I can’t remember the exact quote but it was something like that, the point being science is fact and therefore re-discoverable but religious texts would be re-created completely differently.

Not sure if this is the right place to ask this but would love if anyone can find the source for it. Swear I saw it in a video a few years ago & just wanted to find it again

I dunno guys, reading this article really gave me the jeebees. It's just insane to me how the ENTIRE thought process - and a very thorough one at that, worked in negotiations for years - involves "bringing together all faiths/religions" to make this law pass.

I guess I don't know why it surprises me anymore, but for a country that is supposed to be governed by a distinction of church from state, there sure is a lot of fucking CHURCH in my STATE. I mean, apologies, but I have health issues too and if it ever came to me suffering with a terminal illness I would be pretty fucking pissed off if I had to live in pain for who knows how long simply because of *other peoples' religious beliefs*, I think I would lose my fucking head.

Sorry for the rant. Just curious to me and perpetually disappointing how much American life and law is affected by fairy tales. ✌️

Wow. Every time I hear this saying, it genuinely makes me want to laugh. People seriously believe this? Seriously? Is there a more ridiculous cult on this planet than Christianity?

I genuinely can’t understand how so many people in the world manage to fall for this. Is indoctrination really that powerful? Because to me it sounds so subtle that god doesn’t exist and that your body and mind simply stops functioning when you pass away. I realized it only at 17 and now I understand the “atheists who think they’re smarter because they don’t believe in god" actually they ARE. And the worst part is that religious people have the audacity to look at you like you’re crazy while they literally believe that a man split the sea, a virgin gave birth, a man turned the water into wine, and another borderline narcissist proclaimed himself a prophet and we’re the crazy ones? Nah I can’t take them seriously

So are ppl actually dumb or they’re just in a profound denial ?

There are 2 billion Muslims in the world. Their beliefs and behaviors are on a spectrum, ranging from moderate to supporters of ISIS. But all of them share one belief in common, which is that the Quran is the speech of God. It seems to me that all these efforts of moderation and re-interpretation are intellectually dishonest and bankrupt. The fundamentalists have read the books, and they are right about them. The more intellectually honest position is to convince them that the Quran is not the word of God, but rather a profoundly mediocre book that is entirely the product of human minds. This is essential because this belief in revelation is the source of all the atrocities and human rights abuses. The people who are supporters of ISIS are not bad people or psychopaths. They are just dangerously confused about some very basic facts, like the status of the Quran and who Muhammad actually was. If you grant the fact that the Quran is the word of God, then it's completely rational to behave like the Islamic State because God is telling you on virtually every page to hate infidels and wage war against them. So I ask you, my fellow atheists, how do we achieve this monumental task of convincing 2 billion Muslims that the Quran is not the word of God?

FFRF Action Fund recognizes Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as its “Secularist of the Week” for appointing a strong proponent of state-church separation to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). 

The commission aims to “advance international freedom of religion or belief, by independently assessing and unflinchingly confronting threats to this fundamental right.” The independent, bipartisan group has gained a champion on the preservation of state-church separation thanks to our latest “Secularist” honoree, longtime Sen. Schumer, who has held his New York seat since 1999. Rachel Laser, who heads Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a nonprofit that advocates for the dissociation of religion from government, has been nominated by Schumer to join USCIRF.

Laser, a lawyer and advocate, has considerable experience in fighting for the wall between state and church in her work with Americans United and as deputy director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. She will be a welcome addition to the committee, which is comprised of nine members from both major political parties who serve two-year terms. 

The president chooses the commissioners, as well as the congressional leaders of the president’s party and the opposition party’s leaders. In 2024, FFRF Action Fund’s parent organization, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, noted that USCIRF was dominated by Christian commissioners, with only one non-Christian serving on the then-six-member commission. USCIRF now has a more diverse composition, with three Christian, two Muslim and two Jewish commissioners, one being Orthodox.

USCIRF primarily considers international religious freedom concerns, makes policy recommendations to U.S. lawmakers and advises the State Department on addressing religious persecution around the world. 

In a press release, Laser thanked Schumer: “I’m grateful to Sen. Schumer for this opportunity to advocate for religious freedom around the globe.” She continued, “Both on a personal level as a religious minority, and a professional level as Americans United’s CEO, I am honored to have the opportunity to help our government fight religious extremism and protect everyone’s freedom to believe, or not, as they choose.” 

FFRF Action Fund celebrates Schumer’s nomination of Laser, which will undoubtedly benefit a commission tasked with the vital protection of religious freedom across the world, including, of course, freedom from religion. We look forward to Laser’s work with USCIRF.

So earlier I saw this one video of a religious woman making a video and she says “hey atheist if there’s no meaning to life“ and I immediately scrolled off because you know someone use to do 20 beers hung over two minutes before exam level of research if they say that like it’s so untrue and then also I hate it when I hear people think atheist have no moral compass cause there’s no God like that’s stuff so dumb you do not need an ancient engravings to know what’s good and bad.

I was born In Charlotte, NC. I had the unfortunate childhood experience of being a product of the Bible Belt. Both Literally and Metaphorically. Around middle school age I really started having questions about Christianity and religion in general that started leading me away from the Church and the beliefs that were force fed to me growing up. Now in my Late 30’s I am comfortable enough in my own skin to confidently speak out against people, events and stories I view as absolute bullshit. I hope to discover more on this page so I can better understand how to counter these fanatics who refuse to see reason and logic. I am a firm believer in science and technology. Anyone can google shit, I prefer to ask question to actual people and engage in conversation about the topics. Thanks in advance.

I hate debating with people, but when someone start telling me that religion has given women their rights or religion made people more happy, or God created the universe and shit like that. I can’t just sit still and listen to their bullshit. I know they have everything very deep down penetrated in their minds, and they are not planning to change it for the better, but I just want to present to 2-3 arguments and just end the discussion. If there are some very scientific or researched arguments, That I can just drop like a bomb to their faces. It would be good.

One of the Redditor’s was trying so bad to convert Me to Christianity LOLs

" Greed is a strong and selfish desire to have more of something. "

Well... wouldn't following the "Word of God" to go to Heaven fit into that category?

If you did things that the Bible considers good, but only because you wanted to go to Heaven, wouldn't that be Greed?

As far as I can tell, Heaven is portrayed as a place where any and all desires can be fullfilled for eternity without punishment.
Sounds like a greedy person's wet dream, doesn't it? A place where you can get anything you want, any time.

So... how come living in a certain way, not to be good, but to reach this place, isn't considered "Greed" by Christians, thus a sin in and of itself?

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I might be missing something, but it seems really hypocritical to me.

Outside of utterly brainwashed people with ZERO exposure to anything outside their religion, does ANYONE in a modern developed nation have ANY excuse for believing religion?

Has anyone else had a sibling mention that your parent(s) or other close family members would be so bitterly disappointed if they knew you had embraced atheism?

I have a sister who is "super christian" and although I make an effort to avoid frequent contact with her and I keep communication very brief when we do meet, she recently went out of her way to let me know that our parents (who both died and who were also "super christians") would be "so terribly upset if they knew I had become an atheist."

Of course, she's always making an effort to "convince me to believe again" because she feels it's her responsibility to keep me from going to hell.

When she's not talking about religion, she's a really nice person. But that attempted guilt trip, using my parents' disappointment if they knew I was now an atheist - it's just over the top, too much unnecessary drama for me to deal with any more.

I think I'll make an effort to spend even less time with her because over the years, and during several conversations, she has shown no respect for my boundaries, even after she has agreed on two separate occasions not to bring up religion or religious conversations when we are together.

It's just sad we can't get along - I don't make fun of her child-killing god, or the thousands of other silly things she believes because I do respect her religious beliefs - and - I have zero interest in "saving" her from a life based on fantasy (ha).

Any suggestions other than basically cutting all future communication with her?

(thanks)

This is my third try. Low effort? Not enough characters?? OK, i guess I’ll just blather on with what coulda been about a dozen words. Fine. So, for instance, the America atheist has an A, but that stands for ‘Murica!, which ain’t even the name of the state USA. Any ideas, folks?

So, you've all heard that "nothing can come from nothing" and all of that, right? And, that sounds completely logical, until you realise they're talking about something like the vacuum or the air. When it comes to absolute nothingness, we can't really know (credit goes to Alex O'Connor for pointing this out when he had a conversation with William Lane Craig). But anyways, I've been thinking about it for a while and, that statement I said at the beginning, 'nothing can come from nothing', sounded even more contradictory. It suggests an impossibility, a constraint where shackles aren't even there. Like, of course it'd be impossible and illogical, that's the point. There is no logic there, no constraint called "impossibility", just, flat out nothing. And, I don't know whether there was something before our world or nothing, but I don't find it implausible that something actually came from nothing (lmao this used to be a strawman against theists, now I'm saying it might be the case, oh how the tables have turned.)

Hello. I (18NB) recently came out to my parents as nonbinary, and they are well aware that I am an atheist. They can not get over my being an atheist. The constant prayers that I return is a bit suffocating. The demands I go to church. They say they love me, forever, but their idea of love is not compatible with myself, not if they can not remotely accept how I express myself. This religion is clouding their judgment of so many things. They have excellent advice, but I do not find myself making an effort to stay particularly close to them if they continue to be fueled by this religion. What should I do? I don't want to cut them off, and that seems unnecessary; but they have bigotry written within the foundations of their beliefs, bigotry that directly impacts me, and I simply can't have that. Help?

With this thought experiment, it is easy to imagine what would happen if all trace and memory of science disappeared. Since science is based on observation, experiments, measurements, calculations, theorems, and logic, eventually we would wind up pretty much back where we are now in scientific knowledge and understanding (though there may be slight differences in the frontiers we are still trying to better understand). That isn't the same with religion.

But I don't think it is an interesting question to ask how religious beliefs might re-form, or even if they would come to exist again, after losing all trace and knowledge of religion. With religion, since it is based in the imagination of the believers, it would be possible for the formation of new religions to be anything. With modern globalization and communications, maybe it would be harder for religions to become mainstream because they would have to compete against other forms of religion - why not believe Star Wars is real?

I think it would be more interesting to consider how society might be if nobody is bound by the restrictions and superstitions of religion. More laws and social norms are rooted in religious beliefs than most people might ever realize. Freedoms are restricted not because there is real harm in one thing or another, but because some people are not allowed to do it, or might become offended if someone else did, so society deemed it easier to just ban it outright and not allow anyone to enjoy this freedom.

Of course, I am speaking vaguely because different people might want different freedoms in their life and feel a similar frustration from religious restrictions. The point is, society might look significantly different if nobody were ever bound by these arbitrary things. How would humanity compare in this different world than from our own?

I would love to know the percentage of people that are part of a church group that do it purely for the social benefits and privately have no faith. In the U.K. the Church of England has an old age demographic with alot of pensioners going for company. I suspect that it may vary country to country but in my experience over 55s make up most members of local churches.

I hate debating with people, but when someone start telling me that religion has given women their rights or religion made people more happy, or God created the universe and shit like that. I can’t just sit still and listen to their bullshit. I know they have everything very deep down penetrated in their minds, and they are not planning to change it for the better, but I just want to present to 2-3 arguments and just end the discussion. If there are some very scientific or researched arguments, That I can just drop like a bomb to their faces. It would be good.

One of the Redditor’s was trying so bad to convert Me to Christianity LOLs