C h r i $ t i a n i t y

Bogus Beyond Belief

Updates

Minor changes to the site, such as link fixes and article editing, will usually not be noted here.

January 2006 Update: Added a few e-mails to my discussion with Corey, who is associated with a web site named Atheism Sucks! Corey believes that the Christian god is morally justified in torturing people for eternity for not being Christians. Isn't that great?

July 2005 Update: Put up a page which has links not to sites but to individual articles which I think are interesting and informative.

June 2005 Update: I am very sorry to report that the discussion board lost a large number of posts as a result of a hack attack on ezboard. I guess you get what you pay for with a free discussion board. Anyway, this is very unfortunate as a good many interesting and educational posts are gone and many posters put considerable time and effort into their postings. Posts may still show up again as ezboard is still restoring information, but I am not too hopeful at this point. I suppose I will simply have to take comfort in the fact that even if the posts are gone for good, the people who composed them and the people who read them have definately benefited from the sharing of ideas.
For updates on the ezboard situation, click here.

May 2005 Update: Put a new link in the main page to a large list of Bible contradictions, absurdities, cruelties and atrocities. This list, which includes my questions and comments, was something I compiled and sent to a Christian named Craig who I had an e-mail discussion with a few years ago.

March 2005 Update: No updates this month. However, a related site that I put up has been moved to a new domain here.

May 2004 Update: Added a few e-mails to the latest responses page.

February 2004 Update: Added a WMA audio file of a call to a Christian radio show by a very funny guy named Matt. The call is from the mid-nineties and the radio show is now defunct.

January 2004 Update: There is no update on this site yet this month. However, I am working on a site that is tangentially related to this one and I thought I would make a link to it from here. It is a new site and it has formatting issues that need to be resolved. The site is best viewed at a resolution of 800x600.

December 2003 Update: Revised the FAQ page a bit.

November 2003 Update: Well, it has been a while since I have added anything to the site and I don't have too much new now. I do have a new e-mail page located here. I have fixed up some incomprehensible grammar on this radio show call-in page and I have spruced up the apologist e-mail page by rewriting some of the introductory material and adding a couple of links.
Though this has no real bearing on the subject of this site, I have updated my personal photos-which I will let you find on your own.

December 2002 Update: A few years ago, in the mid-90s, I used to call up a local Christian radio program and argue with the host. Eventually the host invited me to the station to be on the air. I just added an MP3 of two excerpts from that show. (The break between the excerpts is indicated with a snipping sound.) Transcripts and MP3s of two later phone calls to that same program are located here and here.
I finished a small site FAQ, which provides some basic information about this site.

November 2002 Update: No update this month.

October 2002 Update: No update this month.

September 2002 Update: added information about universal skepticism to the Christian arguments page.
Edited A Message to Apologists.
Put up a link to a great questionnaire.

August 2002 Update: Fixed links to two MP3 files. The files contain two phone calls I made to a Christian radio program. The transcripts of the calls and the MP3s are located here and here.
Put up a page that links to a few interesting news articles.
This zip file contains a discussion I am having with a Christian apologist. More recent exchanges have been put on this discussion board, which has a comments section. This is a snippet from the discussion:

ME: “No, there was no decision I could make. A decision implies that there is a choice that can be made between two or more viable alternatives. If I walk down a path and it forks, I have a choice to take one fork or the other. If I am presented with several entrée options on a menu, I have a choice between them. In these situations, I can make a decision. However, I have no ‘choice’ to believe in the Christian god for the very simple reason that I cannot choose to believe in something that I don’t believe in. Do you understand this concept or not? Can you, for example, ‘choose’ to believe in the tooth fairy? Yes or no?”
YOU: “What’s stopping me from one day deciding to believe in the tooth fairy?”
Your sanity?
YOU: “It’s only impossible to believe in the tooth fairy if I continue to not believe in the tooth fairy.”
So you are telling me that you can believe in (a) falsehood just because you want to believe in (a) falsehood. I would suggest that this is probably why you believe in the Christian god. : )
YOU: “But I always have the option to stop not believing in the tooth fairy, which means I would then believe in the tooth fairy. You have this option with God as well.”
Perhaps you can believe in things just out of a desire to do so, but I lack this gift. I am afraid that I need some kind of reasonable evidence to believe in things. Sorry.

July 2002 Update: Added A Message To Apologists.
Added a new "random" section to the Quotes page here.
Pasted some more quotes into the ex-Christian page.
Here is an interesting link I added to the apologist e-mail page.

June 2002 Update: Added more e-mails to response page 9.

May 2002 Update: Added more e-mails to response page 7 here. A person who criticized me and this web site earlier then sent more e-mails about a year later. This person adamantly refused to discuss any of the problems with Christianity, and focused instead on me and my nefarious machinations.
Other additions to the site would be in the form of posts to the discussion board.

April 2002 Update: No update this month.

March 2002 Update: Put a more useful site search engine on the homepage

February 2002 Update: Added Dear Christian, written by a former minister.
Added response page 9. The page is under construction.

January 2002 Update: No update this month.

December 2001 Update: No update this month.

November 2001 Update: Added a new page entitled biology versus biblical literalism which points out some facts about biology that creationists don't like to think about or discuss.

October 2001 Update: Added quotes to a new page of quotes from ex-Christians and added some links to the apologist e-mail page.

September 2001 Update: No update this month.

August 2001 Update: Added several responses to the apologist e-mail page.

July 2001 Update: A new page is being worked on which features quotes from ex-Christians. It is located here.

June 2001 Update: Added two MP3 files to the radio call-in transcript pages. The audio files are of the actual calls. The pages are located here and here and the links to the audio files are located under the photos. You can also go here to download them.

May 2001 Update: Added a bunch of e-mails to response page 8 on May 19 and have started an open forum based on the e-mail discussion on that page. Your comments are encouraged.
Added two new e-mails to response page 8 on May 13.
Compiled an e-mail discussion with a Christian about morality. This person kept alluding to some some sort of nefarious "ideology" I espoused and continually compared me and all atheists to various mass murderers. All the while he studiously ignored my repeated questions. The discussion can also be found on one of my discussion forums here. I invited this person to develop his ideas more thoroughly in this forum, but so far he has not shown up.

Added two new e-mails to response page 8 on May 3.

April 2001 Update: An apologist I am having a discussion with has replied to my last e-mail, and I have added his reply to the apologist e-mail page, along with my response to one of the points in his e-mail. My response includes a link to a critical review of one of his articles on Genesis.
A new response page has been added which features an extended discussion with a visitor. The topics of the conversation include biblical slavery, the Ten Commandments and the definition of the word "God."

March 2001 Update: No update this month.

February 2001 Update: The links page now has a an ex-Christians section, a biblical flood section, and a Christian news links applet.
The discussion boards have become a bit more active this month, and I have added a forum to discuss George Bush's so-called "faith-based initiative."