6.28.2010
How to Find an Atheist Support Group
6.25.2010
The No True Christians Claim is Embarrassing
Proud Atheists was an outstanding atheist blog that I read for years until it closed following the death of its author. One of my favorite posts, "Dear Christians, I Simply Do Not…” was a great atheist manifesto. But what I want to talk about here is a comment left on a post rather than the post itself. Here is the full unedited comment:
Please do not lump all Christians in the "born again" group, as they are really not true Christians. If you are open minded yes I can tell you how to find out weather God is real or not ( you will find that God is real ). One of the things you will find is there is a man walking the planet at this time he is the Rebirth of Jesus Christ, you can tell who he is by saying the right prayers in his presence when the time is right he will come forward in the apocalipse, it’s really not what people think. We who are of the oldest Christian sect know better then the wantabees who think they know Christ and God. The other way requires praying also and is less hard on one’s soul. In the end anyone who wants can prove to themselves God is real just takes pray and a open mind and a little guidance (from the right people) to find God.
6.23.2010
Success of Atheist Community Depends on Ability to Look Beyond Our Experiences
6.21.2010
Understanding Apathetic Atheists
As I read the post, it occurred to me that it might be helpful to see if we can't generate a list of some of the most common reasons for apathy among atheists. That is, what leads atheists to become apathetic and what makes it easier for them to remain that way? Maybe this would be a good first step in figuring out how to reduce apathy?
6.17.2010
Confronting Religiously Motivated Idiocy
2008 seems like an awfully long time ago, doesn't it? Way back in 2008, I wrote a brief and long-since deleted post about the results of a Baylor University poll that found the following reasons to be ashamed of these here United States:
- 55% of Americans believe that they are protected by guardian angels
- 25% claim to have witnessed miraculous healings
- 20% claim to have heard some sort of god speak to them
- 8% speak in tongues
6.16.2010
Forgiveness: Atheists Can Do It Too
There are not very many ideas routinely characterized as Christian (regardless of their actual origin) that I like, but forgiveness is one of them. Granted, I find all the stuff about divine forgiveness, sin, salvation, heaven, and the like to be laughably absurd. These notions are little more than the most primitive forms of wish fulfillment, and we would do well to abandon them. But the idea that we should strive to forgive others who have wronged us? Well, that does hold some appeal.
Christians are sometimes criticized for pushing forgiveness to unrealistic extremes (e.g., turning the other cheek). Such criticism may be deserved. I think we can all imagine scenarios where forgiving someone might be almost impossible or even contraindicated. And if forgiveness is about absolving the other person of all responsibility for their actions, then we can find countless examples of persons or organizations who do not deserve our forgiveness.
6.13.2010
Is Atheism a Choice?
Is atheism a choice? I mean, could you simply start believing in fairy tales again if you wanted to?Obviously, the manner in which I worded the question was fairly poor by anyone's standards. But I'm not sure it would have made much difference in this case. The unanimous response I've received is that atheism is not a choice and really isn't even so much a decision as a reflection of the available data.
The question of whether atheism is a choice is an important one, with many implications for how to spread the atheist meme, how to interact with believers, and the like. After all, if atheism is not really a choice, then must we not make the same concession for religious belief?
6.11.2010
Worship as Self-Love
How exactly does one worship something one cannot define, something for which one has no coherent definition? How could this possibly be distinguished from worshiping nothing? It would seem to me that the best someone could do would be to worship a vague idea of this undefined something. And where would such an idea come from? Undoubtedly, it would be influenced by many sources (e.g., a text, the teachings of one's parents or one's church). But at root, it would come from one's own mind. It would be one's interpretation of various sources, blended to form a conceptualization that would be similar but not identical to that of other devotees.
6.10.2010
Should Atheists Help Predominately Christian People in Need?
I noted a recent example of the latter in the form of Non-Believers Giving Aid, and there have been several others establishing ways for atheists to support relief efforts without having to support proselytizing. What I had not anticipated in this context was the question raised by one commenter on a post I wrote about Haiti: whether atheists should give at all to help a predominately Christian country such as Haiti.
6.09.2010
The Family: Worse Than Christian Extremism
According to a post by Bruce Wilson (Huffington Post), the Family is essentially a Christian dominionist group. Sharlet's book confirms this to some degree but contains more than a few surprises. There is more than Christian extremism happening here, much more. What I am beginning to realize is that progressive, moderate, and even fairly conservative Christians have as much if not more to fear from the Family than we atheists. It is clear that some of what I wrote previously about this organization requires considerable expansion.
6.04.2010
I Get E-Mail From a 12 Year-Old
How can you believe there isn\'t a God? Look at the world around you. Look at your body. Who created you? If you don\'t believe in God then how do you think the world was created? If you think it was chemicals, then who created the chemicals?We couldn\'t be made of chemicals as we have feelings and we can think. I believe in God. We have very different views but believing in God has helped me to want to be a good person and I am actually afraid to do bad things as I am afraid of God. If believing in God helps people then religion should stay. If being an atheist helps you to be a good person then please could you tell me how, but I cannot see how. If you do not like the picture below then feel free to take it off (if you put it as a comment on the blog) but that is my veiw.Unfortunately, the link to a picture you included took me to an error page on Photobucket, so I never got to see it.