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The War on the "War on Christmas" 2007-10-13 19:58:16 Reposted from: Freethought Café by J.C. SamuelsonAs the holiday season approaches, many businesses are beginning to put up signs, decorations, and displays in preparation for the inevitable feeding frenzy that precedes the venerated Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Many begin to roll out their holiday products as well. One such company is Mrs. Fields, purveyor of cookies for a variety of occasions.It seems that an apparent failure by Mrs. Fields to offer products explicitly catering to the "Merry Christmas" crowd - by October - has drawn the scrutiny of those invested in the idea that there is a "War on Christmas."Many Americans have felt in recent years that there is a war on Christmas, a holiday with mixed roots in paganism and Christianity. Propelled by pundits such as Bill O'Reilly, John Gibson, and several Evangelical groups, including the American Family Association, this component of the culture war has descended to new depths of absurdity.In an email posted at Freerepubl ...

Sam Harris' Problem with Atheism 2007-10-13 19:55:38 Reposted from: Freethought Café by J.C. SamuelsonSam Harris stands poised on the brink of history as one of the preeminent thinkers of this century. His abilities as a wordsmith notwithstanding, the clear, incisive logic he uses to demonstrate his ideas is nothing short of refreshing. An example of this can be found by reading the transcript of a recent speech, delivered at the Atheist Alliance International Convention this year. Faced with a choice between preaching to the choir and challenging his audience, he chose the latter course, and in so doing moved the conversation forward.Harris makes many valid points, such as the fact that the label, atheist, is (or should be) unnecessary. His point is, of course, that people don't tend to define themselves by what they reject. Those who reject astrology are not called 'non-astrologers,' for example. Nor do those who reject racism refer to themselves as 'non-racists.' Another good point is that atheism implies too narrow a focus on o ...

Freethought Week 2007-10-13 19:53:04 Reposted from: Freethought Café by J.C. SamuelsonThe following subject matter applied to last week. It appeared last Monday at the original site. Nevertheless, since October is sometimes considered Freethought Month, it still seems relevant.The death toll had been mounting for some time now. Just this month, eight more had been hanged, some of whom were respected members of the community. This troubled Reverend Mathers, who knew that at least some of the condemned must be innocent. It was clear that something more had to be done to quell the hysteria that had gripped the community or other innocent people would visit the gallows.A few months before, shortly after the first hanging and upon a request for advice by the governor, Mathers, along with several other ministers, had signed a letter penned by Mathers' son urging the speedy prosecution of the accused. Yet the letter had also urged caution in the proceedings. The signatories, though they fully believed in the phenomenon the acc ...

Wisdom, comfort, and direction from the Word of God? 2007-10-13 10:30:16 By Dave, the WM"Give ear to my words, O LORDConsider my meditation Hearken unto the voice of my cry, My King, and my GodFor unto thee will I prayMy voice shalt thou hear in the morningO LORD, in the morning will I direct my prayerUnto thee, and will look up." — Psalm 5, vs. 1–3 Those words comprise a popular Christian chorus that I've probably sung a thousand times or more. I recall seeing my own hands lifted in the air, tears of joy on my cheeks, feelings of ecstatic jubilation filling my soul... Ah yes, the power of God's Holy Word, made alive with the help of some amplification, a few modern musical instruments, a huge overhead screen, and just a touch of emotion-laden message in tongues &mdash it all made for a powerful drug. All in all, it was a tremendously good way to put people in the mood for whatever the pastor might deem important to say. But why did we stop there? Why didn’t we sing the entire psalm? Why not add more from Psalm 5, like:"Thou hatest ...

I'm an atheist in the Bible Belt -- What do I do? 2007-10-12 21:44:47 Sent in by Caleb Well, I sense my whole de-conversion from Christianity is about to come to a head. I guess it is funny how it is all playing out. You see, when I was a youth pastor and ministry director, my faith and commitment to God and ministry led me to neglect my family. This caused severe problems for my wife and I, because she was and still is a 'closet atheist.' I say 'closet' because she is to scared/embarrassed to admit her atheism publicly. Luckily, even then, even as a devout Christian, I realized how important my family was to me. I left the ministry so I could become more involved in my wife and children's lives. Through this time, I was able to study Christianity as more of an onlooker. My church attendance dwindled, and my study of what exactly this religion I was following was, became more intense. I finally let go of my superstitious beliefs in God, and decided to live life free of religion. Through all this time, I kept a my-space profile. As my de- ...

Christianity taught me... 2007-10-12 21:30:05 Sent in by Sharon H Christianity taught me that I must always forgive. Now I’m learning that while forgiveness is indeed good for the soul, forgiveness is a choice not a mandate. Compassion is more effective than forgiveness, because it involves stepping back and detaching from the tendency to judge. Christianity taught me that marriage was the second most important goal in life, the first being devotion to God. Now I've learned that marriage is not a goal at all but a formal way of expressing a love relationship between two people. Christianity taught me that allegiance to one’s life partner is more important than anything—including one's sanity, safety and well being. Now I’m learning that allegiance to self is most important. Christianity taught me to judge my every feeling, thought, and behavior as morally right or wrong. Now I’m learning that feelings are feelings, thoughts are thoughts, and behaviors are either effective or ineffective. Christ ...

test 2007-10-12 14:14:37 ...

How to quit worrying about global warming and be happy 2007-10-12 05:43:00 By danoI am a 71 year old Agnostic, I believe that the only sensible definition of God is "the creator of everything," the prime mover, if you will. God would have to be the creator of everything, because if there were something that It didn't create, then that would suggest the existence of more than one God. So, I'm sticking with "creator of everything"For the purpose of exerting less stress on my two typing fingers, I will, henceforth, in this article, refer to God as "It"I will assume that "It" created everything, because "It" is God.By everything, I am talking about germs and worms and monkeys and men and right and wrong, and sex and sin... And missionary style, doggy style, and self gratification...And Homosexuals, bisexuals, and asexuals, those who steal, who lie, and who cheat, and who think logically, and who doesn't...And those who call themselves Christian, and who claim Islam, and who believe that they are going to get 72 virgins at the gate of heaven if they kill themse ...

How do you handle grief? 2007-10-09 06:06:00 From Jannah BI've been thinking about Christianity and the crutch it is since my leaving it.Recently, a friend was set alight and attacked with a screwdriver (by a complete stranger... can you believe it?) and they did not know if she would survive. In all honesty I prayed out to anything, just by the off chance she would be okay, or that it may help. I knew whilst saying it, that i was talking to thin air. But, it assisted me to cope with the grief and the anxiety of not knowing.The question I have is, how has everyone coped in their grief since leaving behind the lies of Christianity? I have chosen to allow myself to feel out of control and know that there is no cosmic force aligning itself with my prayers.But, I still feel the need to pray in those times of grief, anxiety or even when i just need a little help with something...What do you do? How do you cope? How do you address stress?Is it okay to cry to the God that doesn't exist? Is it okay to pray? Or am I merely covering grie ...

Questioning my assumptions 2007-10-09 05:53:00 From Chris ASince commencing a reevaluation of my beliefs earlier this fall, I've become consumed with doubts, and I was hoping that perhaps some of the former Christians here could give my troubling questions an answer. I would have gone straight to your excellent forums with this, but something seems to have gone wrong with the sign-in process...As I recall, this ordeal started when, while attempting to improve my debating technique, I decided that a Socratic analysis of my deepest convictions and why I held them might help me reach a better understanding of the art of argument.This was a mistake, albeit an enlightening one; after some analysis, I had stumbled onto an important aspect of the relationship between the position of atheism, and the position of Fundamentalist Christianity.As I see it, any atheist position will rest on two or three assumptions, the most common being that human reason is sufficient to determine the validity of any proposition. However, in assuming this, do ...

Flapjacks for Flo 2007-10-09 05:47:32 By FloWhat I'm about to tell you will sound unbelievable and I doubt many of you will believe me but when you witness a miracle from God you have to tell somebody.My name is Florence but most of my friends call me Flo. My husband and I had just divorced due to irreconcilable differences - doctrinal differences, that is. He was the pastor of a small church. The divorce was nothing compared to the things that had happened during the previous years. I had come home early one afternoon to find my husband molesting our nine-year-old daughter in the living room. At first he was apologetic and told me it would never happen again but then he became threatening and said if I told anyone he would make things very bad for me. I never told anyone.Perhaps I should have. A few years after the incident, my daughter committed suicide. This was before the divorce and I wonder to this day if he had broken his promise. I never said anything about it to anyone and it doesn't matter now because ...

Christianity: Out With The Old... 2007-10-09 05:46:25 ...and in with the new.An agnostic takes a trip to Vatican City. ...

Is there "free will" in Christianity? 2007-10-09 05:40:42 Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man-living in the sky-who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time... But He loves you! ~ George Carlin ...

To any ex-Christians in New York 2007-10-08 09:37:00 From DianeI'm a freelance writer based out of New York, and I'm looking for a religion story. Could you direct me to any Ex Christians here that would be willing to talk to me? What are the major issues in terms of Ex-Christians that are being underreported by the media? Any help would be greatly appreciated.dianabritton AT gmail DOT com ...

Atheists spread the word 2007-10-08 05:27:15 This is a 22-minute documentary about atheism that aired on CBC's The National on October 5, 2007. ...