A Glass can only spill what it contains
I felt the sting of the words like an ant bite on a warm summer’s day. It was subtle but the longer it sat the worse the sting felt. “Besides, I think white people are the oppressed race now.” I stared directly into his eyes. They weren’t void of love, but instead brimming with his…
For just over 10 years now I’ve been an atheist, an ex-Christian. After losing my religion I starting sharing the story of that journey, my difficulties with the church, and many of your stories as well. I’ve been talking privately with dozens of people ever since the first time I wrote down my story, and…
Those who fully embrace doubt do so at the expense of every comfort they’ve ever known.
Authors note: This post will use a lot of Christian catch phrases and paraphrase a lot of Bible verses, so if I use the term “soul” I’m not stating that I believe in a soul, I’m putting myself in the position of a person who does and who uses their scriptures to justify the…
It’s rare that I find stories that so precisely and eloquently put words to the way it felt for me as I lost my faith. It’s rare that I ever feel like someone actually gets it. Jim Etchison does such an incredible job describing these thoughts and feelings in his book Songs of the Deconverted,…
Many times when discussing the path of doubt with those that have yet to experience or embrace it they come to the conclusion that it is easy, simple, or even that it was an escape from having to live with and face a life of faith. The burdens of doubt, however, cannot and should not…
The slowest process of my life (besides dying). By Anonymous Waking up from religion has been a multi-dimensional, multi-experiential process. You know the whole “layers of an onion” metaphor? In the case of extricating myself from religion, it’s more like peeling back layers of a multiverse with that uniquely painful phase involving the Sun (which…
Despite my moniker to the contrary I actually try to be the voice of calm reason when I talk to believers; and trust me when I say it, I talk to a lot of believers. Many of these conversations happen with what one might call “infant Christians” or new converts to the Christian faith –…
The Bible and the Qur’an are similar books, I’ve been clear on that before. One of the many similarities is a certain tendency to provide an insurance policy against the likelihood or fruition of doubt. They both do so in the same ways; by ostracizing those unsure of their claims, demonizing them as deceivers, and…
Death, for believers from many different faiths, is a new beginning. Death is the point in which your deeds and dedication to your god begin to be rewarded and for many it is something to look forward to. I overhear Christians talking about the joys of heaven fairly frequently, at funerals I hear pastors talk…