He's right. There isn't.

So don't say that.

Talk to religious people about their religion. Learn about what it does for them. Ask open-ended questions. If you feel they are ready, ask some closed questions. If they are not ready to hear it, there's no point.

I don't know if this is true or not, but if you have to call your publication "Plain Truth Magazine", I will immediately assume you are lying.

Also, if you put a claim next to a photo of Zakir Naik, I will assume you are lying.

There will of course be times when these assumptions are incorrect but I'll take my chances.

Presumably this applies to the right-wingers everywhere.

Anyway.

Merry Christmas, you filthy animals.

Presumably this traditional Christmas quote comes from Luke 2:14, which says:

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

and not Matt 10:34-36, which says:

"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household."

There are many different ways to translate a text. There is no one correct way. You should pick a translation that prioritises what’s important to you. 

Just don’t confuse it for the one true inerrant word of your god. 

If you want to truly understand anything, you'll have to read more than one book.

Don’t bother trying to work out why the Jewish god had to kill all those people, or why an all-knowing god had to have the “do-not-kill” houses marked with big red patches of lamb blood. Or why the god mind-controlled the pharaoh to refuse the requests of Moses for freedom which led to this massacre. In fact. don’t ask any questions at all.

If you have no problem with your god killing lots of children as long as they’re not yours, you have no business defending the morality of this god. If you actually celebrate the fact that this massacre took place, you should probably try to keep that as quiet as possible.

HINT: If you can’t say “the massacre of children is wrong” without putting a “but” after it, you’re the problem.

It's difficult to take these people seriously as long as they're executing people for having an opinion.

No. 

That’s like asking when stupid ideas will end, or when will people stop trying to hurt each other.

Our brains are organised in such a way that it is desperately scrabbling around trying to form patterns in the incoming data and make habits in your behaviour in response to those patterns. The fact that some of the patterns are not reflective of any kind of reality is irrelevant. 

The problem with religious books is that a) they are written by people who might not fully understand what they’re talking about and b) they tend not to allow for any progress.

Morality is a constant conversation among ourselves to address the evolving needs of our communities and what standards we can agree on in order to live together. The needs of a community will constantly change but there are no amendments to divine revelations. 

Christians understand that their bible was written by a bunch of people but Muslims believe that their book was written by an actual god. There is no verifiable evidence to support this belief. The good news is that Christians and Muslims also change their understanding of morality over time for the same reasons that everyone else does. 

For at least some Muslims, Islam is about maintaining patriarchal control over women. This is something they are apparently proud of. 

Religious people are encouaged to believe that only they have access to the truth. Only they know what's good and what's bad for everyone else.

They are worshipping themselves.

If god loves the world, he has a funny way of showing it.

I think I've figured out why they can't answer.

People often don't understand their own motivations.

Religious people might think their ethical actions can be credited to their beliefs but maybe that's not true at all.

Don’t you find it peculiar that your god agrees with all of your opinions? What are the chances of that? 

Think about it. An actual god. Who knows everything and is all-powerful and created the universe. Agrees with all of your opinions.

Come on, man.

The Clergy Project is a support network for various religious professionals who have become atheist but feel trapped into secrecy by their vocation.