by Valerie Tarico “I don’t know if it’s real,” my friend Laura said, “but some conservatives have decided to edit the Bible. I sent you the link .” She started laughing, and I laughed too. Over the next few days more friends sent articles about the Conservative Bible Project . All asked the same question. Is this a spoof or is it legit? Andrew Sullivan , who linked the project subtitled his post : “Not an Onion Headline.” On the face of it, editing the Bible to remove liberal bits is ludicrous. It’s makes liberals want to gloat and jeer* and to point out all of the ridiculous ways the religious right works to rewrite history. It makes a lot of Christians cringe. Wrong reaction, from both. When conservatives squawk about the Bible having been twisted along the way by political bias, our first response should be—they’re right. My own guess is that they don’t know how right they are – or they might not have opened this particular can of spaghetti. The Conservapedia team thinks that th...

by Carl S Image by sean_hickin via Flickr I can hardly wait for Jesus to come back. With the TV cameras rolling, will he come floating down through the clouds the same way he went up? Will he walk across the Sea of Galilee , Lake Michigan , the Pacific Ocean ? Will he stop in Africa first, since so many there seem to need miracles the most, as they pray that their children not die from starvation and preventable diseases? Will he cure AIDS and malaria there? With the TV cameras recording, I would like to watch him feeding thousands from five loaves of bread and two fishes, and watch him walk through a wall, and listen to him praise his spokesmen such as Pope Benedict, Pat Robertson , Ted Haggard , et al., and then listen to him constantly chastise and damn the hypocrisy of religious spokesmen again, as written in those gospels. Maybe he will raise the dead again, making them come out of their graves and walk among us. And maybe he will cure blindness and deafness and drive devils...

by MtlRedAtheist Why won't God heal amputees? I observed that theists who try to respond to the question, tend to end up actually avoiding the question in their response and answering an unasked question. Could it be that they have no good answer for why their god refuses to heal amputees every single time, so they try to explain why they're god allows bad things to happen instead and hope we don't notice? I discuss it a little in this video and the reason why I think the question is important.

by Neal Stone Image via Wikipedia W e have all probably seen the video by now of Ray Comfort using a banana to prove god's design and to prove that god exists. Yes I am now using god in lower case. This video is a hilarious video if you are dying for a good life. Not only is he arrogant as hell, but that constant smirk of Kirk Cameron is really irritating as well. I guess it's easy to have faith when your loaded! Interesting enough, he later apologized for the video. Why? Because the banana he used was engineered by humans. Yes, us humans created the modern banana you see in the local super market. Just an FYI, there is a video called “ How does a monkey open a banana ”. Hint, not the way Ray showed us. My post isn't about the banana video. It's about something more important. His lack of research to back up his claim or belief. This is one of my main reasons for dropping Christianity. So many things were passed on to me by other believers only to discov...

by Yak I was on the Long Now Foundation website and found a talk given by retired NYU professor of History and Literature of Religion, James Carse . The talk is called "Religious War in Light of the Infinite Game." In it he examines the nature of religious thinking and belief and the control they exert. I found it rather interesting. If anyone wants to check it out: http://www.longnow.org/ projects/seminars What caught my interest more, however, is a little snippet from his own blog called "Neither Theism nor Atheism," in which he presents the problem of belief and believers that we all regularly bandy about on this site. I found it by turns interesting and illuminating. In his view, due to the nature of belief, theism and atheism cannot truly exist without the other. One must have an opponent, and an active one, in order to survive. I wanted to pass an excerpt of his ideas along for our collective consideration... "Serious believers are generally ea...

by WizenedSage Image via Wikipedia M y most recent "Letter to the Editor" for one of our local weekly newspapers was published a few days ago. I wanted to share its message with you and again encourage you all to become active in the cause of reason in your own cities and towns. Together, we are many voices and we can make a difference. And, besides, it's fun! An Entreaty to Parents I am writing in response to “A Challenge to Parents,” by Judy Howlett, published in the September 10 edition of this newspaper. Ms. Howlett wrote, “I am going to make arguments for church school attendance. See if you can make as many valid arguments against church school attendance.” Ms. Howlett stresses the positive, community aspects of church, with which I have no problem. When people work together to improve their own and others’ well being, that is laudable. But, of course, that happens outside of church, too. In contrast to Ms. Howlett, I would say to parents, “Please, please, DO NOT s...

F amed atheist Richard Dawkins appeared on The Colbert Report Wednesday night promoting his new book on evolution, " The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution "

by Valerie Tarico T he Seattle Times today included an AP article about the recent quake in Sumatra, along with a “how to help” list. Top of that list was World Vision International . What the article failed to mention and many donors fail to realize, is that World Vision is an Evangelical Christian organization with a mission that includes “serving as a witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Perhaps the best known program of World Vision is their child sponsorships. As an Evangelical college student, I sponsored a child in India . I even got and sent a few letters, and it felt great knowing that thanks to me he could afford to attend a Christian school in his area. a witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ World Vision explicitly states on their website that they “do not proselytize or work with those who insist on proselytism. Proselytism takes place whenever assistance is offered on condition that people must listen or respond to a message or as an inducement to leave one and join ...

by QualiaSoup

by Valerie Tarico I n case you missed the announcement, ShipofFools.com has published an “authoritative” list of the ten worst verses in the Bible. At a time when atheists are posting ads on billboards and busses around the world, you might assume that the Ship is an anti-religious site. But no. Ship of Fools is a Christian website with an impeccable British sense of the absurd. True to its name, the editors go where angels (and other Christians) dare not tread. "We're here for people who prefer their religion disorganized," says Simon Jenkins . "Our aim is to help Christians be self-critical and honest about the failings of Christianity, as we believe honesty can only strengthen faith." People end up defending sexual slavery and scorched earth warfare, even a belief in dragons. I wince a bit at Jenkins’ confidence. As a student at Wheaton College of Billy Graham fame, I thought that the school motto was “All truth is God’s truth.” Later I found out it was...

By Mike S Image by mgerskup via Flickr. Anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death. -- Leviticus 24:16 NOTE: This is a Facebook note that I wrote yesterday; it has received a great response and I thought I'd share it here. Tomorrow, September 30, 2009, is International Blasphemy Day. The date was chosen to mark the four-year anniversary of the Muslim "Danish cartoon riots." Rather than merely fire off another one of my pithy Facebook status updates (although I reserve the right to do this as well), I thought I'd write down a few of my thoughts on the event itself and my own feelings on it. From the official site: "International Blasphemy Day is not just a day. It is a movement to dismantle the wall which exists between religion and criticism." http://www.blasphemyday.com/ My guess is that almost anyone reading thi...

A tribute to some famous televangelists. Would Jesus Wear a Rolex , performed By: Ray Stevens . Written By: Chet Atkins and Margaret Archer . Related: “Would Jesus Wear a Rolex™?”

by agnosticator O nce again, I am reminded of the primary difference between a "true" Christian and the rest of us. Here is a quote from a Christian in the forums: "Christians are capable of greater levels of love than unbelievers. Not because of who we are; but because of God's work in our hearts." This is an example of a common belief shared exclusive to believers. They are better than anyone else because God touched them and made them special. But not only special, God makes them superior in every way. They magically become more empathetic, more honest, more loving, and morally superior. Simultaneously, they possess a mean streak; an attitude that is palpable to those unlike themselves. This is the arrogance of faith. The New Testament inspires this attitude through the doctrine of salvation. But this is only the beginning. The scriptures are riddled with words of arrogance masquerading as love and concern. There is a mean-spirited bitterness permeating the N...

by Jon Castro Image via Wikipedia T o His Majesty the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, For years and years we asked, yet did not receive. Sought, yet did not find. Knocked, yet were never answered. Did we not ask enough? Seek enough? Knock enough? Truly you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you have not scattered seed. In vain we rose up early, and in vain we sat up late. Your ear did not attend to our cries and in you we found no mercy. You set us in slippery places and cast us down to destruction. Truly you are no Saviour of souls. In you there is not a shred of compassion – only a heart of hate. Jacob you may have “loved”, but Esau you hated. Billions like him have dropped into hell, ignored by you all their lives. Yet who was it who left the devil roaming around in the garden to tempt Adam and Eve? Who was it who put that tree there? You! In your massive foolishness, questionable omnipotence and sheer lack of benevolence, you presid...

by Sharon Image by davidsilver via Flickr O ral Roberts, the 91 year old founder of Oral Roberts University, now semi-retired, has taken to reminiscing on the Christian TBN network, about how he founded the University that bears his name. His fond remembrances of how "God" revealed to him the "seed faith" theology (a coin he termed), is enough to make any fiscally responsible persons' blood boil ! Oral Roberts founded the 263 acre University campus in 1963 in Tulsa Oklahoma. The current endowment rests at 33 million dollars, off of which Oral Roberts earns $83,505 per year for his retirement. In addition the University Board of Regents used millions of dollars of endowment money in 1988 to purchase property in exclusive Beverly Hills for Oral Roberts West Coast home and office, which also included a country club membership. In addition he also maintained an exclusive residence in the St. Andrews Country Club in Boca Raton Florida (until 1992), which he ...

The young man in the following video interview on the Tyra Show is no longer gay , he says, because an unclean spirit was cast out of him one day at church . After listening to this young man talk, what do you think? Is he still gay? And what do you think about his "pastor?"

by whydowebelieve Whydowebelieve 's plans for a lovely picnic at Huntington Beach are interrupted as Ray Comfort shows up to tell him that knowing Jesus is like knowing Comfort's wife. We felt compelled to expose these falsehoods to his gathered audience in the same way our blog challenges religious beliefs in other arenas.

Bart D. Ehrman discusses the history of the word of Jesus and Stephen Colbert offers him irrefutable logic. (5:30) Books by Erhman available here: ExChristian.Net Bookstore

by Louisa May Image via Wikipedia I have heard this argument so many times. But, to be honest, it did not take me much time to invent my own theory. I am not very good at physics , but it is generally accepted that the universe is expanding , with solar systems bursting in and out of existence all the time. The Earth is the perfect distance from the sun to support life, and the Big Bang needed the right pressures and angles (and so on) to create the Earth as we know it. I accept this as fact. Yet, if solar systems are continually being made and destroyed, wasn't our solar system statistically bound to happen eventually, coincidentally, anyway? There doesn't need to be a God -- or a Creator -- just a continually expanding universe. And considering the fact there would be no universe if it were not expanding... So, despite the fact I am a Christian, the moronic nature of the cosmological argument has forced me to score a point against myself and score a point point for a crea...

by Neal Stone C hristians love to use the watch maker analogy to prove God exists because it takes an intelligent being to create something complex. I guess Christians don't watch much Red Green and if you've ever watched it you know what I am talking about. Let's take a look at a watchmaker shall we? A watchmaker can be proved to exist. We only need to go to the nearest mall to find one or evidence of his work. The evidence isn't questionable and left for us to interpret for ourselves either. His stamp is clearly marked on all his creations. We can also talk to the watchmaker and get a clear answer to our questions and problems we may have about our watch. After all, only the watchmaker knows right because he works in strange and mysterious ways right? WRONG! God is all guess work and theory. Even creation as proof can be questioned. Take a watch, broken or working, to any watch repair shop and each one can correctly diagnose the problem or tell you CLEARLY h...