From the category archives:

Religion

Biblical Divorce: What Does the Bible Really Say About Marriage and Divorce?

by Kristen King on January 13, 2009

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(www.sass-pants.com) — A tweet from Divapalooza led me to an article about the concept of biblical grounds for divorce. Author Shane Vader Hart does a beautiful job of explicating some key scriptures surrounding this issue, but I think there’s more to the issue.

As Hart points out, God hates divorce. When a man and woman marry, they are to become one flesh. Under Mosaic law, divorce was permitted as a concession, not as a commandment. But Jesus said that “anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness ["fornication," KJV], and marries another woman commits adultery” (Matthew 19:8-9), and Christ’s teachings cancelled out the Mosaic Law (see also Ephesians 2).

Does Jesus explicitly say that divorce is prohibited? In the preceding verses is this exchange: [click to continue…]

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Defining Atheism: Part 1 — The Basics

by Kristen King on January 12, 2009

(www.sass-pants.com) — This UK atheism advertising campaign has got me thinking about atheism. (Mission accomplished, Richard Dawkins and Ariane Sherine.) The campaign slogan is “There’s probably no God. Not stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Perhaps I have had a misunderstanding rather than an understanding of atheism all this time, but I though it was denial in the existence of God, not an admission of the possibility that there could be no God. So I’m confused. What exactly is atheism?

Web addict that I am, my first stop was Google, where I searched “atheism,” followed by a quick hop over to Twitter, where I tweeted,

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In this post, I’ll share what I found via through my Google search.

Common trends:

  • There are two types of atheism: strong and weak.
  • Disbelief / lack of belief in a God or gods should not be confused with belief that there is no God or gods.
  • Atheism, agnosticism, and skepticism are distinctive belief systems.

[click to continue…]

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All About Christmas Traditions

December 24, 2008

(www.sass-pants.com) — Mental Floss posted a handy, albeit not brilliantly written, article that discusses the origins of popular Christmas traditions, including the date, the American obsession with the holiday, Christmas trees, Santa Claus, and Rudolph. You can read what they found here.
Me, I’ve done some research on these very topics myself, which led me to [...]

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On Raising Children Without Religion

December 16, 2008

(www.sass-pants.com) — Summer from Wired for Noise has an awesome post up today about why she chooses to raise her children without religion. An excerpt:
Even though I’m not an atheist myself I’m drawn in by atheist parenting blogs. In a way I almost respect them more than those of parents actively teaching their kids their [...]

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No, Not Even Thanksgiving

December 3, 2008

(www.sass-pants.com) — On Thursday morning, my mom sent me a text message:
Why can’t you celebrate thanksgiving if when the Bible was written it hadn’t happened yet and we’re giving thanks to God?
It’s a logical question since I stopped celebrating holidays mainly for religious reasons. God = religion, right? Except, there’s more to it than that.
Widely [...]

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If Jesus Is Your Prozac, Depression Is the Least of Your Problems

November 26, 2008

(www.sass-pants.com) — How’s this for offensive? “Jesus Is My Prozac”
I was test driving my husband’s new truck when I saw that absurd statement on a sign in front of a church in Fredericksburg, VA, and I nearly ran off the road I was so aghast that anyone could possibly be so ignorant as to suggest [...]

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I Don’t Celebrate Holidays and I’m the Weirdo?

November 22, 2008

(www.sass-pants.com) — This is always an interesting time of year for me because I don’t celebrate holidays. I’m not going to get into my religious reasons for it right now (though we can talk about that later if you want), but I feel a need to assert, if only to hear myself say it, that [...]

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