2012 May | The Eloquent Atheist

A Message Revisited

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Cherise Wyneken

Have you ever played the game called Telephone? If you have, you know how garbled the message can get as it moves along. When I was a child I was taught that God came to earth in the form of a man called Jesus in order to save us from our sins – that because of him we can go to a wonderful place called heaven when we die. Since then I have come to believe that the message Jesus … Read on…

The Embrace of War

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Jay R. Strisik

The Eloquent Atheist is extremely pleased to welcome Jay Strisak, one of our favorite poets, back to the pages of our little on-line magazine. Click on his name above, and you will be greeted by his older work, which is well worth reading. As far as the new one goes, no poem could be bad when the first line is “The whore of war opens her needle scarred arms…” Click on “Read On” to see the complete poem. The whore … Read on…

Losing Faith in Faith

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Frank Robinson

Dan Barker had religion, big-time. As a teenager he became a high-octane evangelical preacher, making his living performing at churches and writing Christian songs. After 19 years, he quit, having after a long struggle come to realize it was all hokum. His book, Losing Faith in Faith, explains. It’s axiomatic that religionists and atheists have difficulty understanding each other. Barker’s book is useful because he has inhabited both worlds, and understands better than most atheists the religious psychology he critiques. … Read on…

Song

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Gary Kay

Pastors speak of thoughts divine.

I still prefer the human kind.

I move between the earth and sky,

heel and toe,

hip and thigh.

Focus on the church, not the religion

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Michael W. Jones

It is only fair, when considering the many ill effects of organized religion, to also consider the many positive aspects of the individual church. An organized religion is a highly political body led by primarily nameless, faceless group controllers with a REALLY big agenda; it’s just that most of us don’t pay a lot of attention, at least directly, to the leadership. Most people just listen to their one or two local union representatives, or perhaps marketing middle managers would … Read on…

If a horror happens in the forest…

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Michael W. Jones

When I posted last, it was about the first inkling that I had that the common god was not for me, an artifact of the supposition that god was both all-powerful and good, and the obvious illogic of those suppositions in actual practice. That is to say, the god with which I was being presented in church was clearly not a force that was operating in the real world. What struck me as I analyzed this again was how much … Read on…

The Seeds of Disbelief

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Michael W. Jones

Having recently started thinking about faith again, I find myself remembering what seems like another life (or another person’s life) long ago, in which I was generally undecided in the matter of religious belief. I was a pre-teen, drawn to a local Southern Baptist church by the spectacle and the fellowship. And, if truth be known, by the enthusiastic singing and the excellent box lunches. I had thought, then, of becoming a pastor, perhaps in the same way that many … Read on…

Just a short note…

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Michael W. Jones

You may have noticed that we have been gone for a while. We may continue to be gone, in fact. However, there may yet be a vacancy or two at this unbeliever’s inn, odd since my person is now just a few miles away from Bethlehem, PA. A coincidence? Absolutely. 🙂 Life has been more than interesting for the last several years, and during that time this writer has remade himself yet again. There has simply been no time for … Read on…

The Eloquent Atheist

Positive Atheism with Humanist Nuances

Monthly Archives: May 2012