By Portland Wes Image by CameraDan via Flickr I still receive emailed prayer requests from the last church I attended, often asking for prayers for healing of someone who has a serious illness, or cancer, or been in an accident. I just received one this week, and it got me to reminiscing about how we used to pray for, and over, people who were ill, or who needed "deliverance" from a problem or a spirit of some kind. The most vivid memory concerned the founder and pastor of a local Charismatic church/fellowship that was located in a small town on the south coast of England, just 6 miles from I used to live. It was one of the largest and liveliest congregations in that part of England. As is typical of charismatic gatherings, there was much talk of speaking in tongues , and miracles and healings of all kinds. We had several friends who attended there, although my family and I attended our local charismatic Baptist church (don't be shocked, Americans, it happens a lot in ...

By Valerie Tarico Why God has a human mind. J esus was a human, fathered by a god and born to a virgin. He died for three days and was resurrected. His death was a sacrifice, an offering or propitiation. It brings favor for humans. He lives now in a realm where other supernatural beings interact with each other and sometimes intervene in human affairs. Gradually the mainstream of the American public is becoming aware that none of these elements is unique to Christianity. Symbologists or scholars who specialize in understanding ancient symbols, tell us that the orthodox Jesus story, as it appears in our gospels, follows a specific sacred or mythic template that existed in the Ancient Near East long before Christianity or even Judaism. In part this is due to the flow of history. Religions emerge out of ancestor religions. Though the characters and details merge and morph, elements get carried through that allow us to track the lineage. The Gilgamesh and Noah flood-hero stories are sim...

By Neal Stone Image by Getty Images via Daylife N ow wait a minute Neal! This isn't a computer site, it's an Ex-Christian site for people who have left Christianity and Religion. Linux is a computer thing and has nothing to do with religion or leaving it for that matter. Sure it does. Many people who use Linux do so because in the beginning the knew there was a better choice at their computer life. Then there are those like me who were devoted Microsoft followers for years. We would ignore the bugs and errors, because we thought it didn't matter. Microsoft was our truth and savior. But once in a while someone, like me, sees the truth and realizes there is an alternative to following the crowd blindly. We then sit down and totally replace our Windows with Linux. We discover a true freedom that sets us apart from the rest. We find life easier to live and enjoy and discover others who have also found this truth. No more lies from the “company”, no more bugs or une...

By Glen I have been a good observer of man. Especially the ones that hide behind the church or Christian folds at times. If it wasn't the drunken pastor that came to our door when I was younger, it would be people like my German mother-in-law -- and many things in between. In her case, it would be the continued hounding of her daughter (my wife) of 29 years -- don't do anything on the Sabbath -- don't lift a hammer, etc. But it was okay for this evil German mother-in-law to gossip her brains out on the Sabbath, or destroy people. This would be the same woman that would get out of German Service on Sunday morning as we were going in -- grabbing my hand while looking around -- pulling me close, and trying to give me a kiss while others were looking. How pathetic can a person be. Also in church -- one of her class-act sons would accompany such a woman. Then out on the steps of the church, this fool of sorts, would use the Lord's name in vain. It doesn't stop there....

By Ray Image via Wikipedia R eading the comments on this site continues to remind me that there is a lot of anguish out there. CHEER UP! The dilemma you find yourself in is not your fault. I'm sure you can already tell that there are enough Christian denominations in the United States to drive just about anyone nuts. Most of them are selling theologies that are totally contradictory to each other. In other words, most of them cancel each other out. What one outfit labels as "saving truth" is immediately denounced by another racket as the work of "demon possessed agents of Satan ." The crap never ends. It's a consistent and predictable 24/7 religious food throwing contest. Just remember that this has always been true in the United States with the complete freedom of religion that our Constitution affords. Needless to say, anyone looking for a religious anchor or safety net out there is going to be mentally and emotionally bombarded from all directions...

By WizenedSage Image by freefotouk via Flickr [The State of Maine very recently passed a gay marriage law. The law cannot take effect until 90 days after the close of the legislative session. So, of course, the religious Reich is preparing to force a referendum to overturn the law. I have submitted the following letter-to-the-editor to my local weekly newspaper as well as the state’s largest daily.] Y ou will soon see petitions and petitioners everywhere asking for your signature to help bring Maine’s new gay marriage law to public referendum. You need to be aware that the people behind this drive are there for religious reasons. Because of certain words in the Bible, they think homosexuality is immoral. Most of us these days understand that the Bible is not an infallible guide to morality, but many others just don’t seem to get it. While the Bible commands the death penalty for disobedient sons ( Deuteronomy 21:18-21), adulterers ( Leviticus 20:10), witches (Exodus 22), homos...

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...