By Sharon Image via Wikipedia F or centuries Christianity has claimed that it inhabits the moral high ground . This position has gone unchallenged until recent work in evolutionary theory has been able to provide a genetic/biological understanding of morality. Belief in evolutionary biology and psychology is a superior belief compared to the Christian belief system, when making any decisions, especially those with a moral or ethical component. In short, Evolution provides a higher moral ground than Christian ideology is able to provide. Evolution tells us that Man/Woman has gradually improved from a lessor biological (and hence psychological) state, and that this improvement has occurred over vast spans of time. While on the road to improvement, certain biological features have remained for various reasons, and can be shown to have originated in lower life forms. Hence we have a biological connection to all of life on earth. Christian ideology, which is based on the creation story ,...

By the great dreamer Image by hide99 via Flickr S avior worship has been around for thousands of years. It is the motivating factor behind many of the worlds religions. It is also one of the most destructive thought processes. It is a tool religions use to get what they want. A society they have total control over. People often hop from one religion to another, sometimes changing deities but rarely give up on savior worship. Savior worship allows people to put up with all sorts of traumas. "just give it to god", I'm sure you've heard that before. This is why religions implant savior worship into our minds, it makes us like clay which they can mold. We'll put up with most anything if it helps our eternal vision. It has been over fifteen years since I threw away my religion and it's supposed savior. It was one of the greatest moments of my life, free at last. I've felt that way ever since. Unfortunately I have not had such an easy time getting rid of the sa...

By Marlene Winell T here is a fundamental contradiction in the evangelical message of salvation because, according to them, it is NOT Christ's atoning death that saves you, it is YOUR BELIEF in it. (otherwise everyone would be saved). Therefore, this is not a salvation by grace , it is another salvation by works, albeit cognitive work. You must DO several things - find out about and understand the atonement , accept that Jesus dies for your sins, feel guilt and express your sorrow for being responsible, ask forgiveness, and invite Jesus "into your heart" to rule for the rest of your life. IF you are sincere enough and it works, you get your life insurance (or fire insurance). Many people do this many times because they aren't sure. What do these things mean? What does it mean to "believe," "confess sin," or "accept Jesus"? These are mental events with no objective evidence. And how does one force oneself to believe if the...

By Mriana Image via Wikipedia I am reading Marlene Winell’s book, “ Leaving the Fold ”, and I got to a point in the book that really hit very close to home. I doubted that it would for various reasons, but it did. My first reaction was to explode on her in an email, but my anger was not directed at her. Rather it was directed at two people who are now dead: my minister great uncle and grandfather. What did she write that triggered this bout of anger? Where do I to begin? Let us flashback to a brief conversation with my minister great uncle and work from there. “It is the devil that is scaring you, not me.” “No Uncle Richard. It’s you! You scare me,” which was well within my right to tell him, but still my feelings were blown off and projected onto something that was no more real to me than a cartoon character, even as a child. So here I was reading this part of her book about Family Background, subsection “Physical and Sexual Abuse” and so many memories were triggered within me...

By Neal Stone Monster School bus HDR , originally uploaded by sumoetx . L ast Sunday I was out biking and was cutting through the local college campus ( St Martin's U . in Lacey ) when I came across an old car show. I rode around taking pictures and then left through the front entrance of the college. As I was leaving, I saw off in the distance an old school bus that had been converted to a Monster Bus, like the monster trucks we see on TV. It was the short bus too, like the one special-ed kids ride in. I used to be one of those kids myself, years ago. I finally got to the bus and was checking it out thinking, “This is so cool!” to myself. Then I saw it. Something that made my heart sink and my blood boil. On the sides were the words “Living Water” with a logo of a church with the same name. But before I got too mad, I thought I would ask a few questions first. There was a gentleman there, so I asked if he built the bus? He said yes. So I started to ask a few questions a...

By Truthbound Image by Meredith_Farmer via Flickr I t’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here though I receive and enjoy reading the articles and de-conversion stories that appear nearly every day. I recently celebrated my own de-conversion anniversary about a month ago and could hardly believe that four years have passed since that heart wrenching and fateful decision. Realizing the gravity of comfort that this site has brought to me over the years coupled with knowing that everyday there are many who are crossing the bridge of uncertainty and are located at differing places along that trail to their own de-conversion, has inspired me to write a little something from my current perspective for those who just starting this process. First off, I think it is important to state that the “road” out, is a bumpy ride and my heart goes out to all who are brave enough to make their personal declaration and stay the course. Though every de-conversion is as unique as the individual who i...

By Valerie Tarico Image by Gio JL via Flickr M y father died in a climbing accident when he was 59 and I was in my mid twenties. In one of our last deep conversations before his 300 meter misstep, he expressed his abiding hope that I would “get right with God.” Dad was the son of Italian immigrants, all Catholics, who got converted by door-to-door Pentecostals some years after their arrival in Chicago. His mother lived out her life in the Assemblies of God denomination that had recruited them all, while Dad settled into a closely allied form of Evangelical fundamentalism without the speaking-in-tongues bit. As far as I know, he never questioned his belief that the Bible was the literally perfect word of God and that Jesus died for his sins. And yet of his six children three of us, by Evangelical standards, are now slated for eternal torture. We are on the wrong side of a battle being waged on a spiritual plane, a battle in which those who are not on the side of God are agents of...

By Agnosticator Painting of an early Christian Agape Feast. Image via Wikipedia C hristians have alot to say about their love for God, and that God loves them abundantly. They claim to have a special love relationship nonbelievers cannot ever have. What does it mean to love God? Before we can answer this, we need to know what love is. Any dictionary will probably define it as being "a deep feeling of affection or attachment to another person (or even an animal) we value". There are different kinds of love, shared between: parent-child, friend-to-friend, adult lovers, and human-animal. Love eminates from human relationships . It is emotional and, in healthy relationships, also rational. This feeling is also extended to God by devoted followers. Beyond this feeling, "love" transforms into something entirely different. Why? First, we must ask how we can love a God who is invisible and transcendent? Christians are not free to only feel love towards God, or be thankful ...

By Carl S I n the news, a cult is generally described as an “extremist religious sect.” With that in mind, along with the dictionary definition, “obsessive devotion to a person or principle,” let’s consider if Christianity can qualify as a cult. There are those who proudly proclaim that their New Testament is superior to the Old and supersedes it. For instance, instead of sacrificing goats, rams, and lambs to appease the Deity, the Ultimate Sacrifice is now demanded for the atonement of all of mankind’s transgressions. The Great Buyout, so to speak. What a relief and end of story…but hold on. Just in case you missed it, the sacrifice He demands is the sacrifice of one’s self. Get this; He tells you to hate your own life, and if you want to be His FRIEND, you have to do anything and everything He tells you to do. He recommends giving away your hard-earned possessions, even to someone who has already stolen from you (double the theft). He tells you to spurn your family, to cut off your ...

By Valerie Tarico Image by soyignatius via Flickr F or years atheists, agnostics, and other freethinkers have been saying that you don’t need a god to be good. Recently, they even tried to say it on the side of an Indiana bus. More and more, they are finding ways to show it. Kiva.org is a matchmaking service. It pairs up desperately poor people who need loans with folks who are willing to take a chance on them. With as little as $25 in your hand, you can go to Kiva and help a farmer in Pakistan who wants a pair of goats, or a single mom in Peru who wants to invest in a new sewing machine for her home embroidery business, or a vendor in Sudan who sells corn flour and wants to increase her inventory. The borrowers request a specific amount through a local microcredit agency, often with a small group of community members who guarantee each others’ loans. When enough lenders choose them, meaning the full amount is available, they get the loan, invest it in their venture, a...

By DocMike When Christians say things like, "Jesus loves you" or "God has a plan for your life" they assume people appreciate it. To me, it's like saying, "The Easter Bunny loves you." Well, actually, it's worse than that. If someone over the age of ten said that, I would just assume it was a joke. But when someone tells me Jesus loves me, it's insulting! Why would I care if some mythical figure (or possibly an actual historic human) loves me? For that matter, why would I care if any random person alive or dead loves me? It's like they assume I'm so lonely, hopeless, and unhappy that I would find comfort in knowing that their invisible friend cares about me. And when they say that their God has a plan for my life, that's even worse! What makes them think I want to live my life by anyone's plan but my own? God's plan for them obviously includes standing on the street corner or knocking on doors telling people about it. Tha...

By Mriana W hen I was little, I had a great uncle who was in WW II , and is not to be confused with the great uncle that was a Free Methodist minister. He was a medic, who decided which fallen soldiers they could medically saved and who could not. It was not an easy job; I am sure, and probably traumatic enough to cause PTSD . Of course, back then, they called it Shell Shock. However, I do not believe for a minute that lovely man was suffering from anything, not even anger with God, as my grandparents had insisted. This dear man returned home, but he could not continue in the medical field. As to the why, I never was privy to the information or if I had been, I do not remember. The reason did have something to do with the military though. Therefore, he became a schoolteacher and even married a schoolteacher. He dearly loved children and enjoyed teaching. What little experience the other adults in my life allowed with him, was a marvelous and, dare I say, divine intimate lesson...

By Valerie Tarico Image via Wikipedia E vangelism in the halls of the Pentagon. Personalized Bible studies for foreign diplomats. Passion of the Christ advertisers next to plates in the Air Force Academy mess hall. Officers Christian Fellowship buses from military bases to revival meetings. A Southern Baptist fundamentalist at the head of the Chaplain Corps . Through Christian Embassy and similar organizations, millions of dollars annually are dedicated to insuring that our military leadership is steeped in born-again Christianity. The investment has paid off. Mikey Weinstein at the Military Religious Freedom Foundation receives letters daily from service men and women who have been coerced or intimidated because they aren’t born again. Ironically, most of those who complain are Christians – just not the right kind. You can’t have this kind of conversion activity going on inside the military without it spilling over to the outside. One missionary boasts that he sent 1.3 ...