Somewhere along the line, our founding fathers dumped hundreds of years of religious influence and went secular. How do we know? Historical documents prove the case. Aside from the Declaration of Independence and Constitution there were numerous other state and federal documents that support the principle of separation of church and state.
It is a sickening fact that in today's fundamentalist-dominated America, expressions of atheism are tantamount to revealing one's disloyalty, subversion and even criminal involvement. How could it be any other way when the President sounds more like a Baptist preacher than the leader of a country founded on ideals of individual freedom?
Are your really being persecuted for being a Christian in the public square? Lets put that notion to the test.
What would high-school graduation time be without another controversy over religious expression at the ceremony? This year's model has it all, including music.
"If I want to be a moral and ethical person I cannot be a Christian."
Drake's article on expertise is a first-rate example of a common expert strategy: the deployment of expertise as a political club to get the reader to accept the expert's values, without really recognizing that they are indeed values which the layman is free to accept or reject as she pleases.
There are good reasons why we rely on expert opinion when it comes to scientific claims ... and "fairness" has nothing to do with it.
Texas Tech biology professor Michael Dini's now-infamous "affirmation" requirement was flawed on the basis of principles which most skeptics and evolutionists themselves presuppose.
A short story in the science fiction genre which looks at the current situation in the world, with its religious extremism, and where it may all end up.
The "Intelligent Design" movement claims that the scientific community has neglected the possibility that the features of living things are the product of intelligent design. Although the intelligent-design hypothesis is sometimes viewed as a Trojan horse for introducing certain theological hypotheses into science, intelligent design can be performed by entities that are both nonhuman and nontheological, and the scientific community has actually dealt with several important examples of these.
An obscure Jewish sect in New York has been gripped in awe by what it believes to be a mystical visitation by a 20lb carp that was heard shouting in Hebrew, in what many Jews worldwide are hailing as a modern miracle. Many of the 7,000-member Skver sect of Hasidim in New Square, 30 miles north of Manhattan, believe that God has revealed himself in fish form.
Vilified by his contemporaries as an unrepentant atheist, the great poet was nothing like the monster envisioned by the public.
Depending on whether you are or are not a Christian, everything you might (not) want to know about the non-Christian origins of one of the most important Christian holidays.
"It seems to me that respect is an essential ingredient in love, and yet I found myself claiming (sincerely) to love someone whose central worldview I considered ridiculous. At last, I felt my position on truth and religion had to be reexamined. This letter was part of my attempt to understand and explain that process."
St. Paul was perhaps one of the greatest enemies the cause of freedom ever had. He told Christians that they had a moral duty to bow down to tyrants and to accept tyranny as the natural order ordained by God.
In viewing himself as an instrument of divine will and America as God's country, Bush is a throwback to the Puritan theocracies.
Belief, by its nature and definition, seeks to control the mind, its meanings and perceptions. When a person truly believes anything, that person then establishes the preference to become a mind-controlled automaton--much more dangerous than any zombie from Hollywood--with the potential to cause remorseless suffering because of, or for the cause of, that Belief.
The ban on cloning passed by the House of Representatives poses a chicken and egg problem of a different sort.
After Iraq's decisive defeat in Kuwait, Saddam Hussein threatened to invade Kuwait again! Two years later, he tried to assassinate the emir of Kuwait and former President Bush. In October 2000 he sent five divisions to western Iraq after getting consent from Syria for an attack against Israel. Hussein has repeatedly stated that he wants to turn Iraq into a "superpower" that will dominate the Middle East. Although it will be a difficult and costly undertaking with no guarantee of success, war must be weighed against the larger costs and risks of leaving a nuclear weapon equipped Saddam Hussein in charge.
Never mind that he wasn't named Patrick and wasn't Irish, even the most ardent heathen has to hold some modicum of respect for St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. After all, the guy's responsible for more annual beer sales than the Budweiser frogs and Paul Hogan combined.
G. L. Pierce needs to get his facts straight before blaming America for the world's ills. This is in response to his article
The Realities of the Peace Movement
This is a defense of "the Peace Movement," a response to
"Thoughts on the Peace Movement" by Daniel G. Jennings. Although the realities are hard to accept, war is not the solution to current problems.
We find ourselves in a dangerous new reality, in a world which we share with evil people who want to kill us, and destroy our nation and way of life. Such a reality is frightening and uncomfortable, and it requires us to take risks and make sacrifices. Many people can't accept such a reality so they start buying into other false views of reality such as those offered by the peace movement.
One of the greatest needs of the human being is being a part of the group. Until there are established groups, clubs, and associations that espouse rational thought and critical thinking, there is little chance of upturning the theistic support clubs called churches.
Had Bush not packaged his personal beliefs as inviolable truths in his address at the 51st annual National Prayer Breakfast, his sermonizing might be excusable. As it stands, however, his words make it apparent that he is oblivious to those who do not share his faith.
Throughout his adult life, Frost vacillated between piety and irreverence, faith and skepticism. Although his wife accused him of being a closet atheist, he was never quite able to eradicate the fear of God implanted in him by his Puritan forebears.
A consideration of free-will and moral knowledge in the kingdom
of heaven--sure to confound your neighborhood theist.
The real question may not be if we should attack Iraq and invade the Middle East, but when we should do it.
There was no deconversion for me because I was never converted.
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