Image via Wikipedia My 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!
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/05/2009 09:07:00 AM
You might say that I am a slow learner. It’s taken me 72 years to finally conquer my fears about going to Hell for being a constant sinner.
I started out going to a Baptist Church when I was 5 years old. I lived in Houston and rode a bus every Sunday to the Baptist church off of South Main St. I learned about all of the old Bible stories that are taught to most children, and I believed them all. Why shouldn’t I, the adults told me they were true, so they must have been true.
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/05/2009 09:17:00 AM
The shroud bears the figure of a crucified man, complete with blood seeping out of nailed hands and feet, and believers say Christ's image was recorded on the linen fibres at the time of his resurrection.
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/05/2009 07:00:00 PM
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
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/06/2009 01:43:00 AM
My husband and I got a mass email from our former pastor (we were still on the mailing list until a few weeks ago) with an attachment about how Muslims were going to storm the White House to pray and noted that a Muslim leader wanted to turn the White House into a Muslim White House. The tone of the message was fear for our nation; that Christians needed band together and pray before the Muslims took over. Even though the email didn’t suggest we wage war, it was enough for my husband and I to be disgusted. That night, as I considered the possibility of a Muslim/Christian war brewing in our country, I felt an outrage toward religion-a feeling I’ve very much been trying to temper since that feeling conflicts with my ultimate goal, which is to live peacefully and lovingly with those around me. I am surrounded by Christians and the last thing I want to do is be labeled as angry and intolerant. My Christian family and friends are very dear to me.
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/07/2009 03:15:00 AM
Image via Wikipedia We 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.
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/07/2009 03:24:00 AM
Hello! I was referred to you by Troy Conrad AKA Comedy Jesus.
I'm an investigative journalist and I'm working on a project about the "Satanic Panic" of the 1980's.
I'm are looking for stories about people accused of devil worship by listening to the heavy metal genre of music in the 1980's. Did your mom take away your Faith No More records? Were you sent off to bible camp or a mental hospital? Did the hysteria over satanic cults impact your teenage years?
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/07/2009 05:50:00 PM
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.
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/08/2009 01:04:00 PM
Image via Wikipedia I recently became agnostic. I stopped believing in Christianity awhile ago when I realized that nothing in Christianity makes sense.
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/08/2009 01:19:00 PM
Image by ideacreamanuelaPps via Flickr My question is for christians who visit this site. I myself am an ex-believer and I've posted comments on here in the past as anonymous.
My question is "How can christians possibly explain the contradiction between the character of God in the Old Testament and the character of God that Jesus teaches in the New Testament?
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/08/2009 01:39:00 PM
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?
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/08/2009 01:45:00 PM
“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.”
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/08/2009 06:18:00 PM
Image via Wikipedia When I was a teenager the family went to a week long course called "Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts." It was Christian driven, encouraged by our Baptist church, and kind of fun. I look back and I am sure I believed we all did the right thing.
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/09/2009 08:16:00 PM
Fighting the forces of faith with reason is very tiring, and sometimes seems so hopeless. Yet, recent surveys show that the percentage of Americans who call themselves non-religious is increasing. We are making progress.
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/09/2009 08:36:00 PM
I think the most important reason that I left Christianity was because it didn't deliver. It especially didn't deliver love. No matter what other complaint I have against Christianity, surely even Christians-- and, hey, even Jesus-- could agree that if I'm right about this, then, yes, I have a worthy complaint.
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/10/2009 10:17:00 AM
OK, I get it now. You're not happy. But how is that my fault?
OK, so I created Satan and his angles, and I could have easily destroyed them or thrown them in prison, but I chose to let the roam free. And sure, I created Earth right smack dab in the middle of Satan Central, but is it really my fault my creation chose to disobey me?
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/10/2009 06:49:00 PM
Image by Getty Images via Daylife "If atheism is a religion, then health is a disease!" (Clark Adams)
"The Bible is one of the most genocidal books in history." (Noam Chomsky)
"No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says; he is always convinced that it says what he means." (George Bernard Shaw)
"When I think of all the harm the Bible has done, I despair of ever writing anything to equal it." (Oscar Wilde)
"Science with religion is lame; religion without science is blind. Science without religion is useful; religion with science is useless." (Albert Einstein)
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/11/2009 06:21:00 AM
In just over one year the community of Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious (AASFSHNR) at Kiva.org have raised $1 million (USD) in interest-free loans to help end poverty. Kiva.org is a US non-profit organization that connects lenders with borrowers, from around the globe, who need a micro-finance loan. Peter Kroll, the AASFSHNR community team leader, created the community on August 28th, 2008 with the ambition to organize those who share his world view that "people should care about reducing the suffering of other human beings because we acknowledge the evolutionary fact that we are all one human family."
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/12/2009 05:32:00 AM
Image by danny.hammontree via Flickr I don't really love arguing with Christians. I consider myself a friendly Atheist, and I don't shove my own beliefs in anyones face unless they do the same to me specifically. However, when I do, I'm usually fairly successful in getting my point across. Whether I "convert" them is not of concern to me, as long as they understand my view.
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/12/2009 05:38:00 AM
Image by tinou bao via Flickr The post by Mt/RedAtheist about god not healing amputees hits several items that really get one to thinking.
First, let's take a look at the last half of his/her title.... Avoidance of the question. The most telling admittance of this avoidance I've found is in the testimony by Ken Daniels in his "From Missionary Bible Translator to Agnostic (2003)" as shown in his section 3.1 Crisis #5: Deism (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/testimonials/daniels.html#Sect...) where he states, "We never prayed for an amputee's leg to grow back or for a woman with a hysterectomy to have a child, because we knew it was impossible. We prayed only for the possible, and those who prayed for the truly impossible and claimed it happened were disingenuous, like the televangelists."
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/12/2009 05:45:00 AM
A hypothetical dialog between Gordon J. Glover and the official spokesperson of the Intelligent Alien Intervention Institute on Science NEWS. They discuss the Academic Freedom legislation that recently became law in Louisiana and how it might also help various theories of Paleo-Contact to be taught alongside mainstream archeology in the public science classroom. Hint: this video is a parody mocking Intelligent Design theory and the Discovery Institute.
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/12/2009 07:24:00 AM
This was an open letter that I wrote to myself for relief after a rather tiresome day I had...Given the subject, it is full of anger but I will say that I felt a great sense of relief after writing it. I apologize if there is anything out of place or even confusing in here but as I stated, I was very angry.
Gilbert & George, BLACK CHURCH FACE 1980, Private collection, courtesy Sonnabend Gallery, New York I know that this has already been said by probably hundreds of black atheists on the interwebz, but I think that it’s my time to state the obvious, for old times sake:
There is no Christian like a Black Christian.
Truly there is not, and it’s a sight to be seen. Of course I will bring up the fact that the Church was one of the major points in the Civil Rights movements. It has already been stated that the black church was a place for gathering and meetings when no where else would accept us. This was our place to discuss the world, our place to dream... but in that sense, what has happened and what has lead me to hate Christianity with a passion that rivals that of our golden sun?
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/12/2009 01:33:00 PM
Image by danielkedinger via Flickr by FightingAtheist
Many Christians say there is no such thing as a former Christian. they claim a "True" Christian would have never left. This video shows the fallacies in this claim. Former Christians, or Ex-Christians, do exist.
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-- Posted By webmdave to ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians) at 10/12/2009 09:46:00 PM
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