MC Pickard's Blog (9)

The Pledge of Allegiance is the most anti-American thing we Americans can do and I have already stated my opposition to the pledge here, here, here and …

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One of the great assets that religion has is its promise of everlasting life after death. Whether it is an eternity in hell or heaven, reincarnation, our lives (for the price of belief and submission to a system of subsequent beliefs) can be continued after death.



Notice, however, that everlasting life is granted only after you are dead.



Religion does not give you everlasting life, immortality, when you are still living.



If religion really had the power… Continue

A few years back, three older women came to my door to preach the gospel to me. I lived in a neighborhood of Milwaukee that had several churches just blocks away. One close-by church was Catholic and one was Lutheran, and there were several other Protestant denominations nearby too.



I went to the door and the oldest of the three ladies invited me to their church as she attempted to hand me something.



Not wanting to waste too much time with these people, who came uninvited… Continue

Sarah Palin's flubs about history are well known. Her gaffe about Paul Revere is one of them, and her bus graphic, (on her much publicized bus tour) is just the latest example.…



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In sunday school, I was taught that God had given humanity a handful of non-negotiable laws that must be obeyed. These laws were the Ten Commandments, of course. In my adolescence, I had believe these ten laws were reasonable and if the adults in my life had insisted I follow them uncritically, I quite naturally did so without question. Incidentally, this is the exactly the type of faith that is often encouraged today -- the faith of a child -- obedience without question. We were praised for… Continue

One of my favorite and most impressional lessons from my religious education was the story of the sisters, Martha and Mary where Jesus comes over as a dinner guest. Mary spends her time at "Jesus feet" listening to him, while Martha is getting (rightfully) upset that she is the only one making all the preparations for dinner. (Luke 10:38 - 41.) While Jesus' lesson to Martha is that listening to him and his… Continue

"It may be that ministers really think that their prayers do good and it may be that frogs imagine that their croaking brings spring." Robert Green Ingersoll, "Which Way?" (1884)"

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Yesterday was the National Day of Prayer. Every year, true believers – mostly Evangelical Christians gather to encourage "every individual the need for personal…

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You're probably reading this and wondering what could Jesus' death possibly mean to an atheist? We don't believe in God after all, much less that Jesus was God. (In that I am not alone. Neither do Jews, or Muslims, and Thomas Jefferson. It's why neither could be considered Christians.) You could be one of those Christians that think that atheist are just the rebellious scum of Satan rejecting Jesus' "free gift" because they rather spend an eternity in hell. Well, relatively free. All you do is… Continue

When I finally decided to take up the question about God and religion again after many of years of apathy, not only did I flock to the book store, but online to research if the belief in God was tenable.



Actually, my first conversations over the issue was via email with a woman I was dating when I briefly lived in the country-ghetto (don't ask) who was a Biblical literalist and fundamentalist. She tried her best to win my soul for poor crucified baby Jesus – even asserting in so many… Continue