Group items tagged

I'm not grandstanding, or insulting the faith I grew up in. I've written this to confirm to myself that I'm not alone

Is God dead? The US is seeing a substantial downward trend in religious adherence, especially in young people. "If the trends continue, 'the Millenial generation will see churches closing as quickly as GM dealerships,' says Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources. In the group's survey of the 1,200 18- to ...29-year olds, 72% say they're really more spiritual than religious ... Most young adults today don't pray, don't worship and don't read the Bible ..."

For those who believe in a loving and omnipotent God, suffering must be explained in light of God's existence. Why does God, if he loves us, allow or even cause us to suffer? Of course, there are many answers to this troubling question, ranging from the mysteriousness of God's ways to the benefits of suffering upon our souls to the idea that we all deserve much worse than any calamity we could possibly encounter in this world.

Some people in America have a lot of erroneous ideas about what Evolution is. They think it's a religion, an ideology, a moral judgment, or an evil plot to turn them away from God.Well, evolution is none of those things and through this lens I hope to show what evolution isn't and explore why so many conservative Christians have such hatred for that particular scientific theory.

December 9th, 02005 - Sam Harris"The View From The End Of The World"This is an audio only presentation. This talk took place in the Conference Center Golden Gate Room, San Francisco. Quote: With gentle demeanor and tight argument, Sam Harris carried an overflow audience into the core of one of the crucial issues of our time: What makes some religions lethal? How do they employ aggressive irrationality to justify threatening and controlling non-believers as well as believers? What should be our response? Harris began with Christianity. In the US, Christians use irrational arguments about a soul in the 150 cells of a 3-day old human embryo to block stem cell research that might alleviate the suffering of millions. In Africa, Catholic doctrine uses tortured logic to actively discourage the use of condoms in countries ravaged by AIDS. "This is genocidal stupidity," Harris said. Faith trumps rational argument. Common-sense ethical intuition is blinded by religious metaphysics. In the US, 22% of the population are CERTAIN that Jesus is coming back in the next 50 years, and another 22% think that it's likely. The good news of Christ's return, though, can only occur following desperately bad news. Mushroom clouds would be welcomed. "End time thinking," Harris said, "is fundamentally hostile to creating a sustainable future." Harris was particularly critical of religious moderates who give cover to the fundamentalists by not challenging them. The moderates say that all is justified because religion gives people meaning in their life. "But what would they say to a guy who believes there's a diamond the size of a refrigerator buried in his backyard? The guy digs out there every Sunday with his family, cherishing the meaningthe quest gives them." "I've read the books," Harris said. "God is not a moderate." The Bible gives strict instructions to kill various kinds of sinners, and their relatives, and on occasion their entire towns. Yet slavery is challenged nowhere in the New or

high levels of organic atheism are strongly correlated with high levels of societal health, such as low homicide rates, low poverty rates, low infant mortality rates, and low illiteracy rates, as well as high levels of educational attainment, per capita i

10 more reasons why religion doesn't make sense

Home-school mom Susan Mule wishes she hadn't taken a friend's advice and tried a textbook from a popular Christian publisher for her 10-year-old's biology lessons. Mule's precocious daughter Elizabeth excels at science and has been studying tarantulas since she was 5. But she watched Elizabeth's excitement turn to confusion when they reached the evolution section of the book from Apologia Educational Ministries, which disputed Charles Darwin's theory. "I thought she was going to have a coronary," Mule said of her daughter, who is now 16 and taking college courses in Houston. "She's like, 'This is not true!'"

Home Fooling.

Cleaning up some misconceptions that have been allowed to gather on atheism, religion, and history. I hope to further illustrate how religion has built walls of falsehoods and half-truths in order to prevent the penetration of morality, logic, evidence, truth, and justice.

Obama backs the national day of prayer despite a judge ruling it unconstitutional. Thoughts and purposed solution to raise consciousness about the trespass on our rights.

google books

A Mexican Catholic leader has come forward and admitted to molesting 200 more children, and just wait until you hear who the victims included!