Dinesh D’Souza says he has proof of an afterlife:
His proof is near death experiences. He says atheists are “very worried” about that evidence.
Anyone here worried about that “evidence”? Anyone? Anyone?
(via)
A reasonable blog on atheism, religion, science and skepticism
Dinesh D’Souza says he has proof of an afterlife:
His proof is near death experiences. He says atheists are “very worried” about that evidence.
Anyone here worried about that “evidence”? Anyone? Anyone?
(via)
How can people be so cruel to their own children?
The 9-year-old boy lay on a bloodstained hospital sheet crawling with ants, staring blindly at the wall.
His family pastor had accused him of being a witch, and his father then tried to force acid down his throat as an exorcism. It spilled as he struggled, burning away his face and eyes. The emaciated boy barely had strength left to whisper the name of the church that had denounced him — Mount Zion Lighthouse.
A month later, he died.
This is an instance where Christianity is destructive. If they could be convinced witches and demons didn’t exist — which are beliefs that stem from a supernatural/religious worldview — I think this sort of behavior would drop substantially, if not completely.
Believers like to say God has a sense of humor. But if he does, I imagine it would not be the kind of humor we would appreciate.
For instance, recently a man was trapped in an elevator lift in Vienna, Austria. Gunther Link prayed out to God to save him, and someone came and rescued him. Praise God!
He rushed to a Catholic church to thank his magnificent God for saving his life.
And as he was praying, he apparently embraced a stone pillar, which toppled over on him, crushing and killing him. His body was found the next day when parishioners attended Mass.
If a god existed who performed such practical jokes, would he deserve our praise and worship? Christians and Catholics would have been happy to give god “all the praise” for saving that man’s life. But on his death, they are silent. They might point to the devil, or be willing to leave it to “chance.” But they should know better. If god is responsible for saving people, he is also responsible for killing them — either directly by performing the deed, or indirectly by non-interference.
What kind of god would do such a thing? And even if such a god did exist, would he deserve our worship?
(via)

Eternal life does NOT depend on works. If it did, we will all be in hell. Christ paid for EVERY sin, so how can I or you be judged BY GOD for a sin when the penalty was ALREADY paid. People judge but that does not matter.
Common evangelical beliefs, right? Many Christians would say “Amen!” to that if it was said by a preacher.
It’s actually taken from the online journal of George Sodini, the man who killed 3 women and hurt 15 by opening fire in a LA Fitness gym a few days ago.
It was his justification for killing people. God forgives sin, salvation is not based on works but on faith. You can kill people — like biblical heroes did — and still have the favor of God.
He knew he had some problems, and he blamed a church he attended for 13 years for them:
“Be Ye Holy, even as I have been Ye holy! Thus saith the lord thy God!”, as pastor Rick Knapp would proclaim. Holy shit, religion is a waste. But this guy teaches (and convinced me) you can commit mass murder then still go to heaven…. guilt and fear kept me there 13 long years until Nov 2006. I think his crap did the most damage.” [December 31, 2008]
I know virtually all pastors would say killing people like this was a sin, and they’d probably be happy to say he went to hell. And I’m thankful they don’t follow what the Bible says about who should be killed, because the God of the Bible certainly didn’t have a problem with mass murder in certain contexts, seeing he did it and commanded it numerous times.
Would this man have killed those people if he wasn’t brainwashed? He was obviously mentally unstable, so perhaps he would have. I don’t know. But what I do know is he killed people with religion as his justification and comfort, like so many others do. Is there any different between him and a brainwashed Muslim who will kill himself for paradise with his God? It seems like you have to be mentally unstable to believe that, too.
George didn’t need prayer. He didn’t need Jesus. What he needed was someone to help him through his problems, and if he couldn’t be helped, to be locked up in order to protect others.
Perhaps some people need religion to be moral, but does that really make up for all the evil people do in the name of religion?
See also: Before Aerobics Massacre, Sodini Read Sexist Christian Author’s Book; Gym shooter posted video monologues online
Debate topic of the weekend:
Will humanity conquer death, either organically or digitally?
I think either have a possibility. We might be able to regrow our bodies/organs and if necessary transfer our memories or our brain.
Or we could build some kind of matrix where our memories could be stored digitally. Of the two, I certainly prefer the organic option!
What do you think? Is it possible?

Copyright 2008-2012, Patheos. All rights reserved. Terms of Service | Patheos Privacy Policy

Follow Patheos
Atheist: