Atheists don't celebrate Christmas, right? Not necessarily, as a theist discovers when he engages in discourse with a nonbeliever, who celebrates a secular winter solstice.

In my last column I wrote of the sex change from 25,000 years of female Goddesses to the male God of the sword, and of the fanatic zeal of Paul and the early Christian cult to destroy the female. The destruction of the female Goddesses were built into the dogmas and laws of the three religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

I like knowing where our celebrations fit into the large picture of our human family. I like knowing that the quest for religious literacy is finally finding its way into our high school classrooms. I like knowing that the traditional Christmas stories are today being taught as mythology in my grandson's class in Northern California.

"If I have stopped only ONE heart from breaking, I shall not have lived in vain." wrote Emily Dickinson. In this Christmas and Solstice season and throughout the coming year may our hearts be open for that one other heart that we might keep from breaking ... and then this season will not have come ... and gone ... in vain.

In 1945 an Arab peasant in the upper Egyptian desert near Nag Hammadi made a spectacular discovery. Buried in earthenware were 52 papyrus texts, some dating from the beginning of the Christian era and presenting a Jesus who said things that could have come out of the mouth of a Zen Master, or even the Buddha himself.

The recent movie release by Warner Brothers of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1) has led to a resurrection of harsh criticism from the Christian right. Perhaps due to the overlapping movie release of the first book in J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, comparisons are being drawn between the two works of fiction and their respective authors.

I was asked to explore Carl Jung's question: "Why are so many millions willing and eager to turn their lives over to outside authorities?"

At first, in primal times, there was only the forces of nature and the unknown power behind it all. Gradually there evolved the concept of a Supreme Being, a female, a She, a Goddess who created the Universe and all of its laws. She was the ruler of Nature, Fate, Time, Eternity, Truth, Wisdom, Justice, Love, Birth and Death. .And so, for 25,000 years there was only the Goddess.

Focus on the Family president James Dobson recently described the eight-hour evolution series shown on PBS as "pure, unadulterated propaganda," and claimed it was "anti-Christian" in its intent.

Blessed are the Atheists, Agnostics, Deists, Mystics, Humanists, Free Thinkers, Taoist, Buddhist and all others who do not have an archaic, primitive God in their mind/brains.

"Biblical law" attorney withdraws his name from consideration for National Labor Relations Board.

AHA believes Ashcroft pushing his extreme personal religious agenda.

Yet another bogus claim about the Koran (this time, it predicted the speed of light!). The claim is analysed and debunked.

A Parable

Now we need to be vigilant for another threat against our nation, coming not from overseas terrorists, but from those within who would change the basic structure of our country, modifying it to reflect one narrow religious view.

"This is a war between Believers and Unbelievers." -- Osama bin Ladin. "As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities." -- Voltaire.

A short story about the arrival of the evolution chapter at a high school biology class. Along with the teaching of evolution comes the seemingly inevitable conflict with evolution and Creation.

Although even some encyclopedias shy away from unpleasant disclosures about the history of Mormonism, the truth (free from niceties) is presented here.

Dr. Eller attended the gathering at the Colorado Muslim Society Islamic Center on September 21, 2001. There were hundreds of people of every race and religion (and at least one person of no religion) present to show their support. But support of what exactly?

Is it wise to trade your freedom of thought for grandiose promises of heaven and barbaric threats of hell?

My step-daughter works for Planned Parenthood. She asked me to tell my readers about Christian terrorism right here in the United States.

The following op-ed was published by Newsday. A shorter version was also published by "The Oregonian" and possibly other papers, which will sometimes edit a piece they get from another source for reasons of space.

In defense of agnosticism: not just a weak-kneed, on-the-fence version of atheism.

Admittedly (and unashamedly) bitter poem about the "miraculous" cross found in the ruins of the World Trade Center.