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I'm Free! 2007-11-13 18:51:20 Sent in by AndreFor years I was in bondage by Christianity — a slave to the church. For years I was pimped financially and otherwise. I was brainwashed into thinking that it is wrong to find women beautiful, that it is wrong to listen to music that didn't have the words "god" "Jesus" "lord" or "worship" in every other sentence. Then one day in the summer of 1998 I woke up to realize that life is too short to have my life dictated by a book that repeatedly contradicts itself. There are better ways to spend a Sunday afternoon in than some boring church service being told that I'm going to hell because I get more excited by a football game than the so-called word of god. And guess what? Contrary to popular Christian belief, I'm happier now than I was as a Christian. ...

Two Liars for Jesus and an Aging Philosopher? 2007-11-12 13:24:00 By Valerie Tarico In the name of God all manner of moral boundary crossings become conceivable. In the service of a biblical god or the Bible-as-God, they all too often become real.For Evangelical Christians, the greatest good in the world is winning converts. A Christian who wins a convert saves a soul that would otherwise be condemned to eternal torture. According to traditional Roman Catholic theologies in which modern Evangelicalism has its roots, only true believers are exempt from this fate.With stakes so high, intellectual and moral slight of hand in order to win converts or keep people from deconverting becomes a lesser evil than leaving souls to suffer damnation.Evangelical missionaries, often genuinely decent people driven by compassion, choose this lesser evil even if it means they have to engage in distasteful manipulation or deceit. As they should! That’s what moral reasoning is about: being able to weigh the consequences of our actions and choose the lesser evil or the ...

What church do you attend? Or are you Atheist or Agnostic? 2007-11-12 06:37:00 Sent in by Eris DiscordiaWhat I find interesting and a little disturbing is the fact that so many people feel it is necessary to pry into my personal belief system! When I finally broke free of the bonds of my prison religion I was made to feel uncomfortable by old friends and relatives, and even people I meet in the coffee shop who insisted on quizzing me as to how I spend my Sunday mornings! "What church are you going to now?" "What happened?" "Why don't you attend church any longer?" "How can you survive without a church family to give you strength in the Lard?" Blah blah blah blah..............When I reply that I no longer attend church the barrage of questions ensue. The inquisition gets under way! At this point I am afraid that I have been less than tactful and lashed out inappropriately. However, looking back on it, it still angers me that my Christian friends and family are so nosy about my personal beliefs. It has been several years now and I still don't handle th ...

A Time That Changed Me 2007-11-12 05:57:29 By Brenden Rexford Imagine your mind being taken over by some belief. Anything, just for example's sake. That belief infects you, taking over every ounce of free will and common sense you have. Your body now belongs to that belief. Every aspect of your life revolves around it. Every belief that is not the exact same as yours is wrong and evil, because only you and that small group that share your ideas are right. You don't have to even study other beliefs- by default, anything by another name is wrong, whether you know anything at all about it or not. And all that time, you are not really thinking, though you believe you fully are and that you are better off than you were. You also believe that your mind is clear and you have finally come to realize a great truth, when in actuality, you have never been more wrong and more lonely. Not understanding why others criticize you, why you are a misfit. And suddenly everything spirals downward in flames and you come to the shocking conc ...

Richard Dawkins and Lee Strobel: Antony Flew 2007-11-11 07:11:09 Richard Dawkins talks about Antony Flew's recent conversion to deism. Lee Strobel holds an interview with Antony Flew on the afterlife.From Wikipedia:Professor Antony Garrard Newton Flew (born February 11, 1923) is a British philosopher. Known for several decades as a prominent atheist, Flew first publicly expressed deist views in 2004[1]. Biography Antony Flew, the son of a Methodist minister, was born in London, England. He was educated at St Faith's School, Cambridge followed by Kingswood School, Bath. During the Second World War he studied Japanese at the School of Oriental and African Studies, and was a Royal Air Force intelligence officer. After the war, Flew achieved a first class degree in Literae Humaniores at St John's College, Oxford. Flew was a graduate student of Gilbert Ryle, prominent in ordinary language philosophy. Both Flew and Ryle were among many Oxford philosophers fiercely criticised in Ernest Gellner's book Words and Things (1959). A 1954 debate with Michae ...

What are you? Atheist or Agnostic ? 2007-11-11 06:40:38 By Brian Worley of Exminister.orgFlew Controversy Exposes an Atheist Blind SpotThis is an oft-asked question to people like myself that have rejected faith. Many skeptics like to place you within their agnostic or atheist “camp” like a church member does with their new convert. But some will insist and press on you until you answer this question for them, I say “not so fast”.Getting Somewhat Biographical for a ReasonBefore I tell you my position…(it is a little different answer than what you might expect) I need to explain a few things. I am very appreciative of my alma mater Tennessee Temple University (TTU) in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I graduated in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science with a major in Pastoral Studies. Yes, they taught me dogma and many other things that I later discovered were simply not true. But anyway, what I am grateful for is that they were consistent in their aim to provide a quality education. They taught us that a good education teaches you how to thin ...

Fragmented Apologetic 2007-11-10 05:50:32 Reposted from the Freethought Cafe by J.C. SamuelsonChristians often make much of the manuscript attestation for the Bible. Popularized by Josh McDowell in his book, "Evidence that Demands a Verdict," this particular apologetic is frequently offered to support the assertion that the Bible is not only historically reliable, but divinely preserved. Basically, it's reasoned that if archaeologists have recovered many more manuscripts for the Bible than any other ancient text, and those texts don't differ substantially from one another, it means the Bible must be a unique and special document.Certainly the Bible is unique in some respects. As an ancient document, it stands well above its peers in that its components were authored over a span of several centuries, making the fact of its substantial attestation that much more impressive. Many other ancient documents have been lost entirely, being known to us only second or third hand. It's very easy to understand how this might seem to mea ...

More distortions in the culture war 2007-11-10 05:28:34 Reposted from the Freethought Cafe by J.C. SamuelsonAs has been previously documented, the war on the "War on Christmas" continues to be one of the major seasonal pillars of religious activism in this country. In prosecuting this so-called war, however, religious groups frequently resort to distortions or outright lies in order to further promote a persecution complex among their religious constituency. As before, the American Family Association (AFA) is among those leading the propaganda campaign.The headline of an action item on the AFA website reads, "Federal government tells 85-year-old grandmother she cannot put an angel on Christmas tree." Having thus provoked our sense of fairness, righteous indignation begins to swell and brows furrow picturing grandma being preyed upon by jackbooted (but otherwise smartly dressed) government officials. The Feds must have surreptitiously implemented legislation governing how private citizens may decorate for the holidays.Of course, this isn't ...

Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial 2007-11-10 04:55:35 Reposted from the Freethought Cafe by J.C. SamuelsonOn November 13th at 8:00 PM, the Public Broadcasting Service program NOVA will be airing a two-hour special that "captures the turmoil that tore apart the community of Dover, Pennsylvania in one of the latest battles over teaching evolution in public schools." The program is titled, Judgement Day: Intelligent Design on Trial, and features trial reenactments as well as interviews with those involved in the trial."Judgment Day captures on film a landmark court case with a powerful scientific message at its core," says NOVA's Senior Executive Producer, Paula Apsell. "Evolution is one of the most essential yet, for many people, least understood of all scientific theories, the foundation of biological science." She also says that one of the goals of the program is to "[h]eighten the public understanding of what constitutes science and what does not, and therefore, what is acceptable for inclusion in the science curriculum in our public sc ... Design

SHARE Responds to the California Fires 2007-11-10 04:48:58 Reposted from the Freethought Café by J.C. SamuelsonThose who found interesting the recent article (also here) about secular charity in the context of the California fires might find encouragement from the following press release from the Center for Inquiry.By James UnderdownOn October 26, 2007, the Center for Inquiry-Los Angeles launched a fund-raising campaign through the Secular Humanist Aid and Relief Effort (SHARE) to aid some of the less fortunate victims of the recent California wildfires. The devastation out here is vast. At least fifteen fires destroyed over 1,500 homes in southern California. The fires razed nearly half a million acres and forced the evacuation of over a half million people from their homes. The burned areas stretch from Ventura County northwest of Los Angeles east to the San Bernardino National Forest and south to the U.S.-Mexico border. For almost a week, a smoky haze drifted over our Hollywood offices.Losses total at least $1 billion in San Diego County a ...

Don't criticize my church! 2007-11-09 05:52:39 CHURCH leaders in Redhill and Caterham have expressed their shock and condemned a website which claims to "name and shame" them.Redhill Baptist Church and Caterham Baptist Church appear on The Anti-Church Forum website, which contains a list of more than 100 churches.Redhill Baptist Church has been labelled "dead as a doorknob" and Caterham Baptist church has been dubbed "just plain dull" on the site.Pastor James Collins, of Redhill Baptist Church, in Hatchlands Road, said: "Having had a look at this curious and, in places,inaccurate and unpleasant website I am baffled by the categorisation of Redhill Baptist Church as dead as a doorknob."Ours is a lively church with busy and well attended Sunday services and many community activities that meets the practical and spiritual needs of hundreds of people."I can't help wondering whether our presence on the website reflects anyone's genuine involvement with the church."The Rev Keith Johns, of Caterham Baptist Church, in Beechwood Road, sai ...

Christian morality not good enough? 2007-11-08 20:16:33 Sent in by Ricky W.This is a somewhat concise testimonial about logic and morality, and my journey to atheism from Christianity. Firstly, I should mention that I love animals. I'm a vegetarian, in fact. Now actually - much like with atheists, there is usually a backlash against a person who even mentions that he or she is a vegetarian. As soon as that admission is made, defensive questions like, "So you think I'm immoral?" or "Why do you hate humans so much?" pop up. But I'm sure that people here will be less reactive and merely listen to how my thinking process has unfolded. So let's begin.The reason I'm writing this is that many Christians and other religious people question people's ability to act morally if they don't have a personal God who hands down rules from on high. They think that if there is no God telling you what is right and wrong, that you will have an "anything goes" attitude, and not care about anyone else. My experience shows that this has no factual b ...

Post-Christianity me 2007-11-08 20:11:11 Sent in by SharonChristianity cut me off from the world. It still cuts me off from the world. Though I have escaped Christianity's control, it is not so easy to escape Christianity's influence. It’s so hard to write about the ways in which it affected me and affects me still. I talk and write in a kind of code, because of the influence of Christianity. My past is so riddled with trauma caused by Christianity that to feel safe telling my story, I have to speak and write in a kind of code devoid of feeling and missing great amounts of detail and description.Religion might have been okay in my life if I hadn’t been inundated with it to the point that life became unbearable. I’m thankful for dialectical behavior therapy, one of the most important tools in my deconversion process. Dialectical behavior therapy has helped me to dispense with judgment and has added balance to my life.Christianity taught me that dressing nice and looking pretty was vain. Now that I’ve escaped Christia ...

Is Flew's Book Bogus? 2007-11-08 15:26:48 By DagoodSWe often see the “Who’s Who?” game in this debate. We want some intellect to be on “our side” while pushing the moral miscreant on to “their” side. Everybody wants Einstein. Everybody wants Hitler…to be on the opposing team.So we enter (in my opinion-- ridiculous) debates over what teams certain individuals played for. As if the theistic belief of Abraham Lincoln, or Ghandi, or Stalin makes a wit of difference to the viability of anyone else’s belief. (And I should note we ALL play this game. No particular group is any better or worse than another.)Recently, the hot, hot person of the hour is Antony Flew. A formerly atheist philosopher, who now is a deist. Two or three years ago, if the name “Antony Flew” was mentioned, most people, Christians and atheists alike, would have said, “Antony who?” But now, apparently his change in beliefs is supposed to be making tsunami-like impact throughout the world.The recent salvo is his book, “There is a ...

Was Jesus Gay? 2007-11-07 20:40:50 From Wikipedia:Pat Condell is an English stand up comedian and writer. He has caused controversy with outspoken monologues on YouTube denouncing religion and promoting the cause of atheism.His 2006 stand up show ‘Faith Hope and Sanity’, subtitled ‘A Few Jokes About Religion Before It Kills Us All’, was a platform for his comedy and atheist beliefs. He said of the show "It seems to me that fundamentalist Christians, jihadist Muslims and settlement-building Jews are causing more than their share of trouble in the world. World events are being driven by people with apocalyptic delusions, while here in Britain a paralyzing liberal guilt allows religious bigots to use intimidation and violence to stamp out free speech. If you can’t get laughs out of all that, you can’t get them out of anything."http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news...http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6904...http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news...http://www.spiritrestoration.org/Chur...http://skeptically.org/newt ...