sent in by J.H. Milivojevic if my mother loved me so much then why did she lie to me so much why did she try to make me believe in magic why did she try to make me believe in life after death why did try to make me believe that god hears me when I tell a lie why did she try to make me believe that we will all be together again after we die do you believe in magic have you ever believed in magic haven’t you always appreciated good sleight of hand haven’t you always appreciated a good demonstration of defiance of the laws of nature? a coin disappears into thin air a rabbit appears out of nowhere Jesus dies a horrible agonizing death – then comes back to life [god knows why…who would want to come back to such torture?] eventually my mother explained to me about the tooth fairy then later about santa claus but she has continued to hang on to the magic of jesus what a dirty joke now she’s old and scared because she suspects she really will be punished for all the really bad stuff she did du...

sent in by J.H. Milivojevic if my mother loved me so much then why did she lie to me so much why did she try to make me believe in magic why did she try to make me believe in life after death why did try to make me believe that god hears me when I tell a lie why did she try to make me believe that we will all be together again after we die do you believe in magic have you ever believed in magic haven’t you always appreciated good sleight of hand haven’t you always appreciated a good demonstration of defiance of the laws of nature? a coin disappears into thin air a rabbit appears out of nowhere Jesus dies a horrible agonizing death – then comes back to life [god knows why…who would want to come back to such torture?] eventually my mother explained to me about the tooth fairy then later about santa claus but she has continued to hang on to the magic of jesus what a dirty joke now she’s old and scared because she suspects she really will be punished for all the really bad stuff she did du...

sent in by Ken I began to have doubts about god, heaven and hell when I was in my early 20's. I met a liberal, critical thinker who presented ne w ideas to me at my first office job. He challenged some of the dogma and beliefs I had since childhood. His name was Larry. For a number of years I began to stay away from church and rarely attended. By the time I moved out from my parents house, I had altogether stopped going to church. I got a subscription to Playboy magazine. Along with the hot babes, I discovered that you could actually read the articles. Many of them were about George H.W. Bush, the Republicans, and Fundamentalist activities. I decided that I was a Liberal. I joined the ACLU. I stopped believing in god. Years later I discovered Skeptic magazine and Michael Shermer. The Biblical Flood story always peplexed me, and was the main reason I didn't believe the bible anymore. Skeptic re-inforced these doubts and led me to many other books skeptical and critica...

sent in by Ken I began to have doubts about god, heaven and hell when I was in my early 20's. I met a liberal, critical thinker who presented ne w ideas to me at my first office job. He challenged some of the dogma and beliefs I had since childhood. His name was Larry. For a number of years I began to stay away from church and rarely attended. By the time I moved out from my parents house, I had altogether stopped going to church. I got a subscription to Playboy magazine. Along with the hot babes, I discovered that you could actually read the articles. Many of them were about George H.W. Bush, the Republicans, and Fundamentalist activities. I decided that I was a Liberal. I joined the ACLU. I stopped believing in god. Years later I discovered Skeptic magazine and Michael Shermer. The Biblical Flood story always peplexed me, and was the main reason I didn't believe the bible anymore. Skeptic re-inforced these doubts and led me to many other books skeptical and critica...

sent in by Mike Cross post from "Breaking the Bad News.." I wish I'd run across this site about 4 months ago! My parents were involved in the Methodist church when I was young. I went through the confirmation thing and all, but to me it was just words and I never really bought into it. After I was about 13 - 14 we just stopped going to church. Nothing was said, just stopped. I think my parents became agnostic/athiest at that time, though they just recently made if very clear. I'm much older (42) and married to a YEC, BAC. My wife was a Baptist when we met and I, being blindly in lust and love, did the whole baptism, decleration of faith. I really wanted to believe.... However, since that time (about 17 years ago). I "drifted" too and from trying to be "religious". I had many objections and was never comfortable with religion. Something just seemed "wrong".... My wife, on the other hand, went the other direction and is full force fundy ev...

sent in by Mike Cross post from "Breaking the Bad News.." I wish I'd run across this site about 4 months ago! My parents were involved in the Methodist church when I was young. I went through the confirmation thing and all, but to me it was just words and I never really bought into it. After I was about 13 - 14 we just stopped going to church. Nothing was said, just stopped. I think my parents became agnostic/athiest at that time, though they just recently made if very clear. I'm much older (42) and married to a YEC, BAC. My wife was a Baptist when we met and I, being blindly in lust and love, did the whole baptism, decleration of faith. I really wanted to believe.... However, since that time (about 17 years ago). I "drifted" too and from trying to be "religious". I had many objections and was never comfortable with religion. Something just seemed "wrong".... My wife, on the other hand, went the other direction and is full force fundy ev...

by DH After wandering through Baptist, Pentecostal and Episcopal churches – on the way to a career as a minister – this man walks away from Christianity I have to smile each time I see one of those bumper stickers that says, “No Jesus, no peace; Know Jesus, know peace.” The premise behind this clever play on words is that the driver of that automobile has perfect peace because he/she has accepted Jesus as “personal savior” and people who have not, or those, like me, who once embraced Jesus but have subsequently rejected him, are crawling through life in turmoil, torment and indescribable unhappiness. As others have observed, most Christians find it unsettling to think that there are “former Christians,” people such as me who were completely converted, born again, filled with the spirit – people who had all this but, after sober reflection, walked away from it. We must be unhappy, they say. Perhaps we were not “genuine” Christians in the first place; had we been deceived by Satan? My ow...

by DH After wandering through Baptist, Pentecostal and Episcopal churches – on the way to a career as a minister – this man walks away from Christianity I have to smile each time I see one of those bumper stickers that says, “No Jesus, no peace; Know Jesus, know peace.” The premise behind this clever play on words is that the driver of that automobile has perfect peace because he/she has accepted Jesus as “personal savior” and people who have not, or those, like me, who once embraced Jesus but have subsequently rejected him, are crawling through life in turmoil, torment and indescribable unhappiness. As others have observed, most Christians find it unsettling to think that there are “former Christians,” people such as me who were completely converted, born again, filled with the spirit – people who had all this but, after sober reflection, walked away from it. We must be unhappy, they say. Perhaps we were not “genuine” Christians in the first place; had we been deceived by Satan? My ow...