By Valerie Tarico Image by carf via Flickr S ometimes I get letters from former Christians—the evangelical/fundamentalist type—who are also parents. “What do I say to my kids?” they ask. “I raised them to believe that without the blood of Jesus they are evil sinners. What a horrible thing for them to think! I feel guilty.” “All of their friends are members of our old church, so we keep going. I don’t want to tear them apart, but it’s getting harder and harder for me to pretend.” “When I try to talk to them they just cry. They think I’m going to hell.” No matter what age the kids are or what the situation, telling them you no longer believe can be tricky. Here are three things to remember. Help them to understand your changes as a matter of spiritual growth rather than spiritual abandonment. Valerie Tarico is the author of The Dark Side: How Evangelical Teachings Corrupt Love and Truth and the founder of www.WisdomCommons.org The bottom line is that your personal evolution is very much...

Image by AndyBodies via Flickr Video Peter Singer vs. Dinesh D'Souza : video . Topic: existence of God. Richard Carrier vs. Mike Licona : video , dvd . Topic: resurrection. Dan Barker vs. Mike Licona : video . Topic: resurrection. Dan Barker vs. Hassanain Rajabali : video 1 2 3 . Topic: existence of God. Dan Barker & Richard Carrier vs. Hassanain Rajabali & Michael Corey : dvd . Topic: existence of God. Louise Antony vs. William Lane Craig : audio 1 2 , video 1 2 . Topic: Christian morality. Elaine Pagels vs. Mike Licona : video . Topic: gnostic gospels . Christopher Hitchens vs. Al Sharpton : video . Topic: existence of God. Christopher Hitchens vs. Marvin Olasky : video 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 . Topic: religion and politics. Christopher Hitchens vs. Peter Hitchens : video 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 . Topic: brother vs. brother. Only part of the debate is on religion. Christopher Hitchens vs. Frank Turek : video , audio . Topic: existence of God...

Have you ever wondered, “What’s the point of everything?” asks documentary film producer Roger Nyard "I have, and that’s why the documentary [...] exist(s). "We all share one thing in common -- we exist. But why? I wrote down every question I could think of regarding the nature of existence, and then began asking people all over the globe for their insights." This new documentary is one that I look forward to owning. But, as far as I can tell, it's not yet available on DVD. For screen presentations, click here . Spread the word about this one. "The Nature of Existence" -- More video clips

Hitchens D'Souza Debate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-Nduv... Dawkins No creator, Just Evolution http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYB2zr... Sam Harris vs David Wolpe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jkBCE...

Image by danny.hammontree via Flickr By Mriana T he title for this article is a quote from Holly Near’s song “I Ain’t Afraid” ( http://hollynear.com/lyrics/i.aint.afraid.html ), and I write this rant in the same fashion as her song, because I am not afraid of anyone’s god, but rather what they do in the name of their so-called deity. This behavior keeps me in the closet with my disbelief here in the Bible Belt, because I have been through such vicious and disgusting behaviors before, which I have no desire to experience again. I only hope that one day such behaviors will end and it will not matter if one is a humanist, non-theist, atheist, agnostic, or whatever label they chose for themselves. This past week, Acharya S. was on this so-called Catholic bishop’s podcast. I do not know if his name is necessary, but he appears to be of the First Vatican deal. Those who are former Catholics know what I am trying to refer to and he believes in the paranormal and exorcisms. Not the best...

Image by bradjward via Flickr By David S A s many of you are aware, a Christian pastor in Illinois was killed on Sunday March 8 , in his church, no less. Certainly, a terrible tragedy and I feel horrible for his surviving family. Nonetheless, this tragedy illustrates a common theme I have found among Christians: God had a special plan for this man, and that no way, interferes with His plan for me! In other words, they never consider that maybe God's plan was cut short by this child of God being executed, and that their own lives could fall pray to the enemy as God sits idly by, doing nothing! Someone very important to me goes to a Bible study twice a week and watches numerous television episodes of Joyce Meyer , many in which Joyce proclaims that God has a special plan for all Christians. Of course, this special plan is never divulged, but you can believe, if its from God, its special! Anyway, this friend of mine feels that God has that "special plan" for their life,...

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...