A Reminder: Claiming A Miracle Is A "God Of The Gaps" Fallacy

Click on the link below for an in-depth expose of how the Catholic Church handles this fraudulent enterprise and how it is fueled as much by the indoctrinated, ignorant members at least as much as the clergy:

Inside the Vatican's secret saint-making process

Why Humanity Must Overcome Religion | Carl Sagan

"In this video, Carl Sagan explores the vastness of the universe, the power of science, and the limitations of religious belief. He emphasizes the importance of skepticism, evidence, and the scientific method in shaping humanity’s future while questioning the role of faith and mythology in understanding our place in the cosmos."

 

Click on this link for a video compilation of some of Carl Sagan's more famous quotes, leading to the conclusion that humanity's most common and dangerous false belief must be marginalized for humanity to survive.

The Origin Of Religion

"The origin of the concepts of Spirit or Souls, because of the similarities between many religions, can be traced back to the small group of people, surviving the MIS 6 Glacial stage, to which all living humans are related."

Click on this link for a well-documented accounting of the similarities of most religions.

ANY Claim Of A Spiritual Entity Is Incoherent

"Here's William Lane Craig trying to convince us that non-physical entities are a coherent concept. Christians believe that God is a nonphysical being. Already we have a self-contradictory assertion."

Click on the link below for a bogus apologetic (a redundancy) that, essentially, is at the base of all of it:

What Is a Spirit, Exactly?

15 Minutes To Really Understand US Politics

"An overwhelming majority of WHITE Christians vote Republican. And an overwhelming majority of BLACK Christians vote Democrat. Why is that? Don't they read the same Bible and pray to the same God? Which group doesn't know they're voting for the wrong party?? Phil Vischer takes us on a fast-paced trip through history to figure out why different American Christians read the same Bible, pray to the same God, and vote very, very differently."

Click on the link below to look at US history through the changes in the two major US political parties since the Civil War:

Why do White Christians Vote Republican, and Black Christians Vote Democrat?

Reincarnation Debunked

 Click on the link below for a video discussion between two atheists and a Christian caller:

"Reincarnation Is The Most Likely After Life"

Who Created God?

Special pleading is an informal fallacy wherein one cites something as an exception to a general or universal principle, without justifying the special exception.[1][2][3][4][5] It is the application of a double standard.[6][7] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_pleading)

Click on the link below for a great rebuttal to religious apologists claiming that God created everything:

Kent Hovind Thinks He's Really Clever

Memory And The Bible

"Did this psych student from the University of Wilmington prove Frank Turek to be 'patently false' about impact events? Watch me watch Frank to unpack the heart of Frank's argument and the importance of identifying the distinction between major and minor details."

Click on the link below to understand that our memories of "Impact Events" are flawed:

Psych Student Tells Christian Apologist He's Wrong

The Old Testament Debunked

Click here for one of the best debunkings of the BASE of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religions you will ever be exposed to. Take 8 minutes to watch it, then tell me all about your Abrahamic faith.

West Bank Settlements: What Supporters of Israel Ignore

John Oliver delves into a part of Israel's history and present politics that requires full exposure to understand why Palestinians act the way they do against Israelis:

The West Bank: Last Week Tonight 

Christianity Is Influenced By Many Myths

Click on the links below for an in-depth look at the history of Christianity and how its myth is not significantly unlike other myths:

https://www.collegesidekick.com/study-docs/2069056

https://religions.wiki/index.php/Christianity_originated_as_an_amalgamation_of_earlier_pagan_religions

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/influence-mystery-religions-christianity

https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-Mythic-Origins-of-Christianity-True-or-False

Christianity Wants You To Accept Claims Without Questioning

1 Corinthians 13:11 "When I was a child, I thought like a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things"

However,

John 20:29 "Then Jesus told him, 'Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed'.”

Matthew 18:4 "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

James 1:6 says, "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind."

Therefore, 

How is Christianity different than any other religion, cult, or closed-minded group?

No Religion Should Be In Healthcare, Let Alone The Catholic Church

"The Catholic Church’s directives are often at odds with accepted medical standards, especially in areas of reproductive health, according to physicians and other medical practitioners."

Click on the link below for the details. BTW, no religion should be involved with healthcare because prayer is irrational and has no effect on anything other than a placebo. Also, many have prohibitions based on dogma, not science and human rights. 

The Powerful Constraints on Medical Care in Catholic Hospitals Across America

Can You Be Christian & Vote For Donald Trump?

Click on the link below for a short video attempting to answer this question:

Why are Christians voting for a convicted felon like Donald Trump? 

Logic Is Not Magic

"There are some apologists who want us to believe that logic is magic. What is a materialist atheist? It's someone who believes that everything in the universe is made of matter molecules and nothing outside of that can exist. See, this is why I prefer the term physicalist rather than materialist. I don't think even most people who call themselves materialists believe that energy and space-time don't exist. I don't believe that any anything non-physical exists, but there are plenty of things that are immaterial that are still physical. That means a Transcendent God cannot exist because God is a spirit but if that's the case how can we explain immaterial realities like laws of logic? 

"The laws of logic describe the boundaries of what our physical brains can do. They describe physical phenomena. I believe in the law of non-contradiction, for example, because if I try to imagine something both existing and not existing at the same time and in the same respect I find that I can't. that's a limitation of my physical brain. There's nothing non-physical about it."

Click on the link below for a video attempting to correct a religious apologist regarding logic:

Why Logic Isn't Magic 

The History Of Human Evolution 101

Fact: Evolution, including humans, is accepted by science at the same level as it accepts gravity. (link)

However, a large minority of the general public in the USA does not accept it. Why? The strong correlation with how religious one is.

Click on the links below for a brief course in human evolution beginning a million years ago:

     Million years ago

     100,000 years ago

     The difference between homo sapiens and homo sapiens sapiens

To Repeat: ANY Belief Without Evidence Is ALWAYS Harmful

One of the hardest tasks in counter-apologetics is to get the liberal religious person to understand that ALL beliefs without evidence are harmful. Click on the link below for a ten-minute video by Richard Dawkins that is one of the best efforts I have seen that succinctly covers all the bases regarding this important matter.

Why Religion Threatens Rational Thought

Your Identity: Is It Interfering With Your Understanding Of Reality, And Others?

" - - - people don't feel they need to have any particular expertise to have opinions about (religion and politics). All they need is strongly held beliefs, and anyone can have those."

"The more labels you have for yourself, the dumber they make you."

We all identify with our family and other human groups. It is part of our psyche. The problem with such identification is that it can dampen our empathy for, and cooperation with, others not in the groups we identify with. Click on the link below for an article addressing this area of human experience:

Keep Your Identity Small

Truth: The Most Abused Word

Truth: in accord with fact or reality (Webster's Dictionary)

- - - - - - - - - -
"Absolute truth is a statement that is true at all times and in all places. It is something that is always true no matter what the circumstances.[1] It is a fact that cannot be changed. For example, there are no round squares.[2] There are also no square circles.[2] The angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees. These are all true by definition. Very similar are the propositions of Euclid, because they are proved once the axioms are accepted. One way or another, these are all truths because they are logically true. 

"Absolute truths are different from empirical truths. All the findings of science are empirical: based on evidence, and even if they are true in this world they don't need to be so in all the other possible worlds; they might also be wrong or incomplete due to lack of sufficient evidence. On the other hand, absolute truths might be based on logical truths, which are true by definition of their axioms." (Wikipedia)

- - - - - - - -

"Religious views on truth vary both between and within religions. *The most universal concept of religion that holds true in every case is the inseparable nature of truth and religious belief.

(*all religious opinions can't be correct, and none of them can verify/justify their beliefs)

"Truth is the sine qua non (without which, not) of politics. When lies overpower truth, politics dies. When politics dies, our world collapses, and we humans die too—because it is only in the world, among other humans, that we exist." " - - - We talk about polarization and the impossibility of dialogue, and what we mean is that we are no longer engaged in politics: We are not making a society together. This predicament is consistent with Arendt’s assertion that politics is impossible in the absence of truth.(link)

- - - - - - - - -

"However common it is to hear talk of “my truth, “your truth,” “her truth,” and even “no truth,” it’s worth asking: Is any of this actually true? We’re going to try and persuade you that this question matters most—making the case that

  a shared pursuit of truth (shaped by our unique perceptions, yes—but not completely constrained by them) is the only thing that makes conversation truly meaningful. 

If we enter into a conversation assuming that the truth itself is common to us both, yet recognizing that we don’t see it the same way, then we can at least begin to compare and contrast our perceptions of reality in order to sift out the truthful wheat from the troublesome chaff (exaggerations, omissions, mistakes, errors, lies, fake news, etc.)." (link)

Republicans don't respect the concept

The History Of Christianity In The USA

“This is a map showing the percentage of adults who are highly religious per State. Looking at it, you'll notice this southern region over here is much more distinct than the rest. In fact, it's so distinct it even has its own name: the Bible Belt. Protestant Christianity plays a strong role in society here and church attendance across the denominations is much higher than the nation's average. But why is that? Why is this part of America so much more religious than the rest? I mean New England was literally founded by Puritans who thought Europe was too Godless and is now the most atheistic region in the union. So what's happened? Well, to understand this religious flip-flop and the intensity of it in the South, we need to go all the way back to the beginning, and I mean back to the literal founding of the 13 colonies themselves, with the first one being Jamestown Virginia in 1607.”

Click on this link for an in-depth history lesson that explains much of the tensions in the USA.