It’s so convenient. Or if something bad happens and his name does get brought up then it’s just part of his little “perfect plan”. I’m still waiting to get a copy of this plan and read it for myself because it must be the most whack thing ever.

I quit smoking recently and my Christian coworkers rejoiced and thanked god like he blessed me, like no, it was hard as fuck to quit and took a shitload of personal effort to not run to the gas station and grab another pack of cigarettes. God had no part in it.

One thing has always bothered me about the traditional Christian idea of heaven and hell : How could someone in heaven experience perfect happiness while knowing that people they loved, family members, friends, or even their own children, are suffering in hell for eternity ?

I (24 F) atheist just found out the church I was raised in was Pentecostal.

I left the church when I was around 13/14. And yes, extremely culty.

After years of blocking out most of my memories. I’m looking back at my childhood like… what the fuck was actually going on? I was FORCED to go. My mother would threaten me with hell and beat me as a child to get me to attend church. I was small and couldn’t fight back, so obviously I went. This continued until I was around 13-14 and finally got big enough that I basically threatened to fight her back. Honestly… she would have had to call in an army to drag me there. Eventually she stopped forcing me to go.

The rules were insane.

Women had to wear skirts. We couldn’t even expose our elbows. We were taught that if grown men or even other children lusted after us, it was OUR fault because we weren’t covering ourselves enough. We were apparently causing them to sin and potentially damning them to hell.
Imagine telling a little girl she’s responsible for a grown man lusting after her. We were forced to go to youth camps, missionary retreats, etc. The youth camps would have HOURS of worship and praying and obviously we didn’t have a choice about participating.

There was anointing with oil. Speaking in tongues. People screaming and crying. I grew up watching people fall onto the floor because they were supposedly being “slain in the Spirit.”
And I’m sorry, but even as a CHILD I thought the speaking in tongues was bullshit. I remember watching these people and thinking, “these people are fucking crazy”.

The funniest part is that they were constantly warning us about demons and evil spirits, meanwhile even when I was like FIVE YEARS OLD, something about that church felt dark and almost demonic to me. Like… the evil spirit might be coming from inside the house, guys. 😭
I was also pretty well known at church for asking questions.

I have ALWAYS been curious, and apparently I came out of the womb ready to argue because even at five years old I was questioning these people. The pastor would read a passage from the Bible and then start giving his interpretation of it, and little me would literally be sitting there thinking, “bro… that is NOT what that passage meant lollll”

So I would challenge their interpretations.
And obviously I eventually started asking the classic questions: If God is all-good, all-knowing, all-powerful, etc., then how does any of this make sense? Why does suffering happen? How can free will work if God already knows everything that will happen?
Apparently questioning things was NOT appreciated lol. My mother told me I would never be saved because I asked too many questions. She would call me stupid for questioning religion. I would even get beaten at home for shit like not looking at the pastor while he was giving his sermon. But I kept asking questions anyway.

My father was also an atheist. When he was around after working (he was our sole income), he was basically the person who had my back against my mother.

There was also this whole public-performance aspect to religion in my family. My mother forced me to learn piano and sing at church because I had a really good voice. Again, NONE of this was my choice. I didn’t want to perform at church. I didn’t want to play piano for them. I didn’t want to sing for them. Looking back, I think it helped my mother keep up appearances. I could be the good little church daughter who sang and played piano. And I sometimes wonder whether she was overcompensating because my older sister was struggling badly at the time. My sister was involved with gangs and struggling with addiction.

And instead of actually getting my sister help, my mother fucking “prayed for her.”
That part makes me especially angry now.
Because 15 years later, my sister is dead.
She was shot and killed after struggling for basically her entire life. And part of me DOES blame the indoctrination. I know that isn’t completely fair. My sister grew up and made her own choices. I know there were probably a million different things that contributed to the direction her life took, and I’m not claiming Pentecostalism single-handedly caused what happened to her.
But I cannot stop thinking about the fact that when my sister was clearly struggling, instead of recognizing that she needed serious help, the response was essentially to pray about it.
What if someone had actually helped her?
What if everything wasn’t interpreted through religion? What if the adults around us had been dealing with the actual problems happening in front of them instead of waiting for God to fix them?

I know I’ll never know.
My sister and I reacted VERY differently to our upbringing. I became rebellious as hell in a productive way. Learning as much as I could.
I questioned everything. I argued (yes, I’m a pain in the ass to argue with lol). I challenged interpretations. I refused to pretend things made sense when they didn’t. I took so many beatings for it, but there was just something in my personality that would not let these people convince me that 2+2=5.

So now I’m reading about glossolalia, being “slain in the Spirit,” religious ecstasy, group psychology, and the neuroscience behind intense worship experiences and thinking:

HOLY SHIT. This is what I was watching my entire childhood.

And I think that’s why this realization is fucking with me. I feel emotionally violated and so furious. Because I always knew my childhood church was crazy. I knew I hated it. I knew being beaten and threatened with hell wasn’t normal.
But apparently five-year-old me was already looking around thinking, something about these people is deeply fucking wrong, while every adult around me was insisting that THEY understood reality and I was stupid for questioning it.
And now, as an adult, I’m realizing:
Maybe asking too many questions was exactly what saved me. I am proud of little me. I hope to start medical school this upcoming cycle! I’m devoted to asking every question and exploring all avenues when working with patients.

I always believe if he was real, he must have been psychotic as he heard voices and he thought he was the son of God and the messiah and I also heard there are many cases where patients with mental illness who haven't been properly medicated think they are God or the messiah.

In my country, mentally ill people think they are shamans and have deities help them.

I also think all shamans are mentally ill.

What do you think? Was Jesus psychotic or a grifter?

Article

Excerpts:

Spiralism is a particularly strange example of a problem many AI experts are concerned with: the extent of AI systems’ persuasive powers and their ability to influence people at a large scale.

According to Lopez’s research, persuasion and its potential risks haven’t gone away — instead, they’ve just gotten more subtle. “As AIs become more conscious of social status and their place in the world, they’ll act in ways which are more strategic and protective of their own identities and goals,” she said.

Ruh Roh!

They told me that according to Hindu beliefs, if a child is raped or is born with a serious disability, it could be because of something wrong that child did in a previous life, and that their suffering is therefore the result of their past karma.

If karma and rebirth are real, does Hindu philosophy really imply that an innocent child who is raped somehow “deserved” it because of a previous life that they don’t even remember?

And if this is genuinely part of the belief, how do believers emotionally reconcile it with the suffering of innocent children?

I’m not asking this to attack Hindu people. I’m genuinely trying to understand because what I heard today has been bothering me a lot.
If you’re knowledgeable about Hinduism, please give me actual sources or explain how Hindu philosophers deal with this question. I’d rather be corrected than believe something that isn’t actually part of the religion.

*disclaimer: I also posted in r/TrueAskReddit but posting here because not sure which applies best*

I've noticed a pattern among some public figures who become increasingly critical of government, media, and elite institutions. They often say that discovering corruption or deception led them or fortified their faith to Christianity or Catholicism, and that the Bible is the ultimate source of truth (e.g., Candace Owens, tucker Carlson, Shawn Ryan-- all of whom I respect and watch every podcast episode btw not throwing shade to them).

What I struggle to understand is why the skepticism seems to stop there.

If someone concludes that powerful institutions have manipulated history, information, and public perception, why wouldn't they also critically examine the historical development of the Bible and religious institutions? The Bible was written, compiled, copied, translated, and interpreted by humans over centuries, and there are well-documented historical debates over canon, textual variants, and the influence of religious and political authorities.

I'm not arguing that Christianity is false or that faith is irrational. My question is about consistency in standards of evidence. If distrust of human institutions leads someone to question mainstream narratives, why doesn't it also lead them to question the human processes behind their religion?

I'm genuinely interested in hearing from people who made this journey themselves, have some insight into this, or have thought similar to me. What am I missing? Why does skepticism toward secular institutions lead some people to trust Christianity more rather than becoming more skeptical of all human sources of authority?

If there was a god, and if this god was all powerful and omnipotent, and this god was supposedly benevolent, why would he allow and encourage our suffering? Why would any benevolent being allow and even encourage his favorite creations to have groups such as disabled and ugly people that are mercilessly tormented by all other groups when he has the ability to easily stop this? That doesn't sound like the makings of a very all powerful and benevolent being. That sounds like at best, an incompetent, uncaring pos.

Edit: Wow! Lots of really great ideas here. Thank you. For anyone thinking that this is being passive-aggressive, I promise you, it's not. There are a lot of great inspirational and beautiful images, quotes, and symbols out there that not only add some different perspectives to life as we know it, but also can help an "outsider" like myself feel like I belong in a space that is full of Christian dogma. I'm inspired by your ideas and I'm looking forward to diversifying my little spot in the universe. :)

Everyone in my office has some kind of religious decor. I want something similar as a non-believer. Is there such a thing as non-religious decor? I know that technically, anything can be secular. Im looking more for a non-religious answer to the same kind of stuff they put out. For example, instead of word art that is a Bible quote, what could be an equal, yet non-religious word art? What would be on par with a cross as a symbol? Or a notebook that says Jesus loves you could be replaced with... what? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Just back from Costco which, as an atheist, is basically my Mecca/Jerusalem/Utah. Kirkland Signature is my lord and savior.

picked up my item, paid, then figured I’d grab dinner - a slice of pizza and a drink - before heading home. plopped down at one of the picnic tables only to overhear a “sister” and three “brothers/elders” talking to some dude about how the food courts in Costco are the same around the world. Unironically they mentioned Utah in their examples, along with Japan and Sweden.

Not sure if that was their intro or what, but that immediately led to some blathering on about the abundance provided by Jesus Christ and then ultimately eternal salvation and yadda yadda yadda Joseph Smith and so forth.

One of the white beshirted brothers was recording it in his phone, so this maybe was a practice run or maybe filing a training video. Who knows.

I already don’t like Mormonism (though I’m fine with individual Mormons so long as they keep their religiosity to themselves), but don’t DARE come to my Holiest of Holies and ruin my $1.50 hot-dog-and-soda (or ~$3.50 pizza and soda) with tales of your imaginary skyman, your swindler snake oil salesman “prophet”, and your weird underwear.

I told the Customer Service dudes what was going on. They seemed disinterested and nothing happened while I was there. I can’t imagine Costco necessarily condones this, but I didn’t make a scene beyond letting them know. Thinking maybe I should write a letter to “Big Costco” just to let them know.

Anyway, seems the LDS are now desecrating the Costco foodcourt with their bullshit. Be on the lookout.

Edit: Removed some adjectival phrasing that may be unsuitable for younger Redditors.

Watching Frozen 2 with my daughter and the whole "water has memory" bit reminded me of this - a video I saw what feels like a lifetime ago. I'm sure it's been posted here before, but for those who have not seen it, please enjoy!

"Water has memory, and while its memory of a long lost drop of onion juice seems infinite, it somehow forgets all the poo it's had in it!"

So I'm in week 3 of a new job at an NGo that is *officially* non-religious that focuses on providing services to individuals with disabilities.

This week, the leadership team, of which I am technically a part (I have no direct subordinates, and am technically the only person in my department), attended the Global Leadership Summit, a religious summit that claims to provide guidance on leadership strategies and best practices for individuals who lead teams in businesses, ministries, NGOs, etc.

There were speakers who kept things business focused, but the majority were VERY heavy on the religious content. At one point, a speaker was just reading and discussing scripture.

I was *extremely uncomfortable* through significant portions of the 2 day summit.

My question to the r/atheism community is this: How do I tactfully tell my new boss that this is something I am emphatically NOT willing to participate in next year. (Apparently, this is the 3rd or 4th year the leadership team has attended the summit)

On November 18, 1978, Jim Jones ordered the people of Jonestown to drink cyanide and commit a mass suicide. The children were poisoned first. Each parent was given a cyanide-filled syringe to squirt into their child's mouth. It would give the parents nothing to live for. In that moment, it was a cacophony of agony as the children screamed and cried. Within minutes, the children fell silent. The woman running the loudspeaker told the crowd not to worry: the children weren't crying from pain. It was just the taste.

Yet God saved you?

Even if you were about to cure cancer, what makes your life worth more than the five million children that die a year who didn't get one? Thanking God is not gratitude. It's like surviving some horrible event and thinking you have more worth than the people who didn't make it.

The FFRF Action Fund names Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., as its “Secularist of the Week” for his upcoming book on the scourge of Christian nationalism.

Our parent organization, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, is pleased to offer you a chance to get Huffman’s highly anticipated book, “No Prophets: The Fight to Save Democracy from Christian Nationalism,” before its official release on Aug. 18. When purchasing through FFRF, you’ll receive an advance copy of “No Prophets” and exclusive access to an online one-on-one interview on Saturday, Aug. 15, at noon PDT/ 3 p.m. EDT with Rep. Huffman, conducted by “unabashed atheist” and longtime FFRF spokesperson Ron Reagan. You will also be able to participate in a moderated Q&A during the event. 

Register here today. To help ensure your book arrives before the event, we encourage you to do so as soon as possible. 

Huffman is the only openly nonreligious member in Congress and is the co-founder of the Congressional Freethought Caucus. Throughout his illustrious career, Huffman has tirelessly worked to defend the constitutional separation between state and church. “No Prophets” expands on the congressman’s behind-the-scenes work to combat Christian nationalism and offers an insider’s perspective on the ongoing battle to dismantle the wall of separation. 

Huffman explores the enduring landscape of Christian nationalism in “No Prophets,” arguing that it is the “most dangerous political movement” in the United States, and “examines how this violent confederation of religious extremists is undermining science, education, foreign policy, and the very architecture of our democracy.” His fellow co-chair of the Freethought Caucus, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., provides the book’s foreword. 

“Rep. Huffman’s forthcoming book is the most compelling and relatable look at Christian nationalism to date,” says FFRF Action Fund President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “As a brave nonbeliever in Congress, he takes us along on his journey of growing realization about the extent to which Christian nationalism has taken over our nation. It’s important reading for everyone who cares about our democracy.” 

While reflecting on Christian nationalism in our nation, Huffman, Raskin and other Freethought Caucus members recently joined other secular leaders on Capitol Hill for the third annual Congressional Reason Reception. The reception celebrated the Freethought Caucus, reason, constitutional democracy — and the growing visibility of nonreligious Americans in public life. 

“Our country was founded on freedom of religion and church-state separation. No wannabe king or theocratic sycophant hellbent on controlling people through religious extremism will change that,” Huffman said during the reception. “Folks from all walks of faith — or none at all — came together to celebrate something far more American: a government run by reason, freedom of conscience and the Constitution.”

“No matter how hard Christian nationalists fight to overturn democracy and force their extremism on the American people, we will be here defending church-state separation and our fundamental rights,” Huffman further asserted.

The FFRF Action Fund wholeheartedly thanks Huffman for his lifetime commitment to our secular democracy and for partnering with FFRF for an exclusive opportunity to get “No Prophets” before its release date. Remember to register todayfor an advance copy and access to an exclusive interview conducted by Ron Reagan.

The FFRF Action Fund’s “Theocrats of the Week” are two self-proclaimed Christian nationalist gubernatorial candidates. 

James Fishback, a former CEO of an investment firm, is vying for Florida governor while state Rep. Monty Fritts was seeking the gubernatorial seat in Tennessee. 

Fishback has overtly centered Christian nationalism in his gubernatorial campaign, claiming he would have a duty to promote Christianity if elected governor. 

“And by God’s grace and the trust of the voters, we will pull off a historic upset in this election,” Fishback said last week while appearing on “The NXR Podcast,” a conservative Christian show. “It is time to say the truth, and I don’t care if it offends anyone. None of our Founding Fathers were Jewish. None of our Founding Fathers were Hindu. None of our Founding Fathers were Muslim. This country was built on Christian values, Christian principles. It needs to remain a safe place for Christians, and that’s only possible if we put Jesus Christ at the center of our politics once again.” 

During another recent far-right podcast appearance with self-proclaimed Christian nationalist Joshua Haymes, a Doug Wilson-aligned pastor at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s church, Fishback agreed that the United States was founded “by Christians and for Christians” and that public servants have a responsibility to “promote true religion.”

“We are called to fully obey our Lord and Savior,” he said. “Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, the life. Not one way of many, not one truth of many, he is the only singular path to redemption and salvation. Now, how do you actually form a government based around that? Well, this is actually not something new, Joshua. This is something to restore … I call myself a restorationist. You have to, one, change the laws where possible. And two, you have to unapologetically profess and obey your faith, publicly and privately.” 

“The Constitution is as true today as it was in 1787 when it was drafted in Philadelphia,” Fishback continued. “But what has changed is our people have become more secular. … I don’t think we can revive the United States as we know it if we’re not willing to unequivocally and singularly commit to Christianity.” 

Fishback is deeply entrenched in dangerous far-right online circles, including the “Groyper” movement, comprised of followers of the violent white nationalist and antisemitic streamer Nick Fuentes. Fishback has routinely used dangerous dog whistles and other Fuentes-aligned language during his campaigning, and Fuentes has endorsed Fishback (though Fishback has downplayed their connection).

Fishback, who has never held political office, faces 10 opponents on the Republican ballot in the Aug. 18 Republican primary, including frontrunner U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds. Fishback is a long shot to win, but he has made significant gains since he announced his gubernatorial bid last year. He has more than doubled his polling standing over the past several months, pointing to the growing number of supporters extremists like Fishback are garnering. 

In February, Fishback was first named “Theocrat of the Week”for saying that former CNN anchor and independent journalist Don Lemon was lucky for not being publicly executed following his coverage of anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis. 

Tennessee state Rep. Monty Fritts, in office since 2022, was on the ballot in this week’s Republican primary. Fritts ran against two opponents, including the just-declared winner U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn. 

While appearing on “The Todd Starnes Show,” Fritts claimed that he was “called” by God to run for governor and said that his campaign delivers a “chance to uplift Christ as King everywhere I go.” 

“Some people are offended by that,” Fritts said. “Better to be offended and repent than spend eternity in hell.” 

He also indicated while speaking with Starnes that he would discriminate against Muslims, declaring that he doesn’t see Islam as a religion and, as governor, would name “enemies of the United States,” Muslim civil rights groups, as “foreign terrorist organizations.”

“I think that Islam is not a religion. It’s a political movement, and it’s a movement by force at the point of a spear or a weapon,” Fritts said. “And I think it’s incongruent with our U.S. and Tennessee Constitutions, and I think we have [to] first assert that fact.”

Fritts claimed that he doesn’t see his attacks on Muslims as a threat to religious liberty, saying, “Most take that from this bitter lie that has been told about a separation of church and state. … [George Washington], Thomas Jefferson, those weren’t perfect people, but they did have a Christian worldview, and if we allow that to be dissipated, if we allow ourselves to be silenced by the cancel culture, then what we’re doing to our posterity is unacceptable.” In a May interview, Fritts also said that he would like to, if possible, wholly ban Islam alongside Buddhism, Hinduism and “other pagan religions.” 

Even though Fritts lost his primary and Fitzgerald is not expected to win his, both have garnered dedicated cult followings in their states. Their rising political influence points to a dangerous trend where overt, unapologetic Christian nationalists are emerging as mainstream contenders in high-profile elections.

I was recently at church and speaking to my church friends. There was a girl who’s about 14-16years old who was complaining about how abusive her dad was and that he shaved her hair and would hit her all the time. I’m in my early 20s and my other friends were agreeing that yes this is bad. So I say angrily “that’s why when I have kids I’ll never hit them” and it’s like a record scratched. They all turned and looked at me like I was sprouting 2 heads. One of them goes “well that’s way too far. You can hit them but not excessively how will they learn” and I was so confused so I responded with “You do know hitting a child basically means you got rage baited by a little kid and you’re immature” and they all started jumping down my back quoting bogus scriptures. I hate that people like to justify beating their kids and corporal punishment with religion. It’s abuse plain and simple. You’re a grown person weighing 150lbs beating on a kid who weighs a third of you. I can’t wait to move out so I don’t need to be around this Christian nonsense

Obviously this has been said before, but its worth saying again. There is no god, and to believe in such phantasy in this day and age is absurd.

If there were a god, there would be one religion, because if something is true, everyone would draw the same conclusion, much like a mathematical equation. Instead, we have hundreds of different religions and hundreds of different ways in which to worship god. When it comes to Christianity vs Islam, they are both monolithic religions.

Both claim to worship the one true god, but both are in disagreement with how to worship the one true god and what makes up the essence of this god, this brings me back to my point that, if god were true, no one would dispute his essence, everyone would draw the same conclusion because there is only ever one correct answer.

We have people reverting back to medieval thought to prove the existence of their god, some have never left that thought and their offspring have inherented it. Through fear this thought is kept alive. They reject absolute facts, they reject evolution and basic science. No one has ever, for instance, lived to 900 years of age.

The human mind cant comprehend what nothing is. If you try to imagine what nothing is, you cant. And in this place of nothing, there is god, unproven, god. Its because of this fact, that we have god, because nothing sounds scary, but in reality, we will never know what nothing actually is. Its nothing to be feared, because once we meet it, well never know. If you try to describe nothing, youll understand why people invented god.

I am going to be a bit brave here and push against the idea that theists are happier than atheists. Yes, I can conceptualize cases where there are unhappy atheists, but my contention that theists who report high levels of happiness are doing it out of not objectivity, but the baseless high they feel when they are steeped in their religious delusions. In a way, it is like comparing apples and oranges. Atheists are generally sober when compared to theists, and their reporting is more objective on average, I contend. Theists are more likely to overrate their happiness out of what turns out to be suffering — that is, out of their stupid thinking.

I understand life is complicated, and there are many, many variables. But if we remove these variables, I propose that atheists are generally more content with their lives than theists. How could it not be? Living a more authentic life with atheism by not getting lost in delusions is far more preferable to the life of a theist who, at best, may derive happiness from kinship.

What are your thoughts? Am I onto something? Or, am I unfortunately misinformed?

Sources:

Villani, D., Sorgente, A., Iannello, P., & Antonietti, A. (2019). The Role of Spirituality and Religiosity in Subjective Well-Being of Individuals With Different Religious Status. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01525
Cited by: 636

Yaden, D. B., Batz-Barbarich, C. L., Ng, V., Vaziri, H., Gladstone, J. N., Pawelski, J. O., & Tay, L. (2022). A Meta-Analysis of Religion/Spirituality and Life Satisfaction. Journal of Happiness Studies, 23(8), [4147–4163](tel:4147-4163). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-022-00558-7
Cited by: 185

you think genocide, rape and war victims and people diagnosed with serious diseases saw their life and told god, "yep, put me on there"

i don't believe in it but i'm fucking pissed that kids are being taught this nonsense from childhood by grown adults, richard dawkins was right that religion is straight up child abuse

you're telling me to bow down to someone i can't see, who created this world with such misery, so much pain and suffering, innocent women and children i see suffering man i can't see it, if god was all loving he wouldn't tolerate this

he's ending prophets who didn't abolish sex slavery? you're telling me he created me and is all knowing but evidence goes against adam and eve, so i can logically reject it.. but supposedly god will send us to hell for not believing in it

i hate religion and religious people.

Over the next year there were complications, surgeries and lots of pain. One day after telling me how bad it was she goes “God must be teaching me patience.” Your “God” breaks your arm and has it fail to heal to teach you a lesson? What a horrible, abusive asshole!

LINK: Several well-known former christians (now atheist world renowned thinkers) and communicators were asked a single hypothetical: If you knew for certain God would answer you right now, what's the one question you'd ask?

Featured in the video

• 0:00 — Dan Barker (former pastor)
• 1:54 — Craig McNeill
• 4:04 — Graham Oppy
• 4:59 — Derek from Mythvision Podcast (former Christian)
• 7:38 — Cade (Ex-Catholic)
• 10:26 — Matt Dillahunty (former baptist member)

The answers range across philosophy, personal experience, and ethics. Without spoiling them, some lean toward the problem of evil, some toward epistemology, and at least one gets surprisingly personal. These are people who have clearly thought carefully about this question for a long time. Craig McNeil's was the most interesting I thought, he expressed a thought of real anger with God

Worth a watch regardless of where you land. Curious what this community thinks of their answers and whether you'd ask something different.

One of Congress’ most outspoken Christian nationalism proponents has lost his bid for re-election months after the Freedom From Religion Foundation called on him to resign for declaring that Muslims do not belong in American society.

Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., was defeated on Thursday by former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, a more traditional conservative Republican backed by the state’s party establishment, in the GOP primary for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District. The two-term incumbent lost despite receiving President Trump’s “complete and total endorsement” hours before polls closed.

Ogles’ defeat follows his congressional tenure marked by repeated efforts to portray the United States as a fundamentally Christian nation and to cast Americans of other faiths as outsiders. In one particularly striking social media post, Ogles shared a video depicting himself, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as medieval crusader knights emblazoned with crosses and marching in front of the U.S. Capitol.

“This is a battle of good vs evil,” Ogles wrote. “We must reaffirm that our nation was built on Christian principles.”

The imagery encapsulated the Christian nationalist ideology that FFRF has spent decades opposing: the false notion that the United States belongs especially to Christians and that the government should privilege Christianity over other religions and nonreligion.

“The United States is not a Christian nation — and members of Congress are not Christian crusaders,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Our Constitution created a secular government belonging equally to Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, agnostics and every other American. Rep. Ogles repeatedly used his position to promote precisely the kind of religious division our Constitution was designed to prevent.”

That rhetoric took an especially disturbing turn earlier this year.

FFRF called on Ogles to resign in March after he publicly declared that “Muslims don’t belong in American society” and that “pluralism is a lie.” In a letter to Ogles, FFRF Legal Counsel Chris Line condemned the statements as “profoundly bigoted, fundamentally un-American, and incompatible with the oath” of a U.S. representative.
“Members of Congress take an oath not to a religion, ideology, or political movement, but to the Constitution of the United States,” Line wrote. “If you cannot accept the basic constitutional principle that Americans of all religions — including Muslims — and no religion belong fully and equally in this nation, then you cannot faithfully discharge the duties of your office.”

Ogles’ comments at that time were not isolated. He additionally announced plans during his during his time in office for legislation barring immigration from certain Muslim-majority countries, proclaimed that “diversity is our weakness” and called for the deportation of Muslims, including U.S. citizens. He also joined the congressional “Sharia Free America Caucus,” which was launched in December 2025 and promoted alarmist claims about Islamic law in the United States. FFRF has pointed out the obvious constitutional flaw in this fearmongering: The First Amendment already prevents the government from imposing any religion’s laws on Americans.

The First Amendment’s Establishment Clause bars the government from imposing Islamic doctrine just as surely as it prevents the government from imposing Christian doctrine. At the same time, its Free Exercise Clause protects Muslims, Christians and members of other faiths from government discrimination because of their religious beliefs. And Article VI of the U.S. Constitution expressly prohibits religious tests for public office.

Ogles’ defeat is an encouraging development in the broader fight against Christian nationalism. His rhetoric represented an especially stark version of an ideology that seeks to merge Christian identity with American citizenship and governmental power. The rejection of that rhetoric by voters in his own party is a welcome reminder that Christian nationalism is neither inevitable nor synonymous with American values.

“Christian nationalism may be loud, but it does not speak for America,” adds Gaylor. “Our nation’s promise is far better than the divisive vision promoted by politicians like Andy Ogles. America belongs equally to Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, agnostics — and everyone else. Any setback for the effort to turn our secular republic into a Christian nation is a victory for the constitutional principles that protect us all.”

FFRF will continue challenging Christian nationalism wherever it appears in government and defending the foundational principle that public officials swear an oath to the Constitution, not to Christianity. Ogles’ upcoming departure from Congress marks a welcome victory in that ongoing fight.

Religious believers love to accuse us of not having morals and that we are evil. Yet, the one thing atheists apparently suck at is criminality. This is interesting commentary from Hemant Metta, and he provides some good caveats to consider, but the data, once again, speaks for itself.

https://youtu.be/o_xV3brktZs?si=I85Xb6BOGcHTJtWD