Growing up, I was taught about the kind of love God the Father has for his children; it was called "agape love." I understood it as the kind of love that allows a parent to forgive their children for wrongdoing, and the sort of love that allows God to forgive humankind for sin. It was something to take comfort in. The message that we had "fallen short" was pounded into my head, and God's love had to be extremely powerful to…

We have met the "heat death" of the universe in progress, and it is... us?



EXCERPT "Organic cells form, reproduce, and die within complex organisms that are born, reproduce, and die, within species and civilizations that eventually result in new species and civilizations or simply carry on until they become extinct. All because stars are born, die, and are replaced, some former and current stars facilitating habitable planets and life."…

So I was vehemently opposed by another individual when I told her that all babies were atheists. I also said that no innocent child believes in the supernatural beings until they are proselytized to believe so. Doesn't geographic determinism prove this? If you're born in the United States, you'll probably end up Christian, and if you're born in Iran, you'll end up Islamic. Doesn't this prove my point? I'd appreciate any devil's advocates.

Lyra, Aquila, Cygnus, and…

Did you ever stop to think that if mankind were to vanish from the face of the earth in a few thousand years, eventually the pyramids built by the Egyptians and Mayans would probably still be standing, but almost none of the more famous buildings built in the last 100 years would still be around?

Hieroglyphs would survive but digital data would be gone. 

Eventually, only the most ancient civilizations of Egypt, the Asian Indians, the Mayans, etc., would provide evidence that…

From CNN: 

It's a theory many drivers have held since their first speeding ticket, that citations are somehow connected to a special perk for the officer writing it.

Now, a memo among Atlanta police officers has reignited such suspicions.

"The mayor has designated traffic court and ticket revenue for future pay increases," Atlanta Police Union President Ken Allen…

I found this incredibly beautiful; a realistic love story, and a true appreciation of fleeting life:

By Ann Druyan, wife of Carl Sagan

When my husband died, because he was so famous and known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me - it still sometimes happens - and ask me if Carl changed at the end and converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again.



Carl faced his death with unflagging…

I think the opening statement with an apologist is by far the most important. You can cut of a large portion of the irrelevance they're capable of bringing by being careful how you word your argument.

I almost always choose to go with something simple, "My claim is that you have no proof or compelling argument for the existence of a personal god."

This cuts out a few things, it removes their ability to ask you for burden of proof on god not existing, it sounds extremely silly…

Today I was at a home as part of my job.  It had a bunch of interesting things in it, among them a cow's skull mounted on the wall, a huge Jacuzzi that was so large it made other parts of the bathroom barely accessible, and the item that is the subject of my confusion and consternation.  

It was one of those images that change according to the position of the viewer.  It was posted on the refrigerator and when I first saw it I saw a picture of a starving child.  Wondering why someone…

Went out with my sister, my brother, and his wife last night. While the rest of us made rather conservative choices (spicy beef salad for me and a couple mainstream curry choices for the two women) my brother order (get this) pork massaman curry?

"Well, what's wrong with that?" you may ask.

You need to understand what "massaman" ("mussamun," "mussaman") means in Thai. It means "Moslem." Now, Muslims observe pretty much the same Kosher laws as the Jews, meaning, for one thing,…

im sure many of you know jim jefferies, if not check this clip out.(and many others just search for em). its only 9 mins so be sure to watch it.  he puts religion in its place in a very funny way i had never quite heard before.  let me know what you think or if you have any similar suggestions.  ENJOY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OywFHF67UfU

Big Dipper

The most famous of all the dots ever connected. So well-known that people pretend to see it even when they don't. There are seven stars, eight if you count correctly. One of them is tiny, little, and wee, and is attempting to hide behind the…

      Religious imagery and the word of god have been in my face all of my life. Religious themes and symbols are everywhere. You see them in movies, television, social networks, schools, government buildings, bumper stickers, and fish-emblems on cars. Folks dress in religious clothing such as yarmulkes, turbans, robes, veils and burkas. All year long, there are religious holidays with religious music and even religious toys and candy for the kids. I am forced to…

http://brainhulklogicsmash.blogspot.com/2013/06/rain-gauge-earth.html

We live in a rain gauge... Figuratively of course. But are you still curious what I'm on about? Well, allow me to elaborate. Sometimes I hear believers claim that life on Earth is so miraculous that only a divine being could explain it. There are actually scientific explanations that explain life rather well. But I am mainly…

Exodus International Ministry, the conservative institution which promoted the idea that orientation could be changed through a close relationship with God, 'therapy,' and sheer determination, announced Wednesday that it would be closing its doors. The institution, which has been open for more than forty years, declared its intentions to close on its website less than a day after releasing an apology to the LGBT community. 

Here are some fascinating statements from the now…

So often I hear from Christians in the US that they believe the US to be a "Christian Nation", founded on the principles of Christianity and the Ten Commandments. They believe this to such an extent that many wish to enshrine this belief within a monument of the Ten Commandments in various government buildings.

Yet it seems to me they miss one glaring point:

The Ten Commandments aren't Christian!

The story of the Ten Commandments is found in the Old…

Robert Reich said it right in this Huffington Post article:

It's as if they didn't learn a thing from the 2012 elections. Republicans are on the same suicide mission as before -- trying to block immigration reform (if they can't scuttle it in the Senate,…

AUTHOR: RIKA CHRISTENSEN 10:30 PM

A Christian man has won the right to …

Muhammad was a military leader, laying siege to towns, massacring the men, raping their women, enslaving their children, and taking the property of others as his own.  On several occasions he rejected offers of surrender from the besieged inhabitants and even butchered …