Atheism

The idea of an atheist attending church services seems contradictory - doesn't that require belief in God? Isn't freedom on Sunday morning one of the benefits of atheism? Although most atheists don't count themselves as part of religions which require regular attendance at churches or other houses of worship, you can still find some who do...

Read Article: Do any atheists go to church? If so, why?

_{Softball
Photo: Iconica / John Giustina}

Our Lady of Sorrows is a fundamentalist Catholic school in Phoenix, Arizona, that was supposed to play Mesa Preparatory Academy for the state softball championship. That game didn't take place because the Catholic school refused to play. Why? Because one of the Mesa softball players is a girl, Paige Sultzbach.

And I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Our Lady of Sorrows lost twice to Mesa Prep over the course of the regular season. Read More...

It should be well known by now that distrust of atheists is high, but it's worse than you may realize: atheists are distrusted about as much, and perhaps a little more than, rapists. In studies that show a person doing something illegal and unethical, few will identify them as a Christian but lots are willing to identify them as a rapist or an atheist.

Read Article: Atheists Trusted Less Than Rapists in America

Read Article: Who is Prejudiced Against Atheists? Who Attacks Godless Atheism, Liberalism?

Logic has been around a long time. Probability theory has been around since the 17th century. Decision theory was developed in the 20th century. So we know how to make rational decisions and that we should prefer rational decisions, right? Well... maybe not.

For one thing, you make way too many decisions over the course of the average day to imagine for a second that you generally make those decisions based on sober, rational reflection. And this isn't just true about the "simple" decisions, either... Read More...

For a lot of Christians, 'atheist' is a label designed to denigrate, not describe. People who don't adhere faithfully to religious doctrines are 'practical atheists.' The broader culture is 'atheistic' because if fails to embody or enforce the religious dogmas which someone deems critical. Is any of this sensible or reasonable? Has the West become atheistic and irreligious simply because it no longer upholds Christian traditions like it used to?

In some ways, modern culture has become more secular and atheistic because so many cultural institutions are not dependent upon any religious revelations or beliefs for their existence or authority. It's possible to be a secular atheist and partake in so much of modern culture without anyone noticing that they are an atheist. This is a problem for many religious believers because it's easy for people to walk away from theism and religion without suffering any negative consequences.

At the same time, though, there is no shortage of religion or theism in modern culture. References to religious theism can be found all over in politics, popular culture, and social relationships. If someone is bothered by a lack of reinforcement for their religion in popular movies, sports, or other cultural institutions, it's possible for them to bypass all (or most of) that and focus on the cultural products created by their religious institutions.

This is true for all religious believers, not just Christians -- though there is more for Christians to choose from, given their larger numbers. Is this what upsets Christians, the fact that there is so much more to choose from so that everyone can get what they want?

The purpose of the above argument it to try and claim that various social ills like crime, drug abuse, and teen pregnancy are all due to the fact that prayer and Bible reading have been removed. If only they had been kept, so the argument goes, then society would be much better off today. Unfortunately, they weren't - but we should reinstitute them now and save society from future grief.

Read Article: After prayer was removed from schools, performance declined...

Original Sin is one of the most essential doctrines of Christianity. Much, if not most, of the rest of Christianity depends on the premise that every human being is born sinful -- even born evil, depending on just how far you take the doctrine. Thus Christianity is founded on teaching people that they are bad -- so bad, that just by being born they deserve eternal torment as punishment.

How does this not qualify as psychological and emotional abuse? Considering how Christianity also teaches that only Christianity can provide the "cure" or "solution," how does this not qualify as a con job? Read More...

It would be difficult to find conservative Christians, and perhaps even Christians generally, who don't mischaracterize atheism as a belief or a religion. It's probably the most common misrepresentation out there and is the most fundamental misunderstanding of atheism possible.

How do you respond to that when you encounter it -- and you definitely encounter it if you discuss atheism at all. Read More...

_{Image Source:
Jupiter Images}

Read Article: Confessing Witches: Under Torture, Accused Witches Would Confess to Almost Anything

It's surprising, but apparently young children assume that others are omniscient and they have to learn that the rest of us in the world have limited knowledge. They know that they themselves are not omniscient of course, but they seem to automatically conclude that others -- even their parents -- know absolutely everything.

That might be helpful for parenting at times, but it also suggests that belief in super-powerful gods and spirits might come naturally to human beings. Read More...

When talking about Christian bigotry and prejudice, at least in the United States, the targets are usually pretty consistent: gays, atheists, liberals, immigrants, etc. What we don't hear so much about is Christian bigotry against other Christians -- even though historically Christians have tended to target each other quite a bit.

Christian bigotry against other Christians isn't dead and gone. Read More...

Every election year, and especially during presidential election years, there are complaints about voter guides distributed to churches by Christian Right and Christian Nationalist organizations. These guides purport to be neutral explanations of candidates' positions, but in reality they are designed to promote particular candidates at the expense of others. The purpose is to help elect conservatives who will push the Christian Nationalist agenda. You can help fight this.

Read Article: Atheists Should Monitor Church Voter Guides

It's common for atheist critics of religion to compare belief in gods with belief in Santa Claus. Religious apologists object to such comparisons of course so the question has to be asked: is the comparison justified or not? Obviously the two aren't exactly the same, but are they close enough for comparisons to be helpful? Read More...

_{Image courtesy
PriceGrabber.com}

The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion was a forged pamphlet, probably created by the secret police of Imperial Russia in the late 1890's. The goal was to get people to believe that it was actually the minutes of meetings of Jewish leaders plotting to take over the world. What it attacked, however, was not simply Jews but in fact the entire project of the Enlightenment -- religious diversity, freedom, toleration, and social progress. It's not surprising, then, that the charges once leveled against Jews often continue to be leveled against other scapegoats like gays and humanists. Anyone who cares about the Enlightenment should care about how its enemies use minorities as scapegoats to attack it.

Book of the Week: A Rumor About the Jews: Reflections on Antisemitism and the 'Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion'

Read Article: Godless Intellectual Values: Intellectual Values are Important, Godless, Secular

The most amusing thing about bigots is when they contradict themselves in their bigoted claims. It's no surprise they do this because bigotry isn't rational, so they never subject their bigoted claims to any sort of rational scrutiny or tests -- not even the most basic tests, like if they are contradicting themselves.

Case in point is Wes Moore who simultaneously insists both that no atheists can ever be good and that no atheists actually exist. Read More...

I enjoy a good laugh whenever someone tries to disprove the Bible (thanks to you crazy Atheists/Agnostics). First off, there has not been any proof, scientific, physical, or whatever, that disproves the Bible. And whenever we disprove your error theories, all I see is ridicule. Well ya know what? I think I have seen every single so-called error that you can think of, that has been posted on here. I mean really. I just have to laugh because theses errors you keep coming up with are just silly. They've been disproven, find something new to stretch our knowledge. You do realize of course that the more "contradictions" you pose, our faith gets stronger and our knowledge gets stronger.

Read Article: Religion vs. Superstition: Is Religion Just Organized Superstition? Is Superstition Always Religious?

Religious conservatives often complain about the secularization of America. It is true that the government is secular, but that's the way it is supposed to be. The rest of society is not so secular, however, and evangelicals' complaints largely miss the mark. Read More...

Genesis describes a firmament dividing the waters below from the waters above. Christians have believed that this firmament is literally a dome or bowl which separates the sky from the earth. Christians have believed God affixed the stars, the sun, and the moon to this firmament. Of course, we now know that there is no such thing - yet some Christians insist on clinging to the idea that the Bible is completely and literally true.

Read Article: Errors in Genesis About the a Firmament in Heaven

Read Article: Who Made God: An Atheological Argument from Design

Early on scientists thought that life probably first developed in warm ponds on land. Then, after hot thermal vents were found deep in the oceans, scientists started to think that they would be better candidates. Now, though, research is turning attention back to those warm ponds -- or more specifically, hot springs, which would be a sort of combination of the two earlier targets of research. Read More...

Every quotation is a quote without some context because you can't quote absolutely everything. A quotation become a fallacy of quoting out of context when you use a selective quotation that distorts, alters, or even reverses the originally intended meaning. A fallacious out-of-context quote can be done accidentally or deliberately.

Read Article: Quoting out of Context Fallacy

Read Article: Myth: Religion is Central to Human Existence, Everyone Is Religious