http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nakedpastor/2012/02/god-broke-up-with-me/

David put that cartoon out less than a year after I was out of religion.  I remember putting it on my blog with a long post about how this was exactly how I felt about God after leaving the church.  However, it was also how I felt while in the church and praying for him …[Read more]

The word atheist seems to be one of the dirtiest of words out there.  It’s one of those labels that come with its own set of preconceptions and stereotypes.   Some of them are rather humorous, but others are quite dangerous.  Even in the midst of people who know you best, it plants seeds of discomfort and fear.

When I decided I no longer be…[Read more]

Tonight’s hangout made me appreciate this journey that I’m on.  I read this quote the day after I left religion:

I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in the kindness of human beings.  I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and angels.-Pearl S. Buck-

It’s just dawned on me that E…[Read more]

I found this over at churchleaders.com.   Mark Solas talks about the 10 surprising reasons kids are leaving the church.  As someone who worked with kids and youth I find some of this to be spot on.  There are however a few things that I find hard to believe the church sees as “surprising” reasons for kids to leave.  This list ends with a command, “…[Read more]

I was one of the very first members of TLS.    I had just cancelled my very successful atheist blog to seek the next chapter of my life.   It had served it’s purpose as a place for me to vent and talk about the things that made me leave religion.   It was during that time of change that David announced he’d be starting this new project.   I hesi…[Read more]

A few months ago when my very dear friend and her husband were expecting their first child, they asked me to be their baby’s godmother.  They are members of my old church community and we brain stormed on names to use instead of godmother.  There were many hilarious variations, but we never quite settled on one.

This morning I attended church f…[Read more]

I’m not much of a joiner, so even I was a little surprised when I joined this community the day David launched it.  I have absolutely no regrets!

In the past few months I’ve “met” some amazing people from so many different backgrounds, on different parts of their journeys – some just plane wary and weary.  I used to comment more, be a bigger p…[Read more]

I was raised in an extremely legalistic, hell-fire and brimstone Baptist church. I did not believe that I’d ever measure up to expectations of God at a very early age. I can look back at that now and realize just how fully controlled I was, but it took a lot of work for me to get here.

My parents were divorced when I was 4 and since my dad was i…[Read more]

This is part of a longer post I found over on Karen Spears Zacharias’ blog.   Angered by the words of  Bryan Fischer and James Dobson in the wake of tragedy, she says what all of my Christians friends have had to say in response to them.  The entire post is worth reading, but this sums up her point pretty well.

If your faith simply compels yo…

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…yet here I find myself enraged.  I watched this video earlier today and I find myself examining my personal resolve to not despise or hate anyone.  I am ever so thankful that I know Christians both here and in my personal life that would never use a moment of unfathomable grief as a platform.  I rarely ex…[Read more]

I’ve shared here before that I’m not particularly close to my family for varying reasons.  I actually live 3000+ miles away from the closest one, and can’t foresee that changing.  However when there is a family crisis, I bury all the reasons for our estrangement and focus on the issue at hand.

We have a few really ill people in the family.   A f…[Read more]

As I was reading through some blogs this morning I came across a post by Don Miller entitled Reflecting on the Two Different Spirits Guiding the Christian Church.  An excerpt from it that caught my attention was this:

Today, Christians have power. The scene has changed. Even in smaller degrees, Christian leaders no longer perceive themselves as …

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I’m out for my first official hike of the season.  It’s 77 degrees out today and for those of you who know anything about Phoenix, you’ll know that it was over 100 degrees just last week!   I hiked through my “crisis of faith,” and I hiked through my departure from faith.  For a while these trails became my new church, where I went on Sunday mo…[Read more]

So I don’t know if you all know who she is, but throughout the years and throughout my transition from woman of faith to the secular world, I’ve had this love hate relationship with some of what she’s had to say.  Evans just got through spending a year “living biblically,” and I’m unsure if I want to read the book that ‘s a result of the project. …[Read more]

Thank you guys for making me feel comfortable bringing my concerns here.  As I said previously, there are issues relating to faith that still affect me because I live in this predominately religious country.   I’m going to start with two of my biggies; Apologists and homosexuality.  I’m not quite sure if I was fo…[Read more]

I sometimes feel out of place here.   2 months after leaving the church I started a blog as a therapeutic outlet.  I never expected 1 follower, but by the time I ended it last month I had over 3000 followers and over 5000 viewers daily.  I had plenty of interaction with my followers, yet I felt out of place.  When people visit an atheist blog, the…[Read more]

I’ve been away from this group for almost 2 weeks.  Life and my family threw me into an anger/pain cycle.  It’s a rare thing for me because my defenses are pretty hard to get through.  I’ve spent the morning sitting on my patio, drinking tea, and reading through the new stories posted here.  You guys are amazing!  It’s very different to be in a com…[Read more]

We all have expectations.  When we go to a service establishments, we expect a certain level of service, especially if we’re paying for it.  However, when it comes to spirituality I like to be open – without expectations and pre-conceived idea.  I’ve learned that when you’re open and receptive, you’re better able to really hear what others have to …[Read more]

I make a lot of music reference in my comments/posts.  I’ve always loved music and I sang on the worship team.  I love words and lyrics.  The one thing that I miss the most from religion is the music.  I’m one of those freakishly annoying people who knows a song for everything that’s going on

I read a wonderful post made earlier today on the …[Read more]

I’m directing this question to the group in general, but I’d love to hear from those of you who have left the church or religion, either permanently or temporarily.

Tonight while at dinner with a friend, she stated that she couldn’t understand how I could have so easily walked away from religion.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but easy is …[Read more]