Advocatus Atheist

  “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.”(KJV) Many evangelical Christians like to quote from Psalm 14:1 to show that atheism is a rebellious form of foolishness which corrupts the person so that “They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” Yet is this unflattering attempt at demonization simply directed at nonbelievers in general? Or is it something more? First a distinction needs to be made. Atheism is not an emotional position of understanding, nor is it a nihilist philosophy about the belief in nothing (as so often wrongly assumed). It lacks a dogma to drive it toward devotional convictions and believing blinding in doctrine (a doctrine it lacks). Atheism, simply put, is the lack of belief in the supernatural, period. It's not unbelief, it is disbelief. Atheist believe in many things, God just isn't one of them. Religion, by and far, is largely predicated on emotional feelings of a deep seeded desire to be loved, to be...

Yesterday my atheist goat was irate, but today a friend I grew up with who has had a born again Christian experience has made this fundamentalist statement: Personally, everyday I thank God that I'm his slave/servant/bond-servant.   I can't even put into words how deeply sad this made me feel. To live under this kind of delusion and think it is in some way healthy or okay?     It’s, regrettably, the surf mentality and the abject worship of authority. It's sadomasochistic devotion to a capricious and unruly dictator whether or not one believes it is their brand of god.   Not to mention it's creepy, like the Pope whipping himself . But I think this pitiful opinion speaks for itself.

I was reading a Christian friend's Facebook page when I stumbled across a post on what "God Wants You To Know," a quaint devotional bit sent out as a motivational faith bolstering piece of propaganda to subscribers. It read: ... that there is a miracle waiting for you this minute, -please make room for it in your thinking. God has no need to prove anything to you, so if you don't believe in miracles, you are not likely to receive one. How do you believe in miracles? You believe by keeping ...your eyes open, - miracles often come in ways unexpected, and might leave unrecognized unless you pay attention. My reply was thus: "...if you don't believe in miracles, you are not likely to receive one." That's conjecture on the behalf of whoever wrote that. They are assuming God does not work in mysterious ways, as if they knew the mind of God in the first place, neglecting to consider that as God he very well could perform a miracle on a nonbeliever...

Worth listening to the Bible Geek , aka Robert M. Price , at least once. Live TV by Ustream   Click here for David F. Strauss' The Life of Jesus: critically examined made available by Google Books.

I've been receiving friendly emails from believers and nonbelievers alike commenting and sometimes even complimenting my writing here. I'm truly grateful for all the positive feedback. One recent email got me to thinking, and I want to re-post my commentary here, because I think it's a great insight into one of the many transitions of the religionist mind set to a more free thinking mind set. Dear Friend, I've been out of Christianity for roughly a year now. I was a Fundamentalist Christian for 29 1/2 years, nearly 3 decades. But even though I'm happy that I've gained enlightenment, I don't regret my time as a Christian, because I learned a lot about the faith and without those more evangelical and radical experiences I may still be a believing Christian today. So in a way, I have my piety and zeal to thank for showing me the corrupted and dangerous ways of dogma. That said, one does have to desire to, as Kant phrased it, dare to know . Preten...

            From what I gather, all credible sources cite Paul’s Epistles as the oldest NT writings. Of the Gospels however, Synoptic Gospels plus the 4 th Gospel, they begin with the book of Mark, the earliest of all the Gospels. General consensus among scholars is that it was written circa 60-70 A.D. (C.E.). Both Bart D. Ehrman's seminary text book entitled The New Testament and Biblical scholar Raymond E. Brown’s International version of An Introduction to the New Testament are great resources for answering questions on dating the Synoptic Gospels, Paul's Epistles, and more. I’ll also be intermingling and weaving in some Wikipedia sources which are very heavily referenced in detail, and should help you get started investigating the crux of the matter in full.             Browsing through the Synoptic Gospels, the first three gospels of the New Testament, we discov...

(Above: My wife Sayaka) ________________________________________________________________________ “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” 2 Corinthians 6:14-15, King James Version Okay, so here is the sort of Christian I was, because it was who I was, it is how I thought: I believed it when the Bible said not to marry anyone outside of the faith. I believed it would be a sin to do so. I believe it would ruin my relationship with Christ. Then I met Sayaka. My whole life I had been raised in a Church which taught that if I married a non-Christian, such as a Buddhist, I'd go to hell. And in my piety I believed it. But then I met Sayaka, and suddenly, an eternity in hell seemed like a risk worth taking. Like many fundamentalist ...

Am I a hardened atheist? Am I too inflexible? Do I always think I'm right? My Christian friend informed me: You are challenging but just because you don't listen. Which caused me to pause. Because I think of myself as a person who listens quite well. Many friends who I have consoled and comforted have informed me that I was the best listener they ever confided in. I still get phone calls from my high school sweetheart whenever she needs to vent, and she always tells me that I'm so easy to talk to. But then again, friends aren't exactly unbiased when it comes to doling out compliments. Maybe there is a character flaw I haven't noticed before? Or maybe, it appears that I don't listen because, in all honesty, there are just some things worth listening to more than others. When it comes to listening to people's "truths" I have to apply caution. Am I going to listen to any old uninformed, twice-baked, nonsensical opinion or personal philoso...