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Libby Anne details some of the anxieties she and others felt growing up as true believers in the rapture: I was very afraid the rapture might occur and I might be left behind. One morning when I was ten or twelve I woke up and couldn’t find anyone in the house. Before I realized that [...]
Archive for the ‘Fundamentalism’ Category
Libby Anne on Growing Up Fearing The Rapture
February 18th, 2012 
Daniel Fincke Religious Privilege and Grievance-Based Catholic Identity Politics on Full Display
February 7th, 2012 Daniel Fincke In a column last week, Melinda Henneberger criticized the Obama administration’s refusal to exempt the Catholic Church from requirements it provide for its employees health insurance which would cover birth control at organizations it runs which have secular functions. The column is an extraordinary exemplification of religious entitlement, identity politics, and anti-secular, anti-democratic demands for [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheism, Atheism, Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Christianity, Christianity, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Faith, Feminism, Feminism, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Law, Law, Law & Politics, News Discussion, News Discussion, Philosophy Of Religion, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Rape, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Religious Rights, Religious Rights, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Theocrats, Theocrats, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Issues 
Tags: Affordable Care Act, Bart Stupak, Birth Control, Catholic Identity Politics, Catholic Voters, Conscience Exemptions, Faith and Politics, Grievance Politics, Liberal Protestant, Melinda Henneberger, Obama National Prayer Breakfast, Obama's Faith, obamacare, Religious Rights, Religious Tests For Office, Reproductive Rights, Ressentiment, Secularism 
11 Comments »Christians Sexperimenting
January 12th, 2012 Daniel Fincke One of the myriad indicators of Christianity’s falsehood is the distinctly religious neuroses it regularly creates around something as natural and as good as sex. In the video below Lisa and Ed Young, authors of Sexperiment: 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy with Your Spouse, discuss how they asked the married couples in their church to have [...]
How Christian Sexual Ethics Can Mess Up A Marriage
January 11th, 2012 Daniel Fincke A few weeks ago, Amanda at Friendly Atheist fisked a new book on marriage, Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together by Grace and Mark Driscoll. In the book an arrogant preacher and his wife detail their first unhealthy decade of marriage, spent treating each other and sex terribly, before giving marriage advice based [...]
The Dangers of Religion Itself
January 8th, 2012 Daniel Fincke Salvaging Religion In this post I am going to explore the dangers of religion. For some context, I have written often that I think that there are good things that go by the name religion that atheists should try to salvage from authoritarians, irrationalists and bigots. I am generally optimistic about the idea that we [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Faith, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Islam, Islam, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Psychology, Psychology, Religion, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Secularism 40 Comments »A Few Christian Replies to Hitchens’s Death Worth Noting
December 17th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Shortly before Christopher Hitchens’s death, Andrew Sullivan movingly reminisced about him and gave a sense of how their friendship was so strong despite such differing views on faith:
Full Video of Republican Theocratathon
November 22nd, 2011 Daniel Fincke Last weekend the Republican candidates met for the “Thanksgiving Family Forum” where, except for Ron Paul, they each tried to prove they were the holiest Christian and, therefore, the most deserving candidate for president of our theocracy democracy. The actual discussions with the candidates do not start until 36 minutes in. And, as Jerry Coyne [...]
Posted in Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Christianity, Christianity, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Politics, Politics, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State 2 Comments »Calling Out And Debunking William Lane Craig’s Smears Against Infidels and Apostates
November 21st, 2011 Daniel Fincke Is William Lane Craig a philosopher? Some atheists seem to want to dismiss him as strictly a theologian and in no way a philosopher but sometimes he clearly attempts to make strictly philosophical arguments. By strictly philosophical arguments I mean ones whose premises make no necessary appeal to any presumed religious authorities but theoretically could [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Christianity, Christianity, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Personal, Secularism, Why I Am Not A Christian, Why I Am Not A Christian Tags: Apostates, Sex and Apostasy, Why People Leave Their Faith, William Lane Craig 16 Comments »Maryam Namazie Attacks Shari’a And Defends Muslim Immigrants Against The Far Right
November 20th, 2011 Daniel Fincke A great lecture and Q&A my estimable Freethought Blogs colleague Maryam Namazie: . An important excerpt from the Q&A: Look, George Bush says he attacked Iraq for women’s rights and I’m a women’s rights campaigner, but I don’t believe him. It’s possible that a politician will say something, that they’ve done something for a reason and, [...]
Posted in Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Civil Liberties, Civil Liberties, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Feminism, Feminism, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, George W. Bush, George W. Bush, Islam, Islam, Koran, Koran, Law, Law, Law & Politics, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Rights, Religious Rights, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Theocracy, Theocracy, Theocrats, Theocrats, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Issues No Comments »Before I Deconverted: Ministers As Powerful Role Models
October 30th, 2011 Daniel Fincke To commemorate my 12th year anniversary of leaving Christianity, I am finally getting around to chronicling my Christian youth and my deconversion from biographical and philosophical perspectives. In my first post I described being a Christian kid and talked a bit about Christian camp. In this post, I explore the powerful influence upon who I [...]
Before I Deconverted: My Christian Childhood
October 30th, 2011 Daniel Fincke 12 years ago today, on October 30, 1999 as a 21 year old college junior majoring in philosophy and minoring in religion at religiously and politically super-conservative Grove City College, I stopped being a Christian. Below the fold, for those interested in these sorts of narratives, is the first installment of a series of posts [...]
Atheist Fundamentalism?
October 28th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Kelly: You are an atheist fundamentalist, Jaime. Jaime: That’s impossible, there can be no such thing. Atheism itself is just “a lack of belief”. There is no holy book or other source of “fundamental” positions any atheist must hold. Not every atheist even needs to be an atheist in the same way. Some can only [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Creationism, Creationism, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Intelligent Design, Intelligent Design, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Rationalism, Religion, Religion, Religion and Science, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates 38 Comments »Don’t Tell Religious Believers What They “Really Believe” (Tip 3 of 10 For Reaching Out To Christians)
October 5th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Top Ten Tips For Reaching Out To Religious Believers 1. Don’t Call Religious Believers Stupid. 2. Make Believers Stay on Topic During Debates. 3. Don’t Tell Religious Believers What They “Really Believe”. All beliefs imply other beliefs. Some things religious believers happily assert as true have possible implications which are dark, disturbing, foolish, and/or in [...]
How Evangelicals Can Be Very Hurtful Without Being Very Hateful
October 2nd, 2011 Daniel Fincke The weekend after George W. Bush’s reelection, I attended a MoveOn.org get together at my friends’ house. The idea of the event was that people would volunteer their homes to host nationally coordinated local strategy discussions. So, it was me, my two friends, and a whole bunch of hard-left Upper West Side Manhattanites all of [...]
“The Virgin Daughters”: A Documentary on Purity Balls
September 28th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Emotionally and mentally warping. Domineering. Brainwashing. Unbelievably creepy. Immoral. Click through video for the final three parts of the documentary, they are not just redundant of the material in the first part. via Musical Atheist commenting at Butterflies and Wheels. Ophelia also points us to more pictures and commentary on Purity Balls from Libby Anne. [...]
Questions For Those Who Oppose The Wall of Separation Between Church and State
September 27th, 2011 Daniel Fincke I imagine that nearly everyone agrees that just because you may do something legally does not mean morally that you should do it. Now, I am firmly convinced that Thomas Jefferson’s ideal of a “wall of separation between church and state” is constitutional. But, let’s say you do not. Let’s say the Founders left it [...]
Posted in Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Christianity, Christianity, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Philosophy Of Religion, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Theocracy, Theocracy Tags: Thomas Jefferson, Wall of Separation Between Church and State 10 Comments »American Values vs. Fundamentalist Values
September 26th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Contemporary Evangelical arguments for the mixing of Church and State usually fallaciously assume that for America’s most historically vindicated political, moral, and cultural values to be accepted as good and as true, either theoretically or in practice, or for these values to be preserved and advanced in future generations, Americans must accept and continue to perpetuate [...]
Posted in Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Christianity, Christianity, Creationism, Creationism, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Intelligent Design, Intelligent Design, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Theocrats, Theocrats 7 Comments »Encouragement
September 18th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Sierra writes about the impact of an English professor’s encouragement in opening her mind to her possibilities outside of the narrowly circumscribed life she was expecting from being raised in Christian patriarchy: One evening, as Bill handed me a paper I’d written with his comments, he asked, “Did you ever think of being a professional [...]
The Religious Conservative’s False Choice: “Big Brother” Or “Heavenly Father”
September 17th, 2011 Daniel Fincke The following is a repost from February 23, 2011: In an e-mail to me, Caroline proposes thought provoking reasons for non-believers to encourage (or at least to not actively discourage) religious beliefs: It would also be nice if people would carry out actions in good conscience of just being decent human beings rather than in [...]
The Evils of the Sermon on the Mount (Part 1)
September 15th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Progressives, regardless of whether they are liberal Christians or non-believers, like to accuse fundamentalist Christians of ignoring Jesus’s supposed message of love and tolerance which is supposedly epitomized by his remarks in the Sermon on the Mount. Actually reading the Bible, Jesus does not actually always live up to the billing progressives give him as [...]
Posted in Bible, Bible, Christianity, Christianity, Feminism, Feminism, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Homosexuality, Homosexuality, Jesus, Jesus, Philosophy Of Religion, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Sex, Women's Issues Tags: Sermon on the Mount 12 Comments »Did Theocrats Swing Weiner’s District Republican?
September 15th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Robbie George, the conservative Princeton Professor who opposes same-sex marriage, writes of an under-reported influence in Weiner’s Queens district (NY-9): In the run up to the election, a group of Orthodox rabbis, most from Brooklyn, but including others, notably Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky and Rabbi Simcha Bunim Cohen, two nationally prominent Orthodox Jewish authorities, published a [...]
Posted in Civil Rights, Civil Rights, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Gay Marriage, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Homosexuality, Judaism, Law, Law, Law & Politics, LGBTQAA, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Same Sex Marriage, Same Sex Marriage, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Theocrats, Theocrats 1 Comment »Love Virginity
September 12th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Ophelia has been digging up so much horrifying misogyny and abusive teachings about the roles of women and love and sex in various contemporary fundamentalist, evangelical, explicitly patriarchal communities that my jaw hits the floor and my heart sinks to my stomach just about every time I read her indispensable blog. Last night she highlighted [...]
Why Clergy Rightfully Have No Place At A 9/11 Memorial (Or Any Civic Ceremonies)
September 11th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Some clergy have been upset that they were explicitly excluded from today’s ceremonies about 9/11. I alluded to this, with a link where you can read more, in the following critical remark yesterday: some [are taking] the opportunity [of 9/11's tenth anniversary] to selfishly feel aggrieved because their religion and its pseudo-authority and pseudo-comforts are neglected. [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Christianity, Christianity, Civil Liberties, Civil Liberties, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Free Speech, Free Speech, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Jesus, Jesus, Law, Law, Law & Politics, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Prayer, Prayer, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Rights, Religious Rights, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Theocrats, Theocrats Tags: 9/11, Funerals, Memorials, Rituals 6 Comments »Islam, 9/11, and “True Religion” (Or “What Could George W. Bush Mean When Talking About True Islam?”)
September 11th, 2011 Daniel Fincke What did it mean when George W. Bush talked about Islam really being a “religion of peace” and argued that it was not to blame for the murderous actions of terrorists? Bush was (and is) a true believing Evangelical Christian. How could he argue for a “true” interpretation of Islam when Islam is a falsehood [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Faith, Faith, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Islam, Islam, Koran, Koran, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy Of Religion, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Secularism 9 Comments »Suing The Devil
September 6th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Nobody makes terribly blunt and bluntly terrible propaganda movies like the Evangelical Christians: Not a bad cast selling their souls in this one. Surprising how many mainstream actors have been appearing in these preachy schlocky un-self-aware imagination-free self-parodies the Evangelicals make. The kind of pathetic thing is that I remember watching Devil’s Advocate as an [...]
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