Here’s a poem by the brilliant Digital Cuttlefish, who can be found over in the Freethought Blogs. He called it,

Arguing God in the New York Times

We can’t disprove a God, you know,
Cos God can’t be defined.
The God you claim cannot exist
Exists within my mind

My God cannot be fathomed, and
Will never be undone
Each heart perceives Him ( Read more... )

One of the late Sir Terry Pratchett’s best books was Hogfather. The 20th book of his sweeping Discworld series, It’s the story of an annual winter festival remarkably like our own. Pratchett reminds us on the first page, “But it was much earlier even than that when people forgot that the very oldest stories are, sooner or later, about blood.The ( Read more... )

It is hard to be a Christian. Those who follow the Gospel are the most oppressed people on earth. They are persecuted, scorned, and insulted just as their Lord was, and they know that someday an ignominious cross awaits them. That day draws ever closer ( Read more... )

It’s a very busy weekend, and I just don’t have the time to compose a Sermonette. Here’s an oldie but goodie I’ve dusted off and tuned up a bit.
Io Saturnalia, citizen ( Read more... )

The first volley of the American War on Christmas was fired not far from where I'm sitting. In 1659, the Massachusetts Bay Colony decreed:

For preventing disorders, arising in several places within this jurisdiction by reason of some still observing such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other communities, to the great dishonor of God and ( Read more... )

Atheists are not the most popular people. To the religious, we’re fools (it says so in the Psalms - twice!) who push God off his throne so that we may supplant him. We lack morals and deny God so that we can sin without let or hindrance. Even the moderate accuse us of arrogance, though we’re not the ones making claims to be besties with the Creator ( Read more... )

We spent Election Night in the home of a dear friend. She’s transgender, liberal, a lawyer, and an excellent hostess. She made a vegetarian lasagna and we brought some snacks. After dinner we settled down to watch the returns come in ( Read more... )

Sooner or later, any conversation about religion comes down to faith. Faith is a virtue. Without faith, it is impossible to be saved. Church leaders and saints are praised for their great and unshakeable faith. The apostle who required proof is disparaged as “Doubting Thomas.” Jesus told him, “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have ( Read more... )

The Roman Catholic Church has been a powerful political bloc in this country for decades. Cardinals and archbishops are often considered kingmakers. Just look at the Al Smith Dinner in New York, or the annual Red Mass that begins the Supreme Court session. The Catholic Church does not think highly of the idea of a wall of separation between church ( Read more... )

If you ask me what my religious beliefs are, I will tell you I am an atheist. I do not believe in the existence of god(s), nor of the supernatural. This is not a positive belief that there are no gods or phenomena that might be called supernatural, this is the lack of belief. In the thousands of years of human civilization, no one has offered ( Read more... )