Frank Turek, co-author of " I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist ," and Christopher Hitchens , author of " god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything ," met at VCU in Richmond, VA to debate the subject, "Does God Exist?"

By Edward Current

This is a short segment of the movie, Religulous .

M en never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. - Blaise Pascal Not So Great Minds quoted in this video: Rev. Jerry Falwell Ann Coulter Fred Phelps Josh Mcdowell Randall Terry Jimmy Swaggart Martin Luther Cardinal Bellarmine Sheik Abdel-Aziz Ibn Baaz Pat Robertson Robert Simonds William Rehnquist Star Parker Gary North Gary Potter George Bush Sr. George W. Bush J. B. Stoner R. Furman James Dobson Joseph Morecraft Rush Limbaugh Pat Buchanan Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin Rabbi Ya'acov Perin Dr. Zakir Naik Uma Bharti Abbot Arnold de Citeaux Adolf Hitler Susan Smith Music used in this video: Martin Tillman - Odessa

By Priscilla Image by mobob via Flickr I don't care if you think I'm going to hell since I don't believe it exists. I'm also not interested in gaining admission to your heaven. I'm not afraid that you might be right and I might be wrong, so fear isn't going to change my view. I don't care what "the bible says". I have read it, studied it, enjoyed parts of it, but I don't believe that it is anything but literature. I will not accept rules or laws being imposed on me that are based in your personal religious beliefs. If you attempt to pass laws like that, I will fight you with all the strength I have. I play fair. If you don't play fair, then expect me to treat you as I am treated. I don't need to hear your version of the "good news" or any news. I'm an educated adult and I have spent much time researching religion and experimenting, and I ultimately decided it isn't for me. I have no problem with you practicing you...

Here's a nice little Bible story for the kids. In Genesis 19:8, Lot protects some of God 's angels by offering his "virgin" daughters to the men of Sodom instead. "I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes." This is a horrible story! Can you imagine a father doing such a thing? Actually, Lot was lying about the virgin part. According to Genesis 19:14, they were both married. A little later, in Genesis 19:32, Lot's "virgin daughters" get him drunk and seduce him. See my comic from April 2007 The "just and righteous" Lot . For more comics and commentary, please visit ByTheBookComics . Technorati Tags: humor Atheist Bible Christians Comics religion Sodom and Gomorrah

Image via Wikipedia By Wizened Sage T he Bible is a collection of fairy tales . To some of us this is as obvious as the noses on our faces. In fact, to me it is one of the most amazing, mind boggling things about this world that millions of adults simply cannot see this obvious truth. True, the Bible begins with “In the beginning…” rather than “Once upon a time…” but not all fairy tales begin with those words, and the other parallels are just too striking to ignore. Here is a definition from the WEB. Fairy Tale: 1. A fanciful tale of legendary deeds and creatures, usually intended for children. 2. A fictitious, highly fanciful story or explanation. “A fanciful tale of legendary deeds and creatures?” How about the creation of the universe in 7 days (whoops…the ‘all powerful’ creator rested on the 7th day – so call it 6)? How about a man walking on water and making food fall from the sky? How about a man curing illnesses and banishing ‘evil spirits’ with the wave of a hand? H...

Image by khawaja via Flickr Sent in by Joshua K M y family was worried for my soul after I had started to "fall away from the church" (which I like to think of as, "using my own brain"). So they had me go and talk with a pastor so he could change my mind. I was extremely disappointed by how one-sided the debate was, how his only real answer to solid, reasonable questions came back to the dismissive claim of "You just gotta have faith". But on to my points. I play guitar in a touring do-it-yourself band. I would consider myself pretty well experienced in business and marketing via the school of hard knocks. At the end of the day, you've got to sell CDs, and you've got to get people to your shows, or you don't eat or pay your bills. If there's one thing I've learned, it's just HOW HARD IT IS TO EFFECTIVELY COMMUNICATE A SIMPLE IDEA TO A LARGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE. Like a tour date. Or where someone can pick up our CD. You can't make ...

W hat is the story of Jesus' birth? How did Judas die? What did Jesus say when he was crucified? The answers to those questions vary depending on which Gospel you read, says Bible scholar Bart Ehrman . Ehrman is the author of Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them) . He says that each Gospel writer had a different message — and that readers should not "smash the four Gospels into one big Gospel and think that [they] get the true understanding." Erman was interviewed this week on National Public Radio. CLICK HERE to listen to the interview. Excerpt from his book: 'Jesus, Interrupted' Chapter Four: Students taking a college-level Bible course for the first time often find it surprising that we don't know who wrote most of the books of the New Testament. How could that be? Don't these books all have the authors' names attached to them? Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the letters of Paul, 1 an...

A n original song by " sbGault ," of the atheist/objectivist band Galt Aureus Free mp3: http://www.galtmusic.com/mp3/download... There was no autopsy in 1947, just a man in his flat in Camden ; What of the Aztec crash, and the Hills' missing past? Did the Phoenix Lights fall from the sky? Is the truth hidden safe? I'd settle for knowing there is a truth. I want to believe, though I know there's nothing to be seen. It's a dark night and an empty sky, and a world full of restless minds. You hear of the coverups in a silent undercurrent, men who disappear for good; But we've been warring for about ten thousand years, and you'd be wise if you assumed: If those grey men land, they'll possess sense enough to flee. The truth is out there: we're stark, dead alone; The truth is out there, if we're stark, dead alone; The truth is out there, and we're stark, dead... You might want to check out the Arrogant Atheist clothing line - created by Susan...

Submitted by The New Heretics S o, Jesus and I finally broke up. I really thought that things were going to be different this time. He said that he changed… loosened up a little, stopped all his bad habits, said he was nothing like his dad. I broke it off, and now I am going through all that crazy movie-like post-break-up nonsense. I went through that moment of feeling empowered, like I can break out on my own and be single, or maybe even start seeing other people again. You know, get back into that religion dating pool. I am pretty sure that Vishnu was eyeing me up the other day pretty hard in the grocery store, and Buddha did slip me his number last month. He’d actually be kind of cute if he lost a bit of weight. Losing your religion can be quite a depressing event. I mean, I got “saved” at the age of 5. Then all the sudden out of nowhere I got all crazy and started listening to sad emo music, watching bad romantic comedies alone in the dark while eating a tubs of Ben and Jerry ’...

The slide show above features a set of photographs from a 2009 gallery show in ArtWorks , a gallery in Harrisonburg VA. The show ran for two weeks and opened on February 16th. The title of the Show was Divine Comedy , because it used humor to get people to think about religious authority and fundamentalism . Artist Jonan Drew Davis writes, I have a deep interest in internet culture, especially in memes and their evolution , and it can be seen in several works . My aim in doing this show was to make people think and to make people laugh. I hope I've succeeded. Please Enjoy. A special "hats off" to Valerie Tarico, author of The Dark Side: How Evangelical Teachings Corrupt Love and Truth for this unique find.

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 20-22, 2009; Amherst, Mass . (Friday at 7pm until Sunday at 3pm) at a beautiful Bed and Breakfast on an organic farm 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 be a very difficult process, but you don’t have to go it alone. At a Release and Reclaim Recovery Retreat participants can: Share personal stories Examine key issues Learn coping strategies Meet others and build a support system Enjoy meals, relaxation, and fun These retreats are led by Marlene Winell, Ph.D. , psychologist and author of Leaving the Fold: A Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving Their Religion . Dr. Winell has a private practice in Berkeley, CA and also consults by telephone. COST: ...

Image by ToFuGuns via Flickr By WizenedSage This is just way too easy... 1) The stories (Gospels) recounting the ‘facts’ of the Resurrection were not written by Jesus himself; they were not first-person accounts. 2) The writers of the stories were not eye witnesses, and never claimed to be. The stories are, at best, second hand, and may well be third- fourth- fifth-, etc. hand. 3) The stories were written at least 35 years after the fact. Consider how a story can change over such a span of time. Scientists have proven that we all rewrite our memories, to some extent, every time we recall them. And if the story was retold from person to person on the way to the writers, so much the worse; remember the telephone game we all played as school kids? 4) The stories conflict one another on many different issues; for just one example, according to the Bible, who went to Christ’s tomb on the day of the Resurrection? Each Gospel provides a different list of people. 5) The stories violate a w...

Episode one – The Politics Of Belief In the series opener, historian Tristram Hunt uncovers how a debate about religion in 16th-century Germany sparked a political revolution. From the bloody battlefields of medieval Germany, to the civil wars of the 1640s in Britain, Protestantism unleashed a series of revolutions and wars that rippled across Europe. And the reverberations of the Reformation continue to this day. The programme explores how the role of Protestantism has influenced the current conflict in the Middle East and the foreign policy of George W Bush . Protestantism inspired a new way of thinking; a challenge to authority that has crossed centuries and continents. Martin Luther 's challenge to the Pope in the 16th century inspired conservatives and radicals alike, and its history is one of conflict, challenge and rebellion – from the early religious radicals in Germany, to the founding of the British Labour Party and the Civil Rights movement in Fifties America. The P...

Image via Wikipedia By Lance_ec A lot of people don't like the idea of evolution because they say it reduces us to nothing more than a bunch of hairless primates. But just because they don't like this conclusion, doesn't mean it isn't true. They think that this idea will make people behave in crazy, wild ways, and that people will lose all sense of morality. Those who don't like the idea of evolution try to find any way they can to refute it. But the evidence still stands. Here is the fact we must all realize: We really are all nothing more than a bunch of hairless primates turned loose on this planet. And you yourself are nothing more than a single hairless primate on a planet full of them. Deal with it! Get over yourself! When I was forced to accept this conclusion based on the overwhelming evidence, I had to find some way to come to terms with it, rather than make something else up just to make myself feel better. I tried imagining that God had somehow giv...

Image via Wikipedia By Rational Okie Is Christianity a religion with real power or a fraud ? If you listen to fundamentalists they clearly believe that they have “real power” at their fingertips. It’s not hard to understand why they believe this. After his resurrection Jesus stated to his disciples that those who follow him shall perform miracles . Mark 16:15-20 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working...

By Valerie Tarico M y brother, David, is gay. You can't tell by how he walks or talks or dresses. You wouldn't know who he loves and why unless you know him. The only clue, maybe, is that he happens to be nicer than the rest of my mother's offspring, including me. Several years ago, I said to David: All you have to do to mess with people's stereotypes is be out and be yourself. Whatever the ugly expectation might be: self absorbed, hedonistic, promiscuous, debauched, unable to relate to kids, whatever. . . . David isn't it. One time my mother was driving my tween-age nephews and their friends home from the Christian school they attended. Like boys often do, they were sneering about fags as a way to deal with their own budding sexuality. After dropping the other kids off, my mom said to my nephews, "You do know your Uncle David is gay, don't you?" "Yeah." "But you were just saying you'd never hug a gay or take a gift from them or . . ...

Singing , originally uploaded by comingstobrazil . Sent in by Elizabeth The Following is a snippet of dialogue between adult survivors of a missionary boarding school in Brazil: MY FRIEND'S LETTER IN ANSWER TO A PREVIOUS DISCUSSION: "Ok, now I"m finally going to settle down and pick up our earlier interaction. My time at *** was very mixed. You called me self-contained, and that is probably true, in the sense that I don't tend to show what is going on inside of me to the outside world. I think that the boarding school had a lot to do with that. Since then, I have never really confided in many people, and especially not my own family. It is amazing the things my family does not know about me. In my case, I lived a double life until I was about 38, would you believe it? And I had returned to being a missionary during that entire time. I wanted to be a Christian, but I never felt that I measured up. I remember sitting in church on a Sunday night, you know, when they w...