I was a Sophomore in high school when I met Richard. He was quiet, introverted, and incredibly intriguing. A year my senior, we only had a few classes together. About five months after our introduction, he confessed to me he was homosexual. We weren't fast friends exactly, but we did feel a bond that kept us challenging each other and opening our hearts.

   Richard and I…

So I am shopping on the phone to find a local certified mechanic to install a new engine in my wife's truck.  It was recommended to call a specific mechanic shop about fifty miles away. After talking to the shop owner's wife for about ten minutes because he was tied up with customers she finally said something to the effect that "we don't like to take new customers as we stay busy with our existing clientele."  I commented I thought this was an odd business philosophy. She then proceeded to…

Those who would give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

I don't really know much about Benjamin Franklin, but apparently this quote is out of context; it was one statement in a letter to a colleague…

Isn't it funny how americans, especially of the christian sect, like to view all muslims as "islamic radicals"? in light of the recent events in Boston, of which i am whole-heartedly sympathetic toward (yet we ATHEISTS HAVE NO HEART NOR MORALS i am told), i am drawn back to this argument of which i have heard others in the major media outlets sometimes talk about.  When a christian, especially an american christian, thinks of a muslim, they USUALLY think of them as an islamic radical who…

Apparently folks in the Christian Quiverfull movement are being targeted with another message that conveniently increases the size of the flock: there is a global orphan crisis--163 million children in the Third World in need. The actual statistic is 17 million orphaned children, many of whom live with other family members. What does it mean for the people of Third World nations when hoards of well-intentioned American Christian families seek to rescue these non-existent orphans? A slew of…

To me, life is all about the genuine care for other people, and being grateful to those who wish to see you succeed. It's about manifesting happiness in yourself and others. Manifesting happiness in yourself through the manifestation of happiness in others. No religion needs to tell me that I shouldn't commit adultery, or that I should 'do no murder'. I'm very capable of establishing right from wrong, this is innate in most humans. Some are predisposed to bad genes or mental…

Another entry from my blog: http://brainhulklogicsmash.blogspot.com/2013/04/only-wishful-thinking.html

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Well, it's the second week in a row without a dismantling of Billy Graham's fragile claims. In my Sunday paper he tackled the hot button issue that everyone wants a answer to. Yes, he went big and answered the…

There are some meaningless things people just go along with. Let me point out something that should be rather obvious, but for some reason isn't.

Ending world hunger is a bad idea.

It seems even atheists have a hard time grasping this. Bimbos in beauty pageants are trained to parrot it back whenever they're asked what they wish for. Ask any child, or naive adult, and you'll get the same wish of ending world hunger, world peace or some other inane nonsense like…

So, I recently read 'The Quantum Universe: Everything that can happen does happen' by Professors Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw.

Truthfully, I took three things from this amazing explanation of Quantum Physics:

1. My brain hurts.
2. A vague understanding of how Quantum Physics works. I now feel more equipped than I was before to understand our universe and the wonders it contains.
3. THIS QUOTE, which I honestly believe is as perfect a definition for…

"Despite not believing in God, and not believing in an afterlife where I might be rewarded or punished for my behaviour, I try to be a good person. That's the most any of us can do." - Alom Shaha, The Young Atheist's Handbook.

It's a favourite argument of the Theists: 'How can you be good without God?'

Even supposedly 'enlightened' Theologians (mean?) like William Lane…

Hi guys,

Let me say straight away, this is not the blog post I wanted to make as my first. However, I find myself in an unusual position.

Today, I went to the pub. While there I got talking to a lovely couple with two children about their gorgeous puppy bitch (that fell asleep in my arms). The conversation moved on to my family and to my father's (and my) atheism, my mother career as a nurse and my vast array of siblings. I also mentioned that one of my father's…

A great letter I came across. A young Muslim Pakistani boy finds out his girlfriend wasn't a virgin, and e-mails a psychologist threatening suicide. The psychologist's answer is awesome.

Excerpt:

Perhaps reading this account of the terrifying, inhumane, and repressive situation in your country shocks you, and you may feel that I am being unfair to Pakistan or to Islam, but my intention is neither to discredit Pakistan nor to insult Islam. I simply must start with…

Hemant Mehta highlights some of the answers given to the question asked of a few writers by the New Statesman, what can atheists learn from religion?

According to a new poll, a third of Americans want…

The Curse

Malachi 1:1 to 4:4



1:1 The burden of being the chosen ones, as articulated by a guy named Malachi.



The Lord made something very clear. He said "I have loved you Jews thoroughly, and thoroughly hated just about everyone else." …

                                    CONSOLATION TWENTY-SEVEN: WILDERNESS REJOINED

     My last two posts, on the Newtown massacre and the movie "Amour," have gotten me thinking about mortality and my close contact with it every two weeks at the hospice hospital where I volunteer.  The "Wilderness Rejoined" subtitle above is a follow-up to my earlier Consolation Four, "The Wilderness," posted May 19, 2011, in which I define wilderness as every natural object, event, and evolution that…

president hope & change grows more corrupt to the

core,

as most figureheads do when they are fed a few more

years of

power &

with his hope & change comes

the new BRAIN Initiative,

whose puppet master,

the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),

paints a pretty picture for the public,

saying that the Department of Defense will be able to

simply scan the brains of suspected…

For all practical purposes, I am an Atheist. I lack belief in a God (or gods).

It is that, and only that, with which I can confidently say that I share with other Atheists. We're a diverse group.

While there certainly are trends, we're all…

Okay some of what I discuss below is more about a lack of belief in an afterlife or in other supernatural things rather than a lack of belief in gods or religion. FYI.

~~~

So I haven't been on this site much lately. It was essential when I first accepted the fact that I was an atheist and became more sure of my lack of belief in all gods/religions, 3-and-a-half years ago. I brought my dad and younger brother into this anti-theistic, "religion actually is really horrible and…