By Valerie Tarico Image by degreezero2000 via Flickr I Know Because I Know O n a warm afternoon in June, two men have appointments with a psychiatrist. The first has been dragged to the office by his wife, much to his irritation. He is a biologist who suffers from schizophrenia, and the wife insists that his meds are not working. “No,” says the biologist, “I’m actually fine. It’s just that because of what I’m working on right now the CIA has been bugging my calls and reading my email.” Despite his wife’s skepticism and his understanding of his own illness, he insists calmly that he is sure, and he lines up evidence to support his claim. The other man has come on his own because he is feeling exhausted and desperate. He shows the psychiatrist his hands, which are raw to the point of bleeding. No matter how many times he washes them (up to a hundred in a day) or what he uses (soap, alcohol, bleach or scouring pads) he never feels confident that they are clean. In both of these...

By ChuckyJesus666

By Bill Image by space time coctail via Flickr E very religion has it's rules and in Christianity, these rules are collected in a book called the bible (the book). Religious leaders tell us this book is the word of god, written by god to teach us how to live right. According to these priests god created everything , knows everything and is in total control. Let's take a closer look at this book he gave us to see what it has to offer. The book says we were created by and placed here by a greater god (against our will?). The book teaches us god created us all, good, bad, deranged, defective and perverted. The book tells us we are all sinners and out of the billions of people that he created, only 144,000 are good people. The rest are losers slated to burn in hell for eternity. The book tells us to follow our leaders without question as they were chosen by god. Our leaders are allowed to murder their children if they hear voices in their head telling them to do so. They are allow...

By Valerie Tarico I wasn't going to post this to ExChristian since it's a bit off topic, but because so many of us have been shamed by our religion for our abortions, I thought that some of you might find that it speaks to your experience. G eorge Tiller --physician, abortion provider, Lutheran, husband, father, grandfather--was shot and killed yesterday in the lobby of his church . He was killed after years of harassment and threats, bombing of his clinic, even being shot in both arms. And yet he continued doing what he did because he believed it was right. They say that the walls of Dr. Tiller’s clinic are lined with letters from grateful families. I can understand that gratitude. Whenever tirades against abortion catch my attention, I look at our elder daughter with wonder and gratitude. Without abortion she wouldn’t exist, and if I knew where to find the warm Canadian-trained Singaporean physician who gave us the gift of Brynn, I would send her one of those letters, t...

By Ray Image via Wikipedia A s Christian hypocrisy goes, one of my favorites is what I call "The cult of the southern Christian military hero." There are more than a few Christian websites doing this. The Reconstructionist movement run by ultraCalvinist diehards is one of them. They have put Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson and Robert E. Lee in their pantheon of little gods next to Jesus. It must have been a mentally orgasmic day for the Reconstructionist honchos when President Ford restored the full rights of citizenship to General Lee in 1975. (And this rehab job is fully supported by traditionalist Catholic outfits since Pope Pius IX supported the Confederacy) Maybe the Vatican can make them honorary Catholics and declare them saints. This claptrap is really sad when one considers that Lee kept the slaughter of the Civil War going even after 1863 and Gettysburg, thus opening the way for the ruination and destruction of "Old Dixie" over the de...

By WizenedSage Image by rainsoaked via Flickr M any Christians suffer anguishing, debilitating fear their whole lives over the doubts they just can’t beat down. They will have - they can’t help but have - serious doubts about some of the extraordinary stories and incredible claims of Christianity, but dare not entertain those thoughts. Often their pastors and parents drum it into them from the time they are knee-high to a grasshopper that to doubt God is to insult Him and invite His terrible wrath. They may teach that doubt is the favored strategy of Satan to undermine the faith of believers. But, this fear really makes no sense. If there’s a God worth worshipping, one who can determine the course of future events, then that God must be sensible. It should be blindingly obvious that if there’s a God, then he gave you legs to walk with, ears to hear with, eyes to see with, and a brain to think with. No sensible God would give you a brain and then punish you for using it to the best of...

By Mriana Image via Wikipedia A s I mentioned before, I was born in 1966, a few months before the season premier of Trek the Original Series . I grew up with the saying, “We strive to better ourselves and humanity” among other sayings that are very much similar to what is found in the Humanist Manifestos and all prior to age seven. The age of accountability among Christians is seven, but for seven years, I saw reruns of TOS and I remember sitting in a Lazy-Boy chair when I was four watching a “laughing Vulcan ” who was sprayed with some powder from a flower, as well as Tribbles, and Apollo (see “Who Mourns for Adonis”). At the same time, we rarely went to church around this time, but there were rare occasions that we did. I have an idea of how old I was because we lived in Alton, IL prior to me going to first grade. We did not live in the country until after I entered first grade, so I have some demarcation of age. There was a moment when my mother pointed to a time of drastic chan...

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...