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By DocMike When I was a child, I was taught that the bible-god was loving and caring. All the stories I heard in church and in Sunday School seemed to prove this. But when I got a little older and started reading the Bible myself, I found him to be a very different "person." The god described in the Old Testament is angry, vindictive, jealous, and has a lot of other negative human emotions that I would never have attributed to the " God " of my childhood. He reminded me of other gods I had learned about from Greek and Egyptian mythology . Even if he were real, why would anyone want to worship such a sadistic bastard? To me, it was obvious that it was all a farce , that the bible-god was created by men to control other men. I mean, why would the creator of the universe be so "human?" Why would he make mistakes and regret things and change his mind and torture and kill those who wouldn't worship him? And then I thought, even if he were real, why woul...

Image by confusedvision via Flickr By Josh Sullivan "It's not a religion. It's a relationship.” Has anyone else heard Christians use this argument? It's hard to say when this phrase gained popularity. According to Gregory Kouki of the radio show, Stand to Reason , "this slogan has been a rallying cry of 1970s and 80s evangelicalism.” Whatever the case, the phrase is popular amongst Christians. You can read blog posts on it, watch Christians on YouTube recycling it, you can even buy bumpers stickers proclaiming it. But what bothers me about this phrase is how many things are just wrong with it. This phrase sets up a classical logical fallacy , called a false dichotomy (more specifically, it's black-and-white thinking , a sub-class of the false dichotomy). The phrase implies that there are two choices. It's either religion, or a relationship. In reality, there are more than just two choices. A possible third choice is closer to the truth: it's religion...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife By Sharon I was an evangelical Christian for 40 years, and I loved the Bible. I studied it intensely and devoutly. I loved the Bible with all of my heart. A necessary part of my de-conversion has been to understand those ancient stories in light of current scientific and medical knowledge. These stories were written by men with superstitious minds. Here is one example: The story is told of a man possessed with demons whom Jesus met while traveling. This man lived "amongst the tombs" and was naked and cut himself. When asked directly the man said there were many demons "legions." And so the story goes that Jesus cast these demons out, curing the man, and that these demons went into a herd of swine (pigs) who then "ran violently down a steep place into the sea." Deconstruction of this story involves taking the knowledge we have now and going back in time to explain those events. So here is how the story would read u...

Image by santacrewsgirl via Flickr By KSS Here I am again, after a frustrating Sunday at church, visiting this site to get some strength. I can't believe I didn't see what a lot of fantasy we believe at church. We sit there thinking we are the only Christians, we are the only saved, all other churches are in error. We talk about "the truth" as something we own: the truth about life, the truth about God. I don't want to invoke God's ire. But I do want to understand the truth. We can't see how pathetic we are: a group of Protestants , mostly white, fat and affluent, with our property and our horrible exclusive theology, and our absurdly closed world-view. We sing songs during Sunday School, including songs of praise to the Bible, "The Word." Then, during the main service we hear a message of "We should," and, "We ought" - because, despite being saved, we're never quite good enough, are we? Got to remain on the worrying edg...

Image by carf via Flickr By Seage VT I just needed to tell someone. I'm not Christian. My family is. My ex-fiance was. My best friend was. I am not. But I understand that there are people who need to think that they don't have control over their lives. People who need to bury their heads in the sand, who can't just take what happens as exactly what it is. People who can't accept that death, is death. You just....die. Jesus was a con-artist and "god" doesn't exist. Religion has weakened us. It's made the human race become a shallow, weak child, hiding our faces from one another. I would say what everyone else would day "Perhaps it is in human nature to hide our heads in the sand, to deny what is," but if that is true, then what of us few who do see? Are we an alienated group of individuals, lost in our own minds? Does it make us crazy for not being like them? Then lock me up, throw the key down into a well of "holy" water, because ...

Psalm 137:9 “Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.” Deuteronomy 21:18-21 “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.” 2 Kings 2:23-24 23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. “Go on up, you baldhead!” they said. “Go on up, you baldhead!” 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse...

Hello Everyone, This is a summary outline I've come up with for recovering from authoritarian religions like fundamentalist Christianity. In my years of counseling experience, I've found that for a lot of people (not everyone), the leaving process takes time and has some important steps. This outline is not meant to be a formula or cover the issues in depth, but I hope it is useful for you to think about. Kind regards, Marlene Winell 1. Get Real. Be honest with yourself about whether your religion is working for you. Let go of trying to force it to make sense. Have a look at life and the world AS IT IS, and stop trying to live in a parallel universe. This world might not be perfect but facing reality will help you get your life on track. If you feel guilty, realize that the religion teaches you to feel responsible when it isn’t working and tells you to go back and try harder, just like an abusive relationship. 2. Get a Grip. Don’t panic. The fear you feel is part of the indoc...

Image via Wikipedia By Valerie Tarico What did Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin have in common besides their February 12, 1809 birthday? Both men transcended the self-centered thinking so characteristic of our kind, allowing them to see the unity of life in a new way. By self-centered, I don't mean selfish. I mean our incredible tendency to perceive ourselves as the measure of all that is: My tribe, my religion, my nation-state, my gender, my "race", my species--all else is here to serve us. Despite its emphasis on service, orthodox Christianity, with its sense of manifest destiny exacerbates this bias. (Both Darwin and Lincoln moved beyond Christianity in their quest to serve truth and love.) But religion isn't all to blame. This bias is totally built in. During my graduate student days, I worked with an industrial organizational psychologist seeking to improve personnel interviews. One problem with interviews is what psychologists call a "similar to me...

By Doc Mike When confronted with ridiculous Bible rules, Christians often respond the same way, "That was the Old Testament . Those laws are no longer valid." Well, here's a little story from the New Testament that disproves their claim. In Matthew, chapter 15, Jesus is criticized by the Pharisees for not washing his hands before eating. He defends himself by attacking them for not killing disobedient children according to the rule: "He that curseth his father or mother, shall be surely put to death." ( Exodus 21:17, Leviticus 20:9, Deuteronomy 21:18-21) So, is that rule still valid or not? How do Christians reconcile their unwillingness to kill their own children for cursing them, with their insistence that the Bible is the inerrant word of God? Deuteronomy explains it like this: 21:18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not he...

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...

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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...