What is the basic purpose of religion?

Religion is designed to focus the people's attention and energy on a single, unchanging, uncompromising and invisible supreme being who allegedly created an inferior human race just for some extra companionship and love for

Blind Faith for a Petulant Deity

Blind, unwavering, without a doubt faith. It seems like such a precious thing that a person can experience. I admit, I am fascinated by the concept of believing in holy entity with all your heart and soul, praying and asking every

If All Christians Actually Read the Bible...

If all Christians actually read the Bible, I think there would be a huge awakening. It was for me. I have read it twice and can barely stomach the contents, let alone comprehend how anyone can believe and worship such a thing. It is a fantastic story jam packed with all the elements of a top selling novel or movie...power, bloodshed, ego, dominance, love, betrayal, corruption, intolerance and violence. There are no elements of enlightenment, empowerment, harmony or peace. It is mind-blowing.

I have asked several active church going people how often they read the Bible and they all respond, "Oh, every Sunday at church." Ugh. So then I have to re-phrase my already simple question to them. "No, I mean sit down and read page after page, like it is a John Grisham novel." The answer I get is shocking. Most say they read it back in school, years ago. None say they have read it anytime in the last few years. I find this absurd. Christianity is based on the literal word of God, the Bible, and it isn't read by any of it's followers? 

Yes, I agree there are many passages and phrases within the Bible are lovely and comforting. I think that is how they are able to pull it off. Plucking out these parts and ignoring the rest is genius. There is a method to the madness for sure. 

I have asked a few people I know that are active Christians to sit and read the Bible - please - so we can discuss it. Not a one has done this. The fear is so clear. 

“Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.”
― Isaac Asimov

How Religion Hinders Your Intellectual Growth

When you subscribe to a religion, you substitute nebulous group-think for focused, independent thought. Instead of learning to discern truth on your own, you’re told what to believe. This doesn’t accelerate your spiritual growth; on the contrary it puts the brakes on your continued conscious development. Religion is the off-switch of the human mind.

World Religions 101

My fascination with religion and belief systems surprises people. Those people generally happen to be religious. I think it is assumed that people that do not believe or follow a religion have no interest or desire to learn about them. Not the case with me. I love researching and learning about different religions. They all generally have a similar structure, just different elements. This is my favorite chart of the big 6.

Doubting Your Faith?

If you are a Christian experiencing some doubt over your faith, you are going to receive a lot of advice from your fellow Christians. You will be told about how doubt will strengthen your faith and bring you closer to your god. I'm not here to argue with that or to tell you that such a perspective is wrong. I just want to point out that there is another possibility you should at least consider. What if the doubt you are experiencing is a healthy sign that your rational mind is trying to break free from a tradition of superstition?

Blatant Sexism - Do Female Christians know this?

The first thing thing that I find so disturbing about the Old Testament is the sexism. Any honest, thinking person reading through the bible cannot ignore the blatant misogyny and barbarity towards women. Here are just a few:

I Just Don't Get It...

Religion has fascinated since the moment I realized that I had no beliefs. I was born and raised an Irish- Catholic. I attended mass and went to CCD. I really tried to understand and learn what all this was all about. Why is there a dead and bleeding man hanging
in every corner? Why did he have to die for our sins? Why are there so many other religions? How do we know this one is the right one? Why does God constantly test people's faith with tragedy?
How can God be all mighty and loving, yet horrible things happen to people and children everyday? 

I am not an Atheist.

I admit that up until recently, I was not clear as to what the differences were between an Atheist, an Agnostic, a Pegan, a Humanist and so on and so forth. What I found is that I am not an Atheist. I am glad that I know this now. 

Definitions:

ATHEIST: the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Most inclusively, atheism is the absence of belief that any deities exist.
   

AGNOSTIC:  is the view that the truth values of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of God, as well as other religious and metaphysical claims—are unknown or unknowable.

We collectively don’t know if there is a God but we might find out in the future.”

      

Ancient artwork with images of UFO's...explain that?

This is one of my favorite topics. I wasn't aware of any of this until seeing the History Channel's "Ancient Aliens" one night and I was hooked. Why wouldn't make sense that visitors have been coming here to earth for thousands, even millions of years?

Evidence that Jesus Never Existed

One of my favorite discussions...
The three topics which suggest that Jesus never existed are:
History, Comparative Religion and Solar Mythology. Here we go.

1. History. It's inconceivable that during the alleged time of Jesus no one bothered to write down anything about this most extraordinary person, yet we have nothing. Even the earliest Bible reference to Jesus dates to at least A.D. 64, and the first Gospel, the Gospel of Mark, dates to at least A.D. 70 (and probably to A.D. 170).