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Comedienne Julia Sweeney Talks About Giving Up On Religion 2007-08-19 09:40:27 Whether or not God exists is perhaps the most perplexing of life's cosmic questions. It is a debate each of us has probably grappled with at one time or another.For former "Saturday Night Live" star Julia Sweeney, giving up on religion was anything but easy."I had spent so much time thinking about what God meant, I hadn't really spent any time thinking what Not-God meant," said Sweeny. "There was this teeny-weeny voice whispering inside my head, I'm not sure how long it had been there but it suddenly got just one decibel louder and it whispered 'There is no God.' I tried to ignore it but it got a little louder. 'There is no God, there is no God.' Oh God, there is no God! It was terrifying. You know, it was a terrifying moment to let go of that idea."Sweeney's most famous "SNL" character was Pat, the gender-confused character who later starred in her own movie.Even more confusing for Sweeney personally was religion. She comes from a large Irish-Catholic family. But in her 30s, S ...

Onward Atheist Soldiers? 2007-08-19 07:32:00 A letter from Glenn BReligion and her twin sister, mass self-righteousness, have been the stated cause of every war man has ever fought. It's the cause of most of the hate, bigotry and hypocrisy in the world today and always has been. The prisons are full of Christians and Muslims. Then they have the nerve to say that it's us, the atheists, who are being mislead and are bad people. Atheists don't brainwash their kids into thinking that they're better than everybody who doesn't believe what they do. Or that you can go out and rape, torture, murder and steal all you want, as long as it's in the name of some invisible guy in the sky who's never saved anyone. Atheists don't pull that cowardly old "I was in the grips of Satan and am not responsible for the terrible things I've done" crap. Sorry to spoil any atheist bashing, but we don't believe in Satan, so of course we don't worship him. Technically, you have to be a Christian to worship Satan, because you have to believe in one ...

Cartoon-character Gods, prophets, saints and virgins 2007-08-19 07:31:51 Sent in by Julie W I can still pinpoint the exact time and date that I turned my back, forever, on any form of organized religion, whether it be Christianity, or any other. I often wonder if there are any others out there who experienced the same life-changing force, as I did, on 9/11, when I witnessed what humans will do to each other ‘in the name of God.’ That brisk morning in Colorado, happened to be my daughter’s first day of kindergarten at Coal Creek Elementary School in Louisville. It was an exciting morning and she had dressed herself proudly, choosing to wear a new outfit purchased just for that first day. I had turned on the usual morning show on TV, so I could catch up on the overnight news as I fixed her breakfast. As the TV warmed up, the screen remained black at first while voices of panic and disbelief screamed from the television reporter and news anchor. I rushed over to the TV and witnessed the horror, while my daughter walked over to me and slid he ...

Pastor caught in Internet sex sting 2007-08-18 07:31:34 DENTON -- An Arlington pastor was arrested on Thursday afternoon during a sex sting operation where a Denton police detective posed as a 15-year-old girl arranging to meet the man for sex.Leroy Cruz faces charges of soliciting a minor and sending explicit images to a minor over the internet.According to reports, Cruz first contacted the 'teenager' at roughly 11:30 a.m. Thursday morning. He arranged to meet who he thought was a 15-year-old girl at South Lakes Park in Denton. According to the detective, during an online chat, Cruz allegedly offered the 'teenager' $50 for oral sex and turned on a webcam to expose himself.Jim Bryan of the Denton Police Department explained, "The pastor came here to South Lakes Park yesterday afternoon at 2 p.m. hoping to meet a 15-year-old girl here for sex. Instead, he was actually met by several Denton police officers who took him into custody."The 50-year-old was formerly the pastor at Grace Fellowship Church in Arlington. The church moved out of it ... Internet

Of “God-Blindness” and Absurdity 2007-08-18 06:14:08 By Anne Corwin Existence is Wonderful So, someone has finally come out and asked the question: Joe Carter of “The Evangelical Outpost” inquires, Are Atheists Autistic? Great, I thought, when I first read about this. Next thing you know, we’re going to have organizations with names like “Cure Atheism Now”. And their supporters will make all kinds of claims about how this terrible developmental disorder, atheism, prevents people from making friends easily, makes “fitting in” difficult, makes people less likely to be trusted, makes it impossible to get certain kinds of jobs or be elected to public office, cuts people off from the “religious community” (a strong source of social support), and denies them the comfort of belief in an afterlife.Atheist children will be subjected to intense behavioral therapies involving being forced to sit at a small table until they ask for a [Holy Book] or a picture of [Deity or Guru], at which point they will be hugge ...

I would rather poke my eye out 2007-08-17 05:32:02 Sent in by Meredith TI recently de-converted after 15 years as a Christian while going through a divorce and enduring hypocrisy in the church. If I had a nickel for every email I got saying, "God Hates Divorce!" and, "I love you but I don't agree with you," I would be rich! I even got one saying "I'm sorry to hear you gave up your space in eternity for this (divorce)!"OK, well who the f!#k do you think you are to take a stance whether you 'agree' with me or not? Is that any of your business, and did I even ask you? One former friend said, "We have the right to know why you are doing this." I’m sorry, but why do "close Christian friends" feel the need to decide everything as a group -- even to declare someone's marriage as "divorce-worthy" or not? Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, I de-converted not solely because of what my church and Christian friends did to me (even though that got me 'thinking'), but ultimately I discovered I could no longer see how divorce as taught in the Bib ...

ZEITGEIST, The Movie - Official Release - Full Film 2007-08-16 07:59:43 This movie is two hours in length. For more information about this film, log on to http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/To monitor comments posted to this topic, use . ... Film

Religion is Bullshit 2007-08-16 07:28:09 An oldie but a goody from George CarlinTo monitor comments posted to this topic, use . ...

Should I go with the flow? 2007-08-14 20:24:00 Sent in by Deborah K My mother is 80 years old, a retired missionary to Africa! I have recently discovered that Christianity in it's fundamental, evangelical form is certainly not for me. My siblings are current foreign missionaries. I know it will break my mother's heart to hear of my change so I am keeping it to myself and just nodding in agreement to her crazy remarks.I know the subject will surface soon and I will have to confess to my new thoughts, and I was wondering if anyone else has been through this to give me some encouragement or advice. I mean a very real, true ultra conservative, evangelical environment. I don't want to bring her "shame" that's why I fell it is important just to go with the flow until one day I'm found out.ThanksTo monitor comments posted to this topic, use . ...

Christianity is a horrible thing to believe 2007-08-14 20:16:26 by ThomasI sincerely and wholeheartedly hope Christianity is false. I wish this one for one simple reason. If Christianity is true billions of people are being mercilessly tortured in a place called Hell.Hell is an unimaginable place. To be burned for a second, for example when cooking, produces a sharp and excruciating pain. The thought of having every part of your body burned by fire and sulfur, without death and without relief is hideous. It is way beyond world history’s most repulsive torture chamber. Beyond the physical torture there is spiritual and emotional agony, relentless desolation and anguished regret.Hell is for ever. Not for a second, not for a day, not for a year, not for a billion years, not for a billion, billion years. The penalty for not believing the Gospel is as endless as it is brutal.If Christianity is true every single American who died before 1492 is burning, as is everyone from my home country of England before about AD 300, along with virtually everyone fr ...

The conflict burned inside me for years 2007-08-14 05:07:53 Sent in by Brent SI have been reading many of the testimonials on this site for a while now and so have decided to share my own brief account.Like so many others, I was raised in a barely Christian household. We considered ourselves Christians, but beyond Chuck Heston movies, we didn't really know much about religion. Christmas and Easter, and the occasional renaissance painting, since my Mother is an artist who well emulates that style. Anyway, when I reached junior high, we started having bible studies with a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses. They were a very nice couple and came to our house every Wednesday for a reading and a discussion. I also started going to a centrist Christian Youth group with some friends from school. I was quickly addicted for several reasons: the first was that I had recently discovered my own homosexuality and was desperate for some form of escape from that terrible affliction, and secondly, stemming from the the same core issue, I was an outsider amo ...

I loved having access to the sole ‘truth’ 2007-08-13 05:04:12 Sent in by Chris SI arrived at University in the autumn of 2004 never having given religion of any kind much thought, I was every inch the wide eyed fresher! I quickly encountered the local group of evangelicals who ran the Christian Union at the University and I found they gave me a great sense of fellowship and warmth when I was around them. As a result I thought I would go along to the variety of events they were putting on, that target new students, such as film nights and discussions over coffee. After a five week course in the local coffee shop looking at the basic of the Bible’s message in Romans, I decided it all seemed to make sense and gave my life to Christ at the end of the final session through a prayer. For the next two years I was every bit the convinced, fundamentalist Christian, a somewhat bizarre species in Britain, but they do exist! Not far off a million of them in a variety of shape and form, and they exist in almost every University. I attended many conferences, ...

Pastor sentenced to prison 2007-08-13 04:50:28 TACOMA -- A pastor has been sentenced to spend 4 1/2 years in prison for filing fake visa applications.Dong Wan Park, 53, of Tacoma was found guilty last summer of filing false religious worker visa applications for two Korean nationals in exchange for tens of thousand in cash.On bond after being convicted in 2006, Park sold his Hope Korean Church for $448,595, wired $290,000 to a bank in South Korea and fled to Mexico with his wife, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Once there, authorities said, he told the Mexican police he had lost his travel documents and with the false police report went to the Korean consulate in Mexico City and applied for temporary Korean travel documents.According to court records, by June 23, 2006, Park went to Canada, then Korea where he was arrested and convicted for passport fraud. Because Park is a U.S. citizen, he was deported to the U.S.In April, he pleaded guilty to one count of failure to appear and one count of transportation of stolen proper ...

Sceptics beat God in bestseller battle 2007-08-13 04:39:33 Reposted from: The GuardianDavid SmithSunday August 12, 2007The ObserverStruggling authors should keep the faith -- literally. Sales of books that explore religion or spirituality have grown by more than 50 per cent in the past three years, according to online retailer Amazon.The boom surpasses the rise in sales of books in categories such as history, which have grown by 38 per cent, and politics, up by 30 per cent, confirming that religion has become a pivotal topic in the early 21st century.But the statistics may not make uplifting reading for believers. The most popular 'religious' book, says Amazon, is The God Delusion, an anti-faith polemic by Richard Dawkins, the academic who has been dubbed 'Darwin's rottweiler'. Second is God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, another broadside at holy citadels, by the journalist Christopher Hitchens.Amazon said that the third most popular book in the category was Jesus of Nazareth by the Pope, followed by a perennial favourite ...

Believe it or not: the sceptics beat God in bestseller battle 2007-08-12 22:11:51 reposted from: The GuardianDavid SmithSunday August 12, 2007The Observer Struggling authors should keep the faith - literally. Sales of books that explore religion or spirituality have grown by more than 50 per cent in the past three years, according to online retailer Amazon.The boom surpasses the rise in sales of books in categories such as history, which have grown by 38 per cent, and politics, up by 30 per cent, confirming that religion has become a pivotal topic in the early 21st century.But the statistics may not make uplifting reading for believers. The most popular 'religious' book, says Amazon, is The God Delusion, an anti-faith polemic by Richard Dawkins, the academic who has been dubbed 'Darwin's rottweiler'. Second is God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, another broadside at holy citadels, by the journalist Christopher Hitchens.Amazon said that the third most popular book in the category was Jesus of Nazareth by the Pope, followed by a perennial favourite ...