Blogs

Pastor Jeffress: Jesus Wasn't A Law Breaking Hippy, Condemns Fellow Churches

I normally make an effort to go out of my way to avoid any news stories coming out of FOX news. I also do what I can to not bother responding to any discussion panels either. There is one draw that will get my attention, and keep it, in a FOX news article. Pastors, politics, and biblical scripture. The discussion in question today had all three, and I just need to totally go there. I imagine there are a number of people who draw a complete blank stare when the name Pastor Robert Jeffress is

July 21, 2015

Castiel233's Blog

Mr Bradlaugh

Charles Bradlaugh was an English atheist of the 19th century. In fact he could perhaps be considered THE English atheist of his time. He stormed across the UK, a giant of the free thought movement. Clever, brave with a large heart and a mind as strong as steel, he caused despair and worry among the faithful. His knowledge of the Bible was deep and profound. He had the ability to show just how error riddled it was and would debate those claiming to follow it in front of very large and spell b

Castiel233

July 19, 2015

Luc And Jes: The Fine Art Of Divine Brotherhood

For some reason, I always see a brotherly connection between Jesus and Lucifer in the biblical stories I read of them. So, I'm starting a Luc and Jes (Lucifer and Jesus) meme collection. These are some of the first ones, thus far, and I'll post more every week. They're just...fun... I guess. See all five here at http://thebluegrassskeptic.com/2015/07/12/luc-and-jes-shenanigans-of-heaven/

July 14, 2015

Why Christianity Was So Wrong For Me

As many of you may know I met a Young Earth creationist last week, I wrote about it here: http://www.ex-christian.net/topic/68545-i-met-a-young-earth-creationist-today/ There was something in the conversation I had with him that really struck me as one of the big reasons why Christianity was not right for me, and why it might feel a little more right for some people. Before I'd told him a thing about where I grew up, he said, "Remember when you were small, and you did something wrong des

July 14, 2015

Religious Legislating Killed Religious Marriage, Not The Gays

I’ve heard this all week in one form or another. On Facebook rants, in hundreds of posts howling in protest against the Supreme Courts findings about same-sex marriage, and in general conversation on the street. My kind is apparently responsible for all of this. We are also referred to as “your ilk”, “godless sinners”, “radical liberals”, or my favorite “leftists”. My support for the rights of all to receive the recognition of marriage under national law has earned me all types of nasty stares,

July 12, 2015

Introspective Shift

Memory Lane: First Loves And Other Disasters

Come with me, to visit the rambling past of an irrelevant human female.... ----------------- As a teenager, I had a tough time fitting in. I was quiet and withdrawn. I had issues being around boys due to being sexually abused for years by neighborhood boys as a child. In grade 8, my mom made me join a youth group at a church near our new home. They kids there weren't bad but I just didn't fit in. I slept next to the girl's youth director and her two little girls when we went on trips bec

seven77

July 7, 2015

Ellinas' Blog

Thoughts From A Holiday.

Just back from a week in Poland. 90+% catholic population - I observed several times, as I wandered around in tourist mode, people kneeling in the aisles of churches, crossing themselves or dipping their fingers in a receptacle of (presumably and supposedly holy) water in order to give themselves a little wash in the general shape of a cross. That aside, it's a friendly and seemingly quite prosperous country, with some remarkable scenery (we stayed in the Tatra mountain region in the south)

Ellinas

July 5, 2015

Remembering The First Ex-Christian Of My Life

Unless you count my mother who went in and out of faith in Jesus/UFOs/conspiracies/whatever, the first Ex-Christian I knew of was the third oldest child in a Pentecostal family. She had six siblings and her parents were very active in more than one of the churches in the area. I was a teenager, she was a few years older than me. I had recently converted to Pentecostalism. I was convinced that my life was going to be much more fulfilling, fruitful, happy, meaningful, miraculous and whatever

July 3, 2015

It's Not The Hatfields And The Mccoys...but It's Pretty Close

You know, I love mug shots where the perps have big grins on their faces. Specifically, the cat ate the canary kind of look. This week’s headlines managed to present one that couldn’t be missed, and dare I say, I think there are even twinkles in the eyes of these men. In the mug shot, you see three of six men who took it upon themselves to heckle Joel Osteen, pastor of the Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. All seven were eventually escorted out of the church and booked on misdemeanor charges of

July 2, 2015

Gypsy Moon's Blog

New Brain Needed

Anyone ever had that feeling of walking on ice or on egg shells, even when there's no reason to be feeling like that? I've come to the conclusion that my brain is possibly wired to deal with crisis every second of every day.... The majority of my life has been extremely stressful and not all that pleasant, the last two weeks I've had a rather calm life minus my kids running away and my other (real) mum being really fucking sick .. All of that I can deal with.. Apparently what I struggle

GypsyMoon

June 29, 2015

The Safety Of The Grave

America has an addiction to guns. So much so, we have the largest gun lobby in the world- the NRA -with members serving in our government. This heavily skews gun rights advocacy and regulation, often stunting bipartisan ties during critical legislation opportunities. How did our constitutional right to be armed if our government needs us, or oppresses us, turn into such a polarizing issue? Why, our second biggest addiction, of course. Fear. In case you didn’t realize it, America loves it

June 25, 2015

Graham, E.w. Jackson Claim Charleston Shooting ‘War On Christianity’

June 17th, after about an hour of service, Dylan Storm Roof slaughtered nine unsuspecting church members at Emanual A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina. There were not any obvious signs of his intentions, nor any reason to suspect him of ill will. The 21 year-old simply decided to kill members of this church for what now appears to be racially motivated reasons. Seeing how he was just captured, there aren’t any new answers to his methodology or reasoning as of yet. But there is plenty of

June 19, 2015

Phew.

My chest pain is now completely in control now with good pain meds, and there's no inflammation at this point (anymore?), just irritation of the rib cartilages. I also have one more doctor appointment booked in August now to figure out the amenorrhea. Heh, I don't think I've ever seen doctors as many times in a month as I will then, unless you count my week-long hospital stay when I was ten. I had my teeth professionally cleaned today. That was many different kinds of awesome that I didn'

June 16, 2015

Hey, Jude, Don't Let Me Down

It’s been a rough goddamned week. At least, I imagine if there were such thing as a deity, this week would have been totally damned to the outskirts of non existence. The fact I work for the postal service is reason number one to obliterate this past week from the memory flavored proteins of my brain. Add on to that the ever increasing humidity of the Ohio Valley I am so “blessed” to be alive in. It’s like sucking on a wet towel every time I have to breathe outdoors. The on and off again reminde

June 14, 2015

I'm Broken

Goddamnit, this is like a some kind of illness blog. I really didn't mean it to turn out that way. I wanted this to be an interesting and thoughtful blog. It just seems that this ripe age of 30 didn't come alone and I need to make notes of when these things happen. Now on top of all else, I'm amenorrhic, with a couple other symptoms that seem related. After getting smaller and smaller all spring, my last period didn't happen at all. I really hope this would go away on its own, but I'm afrai

June 13, 2015

Introspective Shift

Dead Inside

"The devil inside, the devil inside Every single one of us the devil inside The devil inside, the devil inside Every single one of us the devil inside Here come the world, with the look in its eye Future uncertain, but certainly slight Look at the faces, listen to the bells It's hard to believe we need a place called hell, place called hell" -- lyrics from "Devil Inside" by INXS True. So true. Evil exists in all of us. Doing the right things in life is sometimes a punishment. That'

seven77

June 12, 2015

Atheism Isn't Supposed To Be A Luxury

I recently attended a freethinker meet up in my area. I was looking forward to the meeting since we were all bringing food to donate to a local food bank called the Freestore Foodbank. This is a cause I’m always up and ready to contribute my time to since I know pretty often what it’s like to live on a scrap food budget. My cupboard is chock full of discounted food like scratch and dent can goods, re taped dry good boxes, and tons of dollar bags of beans and rice. Yes, I appreciate all too well

June 6, 2015

It Isn’T Just Huckabee Who Doesn’T Get The Transgender Community

Today a February rant caught up with Republican presidential nomination hopeful Mike Huckabee. In this rant, which was held at a Religious Broadcasters Convention earlier this year, the Huckster made some pretty nasty insinuations about the transgender community. Many have pointed out his quote regarding how “He wished he could have identified as female in High School” so he could go shower with the other ladies. I believe he used the term “How convenient it would be to be able to identify”. Thi

June 2, 2015

Ellinas' Blog

Satisfaction

I live. I search. What I thought yesterday may differ from what I think tomorrow. The key is to question, to consider, to develop. To those who seek their own way, oblivious of the censure of others and the conformist pressure of consensus reality - I would say that is good. But with every proverbial blessing, perhaps, comes a proverbial curse. It seems to me that those who dare to search, to think, to tread the path that is their own, know only that their destination is somewhere, someh

Ellinas

May 31, 2015

It's Hard Living In An Echo Chamber

It is really disappointing sometimes when I go to various humanist or atheist events in my area. Mostly because a large majority of the attendees are not from my area. I live in northern Kentucky, right on the Ohio river with the Cincinnati skyline lit up every night to remind me where all the action is in my neighborhood. Basically, across the river. When I first started my blog writing about four years ago, it never occurred to me just how alone I am in my actual area of residence. I mean,

May 31, 2015

Update On Health Stuff

So, there are some news. First of all my dentist is arranging me a special check-up, to see what can be done to correct the bite problems she's diagnosed both at the back and front of my mouth. I'm looking forward to it very much! A little part of me has doubts about whether it'll be worth it, but then I remind myself of all the discomfort I've felt for years when eating, and I'm ready to let go of it. Also, my psychiatrist still didn't diagnose me with anything, but he says that it can't be

May 30, 2015

Heavy Things I've Learned Lately

I haven't seen my mother for about a half a year now. I texted her on Mothers' Day, and picked up when she called me back. I shouldn't have. Or maybe it was the right thing to do, the conversation reminded me of what a screwed up place I grew up in. I told her about the dental emergency I had earlier in the spring and the work I've had done on my teeth since, and how I'm aware I've had certain bite problems since I was small, and that she told my doctors not to treat them. She replied to me