An Antidote Against Religion In Public Schools

In recent years, conservatives in the US have been trying to insert Evangelical Christianity into public schools through "After-School Clubs" within the schools, specifically "Good News Clubs." To combat these harmful, and unconstitutional, gatherings, some secular groups have organized "After School Satan" clubs. These clubs, with the "tongue-in-cheek" title, are actually promoting good character traits and critical thinking skills. Needless to say, since most of the culture is religious in general and Christian in particular, there has been significant push-back to them: (link), (link), (link), (link).

A Look At Mythology And Religion

"Myth: 'a collection of myths especially one belonging to a particular religion or cultural tradition' 'a book discussing Jewish and Christian mythology' 

"More colloquially, it's used to describe beliefs that we, generally, feel are antiquated, untrue, or shouldn't be believed. As Christians have the core of their identity tied to their religion, calling it a myth can be offensive."

Click on the link below for a video of Matt Dillahunty clarifying the relationship of religion to mythology:

Atheists Debates: Calling Christianity is offensive

Faith Healers: They Know It's A Scam

"Certain conditions faith healers avoid like the plague. Here are a list of things faith healers will never attempt to heal because they always fail spectacularly. While pastors and prophets like Benny Hinn, Alph Lukau, and Kenneth Copeland will often make grand claims about their healing powers and tell elaborate tales of the miracles they've seen and performed, most of their stunts all have one thing in common. Let's explore the trend and see what exactly faith healers will and won't attempt to heal and why."

Click on the link below for a 10-minute video focused on the types of issues these charlatans will not touch:

The Miracles That Always Fail 

The Elements Behind Theocratic Dictatorships

"Today, we compare the far-right religious extremists who are fighting to gain power in the US with the protests against the theocratic regime in Iran supporting women's rights in the country."

Click on the link below for a podcast presenting the dangers and realities of theocratic government using the USA and Iran as examples:

How Theocracies Begin And End

Nationalism Is A Bastardization Of Patriotism

"Nationalism is dangerous. There is nothing wrong with being patriotic, but Americans often forget, or may not even be aware of, how quickly enthusiastic patriotism can devolve into nationalism. Patriotism and nationalism are often used interchangeably, but they are very different. Patriotism is love and pride for one’s nation, while nationalism is the idea of the superiority of one’s culture, government, people, and nation over others."

Click on the link below for a brief, succinct, and thorough article describing this disease that is ravaging the US:

Nationalism is Dangerous

For a scholarly article looking at the history of society's evolution and coherence, click here.

The Birth Of Christianity And The Telephone Game

"When @ColdCaseChristianity 's J Warner Wallace pitched his pet Q-source theory to @MelissaDougherty , his apologetic and gimmick commitment to the gospels as eye-witness testimony caused him to demonstrate the ways the gospels are more-likely to NOT be testimony."

Christian apologists attempt to support their religious beliefs by looking at history but fail terribly. Click on the link below for a debunking of the reliability of the Bible, and Christianity in general, through the analogy of the Telephone Game:

Christian Cop Shoots Bible in the Foot

Let's Compare The Major Religions

"Most major religions have founders who are wrapped in layers and layers of obvious mythology—to the point that little of interest remains when the myths are peeled away. Christianity is far from unique when it comes to sketchy evidence about an ostensible founder who is now heralded as a prophet, god, or demi-god. For centuries—or even millennia—religious teachings have pointed to great individuals, prophets, demi-gods, or supernatural beings as the source of divine revelation. But looking closely at these claims can be rather like holding cotton candy in the rain."

Click on the link below for a fascinating expose of the mythical qualities of the major religions:

Buddha, Abraham, Jesus, and Muhammed: Larger-than-life historical figures or largely legends?

The Gaps Continue To Get Smaller and Fewer

Anyone who is aware of the interactions between religious apologists and their counter-apologists knows that virtually ALL arguments for a God involve the God of the Gaps fallacy: a theological perspective in which gaps in scientific knowledge are taken to be evidence or proof of God's existence.^[1][2]   It's clearly a logical fallacy, an appeal to ignorance. 

Click on the link below for a podcast discussing a recent finding that gets us much closer to solving one of the mysteries that is used by religious apologists; abiogenesis:

New Discovery in the Chemistry of Life

The USA Is Not Learning From History

Several decades ago, the USA experienced a serious attempt to overthrow the government that was eerily similar to what it is presently going through. This happened during the 1930s/early 1940s. Rachel Maddow, per usual, has superbly delved through American history to present a multi-episode podcast on the situation:  Click on the links below to listen to the series (completed). 

Episode 1: Trip 19   OCTOBER 10TH, 2022 | 36:40 | S1:E1

Episode 2: The Brooklyn Boys   OCTOBER 10TH, 2022 | 38:30 | S1:E2

Episode 3: The Day   OCTOBER 17TH, 2022 | 38:34 | S1:E3

Episode 4: A Bad Angle  OCTOBER 24TH, 2022 | 37:43 | S1:E4

Episode 5: Shut It Down  OCTOBER 31ST, 2022 | 49:42 | S1:E5

Episode 6: Bedlam  NOVEMBER 7TH, 2022 | 41:24 | S1:E6

Episode 7: Rinse, Repeat  NOVEMBER 14TH, 2022 | 43:47 | S1:E7

Episode 8 (final episode)  NOVEMBER 21TH, 2022

Paul And The Founding Of Christianity

The question of how Christianity started is a very much open question, as there is NO objective evidence supporting its founding. Since Paul's writings appear to be the first written material for a Jesus of the Bible and were written decades after the supposed events, some Bible scholars (especially the secular ones) support the claim that Paul was the founder of Christianity as we know it today. 

Click on the link below for an 18-min video interview with Richard Carrier Ph.D., a noted secular scholar who has devoted his professional life to the study of early Christianity:

How Did Christianity Really Start?

Free Will Rebutted

Dennis Mark Prager (/ˈpreɪɡər/; born August 2, 1948)[1] is an American conservative radio talk show host and writer. He hosts the nationally syndicated radio talk show The Dennis Prager Show. In 2009, he co-founded PragerU, which creates five-minute videos from an American conservative perspective. (Wikipedia) His views are consistent with essentially every dogma of Christianity, including the belief in human free will, which is not compatible with the findings of science.

Click on the link below for a 13-min video clearly and concisely debunking all of the main claims for contra-causal free will:

PragerU Misunderstands Free Will

THE Major Danger Of Christianity In The USA?

"A federal court ruling allows a Kentucky photography business to openly discriminate against protected classes of citizens under the guise of religious freedom. Constitutional and civil rights attorney, Andrew Seidel, joins us to discuss how this is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the victories already proclaimed by a literal cabal of Christian Crusaders pulling the strings at the highest levels of U.S. power."

Click on the link below for a 40-minute video delving into this constitution-breaking movement within the US culture:

How Christian Crusaders Weaponized the Court to Steal a Country

The Moral Character Of The Christian God

Anyone who has studied Christianity knows that the God of the Bible is supposed to be 

All-knowing 

All-Powerful

All-Good 

Look around you at reality. How can such a character/person fit within it?

Click on the two links below for videos falsifying the Christian God:

Is God the Bad Guy?

Making Excuses for Slavery in the Bible

The Handmaid's Tale And Bodily Autonomy

" - - - This theme – women’s bodily autonomy – is intrinsic to 'The Handmaid’s Tale.' Atwood poignantly said, 'A belief is a belief. It is not evidence-based. These ideas that a cluster of cells is a human being – that is a belief.' In our extended conversation, Atwood dives into the subversion of religion and warns about what she views as 'a sham version of Christianity.'”

Click on the link below for a clear and concise video conversion with Margaret Atwood:

Margaret Atwood in a #PostRoeAmerica

Creationism Vs Abiogenesis

Abiogenesis: the natural process by which life has arisen from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. The prevailing scientific hypothesis is that the transition from non-living to living entities was not a single event, but an evolutionary process of increasing complexity that involved the formation of a habitable planet, the prebiotic synthesis of organic molecules, molecular self-replication, self-assembly, autocatalysis, and the emergence of cell membranes. Many proposals have been made for different stages of the process. (link)

This blog has posted several times on the subject (link). There is little doubt that, eventually, science will confirm it as a fact, as confirmatory evidence continues to mount. However, conservative Christians continue to hold unsupported dogma in defense of their anti-evolution beliefs. Click on the link below for a video exposing the bad arguments against abiogenesis:

Creationist Misrepresents Abiogenesis

The USA Is BOTH A Republic And A Democracy!

"Since 2020 Republicans across the U.S. have been undermining democracy by fabricating claims of voter fraud and passing laws to make it harder to vote. But a disturbing new report by Robert Draper in The New York Times Magazine shows how Arizona Republicans are increasingly committed to waging a war on the idea of democracy itself, in part through a bid to call the U.S. only a “republic” and not a democracy. These Republicans think they’re defending American traditions of governance, but they’re not in touch with the history they believe they’re championing, and they’re catalyzing more virulent anti-democratic extremism on the right."

Just more evidence of the harm from today's Republicans. Click on the link below for the details:

Arizona Republicans are making a case against democracy itself

William Lane Craig DESTROYS Christian Apologetics

"When confronted with a lack of evidence for God, famous theologian William Lane Craig suggests that people should simply lower their epistemological bar in order to get the benefits of faith. He went full-on Pascal's wager! Everyone should use this clip when talking about William Lane Craig going forward."

I have been a critic of all religious apologists in general, and William Lane Craig in particular (link). Click on the link below for a video fully exposing how vapid Christian apologetics really is:

Apologist's Shocking Admission About The Evidence For Christianity

Mormonism

"When I started watching Under the Banner of Heaven, I honestly had no idea it was a: true crime and b: MORMON AS HELL. (I had just wanted to watch Andrew Garfield in a thing…) Well, if you were left a little confused by the Mormon lore in this true-crime thriller, have we got the show for you! Bryce Blankenagel and Shannon Grover help us understand this very… bizarre religious history. And Shannon has a personal connection to the real case!"

Click on the links below to better understand this purely American brand of Christianity. Unless you are Mormon yourself, you will be amazed how batshit crazy it is:

Under The Banner Of Heaven (Part 1)

Under The Banner Of Heaven (Part 2)

It's Been Studied Ad Nauseam: It's Fake

4 years ago I wrote a blog post summarizing the evidence for the Shroud of Turin being the burial cloth of the Jesus of the Bible (link). It was not compelling. Now, yet again, conservative Christians attempt to present evidence that it is real (link) and issues "a challenge to the British Museum to replicate the image by offering a reward of US$1,000,000 (one million US dollars) if they succeed". The reason that I am beating this dead horse is that this new speculation is all over conservative Christian media (link).

Below is a link rebutting these new claims:

Turin Shroud, Again 

And, here is a recent article superbly summarizing the facts debunking the claims:

The Shroud of Turin Is Definitely A Hoax

The Latest On Spanking: STILL Don't Do It

The latest research reveals that 80% of parents spank their children, in spite of decades-long research on the subject showing its negative effects. Click on the link below for a *podcast that presents the details of the latest comprehensive study showing that spanking has no redeeming value. (*Warning: the banter between the hosts is too over-the-top for my liking)

Comment: in researching this subject, the only links in support of spanking were religious sites. Think about it.

Science Says Don't Spank Your Kids