The American Civil Liberties Union is suing a jail in South Carolina for restricting inmates’ reading material and thus violating their First Amendment rights. The only book they can read is a paperback Bible; no magazines, educational books, novels, or newspapers are allowed.
‘Our inmates are only allowed to receive soft back bibles in the mail directly from the publisher,’ First Sgt. K. Habersham noted in the e-mail. ‘They are not allowed to have magazines, newspapers, or any other type of books.’
How backwards is this policy? It keeps inmates from being educated, balanced thinkers in every way. Even if I was a Christian, I would hate it. People in all situations deserve to read and learn.
Is anyone else thinking this seems a lot like Shawshank Redemption?
(via christiannightmares)
One of the very best comic strips for laughing over religion, skepticism, politics, and science is the delightul Ape, Not Monkey by Jeffrey Weston. Often what Weston can illustrate in four panels is more than I could say in a long-winded blog post. Check out some of my favorite editions:
I also included Ape, Not Monkey in a previous edition of hilarious comic strips.
We’re all allowed to change our minds. I’m not sure if this is a credit to my character or a blight on it, but I’ve changed my mind about many varying topics over the past—sometimes from one extreme to another. A lot of these changes happened because I went off to college and was finally out from under my parents’ influence. Having to find your own way and discover how you feel about certain ideas sometimes inspires radical shifts. I was a perfect example.
Another reason I’ve been moving from one side of a debate to another is my radical switch from Christianity to atheism. When I was a believer, I always knew what to do and what to believe in because it was an established system in my religion, my family, and my community. Atheism flung me outside all of those groups quite suddenly, and I had to do even more thinking on my own. With no one to tell me what to believe, and not much practice being a truly critical thinker, I had a lot of catching up to do! In fact, I know I’m still not done reconsidering my positions. Perhaps I never will be.
I came up with four examples of how I’ve shifted my opinions in the past five years.
photo by Tony Case
1) Masturbation
Then: A few years ago after wobbling between “masturbation is a sin” and “if it’s awesome, why not?” I settled on the view that masturbation was okay so long as you didn’t lust. This is a popular position in some Christian circles because it allows the person the physical release, but it keeps people from sinning according to Jesus “Thought Police™” Christ (see Matthew 5:28).
Now: My new guiltless sexuality and self-confidence are mainly a direct result of leaving Christianity. Now I’m not ashamed of my actions nor filled with self-loathing about being a sexual person. I can embrace healthy expressions of this side of my nature; I can be mature and wise about it instead of secretive and ignorant. The human body is an amazing thing, and we should enjoy it!
Check out my previous post on masturbation.
Click below the cut for three more…
Read the Rest! Post a comment (26)
From PEP #192, April 1966
The evangelical magazine Christianity Today (which I’ve mentioned quite a bit) published an article titled “Woman As Folly” about the many curious Bible passages about women as possessions, being below or weaker than men turning women away from Christianity and god:
… “I think men are more aware than women of their tendency to sin,” one of the men suggested. “Maybe they can use this wisdom to help guide their wives.”
I couldn’t believe this was being discussed as a legitimate idea.
“Don’t they understand?” I said [to my husband]. “These sort of misconceptions—the idea that Christianity subjugates women—drive people away from the church.”
I wondered what he thought was so clear—that women bear a greater burden for the fall of man? “If I wasn’t a Christian,” I said, “these comments about women would turn me away from God.”
I wanted to deconstruct the ideas that were chipping away at my confidence in the Creator, but I felt outmatched. Among the men in our group, conversations often felt like a Scripture-quoting duel. Each time a new passage was referenced, I had the same question: What’s the context? Their response was nearly always a puzzled look. It was as if I’d just suggested we tear out pages from our Bibles and fold them into paper airplanes. Scripture, they reminded me, is inerrant.
This woman is starting to see sense. You can almost feel the warmth of the light bulb glowing brightly above her head.
Could this be the birth of a feminist? A liberated woman who realizes her entire religion has been anti-woman for 2000+ years? Maybe she could actually re-consider her belief in a god who would use authors with misogynistic values to be its voice?
But no. She can’t doubt god or the Bible. She has to pound the square peg into the round hole any way she can. So she goes looking for a comforting justification for the sexist teachings in her holy book.
Read the Rest! Post a comment (37)
Meghan on 
LeetheGirl on 
Loading ...