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October 2020

October 09, 2020

Commonwealth, II.X: Tower of Babel

The Bible teaches - inadvertently - that when human beings learn how to work together,...

September 2020

September 21, 2020

Worshiping a Monster

How can churchgoers pray to a heavenly father with a scripture record of ferocious murder?

July 2019

July 08, 2019

Can We Avoid Insulting Believers?

It's difficult for sincere doubters to talk with sincere believers without causing bad feelings.

February 2019

February 11, 2019

The Problem With Teaching the Bible in Public Schools

I suppose there's little hope of halting this born-again bandwagon. But I have subversive thoughts...

May 2017

May 03, 2017

Show Me How the Bible Hurt You

The difference between an apology and a marketing tactic.

March 2017

March 20, 2017

The Cult of the In-Group

The worship of Us Against The World has taken over Christianity.

February 2017

February 15, 2017

Some Right-Wing Christians Enthusiastically Promoting a Form of Genocide

This column was originally published on AlterNet. In 2014, Charisma magazine, a major media outlet...

February 08, 2017

Can Married Christians Go to Heaven?

A little-known Bible verse implies that a huge number of Christians are in serious afterlife...

September 2016

September 19, 2016

Repost: The Perils of Scriptural Morality

[I'm taking a break from the blog to bond with and care for my new...

September 14, 2016

Repost: The Mystical Dogma of Human Equality

[I'm taking a break from the blog to bond with and care for my new...

August 2016

August 08, 2016

I Get Religious Mail: That’s Not What “Miracle” Means

A Christian charity that wants to cure people of a disease God sends to punish...

June 2016

June 20, 2016

The Bad Parable of the Prodigal Son

Forgiveness for free doesn't teach the wrongdoer anything and punishes those who did right all...

April 2016

April 25, 2016

Some Right-Wing Christians Enthusiastically Promoting a Form of Genocide

This article originally appeared on AlterNet. In 2014, Charisma magazine, a major media outlet for...

December 2015

December 09, 2015

What the Bible Gets Wrong About Hymens

I appreciated this subversively feminist video from College Humor debunking myths about the hymen (SFW,...

June 2015

June 24, 2015

How the Cross Is Like the Confederate Flag

You can make a bad argument in support of a good conclusion. That's how I...

June 10, 2015

Debunking the Bible’s Gender Binary

Christian fundamentalists who oppose same-sex marriage, or who attack the identities of transgender people like...

June 01, 2015

Marital Rape in the Bible

The newest Christian site making the rounds on atheist Twitter is Biblical Gender Roles. The...

October 2014

October 08, 2014

New on AlterNet: Charisma’s Genocide Fantasies

My latest column is up on AlterNet, Some Right-Wing Christians Enthusiastically Promoting a Form of...

September 2014

September 17, 2014

There’s Nothing About Abortion in the Bible – So How Do Right-Wing Christians Justify Their Crusade Against Women?

This article previously appeared on AlterNet. While America languishes in an economic depression, Republican officeholders...

April 2014

April 16, 2014

On Retconning Biblical Violence

In 2009, I wrote "The Twisted Moral of Passover", about how this major Jewish holiday...

July 2013

July 22, 2013

The Perils of Scriptural Morality

I was cheered by a story I saw last week about about heroic activist groups...

July 19, 2013

New on AlterNet: Abortion in the Bible

My latest column is now up on AlterNet, There's Nothing About Abortion in the Bible...

June 2013

June 29, 2013

#1m1w in the Bible

[Since the Supreme Court struck down part of DOMA this week, anti-gay Christian groups have...

March 2013

March 20, 2013

Facing Up to the Bible’s Darkness

Via Slacktivist, I came across an interesting essay by Greg Boyd, Getting Honest about the...

December 2012

December 05, 2012

The Bible as Engine of Extremism, Continued

In my previous post on "Southern Slavery As It Was", I cited two modern-day Christian...

December 03, 2012

Southern Slavery As It Was: The Bible as Engine of Extremism

This weekend I saw Lincoln, which was a tremendous movie. Daniel Day-Lewis gives a compelling...

July 2012

July 20, 2012

The Creation Order of Genesis

The discovery of the Higgs boson brought forth a fresh crop of high-minded religious apologists...

April 2012

April 18, 2012

Little-Known Bible Verses: Preachers’ Kids

One of my favorite features of the old site was "Little-Known Bible Verses", a regular...

April 06, 2012

The Mystical Dogma of Human Equality

Recently, the Catholic writer and apologist Mark Shea fielded a question from a reader who...

March 2012

March 07, 2012

Perfecting Man’s Moral Shortcomings

In the Book of Exodus, there's a bizarrely out-of-place story that I've always found hilarious....