Tag Archives: Atheism

Former Pastor Who Tried Atheism For Year Now Rejects God

A man who led a Seventh Day Adventist church until last March when he resigned and said he was going to “try atheism for a year” has announced he no longer believes in God.

“For the next 12 months I will live as if there is no God,” he explained. “I will not pray, read the Bible for inspiration, refer to God as the cause of things or hope that God might intervene and change my own or someone else’s circumstances.”

Ryan Bell was the leader of Hollywood Adventist Church until he was asked to resign by church leaders because of his opposition to Scripture on issues such as creation.

“Not being a pastor for nine months has given me the freedom to not have to believe in something for other people’s sake,” he explained to Religion News Service.

Bell now not only denies the existence of God, he is actively trying to undermine the Scriptures and truth of Christ by claiming it was just made up to fit the view of the leaders at the time.

“It’s probably been a decade since I was convinced about the virgin birth or the historicity of the birth narratives more generally,” Bell wrote. “In fact, Mark doesn’t even have a birth narrative, suggesting that it was invented later to tie the story together.”

Court Rules “Secular Humanism” A Religion

A judge in Oregon says that “secular humanism” can be considered a religion and be afforded all the protections under the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

This means that atheism is essentially a religion according to the government.

Judge Ancer Haggerty, a Clinton-appointed judge, ruled in favor of an atheist inmate who had sued after prison officials denied him the chance to form a study group on humanism.  The Federal Bureau of Prisons said that atheism and secular humanism were not religions under prison classifications.

“The court finds that Secular Humanism is a religion for Establishment Clause purposes,” Judge Haggerty wrote in his ruling last Thursday. “Allowing followers of other faiths to join religious group meetings while denying Holden the same privilege is discrimination on the basis of religion.”

The anti-Christian organization American Humanist Association had co-filed the case with the prisoner because they want to be given special treatment for their non-religious belief system.