Daily Kos . Most Americans who have any media access whatsoever know that last week a California woman with six prior children gave birth to octuplets . The details surrounding the birth ( six prior kids, solo unemployed parent, in vitro implantation of eight or more embryos, probable millions in taxpayer expenses ) are so extraordinary that they have provoked a normally taboo public conversation about whether childbearing can be immoral. Progressives rarely use the words moral and immoral. We’re too sophisticated for that. If some poor sod starts talking about truth and virtue or right and wrong or-- gods forbid-- good and evil, we get nervous and become, ahem, tolerant. It’s like bring up spirituality in a room full of atheists(who otherwise might be perfectly willing to talk about ethics and love and service and finding some meaning that transcends the boundaries of our small individual lives.) Occasionally we ...

Ricky Gervais on " Inside The Actor's Studio " talking about his atheism.

Image via Wikipedia By Neal Stone Are you looking for a great deal? Want to change your life forever? Then come down to Neal's Used Car Emporium and check out our super lineup of Crhistler Cars. Such as the ever reliable BY BLE. The BY BLE will change your life forever. What ever your heart desires, what ever your situation the BY BLE is the car for you. It not only comes with a lifetime guarantee, but is totally FREE! That's right I said FREE! This car can be yours at no cost to you. So come on down to Neal's used Car Emporium today and get your life going! Later that day... Neal: Why it looks like we have a customer. Welcome son and how can I help you? Customer: Well I saw the ad and I want a BY BLE. Is it really free? Neal: Why yes it is and it will change your life forever. And you don't have to do a thing but just ask. And the best part is there are no catches or conditions. Just come as you are. Customer: Really?! How so? Neal: Why it will make...

Image via Wikipedia By Valerie Tarico Atheists are arrogant. Who hasn’t heard it? Arrogance is just one of their repellent qualities, of course. They are also ungenerous, cold, lonely, untrustworthy, amoral, and aggressive. You shouldn’t leave them around children. When I spoke last week to a group called Seattle Atheists , the organizer positioned me far from the door, and I speculated aloud about whether I should be worried for my safety, given what we know about atheist ethics. But the most common accusation hurled against atheists is that they are insufferably arrogant. In my experience, this accusation is rarely about a specific encounter: I was talking with Joan, my atheist neighbor down the street last week and do you know how I was treated by that insufferable witch?! No, it is more like a mantra. In Seattle, there’s a chain of hamburger joints called Dick’s. People who find themselves on the topic of hamburgers will say, “Dick’s is great” almost as an opener, before they move ...

Image via Wikipedia By Lance_ec I was just watching the movie " The Golden Compass " and was intrigued by the use of the word Demon (Daemon?) for the spirit of a person that walks along side them in animal form. My kids raised their eyebrows when they first heard it in the movie, since they were already familiar with the negative Christian use of the word. So I looked the term up on Wikipedia, and a few other places and found a whole slew of differing ideas regarding demons from Greek , Roman and other mythologies . Mostly they seem to be something between divine and mortal. Some were good demons that helped and advised people, others were more of a hindrance. This is not really all that unexpected, as people attempted to make sense of the random events of the world and attribute these events to some intelligence that they assumed was moving behind the scenes. It also makes more sense to the ancient mind than a single god, since the random events of daily life are too s...

Image of Sam Singleton Sam Singleton , Atheist Evangelist, Sets Forth New Naming Protocol for Atheists, Believers, and Agnostics Can’t nobody tell Brother Sam nothing about the abuse gets heaped on atheists every day. I’m a goddamned authority. I figure I get abused as much as about anybody short of Brother Richard Dawkins himself. But you don’t have to be any full-time professional God slayer to feel the cold sting of stigma that comes with proclaiming yourself an atheist . There isn’t a one of us that hasn’t been talking to someone and, having divulged our atheism, gotten the look, the one that says You might as well just save your breath because I quit listening back when you dropped the A-bomb. Even Brother Sam can see why so many atheists are casting about for a tag that isn’t so off-putting to the believing class. As for me, I personally do not give two shits. The believing class can accept me as I am or kiss my atheistic ass. But some atheists dislike the way the word itself de...