By summerbreeze Image by NileGuide.com via Flickr W ith Earth Day being in the month of April, I wanted to share my story with all of you. I had dumped a very good " friend " years ago when for the first time in my life, I reached out to God. That good friend was my deep love for the natural world, the wilderness and all of its' creatures. When I was a Christian, I spent so much time with my nose in the bible, doing bible study home-work and having End-Times rhetoric thrown at me, that I lost track of what was real to me, and what truly had always given me peace and comfort in my past. By nature I'm a mildly nervous person (exaggerated my the meds I have to take) and admittedly I am way too overly sensitive for my own good! So in the early days of my being a Christian, I assumed that the longer that I was a Christian, even more peace and tranquility would come into my life, kind of like a side bonus. It's interesting, that I know several Chri...

By Valerie Tarico Bronze Age casting of a bronze axe. smiling_da_vinci via Flickr T his week the Supreme Court declined to review a Texas murder case in which a juror brought a Bible into the sentencing process – showing that the Bible recommends death for anyone who kills another person with an iron rod (Numbers 35:16). Let me say for the record that I’m not against the death penalty , and in this case it sounds like the defendant fit my criteria, too. I know I'm ruining my liberal credentials here, but I frankly don’t have any moral problem with the jury condemning him to death. However, to do so based on the sanctification of a Bronze Age legal code is somewhat horrifying—especially given the list of other "crimes" that are recommended for capital punishment in the Bible. Yes, yes, the court assures us that even though bringing the Bible into the sentencing was improper, there is no evidence that it swayed the jury. Rest assured that when the Bible and other author...

By Danny, Are you unable to think for yourself? Will you believe anything as long as lots of other people believe it too? Do you enjoy reading the same stuff over and over and over the rest of your life? Then you need religion! This video made the front page of Digg.com and Reddit.com . For some reason, YouTube decided to remove it from their servers, subsequently sparking an online controversy which led to numerous YouYubers uploading this video to their own accounts. The vid ended up with around 250,000 total views on YouTube. Watch closely. There's a subliminal plug for ExChristian.Net!

By Shannon Hughes Image by gaspi *your guide via Flickr W ikipedia defines Faith as a belief in the truth of or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing, that is characteristically held without proof.[1] [2] Informal usage of the word " faith " can be quite broad, and may be used standardly in place of " trust ", "belief", or "hope". For example, the word "faith" can refer to a religion itself or to religion in general, where in this context faith would encompass not only a belief without evidence but also a belief which can oppose scientific evidence . As with "trust", faith involves a concept of future events or outcomes. Faith is quite literally the belief in that which is not seen, known or realized. The architects of all the monumental achievements of humankind both good and bad , structural and social have all been a tangible result of the creations of the mind. Those who built the Pyramids, Colosseum , Democracy, A...

By Wendy Image by Urijamjari via Flickr I went to church this Easter . I did it because my entire family was going and I didn't want to upset anyone. I expected the regular sermon about Jesus being crucified, resurrecting, etc. As I walked into the gospel church, I almost thought I was walking into a fashion show! Everyone had their most expensive Gucci suits and Prada bags and shoes. I was willing to brush this off. Then, there was an impressive light show with the choir -- fancy flood and theater lights lit the stage in the building that holds 2500 people. I wondered how much money went into that and where the money was coming from. Then I found out the source: the choir leader went on for 15 minutes on why we should give money. She ended her little speech with, "Don't you dare leave here without giving anything! Your money is a seed for growth. If you have to, ask your neighbor for a quarter and pay them back later!" I didn't give anything. This kind of cra...

By Mriana Image by charluna via Flickr I have mentioned a few reasons, including disbelief, as to why I left the Church and can never go back even just to attend for the social aspects, like Bob Price does. Here is yet another reason as to why I know I can never go back. The Episcopal Church, as well as other churches, has major fasts and feasts, as well as minor feasts and fasts. Except for Easter, because I have always loved chocolate and the new life Spring brings, I never did celebrate feast days. At one time, when I went to church regularly, I could name all the fast days and seasons. Lent is another one in which fasting is involved, but the majority of healthier people do not literally go on a forty day food fast and for me, religion was a part of my own eating disorder. This year, I did not realize that it was Holy Week nor did I even pay attention when it was Ash Wednesday this year and therefore took no notice that it was Lent. I had completely forgotten it until ...

By Valerie Tarico Image by carf via Flickr T his week, Barack Obama is expected to sign into law the GIVE Act , which aims to increase volunteering. It gives young people a way to pay for education with public service. Some right wingers have been squawking because the plan excludes religious activities like church attendance and outreach from the social service hours that can be applied for credit. Personally I’m relieved. I want my taxes to pay for programs with clear benefits, and I want the wall separating church and state repaired. But before we secular types get all high and mighty we should take a look at why some people think that faith based programs are necessary for the good of society. Several studies (e.g. here and here ) show that religious people give more dollars and volunteer hours to charity than do nonbelievers. Evangelical Christians have been trumpeting these findings: No matter what you may think about our exclusive offer of salvation, our religion is ...

By WizenedSage Image via Wikipedia A ccording to the Bible, we humans are clearly the crowning achievement of God’s creation. We are what it’s all about, the central actors, what it was all made for. But, there’s something terribly wrong with this picture. Consider for a moment, if you were staging a play for a half dozen actors, would you build a stage four miles on a side for the performance? Wouldn’t this be a bit like building a universe several billion light years across and then putting your actors all on one tiny planet in the suburbs of a fairly average galaxy, revolving around a relatively modest star? It is not easy to grasp how big the universe is. In fact, it is probably impossible to truly wrap our minds around it. But let’s try shrinking it down to a model so that we might just begin to get a feel for the immensity of this stage we are on. Let’s imagine that our sun is the size of a typical grain of sand. If you put 1,000 of these grains end to end, they would measure ...

By Marlene Winell Image by OldPixels.com via Flickr I t’s Easter ; I have memories of getting up early year after year as a child to go to Easter Sunrise Service. We gathered somewhere outdoors, simulating the women and disciples who went to Jesus’ tomb in the early morning on the day of his resurrection. We sang certain hymns that were only for Easter – “Christ the Lord is ris’n today, Ha-a-a-a-He -lelujah,” “He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me, along life’s narrow way!” I liked it – the brisk early morning, the feeling of life and hope, the joy of the music. Unlike a lot of other church experiences, it was a day of celebration. And what a profound message – death has been conquered! Just put your faith in Christ. marlenewinell.net mwinell [AT] gmail [DOT] com Recovery retreats May 1-3, and June 5-7 And now? It’s been many years and I’m no longer a Christian. I do not believe I will continue after I die. In my work as a psychologist, I wor...

Image via Wikipedia T he Christian Bible culminates in a death and resurrection story. What is this story, and where did it come from? In this post, Valerie Tarico, author of The Dark Side, interviews Dr. Tony Nugent, scholar of world religions and mythology . Dr. Nugent is a symbologist, an expert in ancient symbols. He taught at Seattle University for fifteen years in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and is a Presbyterian minister. This interview was first published in 2008. Easter is coming. Some people are saying that the crucifixion and resurrection narratives simply retell the cycle of seasons, the death and return of the Sun. Others say that these stories are literal histories. But you say the reality is more complicated than either of these. You argue that the Easter stories - the death and resurrection of Jesus have very specific mythic origins. I view the story of Christ in the Gospels of the New Testament as a powerful and spiritually wise sacred story....

Image by eagleglide via Flickr “Sometimes in order to see the light, you have to risk the dark.” ~ quote by Lois Smith as Iris Hineman from Minority Report . S o often I have been asked so many questions in recent years and the answers are long and detailed. One of them deals with my rants against some Christians, yet accepting others, even giving them some respect, especially those of the Episcopal/ Anglican Church when I have left it. I will agree that I am “not ready to make nice” with those who are extreme in their views, but at the same time, I did pay a price for the knowledge I did gain over the years with the help of those I greatly appreciate. Well here is the short version of what happened between when I left home at 19 and when I left Christianity completely six or seven years ago. Firstly, thanks to a few good people, I learned that not all Christians are alike. I also learned that not all Episcopal/Anglican congregations are alike, as evidence by the break up within ...