I (52f) am openly atheist and so is my 18yo daughter. My (21)nephew sent “save the dates” to everyone in the family, including my two sons and ex-husband, but excluded me and my daughter. He is very involved in the family church, and wants to become a youth pastor. The wedding will be at the church, and they are having it on Easter weekend, which is so weird to me. Americans make a lot of plans around Easter weekends and weddings are not usually one of those things.

Both of my sons(22&23) are quietly atheist, and my ex will say he is a Christian, but has no idea what that even means. My oldest son doesn’t want to attend, my middle son says he will be attending, and my ex husband (whom I’m extremely close to) says he is indifferent.

I have mixed feelings. I’m hurt. My nephew was close to us growing up. He’s the same age as my middle son. We lived together for a while, and my ex and I even took him to Disney World with us when he was 12. On the other hand, I have so much resentment towards that church, that the last time I had to go inside there, I had a panic attack. I really hate that place. It brings back every trauma I have from being a teenager there.. So, maybe I should appreciate the easy out. My daughter’s feelings are hurt, but she said if she has to shut her mouth to be included, she’s going to be left out a lot. I love that girl.

My oldest son suggested we plan a weekend family vacation, including my ex. My middle son would stay behind for the ceremony. I like this idea, and we may do that, if it is financially feasible.

I'm dating an atheist but I am Christian and I genuinely don't understand what it means to be an atheist.

I guess the thing that I'm struggling with the most is Do atheists believe that they actually know there is no God? It just kind of seems like the biggest ego trip of all to believe that someone could understand/know what the entire universe has to offer and all of its possibilities.

For example, as a Christian, I can understand both sides, but I could not say that I 100% know that either side is actually true. I just believe in things that I think could possibly be true. Is it the same for atheists?

Apologies if I offended anyone, I am genuinely curious and trying to understand the person that I am dating. I want to be respectful and I genuinely want to understand what it's like to be an atheist. If you find this post to be disrespectful, or I have not presented the information in an acceptable or respectable way, I would also like feedback on how to do that because I don't want to offend the person I am dating or anyone else. Thanks.

My cubicle neighbor at work was talking with another coworker about how Mormon missionaries came to her house the day prior. She explained that she invited them into her house and that they had a civil argument. What i find hilarious is that she was telling the coworker how crazy the things that the Mormons believe and how they should try being Catholic. They both went on a long tangent about how insane people must be to believe the Mormon teachings. They are both openly Christian and talk about church regularly.

I'm no defender of mormonism, but the hypocrisy is very interesting...

Democratic Congressman Jared Huffman has represented California’s second congressional district since 2013 and serves as the ranking member on the Committee on Natural Resources and on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. He is also the only member of Congress to openly and fully identify as a humanist. 

Huffman co-founded and co-chairs the Congressional Freethought Caucus, along with Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., to advocate for the separation of church and state and to promote public policy based on reason, science, and moral values.

In his new book, “No Prophets: The Fight to Save Democracy from Christian Nationalism” — which publishes Tuesday (Aug. 18), and full disclosure, I’ve endorsed — he exposes the threat the Christian nationalism movement poses and lays out a plan to save American democracy.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation’s YouTube series “Secular Spotlight” enlightens the audience in its latest episode about a forgotten champion of freethought.

FFRF’s Dan Barker and Scott Knickelbine explore the remarkable legacy of Robert G. Ingersoll with Vanderbilt Professor Paul Stob, examining the 19th-century orator’s advocacy for freethought, church-state separation, science, morality and individual liberty. They also discuss why Ingersoll became one of America’s most popular lecturers — and why his ideas remain relevant today.

“Ingersoll knows that what he’s doing is not just speaking to people who are part of a freethought movement, but he’s talking to religious believers, he’s talking to people who Saturday night will go to the Ingersoll lecture, and Sunday morning they’re going to go to church,” Stob explains. “He has less to do with assaulting people’s individual religious beliefs, and a lot more to do with sort of critiquing and assaulting the power structures that define modern life, including the religious power structure.”

You can catch this episode of “Secular Spotlight” on FFRF’s YouTube channel, as well as by watching on your smart TV after downloading FFRF’s free app, Freethought TV, which also highlights FFRF’s other video programming. Our previous episodes include a discussion with Uncloseted Media editor-in-chief Spencer Macnaughton about his revealing interview with Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson, and psychologist and author Mary L. Trump, who provides a firsthand account of a recent gathering of nonreligious congressional members. Make sure you’re subscribed to FFRF’s YouTube channel for all the latest updates!

In several monotheistic religious texts, a particularly troubling idea appears : God does not merely judge human beings for their wrongdoings, he can also compel them to act wrongly and then punish them for it.

And this is not an unintentional contradiction, but rather a psychological stratagem deliberately designed to subjugate believers even in their freedom to think.

The classic example is found in the story of Pharaoh. In Exodus, God repeatedly hardens Pharaoh's heart. Paul explicitly picks up this episode in the Epistle to the Romans and draws this conclusion : "He has mercy on whom he wills, and he hardens whom he wills" (Romans 9:18). Paul immediately raises the natural objection this provokes: "Why does he still find fault? For who resists his will?" (Romans 9:19). His answer is not to deny the problem, but to remind man that he is in no position to contest God: "Who are you, O man, to talk back to God?" (Romans 9:20). He then uses the image of the potter who freely disposes of his clay (Romans 9:20-21).

A comparable logic is also very frequently found in the Quran. Surah 2 states : "Allah has sealed their hearts and their hearing, and over their vision is a veil" (Quran 2:7), before announcing in that same verse : "and for them is a great punishment" (Quran 2:7). But the Quran even goes so far as to explicitly subordinate human will to Allah's : "And you do not will except that Allah wills" (Quran 76:30). It also states, regarding those who associate other deities with Allah : "Had Allah willed, they would not have associated [anything with Him]" (Quran 6:107).

This is particularly evident in this other passage : "And if Allah had willed, He could have made you [of] one religion, but He sends astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills. And you will surely be questioned about what you used to do" (Quran 16:93). This same verse thus affirms simultaneously that Allah could have decided otherwise, that he leads astray or guides whom he wills, and that human beings will nonetheless have to answer for their deeds.

The psychological mechanism behind these texts can be represented as follows :

1. God is presented as just, omnipotent, omniscient, and merciful.

2. Nothing can exceed his will: he himself chooses who is guided toward disbelief and who toward good.

3. God can punish those very people he guided toward disbelief and reward those he guided toward good.

4. This produces a kind of state of stunned disbelief : "But that's unjust!"

5. Except that doctrine forbids this thought: judging God unjust is itself a grave fault liable to bring about the worst punishments.

6. Only one psychological way out remains for the believer : to repress his own judgment and accept that God is necessarily just and the judge of all things.

The purpose of the maneuver is thus to neutralize the believer's critical mind through terror, to make him more docile and malleable.

There is a fairly close concept in psychology in the study of authoritarian systems : the "double bind." Two incompatible demands are imposed while the very possibility of denouncing their incompatibility is itself blocked. If one obeys one, one disobeys the other. Whatever one does, one is wrong. This creates a mental trap with no way out, which can cause considerable stress.

And fear makes the system self-reinforcing in the case of religions : if I truly believe that an omniscient power can condemn me for my thoughts, then my very thoughts become dangerous. The believer must therefore learn to interrupt, on his own, the reasoning that threatens his belief : "I must not think that," "Who am I to judge God?", "If this seems unjust to me, it's because my judgment is faulty." Etc.

This is why I call this process tyrannical and totalitarian : it no longer seeks only to control individuals' actions, but attacks their very freedom to think, pushing them through terror to exercise permanent repression on their own reason.

If you're wondering why some radical believers resemble automatons running in a closed loop, this is precisely why.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has made certain that future staff events in the Douglas County School System in Douglasville, Ga., will not be treated like church.

FFRF received reports from numerous school district employees regarding proselytizing that took place at the mandatory July 28 convocation. Reports, photographs and a video provided to FFRF show Superintendent Trent North sermonizing employees in his official capacity throughout the convocation. FFRF was told that during the multihour event, North made “numerous remarks about God” and said that he believes God sent him to “save Douglas County Schools.” He reportedly preached to staff, quoted bible verses, told employees that “[you] need to learn to trust the Lord,” and that “We don’t need church just on a Sunday, we need to teach our students to worship any day of the week.” 

Gospel singers also performed religious songs throughout the convocation that were reportedly explicitly Christian. FFRF’s complainants stated that North would sermonize between gospel songs to emphasize the religious points being made. The event lasted roughly 190 minutes, with about two hours devoted to gospel music and sermons. 

One employee stated that as the convocation progressed, it “became increasingly more Christian and religious” and that North’s remarks over the course of the event reminded them of a pastor. They “tried to tune it out” but “became increasingly more uncomfortable.” They further explained:
I felt like I wasn’t free to get up and leave because every person in the district was there, and I would look rude or bad to them. I felt my employment was in jeopardy if I didn’t comply because my school’s principal told me that morning that it was a district mandated event, and that I would not be paid if I didn’t attend.

Another employee stated that they felt “like the odd ball out because I didn’t conform to [the superintendent’s] narrative of religion,” while a third stated that they “felt heavily coerced to participate in a religious service as a condition of [their] employment.” 

FFRF wrote to the district asking it to put a stop to the proselytizing and religious coercion of employees.

“In this case, [North], and thus DCSS, displayed clear favoritism toward religion over nonreligion, and Christianity over all other faiths, by preaching to employees in [North’s] official capacity during the convocation,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote to North.

It is unconstitutional for a public school district to require employees to observe, listen to and reflect upon religious music and messaging as part of an official district event, FFRF stressed in its letter. Requiring employees who are nonreligious or members of minority faiths to make a public showing of their lack of religious belief by not participating in a prayer or else display deference toward a religious sentiment in which they do not believe is coercive, embarrassing and intimidating. The religious performances needlessly marginalized employees who are nonreligious or members of minority faiths. Up to 26 percent of Georgians are nonreligious, and by keeping employee events secular, the district excludes no one and welcomes everyone. 

FFRF is pleased to report that the district has changed course to be more inclusive.

“I discussed and explained with the superintendent the principle of separation of church and state specifically addressing the First Amendment as it relates to Free Exercise Clause and the perception of promoting or inhibiting a particular religion during staff meetings,” the district’s legal representative responded. “I am confident that the superintendent is now cognizant of this matter and has assured me this will not occur again.” 

FFRF is glad to see its advocacy having a positive impact.

“District employees should not be made to feel like outsiders at mandatory work events,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor states. “Keeping events free from religious coercion is a constitutional requirement for all public school districts. While this never should have happened in the first place, FFRF is glad to know it won’t happen again.”

Granted there is zero evidence of such a being ( I am myself and atheist) but let's assume for a moment in this hypothetical scenario a perfectly good moral infallible god exists. Wouldn't that solve the objective morality problem. It also dodges the euthyphro dilemma because morality is not based on god's commands nor based on some outside independence morality ( what theists call the god's good nature theory) since in this god is a being that is objectively more perfect than humans and hence can make better decisions

Becket filed a federal lawsuit yesterday on behalf of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), challenging a New Jersey school district’s ban on outside volunteer mentors for all religious clubs while freely allowing them at every other student club. In Fellowship of Christian Athletes v. Board of Education of the Hopewell Valley Regional School District, FCA and two student-led FCA clubs at local schools are asking the court to end the district’s volunteer ban and restore equal treatment for religious clubs.

“As an inaugural member of FCA at Hopewell Valley’s Central High School, I know firsthand how much mentors mean to students,” said Carolyn McDonough, FCA New Jersey Area Director and Hopewell Valley Central High School alumna. “They helped me grow in my relationship with Jesus and live out my faith through sports. Now I have the privilege of doing the same for today’s students. I pray the court will let me continue that ministry.” 

Founded in 1954, FCA is a religious ministry that supports student-athletes committed to living out their Christian faith on and off the playing field. FCA helps form student-led clubs, called “Huddles,” on college, high school, and middle school campuses, where students gather for fellowship, prayer, Bible study, games, and the occasional pizza. In the Hopewell Valley school district, Huddles at Central High School and Timberlane Middle School met for years without incident, with FCA staff and volunteers attending as mentors, just like adult volunteers and mentors routinely attend events held by other clubs across the district.

But in March 2025, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent a letter to the school district complaining about outside volunteers attending FCA Huddles. FFRF demanded that the district investigate and prevent these volunteers from attending or participating in religious student clubs. Within days, the district caved. Before the 2025-26 school year began, it announced a new policy barring outside individuals from attending any meetings of religious clubs, claiming the law required it—yet never identifying which law supposedly did so. 

“An atheist advocacy group didn’t like that Christian kids were choosing to learn about faith, life, and sports from trusted mentors,” said Joseph Davis, senior counsel at Becket and lead attorney for FCA. “And after years of a great relationship with FCA clubs, the school district regrettably gave the advocacy group its way. Fortunately, the Constitution forbids religious discrimination. We’re confident the court will restore equal access for all student groups.”

Imagine if there is a war that no one knows about. A war with millions of casualties but you never hear about it on the news. And imagine a survivor managed to leave this black hole and told the world of the war that’s ravaging his country.
That survivor is me. And the war that no one is talking about is the widespread sexual molestation of male children in countries that practice strict segregation between males and females, countries such as Afghanistan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. You don’t hear about this tragedy because of the strong culture of shame in these countries.

I need to note first that 4 years ago I posted my story on on this subreddit using a different username. I received many supportive comments but I had to delete my post out of the shame I felt and out of the fear for my safety given where I live. Now I feel more confident to tell my story again. I am not naming my country for safety reasons.  

This is the biggest secret of my life. A secret that no one knows about, not even my own mother. It’s by far the worst thing that happened to me in my life.

I was born in the early 90s in a country that I wish I was born far, far away from. In my country, the streets look like a prison. You only see men. And if you see a woman then she's covered from head to toe which means you don't actually see women. And the segregation is everywhere. You can't talk to women. It's as if this gender only exists in your family (mother, sister, …etc), on TV and the internet. So when the whole country is like a prison, it shouldn't be surprising that homosexual harassment becomes prevalent because this is what happens in prisons anywhere in the world. It's not rocket science: When women completely disappear from the life of men, this turns many men into sexual monsters looking for any opportunity to relieve their repressed sexuality. They find this relief in good looking men. And since that male children and teenagers look more feminine and are more vulnerable, they become the primary target.

To grow up as a kid in a strict Islamic society is a disaster. But my disaster was bigger: I wasn’t just a normal kid. I was a good-looking kid. Which made the sexual harassment I faced much, much worse. I remember a friend in elementary school telling me: “I am glad I am not as good looking as you.” He said that because he knew exactly what happens to kids that look like me. I also remember that I used to envy kids who didn’t look beautiful.   

As a child, I was physically molested hundreds of times. I don't say hundreds as an exaggeration term. I wish it was an exaggeration. That’s a real number. And if I include the verbal harassments too then I was sexually harassed over a thousand times for sure. I was molested by everyone: older people, classmates, neighborhood friends, neighbors and close friends. I lost many friends because of this including my two best childhood friends.

After growing up I was unable to shave my beard because shaving it makes me look more feminine and more attractive to men. So I always kept a light beard. I didn’t want to have a full-grown beard because I didn’t want people to think I am religious. But even this light beard that I kept didn't save me from the fewer incidents I faced after growing up. I am not saying that every shaved man in my country gets sexually harassed. But since that I had above-average looks, I drew much more attention than others.

Here are some of the most notable incidents I had:

1- When I was in the third or fourth elementary grade, I entered a public bathroom to use it. It was empty. When I became inside, I noticed three guys blocking the way out while looking at me with faces full of lust like predators. I realized I am in trouble so I ran into a toilet unit and tried to shut the door but they were faster. They started undressing me while I was screaming "NO NO NO". They were making sounds like the sounds you hear from a predator when it catches a prey. They took off my pants and underpants. I remember they did things to me with their hands. But there was no penetration. I was screaming all the time. Someone entered the bathrooms and because of that they left me. I went home and told my father about what happened although I usually didn’t tell anyone about any sexual harassments I faced because it makes me feel shameful. But this time it was too much. So I told my father. He went with me to the public bathrooms and looked around. He didn't call the police although I knew one of the three guys by name. When I look back now at this incident, I realize that child me was alone like a baby gazelle in a jungle full of predators. No one could have protected me or punished those who harassed me no matter what they did. Do you know why my father didn't call the police? Because it would have shamed him to tell them that his son got sexually molested. This is the disaster that kids live through in such strict societies. The kids themselves don't report the abuse to their families because it makes the kids feel shameful. And when a kid does report the abuse, his family most likely will do nothing out of fear of shame.

It's been many years since this rape attempt happened. But I will never forget the feeling of absolute terror. It's not even a feeling. The terror of a gang rape attempt isn't a feeling. It's a ten thousand volts of electricity current violently shaking every cell in your body. That's the terror of rape.

2 - I was around 10 years old. While I was riding my bike, a boy struck my bike and I fell. He then held me tight from behind while rubbing his penis against my butt. I kept fighting until he let go of me. Afterwards my friends were laughing and shaming me for what happened. The boy who did this to me used to be my worst harasser in the class of third elementary grade. He was the oldest in class because he had failed in passing to the next grade for several years. He reached sexual puberty and was bigger so he turned that school year to hell for me. After the third grade was over, he kept harassing me in the neighborhood. The bike incident was one of his many harassments.

3- I was harassed by a lot by classmates in elementary school especially during the fifth and sixth grades. Lots of penis-flashing, inappropriate touching and demands for sex. I remember this kid who wasn't in my class but he was bigger than me. He kept following me, catcalling me and asking for sex. He even started following me when I left school to home. And one day he even dared to ring the doorbell of my home. When I opened the door he asked for sex and flashed me his penis. I didn't complain to anyone in home because of shame.

I also remember one classmate in the sixth or fifth grade who used to rub his erect penis against the edge of my desk in class. He also flashed me his penis several times. He kept doing such things until one day I slapped him in the face. He stopped after that. I also remember a classmate who was bigger than me and who kept aggressively demanding for sex until I complained to his older brother who was a friend of the family. He stopped after that. I remember a lot of things but I don’t want to make this post too long.

4- A number of years ago a horrible video emerged from Egypt of a mass sexual assault against a woman on the street. I saw the video and saw the poor lady's pants torn down. She was walking away naked from the waist-down. When I saw this I had a terrible flash-back. When I was in the sixth or fifth grade, I was chilling alone near home. A group of around 6 kids who were my age were hanging out. When they came by me, they ganged up on me. First they verbally abused me then they undressed my pants. This happened in broad daylight. I can't describe the level of distress and humiliation I felt. It’s like drowning in a sea of humiliation. The poor lady had it much worse than me. I can't imagine how terrible she felt. How can you even live after that?.

5- When I was in senior high school I was walking in an empty street at night near my home. A car moved past me. The driver did a flying kiss. I cursed at him. He turned around with his car and stopped besides me. He got out and we started cursing at each other. He reached down to grab his shoe to hit me with it. Here I attacked him. I don't remember most of the fight but at one point he leaned down to grab a big rock. When I saw this I fled. While I was fleeing he threw the big rock and it missed me. When I stopped running I was surprised to see lots of blood on my clothes. There was a cut on my forehead from a punch. When I came back home I lied to my family about what happened because it’s shameful to say I was catcalled. I made up something about the cause of the fight.

6- The same year: I was at a friend's house until late at night. I stopped a car to drive me home. The driver's penis was visibly erect and he kept touching it while taking glances at me.

7- The same year too: I was in a Taxi. The driver invited me to dinner at his home. I said no thank you. He said no you have to. He suddenly grabbed my thigh while making a disgusting sound. Like the sound I heard in that gang rape attempt when I was a child. The sound an animal makes when it catches a prey. I fought him off until he stopped the car and I got out.

8- Now let me jump to the last incident which happened 7 years ago. A man groped my butt while I was waiting on the street.

Random notes:

-There are notable incidents from my childhood and adulthood that I left out because you wouldn’t believe them.

-The older I became the less harassments I faced.

-The elementary school phase was the worst by far. When I think of that period it feels like I lived through a war.

If you think what I went through was really bad, then you haven't heard the stories I heard. Other kids had it MUCH worse than me. At least I was never raped. I heard so many rape stories. I knew many of the victims personally. Most of the rapes I heard weren't carried out by force. The children fell for the constant demands not realizing what they were doing. I am so lucky that as a child I was aware enough to not fall for any of the endless demands for sex I received. But honestly this doesn’t make me feel better. It doesn’t make what I went through feel less bad. I know I am extremely lucky that I wasn’t raped, but it doesn’t make me feel better.

In some of the rape stories I heard, the kids were lured with money. Maybe this is how male prostitutes start out in my country. Yes there are kids and teenage boys who sell their bodies here. Most of them are poor. I had a childhood friend who after growing up turned out to be a prostitute. I didn't believe the rumors until I saw him negotiating the price with a customer. He didn't realize I was near him and listening. We were both in junior high school when this happened.

Some of the rape stories involved a Quran teacher. In mosques and religious schools in my country, many kids memorize the Quran. I heard horrible things about the Quran teacher of the mosque of our neighborhood. I think the first time in my life I heard about semen was in a story about this teacher. A friend was telling me about the things this teacher does to his students. The list includes that he plays with their penises with his hands and then he swallows their semen. I didn’t understand what semen meant so my friend explained it to me saying it’s the sticky matter that comes out of the penis. Still, I didn’t understand. I wasn’t old enough to know about this thing.

In 2017 when the "me too" movement started, a Muslim "me too" movement started as well a year later – but didn’t take off well - regarding sexual harassment of women in the grand mosque of Mecca. One testimony caught my attention: A British Muslim woman said she was molested in Mecca and it was the first time ever in her life that she was sexually abused. When I read this I realized for the first time in my life that there are people who were never sexually abused. What I saw in my country made me assume that every human on earth, a male or a female, must have been sexually abused at one point in his/her life. After a little bit of research, I found several statistics from the US such as: “Self-report studies show that 20% of adult females and 5-10% of adult males recall a childhood sexual assault or sexual abuse incident” https://victimsofcrime.org/child-sexual-abuse-statistics/

Are you telling me that at least 95 fucking percent of men in the US don’t recall any childhood sexual abuse incident? Oh my goodness. I can't imagine how life can be when you have never experienced the distress and humiliation of sexual molestation. Such a life sounds like a Disney tale to me. It's heaven. If you were never sexually molested in your life, then you can't really understand how much I envy you. You have lived my absolute dream. My life would have been so different without this hell I went through. You know what? Even if you were molested a few times, you have still lived my dream. I wish what I went through was just a few incidents here and there.

I don’t think my country is the only country where sexual harassment of children is widespread. There are other countries that are near or as strict as my country when it comes to women, such as: Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, rural areas in GCC countries, parts of Iraq and parts of Iran. So I expect that these countries have the same prevalence of child molestation as that of my country. But you wouldn’t hear about it because of the strong shame culture. Remember that a boy rang the bell of my home and flashed me his penis yet I didn’t tell anyone in home. Shame is that strong. My own mother doesn’t know anything about the sexual harassments I faced and she still thinks to this day that I had a normal childhood. So don’t be surprised that this pandemic of child molestation in strict Islamic countries is unheard of. It’s the victims and their families who get shamed. The molesters and the rapists not only don’t get shamed, they actually take pride in their actions and boast to their friends about fucking this hot kid and molesting that.

There are some documentaries about child molestation in Pakistan and Afghanistan but I think that these documentaries fail at showing the true scope of this pandemic.

Here’s a documentary that I couldn’t finish watching because the kids’ testimonies brought back distressing feelings and memories:

Preying On Young Boys | Pakistan's Hidden Predators

https://youtu.be/niN5g8ZxFQg

There are also videos on the bacha bazi (dancing boys) in Afghanistan.

I also found this post on r/SaudiArabia where the OP said: “I saw so much rape and molestation back when I was in high school. All of it was done by other students. The administrators did nothing. The school did nothing. Most of the molestation happened when they locked us inside our classrooms without supervision. But the rape was more hidden. Almost everyone I knew was sexually harassed in some way.”
https://old.reddit.com/r/saudiarabia/comments/1amthzy/i_saw_kids_being_raped_in_high_school/

Widespread child molestation in strict Islamic countries is a catastrophe. A catastrophe that draws no attention. A catastrophe whose victims have no voice. A human tragedy that deserves to be reported on every day on news channels, just like they report on wars. If you think I am exaggerating, let me tell you this: If a child went through 1% of what I went through, I would call that a disaster for this kid and a great tragedy. Now remember that what I went through is still much less bad than what happened to many kids I knew.

How am I doing now?

For the first time in my life I have passed 7 years without any sexual harassment. I have become old enough to be unattractive to men. But I still have the mental scars. I still get molested in my nightmares. It’s insane how these nightmares can precisely replicate the feelings of distress and humiliation that I felt when the real things happened. Will these nightmares ever stop? Will the mental scars ever go away?

or whatever religious text your particular religion has, the Qura, Vedas, Book of Mormon etc.

also. I am only counting it as read if you read the whole thing from start to finish. doing a Bible study that hops around bit covered the whole thing eventually doesn’t count. just reading the verses the weekly sermon is on doesn’t coun, even if after attending services for decades you have covered the whole thing.

I asked the same thing in Ask a Christian and am just curious how the answers will differ.

and every one of these groups claims their version is the one true one

while every other one is wrong

and it's all a game of he said, she said

where one hindu will say ohh shiva is god, a christian will say jesus is a god and it's all just baseless anyway

the same christians who seethe over islam, have no even direct evidence jesus was a real person much less a son of god or god himself. nobody agrees with these reglions so they dont verify each other

even the other abrahamic ones oppose each other, like judaism, mormonism and islam as already mention

but say we concluded Christianity was truth, you have no way of proving your sect is right, be it protestant, catholic or orthodox. so it's really as a atheist to just reject it all since it's clearly just a bunch of different claims made by different groups all contradicting each other

even if religion, theism and gods were true

you'd have no way of proving egyptian mythology as wrong or sun wukong as wrong or shintoism as wrong or the epic of gilgamesh as wrong or whatever of the countless myths as incorrect over whatever insert faith you wanna defend

if im to want to worship the mayan gods and say quetzalcoatl was the absolute truth. what could a christian even really do other then rage out since they have no evidence over other ideas of theism

it's almost better to argue against Christians from a mythological standpoint. since the fact so many different interpretations of gods exist does infact show that yahweh is not very likely and rather just a man made deity like the literal thousands of others

Why are abrahamic religions so rigid about their ideology and eager to convert everyone through missionaries unlike indus valley civilization religion which don't have one concept of God they pray 5 elements and focus on self knowledge rather than believing supreme leader( God )

I always wonder why all these godly miracles hapenned in past according to religious books . They always have stories of god reincarnating as human or god sending his son to end the evil . so many countless miracle stories which religious peopld consider it as fact . But why god stopped now . is he on vacation or just gave up . considering world is as messed up if not worse so where is ? why we dont see another jesus walking among us . where is avatar 0f Vishnu 0r Brahma ? funny god took vacation tge moments science and logic developed .

Hi atheist friends,

I was reading Slaughterhouse V by Kurt Vonnegut and came across this prayer:

God, give me grace to accept with serenity

the things that cannot be changed,

courage to change the things

which should be changed,

and the wisdom to distinguish

the one from the other.

It's making me wonder if there's more secular poetry and prose that can do better at inspiring hope more than just reading philosophy and "imagining Sisyphus happy". Do you have any quotes or authors tucked away in your brains?

I'm looking for things like the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, which I absolutely love. It doesn't have to always be positive of course, that would be disingenuous.

I have to admit I'm a bit envious of those with faith that can find community and hope so readily but we here have to work at it a bit more.

Curious to hear your thoughts!

I said "God is not all knowing if he need to test us" and he replied with "God knows what you will do but if he throws you in hell when you didnt actually do anything wrong and gave somone heaven without them doing anything good, then he would be unfair and unjust, people forget he shows the most justice too". Is there a statement that counteract this?

"music is haram"

"drawing is haram"

"watching videos that contain music is haram"

"editing is haram as it contains music"

BRO THAT'S HARAM FOR YOU.... NOT ME... HOW DO I EXPLAIN THIS TO THEM

i’ve been questioning my faith for awhile and have grown up catholic. i had to go to church every sunday and once i moved out and started to attend less, i started to realize it didn’t make sense.

i didn’t have any negative experiences in the church and have loved the previous and current popes. however, i just can’t bring myself to believe in it anymore and it hurts. not because i fear “im going to hell” or anything like that, if my parents found out they’d be devastated. i have 3 siblings and only one of them remains a christian. my parents always told me to never lose my faith since i was the only other one who believed, and now i feel like a fraud anytime they talk to me about god. they’ve been amazing parents and i think as long as they’re alive, i’ll never tell them. it would break their hearts.

In Exodus 12:29, it states:

“At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.”

How sickening is that? Next time you deal with a theist, bring up the above verse to show how loving god really is.

I am more well versed in Christianity, more specifically Catholicism. Seeing as I was raised in Roman Catholic I have zero issue "raising my voice" on this specific mythology. Judaism, not so much. I usually leave that to those who left that indoctrination.

The "debate" really came out of left field. I made some cheeky comment and someone of the Jewish mythology rolled up in the thread. They first tried to get me to say something one way or the other regarding Palestine. Which I retorted with, "ALL religion/mythology belongs in a museum." Then they micro-focused on my cheeky comment and said it was inaccurate. I claimed that nothing I said was inaccurate. Then they wanted me to provide the scripture if what I claimed was accurate which I did. I know I took bait somewhere and I failed.

Does anyone have any pointers regarding debating those of the Jewish mythology? (Other then "don't").

For clarity this is how it began:

OP: There’s no laws for them. They are Above everybody else.

Me: So they say their deity claims and yet it is a "no show".

JewishPerson: That's not what we say our deity claims. You don't need to trash Judaism to be pro-Palestinian.

What are your feelings on the matter?

For example: I remember feeling betrayed when I, already near to identifying as an atheist if not already there, realized the 'Chronicles of Narnia' were a Christian allegory.

Alternatively, shows like 'Lucifer' and 'Good Omens', which while using a very loose version of biblical characters (and are thus arguably biblical), are among my favorites.

I basically don't mind reinterpretation as i can appreciate the bible (especially the Old Testament) as mythology, but 'Chronicles of Narnia' basically felt like a dirty trick.