When Behemoth front-man Adam “Nergal” Darski tore up the Bible during his show, calling Christianity the deadliest cult in human history, he did more than offend his fellow Poles. He was also facing charges of blasphemy in his own country, but luckily, the charges appear to have been dropped.

I was actually surprised by the comments of one Christian who was relieved by this:

Common sense prevails – he tore up a book, good job it wasn’t the Koran! I’m a Catholic and wouldn’t tear up a bible, but he was making a personal comment and someone chose to make political mileage from it. I don’t agree with what he did, but prosecution is going too far.

If Christians were all like this guy, the world would be a lot less shitty…

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Sam was cool enough to answer a huge barrage of questions asked by loyal Reddit fans. It’s almost a whole hour, so if you’re going to listen to it, I suggest you put some time aside for this one. It’ll take a while, but it’s worth it.

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I can barely contain my excitement. Finally, the Pope – that infallible man who works tirelessly to ensure that condoms are all tossed in the trash bin, that women have to have the children of their rapists and that pedophiles get to live jail-free lives- now has his own twitter! Finally, you can enjoy a direct line to God from everyone’s favorite ex-Hitler youth.

His first historic tweet, telling fellow Catholics that he’s jumping on this whole social media bandwagon, was sent from his very own iPad. So far, I heard he’s loving it. I bet it’s easier to keep track of all those memos he sent telling Bishops not to report child abuse to the police. Do you know how hard that is without modern technology?

So, how long before his precious little device gets hacked, I wonder…

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If you aren’t familiar with “flash-mobs“, they’re essentially spontaneous gatherings of people who perform some kind of pointless or silly act. They then vamoose as quickly as they assembled. Here, we have a Franciscan looking dude with some shiny chalice-like object. Notice everyone around suddenly kneeling to show their love of some dead make-believe guy. Sad.

If you actually bother to pay close attention to what the audio is saying (which I actually don’t recommend you do unless you’re a sucker for punishment), you’ll notice they try ans squeeze Jesus in books in which he’s clearly not a part of. Judges, Numbers, Deuteronomy? I don’t recall seeing the name Jesus anywhere in those books…

Hey, isn’t it considered plagiarism to claim a work as your own? Just sayin’!

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I never realized how many crazy sexual positions Bonobos try. I think they put us all to shame. What the hell was that crazy one hanging from the tree all about? Should we add that one to the Kama-Sutra?

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This one is addressed to everyone on the site, so you know what to do, people!

My name is Brittany. I am 17 years old, and an atheist living in Pensacola, Florida.

Something happened just recently in my family that I really want to share with you as well as other atheist communities. I could really use some advice- this problem has been present for as long as I’ve come out as an atheist and seems to be deteriorating my family the longer I remain an atheist. I desperately need some feedback because, at this point, I don’t know what else I can do.

Last night I was watching television, and completely unannounced to me, the entire youth group of the church I used to attend came to my house- my little brother being the driving force. Needless to say, I was extremely nervous, but I knew what they were here for and decided to just push through it. Of course, it was about an hour of preaching directly to me under the watch of my previous Christian peers, Christian friends, and Christian family. I’m not going to try to be noble and say I fared well- I don’t think I’ve ever been shaken up so badly. I cannot ever accurately portray the guilt I felt when my brother, unable to speak and overcome with tears, confesses to me how much he loves me and looks up to me followed by how my entire family and the church thinks my life has become “dead” for not having Christianity the driving force of my existence.

What I find interesting is that I’ve just recently been able to cope with numerous anxiety problems I’ve been having due to leaving religion. Although I wouldn’t say it is post-religion PTSD, (although I’ve learned a lot from Rich Lyons and I do seem to exhibit the majority of symptoms) I’ve always known I have not necessarily been as stable since I’ve had to deal with these issues. This past year, I’ve finally been able to gain control of my anxiety. And although attacks can still be triggered by church services or late-night surprise preaching, I finally came to a point where I felt like I could be a normal kid again. Christianity is what made me “dead.”

I was really shaken and scared last night but I understood their good intentions. I simply responded after the hour “Thank for guys for coming. I think it’s very sweet that you’re concerned about me. But I’ve grown up in the same upbringing as all of you, and I’ve made my decision.” I was careful to be very polite, although there were a few choice words I would have liked to say. Regardless, there is no point in arguing with them.

Afterward, I was ranting to a good friend who is also an atheist and understands when I need to vent. He actually brought something up that I can hardly force myself to consider, but I fear it may be my only option. He suggested that I just tell my family I’m a Christian. Go along with it. Not to be neutral or even passive, but just to pretend I buy it. Maybe it’ll make things easier while I’m still living here. Although saying I’m a Christian may be easy enough (if we aren’t considering my flaming pride-fullness), pulling off such an act would require me to completely dive into my Christian life before I came out- events, services, friendships, worship, praying, and all. (At least while my family is looking.) Like I said earlier, the thought of this is enraging to me because I want so badly just to be myself and for that to be okay. But I’m afraid it will never be okay until I finally leave.

Of course I’d still be an atheist, but this idea has really been bothering me. I want to be proud of who I am as a non-believer, but if it is tearing my family apart, is it selfish for me to even acknowledge my beliefs? Part of me says they are selfish and playing the victims, but the other part of my is just exhausted of all this and wants to just breathe freely again. The only thing I’m truly worried about is if giving in to this idea and throwing my alter-ego into Christianity will once again trigger the anxiety issues I’ve worked so hard to overcome.

I understand this is a lot to process, but I really need some help.
Is it worth it to tell my family I’m an atheist if it only causes chaos? Should I just pretend I believe for their sake, and continue my life as an avid non-believer under-cover?

Please let me know what you think and feel free to have members give feedback- I want as many points of view as I can get.

Thanks so much for all you do,
Brittany

Here’s what burns me up: believers being so “bothered” by our non-belief that they just can’t let it go. They force people like Britney to make these kinds of horribly difficult decisions. Sure, it comes from a “good place”, but so did the desire to burn witches to save their souls. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Sound familiar?

With that said, I’m the least qualified person to answer this. Honestly, I’ve never been in a situation similar to yours Brittany, so any suggestion I make is tainted by my perception as an ‘ivory tower’ non-believer. So please guys, can some of you with similar life stories give her some useful advice?

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So, how many days will it take for CNN to issue an apology for saying that you shouldn’t take the Bible too seriously? It’s not the kind of thing you hear very often on television, and I imagine it probably sent a few religious conservatives into a hissy-fit. Let’s not forget that a significant percentage of Americans are convinced that every single word of the Bible is holy, undeniable truth. It doesn’t matter to them that it’s a total crock of shit. So long as they continue to believe that, whatever chosen hateful passages they’ve latched on to will continue to play an important role in the way the country is formed.

Let’s not forget that the most militarily advanced nation in the world also happens to be one of the most religious. That’s fucking reassuring, isn’t it?

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Oh Pat, when is your tired corpse finally going to break down? The only people that would miss you have a serious empathy problem.

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Anytime you come out as an atheist, you run the risk of your life becoming more difficult. That’s what EllenBeth Wachs of Florida found out. She was arrested earlier this month by her fundamentalist local Sheriff who didn’t like her activism. What was her crime, you wonder?

EllenBeth Wachs was arrested Sunday [May 1] accused of making noises in her home that sounded as though she was having sex.

The arrest warrant says she made noise in her home on March 13 that “sounded like a woman experiencing sexual gratification in an extremely loud fashion.”

Yes, you read correctly. SHE WAS IN HER OWN HOME GETTING LAID. Somehow, the Sheriff’s Office has nothing better to do than harass its own citizens. EllenBeth has put up a donation bar, ans as you can’t expect, it’s barely past the 300 mark. Congratulations my fellow atheists, we’ve proved yet again how cheap we are. Makes me sad that we can’t rally together an try to fight this injustice. They want to arrest an atheist woman for having orgasms in her own home. Is there no justice left in this world?

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