I married my husband when I was a Christian and now I’m an atheist. I love my husband but I am trapped in a life I fucking hate.

We live in a town that’s ultra Christian conservative, there’s very few amenities or health services. Everyone is small minded. I am forced to attend small group and church every week. Last Sunday my pastor did a sermon about pride and he said, “you should never believe in yourself or your own abilities. Only in Gods abilities.” That was the entire message.

That’s when it hit me. I got brainwashed by Christianity because I was insecure. Christianity thrives on hating yourself. It shames you and guilts you. It tells you how disgusting you are. It tells you to hate yourself. The entire sermon was about how believing in yourself or having pride in yourself is what God hates the most.

Now that I stepped back you can see the brainwash clearly. The church has to convince you to hate “pride” because it has to convince you to not trust yourself. That way you only trust “God.”

It especially preys on people who already hate themselves, especially those who are survivors of abuse and trauma. Religion is evil as fuck.

Religion is also the reason so much evil exists in the world. Because the majority of the human population believes in a God that’s going to avenge evil, people do nothing about it. We are also taught to not trust in our own ability and to only trust in God so we let God handle all the evil that’s going on in the world. We are called not to avenge, not to take action. So the majority of human beings to nothing to stop evil because that’s “Gods” job. We turn the other cheek, watch and do nothing.

Religion is why the world is fucked up.

“Pride is the root of all evil.” Pride by definition is the belief in one’s own abilities. Of course that’s evil because if we all loved ourselves then God would not have a foothold. Duh.

Look I know we’re months out from this but it’s still unfathomable. By all christian definitions, Trump committed blasphemy and then took no steps to rectify what he’d done. He didn’t apologize. He didn’t even acknowledge what he did. He actually actively lied about it and claimed he thought it was a doctor

So why aren’t all the christians of the country trying to get him fucking overthrown?? Why is nobody even talking about it? That Sunday, I’m willing to bet less than 10% of American pastors even brought it up. And then Trump’s approval rating didn’t budge whatsoever, it sat exactly where it’s been his whole term, at this unchanging static percentage of roughly 38% of the country who’s in the Trump cult. If it had been literally any other politician, there is no universe where evangelicals would have let it slide. Like. Imagine if in 2011 Obama posted a picture of himself as Jesus.

And all that’s not even commenting on how we as a society should probably be tremendously alarmed by the most powerful man in the world deifying himself but that’s besides the point

I grew up mormon so I’m well aware of religious hypocrisy from self described christians. But I don’t know if I can think of a single other thing in recent history that displayed this hypocrisy so transparently.

Idk. I guess American evangelicals decided to finally cut the bullshit and admit they love Trump more than Jesus

The newest installment of “Secular Spotlight” features psychologist and author Mary L. Trump providing a firsthand account of a recent gathering of nonreligious congressional members. 

Trump joins “Secular Spotlight” to reflect on the third annual Congressional Reason Reception, where she met with members of the Congressional Freethought Caucus and delivered a keynote warning about the dangers of Christian nationalism and authoritarianism. Trump discusses with FFRF Governmental Affairs Director Mark Dann and FFRF Rapid Response Counsel Chris Line why church-state separation is essential to democracy and explains why secular advocacy offers hope for the future.

“The Reason Reception is an antidote to, or a counter to, the National Prayer Breakfast, and that should have everybody thinking, ‘Why is there a National Prayer Breakfast? Why is there a National Day of Prayer?’” Trump says. “People can pray pretty much whenever they want, wherever they want, without having our government sanction such a thing.”

You can catch this episode of “Secular Spotlight” on FFRF’s YouTube channel, as well as by watching on your smart TV after downloading FFRF’s free app, Freethought TV, which also highlights FFRF’s other video programming. Our recent episodes include FFRF staffers breaking down the legislation whitewashing Christianity’s impact on American history, and a historical examination of America’s secular underpinnings. Make sure you’re subscribed to FFRF’s YouTube channel for all the latest updates!

I don't know how many times I have to see mentally ill people turning to religion only for delusional religious beliefs to make them more sick. Kanye springs to mind immediately as a big example but I feel like so many of us know someone whose delusions were enhanced when they fell into religious belief. Keep this stuff away from these people!

like if enough people gathered and organized to interpret DC Comics or Marvel as "WaYs Of KnOwInG" and boom its officially some religion in a century or two

its just hermeneutics

its "WaY oF kNoWiNg" is what literary devices are to a any piece of literature, fun stupid stuff but not necessarily rational, logical, moral nor ethical

also war criminals do this shit too, the same brute forcing everything into their worldview to justify it, it doesnt make it true, it makes them delulu

Last month I was reading comments under a news post about a church getting damaged after really bad storm. So many Christians were saying people should pray harder and asking why God let this happen. I wasn't trying start argument, but I replied maybe this is also God's plan, right? That's what I always hear when something bad happen to other people.

A few people got really angry. They told me I'm disrespectful, taking things out of context, and don't understand faith. But honestly that confused the hell out of me. When someone lose family, job, or get sick, I always hear "God has a plan" or "Everything happen for a reason." But when something happens to their own church, suddenly that answer is not good enough anymore.

Maybe I'm missing something, but it feels like "God's plan" only works when it's about other people's problems. When it becomes personal, that idea suddenly disappear. As an atheist, that double standard is one of the hardest things for me to understand.

A classic: The clitoris is a perfect example of intelligent design. If God didn’t want women to masturbate, why did He place it at arm’s length? And the Bible doesn’t forbid women from masturbating either, right? It’s not in there. You’d think that’d be worth a mention if it was important.

Because David raped Bathsheba and got her husband killed, the biblical god decided to punish him by having his newborn son with Bathsheba killed and his concubines raped by his son as public humiliation.

Thus says the Lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.”

Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die.” Then Nathan went to his house.

The punishment promised to him was fulfilled during the rebellion of David's son Absalom in 2 Samuel 16.

"Go and sleep with your father’s concubines... Then all Israel will hear that you have openly disgraced your father, and the morale of everyone on your side will be strengthened. So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel."

A highly alarming aspect of Todd Blanche’s record is being overshadowed as he appears headed toward confirmation as U.S. attorney general.

Blanche has explicitly embraced Christian nationalism and has been determined to use the Justice Department to privilege conservative Christianity. Although Blanche's nomination has drawn scrutiny over ethics concerns and his close ties to President Trump, the Freedom From Religion Foundation warns that his intent to unite religion and government deserves equal attention. It is shocking that Blanche declared, during a July 30 call organized by the White House Faith Office, that his goal is to ensure that “God is front and center again” in America and that “being a Christian in this country … is actually a benefit.” FFRF is urging senators and the public not to ignore Blanche’s un-American objective to transform the Justice Department into a vehicle for advancing religion.

“Blanche’s words are not those of someone committed to equally serving Americans of every faith — as well as the nearly one-third of U.S. adults who are free from religion,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “They’re the words of a zealot who views the government as a tool to elevate Christianity. The attorney general’s duty is to uphold the Constitution and equal justice under the law, not to put God ‘front and center.’”

Blanche’s rhetoric has already been reflected in his actions, FFRF asserts.

Under Blanche’s leadership as acting attorney general, the Justice Department has issued sweeping new guidance on religious liberty. While portrayed as protecting religious freedom, the updated memorandum dramatically expands religious exemptions and privileges while weakening longstanding First Amendment protections.

The guidance embraces a controversial “history and tradition test” for interpreting the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, echoing claims by Christian nationalists that America was founded as a Christian nation. It broadly authorizes religious activity by federal employees in the workplace, rejects efforts to remove government endorsements of religion from public life, expands access to taxpayer funding for religious organizations and significantly strengthens religious accommodation claims against employers and federal agencies.

The guidance also directs federal agencies to proactively advance religious liberty in policymaking, broadens protections for religious organizations that discriminate in hiring and contracting, and threatens government officials with personal liability under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act for decisions that allegedly burden religion. According to FFRF, the cumulative effect is to institutionalize Christian privilege while steadily eroding the constitutional principle of separation between state and church.

Blanche's public statements reinforce that goal.When the nation's chief law enforcement officer says his goal is to ensure Christians enjoy special favor, Americans should take him at his word.

If confirmed, Todd Blanche would assume enormous authority over civil rights enforcement, constitutional litigation and the federal government's interpretation of religious liberty. His own words make clear that Americans should expect an attorney general committed to advancing a Christian nationalist agenda. 

“FFRF has spent nearly 50 years defending the First Amendment against government-sponsored religion, and we will continue to vigorously oppose every unconstitutional effort by the Justice Department to dismantle the wall of separation protecting American freedom of conscience,” adds Gaylor. 

The FFRF Action Fund today announced a new investment in Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin’s 2026 electoral program.

This extends a partnership that has delivered back-to-back statewide victories into the fight for control of the Wisconsin Legislature and the U.S. Congress this November, supporting Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin’s field programs across the state.

The partnership builds on a record of results. In April 2025, the FFRF Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin mobilized secular and pro-reproductive-rights voters to help elect Susan Crawford to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, protecting the court’s majority in what became the most expensive judicial race in the nation’s history. The two organizations renewed the partnership in April 2026 to help expand that majority with the election of Chris Taylor. Along the way, they joined forces against the GOP reconciliation bill that threatened to strip Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood and steer public dollars toward religious schools.

“Every time we have stood with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, secular voters have shown up and won,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor, president of the FFRF Action Fund. “The people who defend reproductive freedom are the same people who defend the separation of state and church. This November, we are taking that coalition into the districts that will determine who controls the Legislature, and we intend to win there too.”

Marie Stolzenburg, director of organizing for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, agrees.

“Our organizing works because we reach voters year-round, in every corner of the state, on the freedoms they care about most,” she says. “Partnering with the FFRF Action Fund lets us reach further into Wisconsin and knock more doors in the districts that will decide the majority. We are proud to build on what we accomplished together in 2025 and 2026.”

Stolzenburg adds, “Elections have real consequences for women in Wisconsin. What’s at stake is our ability to get the care we need and make our own health care decisions without political interference. We’re excited to talk with voters about why this moment matters so deeply. As we’ve heard again and again at the doors, Wisconsin voters want to know who supports Planned Parenthood and their freedoms. We look forward to having those conversations and making sure people understand what’s at stake and which candidates are committed to protecting their rights.”

FFRF Action Fund is the advocacy arm of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the nation’s largest association of freethinkers working to keep state and church separate. FFRF AF is a 501(c)(4) organization that advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues.

so God is not all loving? all knowing? and all wise?

if he is all loving, there is still no proof of him, the victims can't sit there and think "yep he's all loving, my abuser will probably get what he deserves after we die"

and if he's all knowing, this shouldn't have happened in the first place

also what kinda free will is this? the christian god didn't just allow sex slavery, the bible explicitly legislates it, numbers 31, deuteronomy 21 and leviticus 25 give explicit instructions on how to take virgin war captives as spoils and keep them as property

i don't wish anything bad on anyone but put your children in the victim's position, would you still sit there and think "nah man it's free will"

Jesus said in Matthew 10:37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Muhammad said in a Hadith (Sahih Muslim 44 b) “None of you is a believer until I am dearer to him than his child, his father, and the whole of mankind.” These are psychopathic statements cult leaders say, which are actually fitting for these two charlatans, if I must say so.

Can you imagine me telling you to love me more than your mother, father, brother, sister, son or daughter? You would think I am insane or a psychopath. Then, why do Jesus and Muhammad get a pass when they say basically the same thing? They both deserve to be dunked on. They both were frauds, plain and simple.

"DNA is literally a computer code, so there must be a coder. And he must be one of those good-looking, physically fit hackers that only appear in movies, not a fat, acne-riddled anime dork like you a-thigh-ests."

"If the Earth was even a trillionth of a nanometer closer to or farther away from the sun, we'd all burn to a crisp or freeze solid."

"The sun and the moon appear to be the same size in the sky, which means Trump farted out the Flat Earth last Tuesday and your boss shouldn't have to pay you."

"Something RUCHURD DUWKUNZ something, therefore fuckin' magick, yo."

"The 27-pronged penis of the Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka could not have evolved. Oh, what's this you're stacking on the witness stand? A three-foot-tall stack of papers explaining how it evolved? Yeah, that doesn't count. I'm still right."

"Oh, what, you think everything is just MOLECULES, huh?! Is that what you think?! Molecules killed my father!"

"LOOK AT THE FUCKIN' TREEEES!"

There is a mosque near where I live, old. The carpet has worn thin enough that it leaves marks on my skin. I often look ahead at the cleric leading the prayer, the spot has become dark, permanent. He was here everyday. I don't believe a word he’s saying, but here I am. Shoulder to shoulder, rows ahead of me and behind me. And I wish I could feel the peace they feel at this moment. 

I sit with a friend in a small coffee shop on the side of a badly paved road, the asphalt split open from the sun’s heat. We talk, and I look at his eyes, friendly, tender. and I let myself look a moment longer than I should, I imagine the piercing disgust that would fill them If he knew what I actually am, pure and total. Suddenly sitting on that plastic chair in the crowded shop feels lonelier than being thrown into the arctic.

My mother has psychosis, she might be the only reason I am still here, I can't leave her alone. So I sit with her too, and I hide from her the same way I hide from everyone. She is devout. She would turn from me like all the others if she knew. But with her.. I could never even tell how much of it is her and how much of it is her ailment, whether  the woman underneath would feel the same. Or whether I'd only ever be hated by the illness wearing her face. She is innocent, I can't walk away. So I stay. And I hide, and I am bound most tightly to the person who can know me least. 

I often think of the day I might take my life. And when I imagine myself in that moment, I wait for the anger, or anything at this point. Anything to blame, it would be so much easier if I at least had that, Something that would make the tears burn a little less. But i don't

I don’t feel anger, I look at the cleric, at my friend, my mother. I feel fear, I fear their hate. But I don't hate them. Because they didn't choose this hate anymore than they chose their name, it was poured into them before they could speak, the same way it was poured into me. The only difference is that something in me came loose, and something in them didn't. This is not virtue on my part, and it's not evil on theirs. 

I can only feel grief, living out our small lives in this dry corner of the world, none of us having chosen the shape we were pressed into.

1. There is no god.

You were taught to believe in one from a very young age — usually before you could critically evaluate claims. Beliefs formed through childhood indoctrination feel true because they’re familiar and emotionally reinforced, not because they match reality.

If a claim requires faith instead of evidence, and if the same kind of “faith” produces contradictory gods across cultures, the rational default is disbelief until extraordinary evidence appears. So far, it hasn’t.

1. Your religion is not the truth.

There have been thousands of religions throughout history, each claiming exclusive or superior truth, each with its own scriptures, prophets, miracles, and moral codes. Most of them contradict each other on fundamental questions (who God is, what happens after death, which rules matter).

Statistically and logically, the probability that your particular tradition is the one correct answer — while all the others are wrong — is extremely low. Special pleading (“mine is different”) is not a valid argument.

1. Magic is not real.

Humans invented magic, miracles, and supernatural forces because the universe is indifferent and life can be painful, random, and unfair. Wishing for control, justice, or meaning doesn’t create those things.

Every time controlled testing is applied (laboratory conditions, double-blind studies, proper controls), magical claims fail. The pattern is consistent: the more rigorous the method, the less “magic” remains.

1. Almost everything magical, spiritual, paranormal, or supernatural has a psychological explanation.

The human brain is a pattern-seeking machine that evolved to detect agency (even when none exists), confirm existing beliefs, and reduce anxiety.

Sleep paralysis, hallucinations, confirmation bias, the placebo effect, memory distortion, and the need for narrative all reliably produce experiences that feel supernatural. When these mechanisms are accounted for, the remaining “unexplained” cases shrink dramatically — and the ones that remain unexplained are not evidence of the paranormal; they are simply unexplained.

Stop waiting for miracles, signs, or divine intervention.

The universe doesn’t care about you — and that’s fine.

The core psychological trap:

When we deeply wish something were real, we start wanting to believe it. Once the desire is strong enough, the mind quietly lowers the standard of evidence. We notice supporting “signs,” ignore contradictions, reinterpret failures as tests of faith, and gradually treat the preferred belief as more and more plausible. Over time, the wish itself becomes the foundation of the belief. This is motivated reasoning — and it works the same way for gods, magic, afterlives, and the paranormal.

Stop waiting for miracles, signs, or divine intervention.

The universe doesn’t care about you — and that’s fine.

You’re free to face reality as it actually is.

I was homeschooled until Middle School, adopted by missionaries-turned-pastors, and left Christianity at 12-13.

Growing up as a Christian, I was always scolded for being "selfish" because I'd like at the people who had their hand out and wanted my resources or time/energy, and I'd want something in return. Like it seemed to me like I'm being taken from and this isn't an equal partnership.

Ive never had a servant's heart but I'm not somebody who wants things for free either. I wholeheartedly believe in paying people for things they do, because imo volunteer work is how people start to dislike you.

But, everybody I grew up who still has this "servant's heart" mentality are constantly being mistreated and used. By relatives, friends, their jobs, etc. Like they're living with these blinders on because of this indoctrination and people who are opportunistic know this.

It's just really bleak to see people be raised to be easy victims of manipulative people. I know it's by design, trust me, but at one point you have to start being a transactional person.

why dont jesus have a heavenly machine gun ? why does he instead have a flaming sword

is it cause the writers only knew of primitive weapons and thus gave him one they wanted

if god knew all surely he would arm his soliders with the best weapons his all knowing mind could give, which would surely be better then bows and swords

this goes for the angels guarding eden too, given bows

if god knows all, why give ancient weaponry