Daylight Atheism » Deconversions

Escaping Christian Patriarchy

Ebonmuse — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 10:39:18 +0000

Ophelia of Butterflies and Wheels has been writing some excellent posts lately about the abuse and oppression of women in Christian communities. One of them led me to an outstanding blog titled Love, Joy, Feminism. Its author, Libby Anne, grew up in an ... [visit site to read more]

Book Review: God, No!

Ebonmuse — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 10:42:24 +0000

(Author's Note: The following review was solicited and is written in accordance with this site's policy for such reviews.)

Summary: Just what you'd expect from its author: outspoken, boisterous, crude, frequently vulgar, often hilarious. Unapologetically atheist, but more about Penn Jillette the person than about atheism per se.

God, No! is written by Penn Jillette, the louder half of Penn & Teller who's well-known for ... [visit site to read more]

Walking Away from the Watchtower

Ebonmuse — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 10:26:20 +0000

Last week, I posted a link to my review of Millions Now Living Will Never Die, the Watchtower's 1920 apocalyptic misfire, on Facebook. It got a comment from Vanessa Sampson, an ex-Jehovah's Witness who said that her own discovery of the Watchtower's fallibility was a major factor in her ultimately deciding to leave that religion and become an atheist.

Vanessa gave me permission to use her ... [visit site to read more]

From the Mailbag: Shedding the Burden of Suffering

Ebonmuse — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 23:24:02 +0000

Earlier this week, I got a lengthy letter whose author gave me permission to share it with you:

Dear Ebonmusings:

I gave a glimpse to your musing about the carrot and the stick - I didn't expect it to talk about morality, mainly because I realized that the latest part of my life as a christian was about pursuing a carrot and a stick.*

Allow me to share my story. Sorry if it's a bit depressing, but I can ... [visit site to read more]

Book Review: Losing My Religion

Ebonmuse — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:32:19 +0000

Summary: A hard-hitting and emotionally moving story of a religion reporter's deconversion, despite a few lingering blind spots.

Losing My Religion is the autobiography of William Lobdell, the religion reporter turned atheist whom I wrote about in 2007. I briefly mentioned the outline of his story in my previous post, but this book is a much more in-depth account of how he found, and then ... [visit site to read more]

You Call That Religion?

LeahAdmin — Sat, 28 May 2011 14:56:34 +0000

This is a guest post by Leah of Unequally Yoked. Adam is on vacation.

Spoiler Alert: the post below discusses the final number of the musical The Book of Mormon.

The Associated Press, in a review titled "Zany Musical 'The Book of Mormon' Will Convert You" said despite the sacrilege you might expect from a show imagined by the creators of South Park, the ... [visit site to read more]

The Mormon Test

LeahAdmin — Fri, 27 May 2011 21:50:42 +0000

This is a guest post by Leah of Unequally Yoked. Adam is on vacation.

When in argument with Christians, it can be hard to find a good way to explain why you doubt their precepts. John Loftus has a good idea with his Outsider's Test for Faith, but most Christians believe that their faith can pass the test; it's hard to show them how their ... [visit site to read more]

Adapt or Die

LeahAdmin — Fri, 27 May 2011 03:30:01 +0000

This is a guest post by Leah of Unequally Yoked. Adam is on vacation.

My previous two posts on mockery have drawn a lot of criticism, including charges that I am an accommodationist. If that were the case, the definition of accommodationism had gotten way too broad. ... [visit site to read more]

Whom Should We Mock?

LeahAdmin — Wed, 25 May 2011 23:43:34 +0000

This is a guest post by Leah of Unequally Yoked. Adam is on vacation.

My last post on Daylight Atheism, asking non-believers to tone down the contempt for Harold Camping and his followers, and many of you disagreed. Some commenters didn't believe there was anything intrinsically destructive about mocking others, others argued that ridicule was a ... [visit site to read more]

From the Mailbag: Deconversion Saturday

Ebonmuse — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 15:40:40 +0000

It's not every day that I get awesome letters like the one I posted last Saturday, but this makes two weeks in a row now. If this keeps up, I may have to make it a regular feature!

This letter is from a commenter who's posted here in the past as 5acos(phi/2). Although it's from a country I don't have first-hand experience of, it has a lot in common with the kind of letters I get more frequently, just with ... [visit site to read more]

From the Mailbag: Deconversion Saturday

Ebonmuse — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 13:53:26 +0000

Out of all the correspondence I get, occasionally there's a letter which repays, many times over, all the effort I've put into writing for my websites. This is one of them, which I'm sharing with the author's permission:

Hello Adam,

I wanted to drop you a note to let you know how much your writing has influenced me. I left the church I had been raised in about four years ago and spent about a year studying ... [visit site to read more]

Book Review: Trusting Doubt

Ebonmuse — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 02:58:24 +0000

(Author's Note: The following review was solicited and is written in accordance with this site's policy for such reviews.)

Summary: An outstanding analysis of the flaws of evangelical Christianity, written from an insider's perspective by a former believer. My only complaint is that I wish she'd provided more information about what the next step is!

Although there are lots of atheist books that present a compelling case for ... [visit site to read more]