This list includes websites and other online resources which offer a skeptical view of traditional organized religions and their belief systems. Some of the owners of these sites have received hate mail and even threats.
Freedom From Religion Foundation - This organization works for the separation of church and state. It also opposes attempts by religious groups to use taxpayer money to pursue their own agendas in schools and public properties. It monitors attacks on public schools and resists attempts to limit the rights of atheists and other non-theists.
Not A Christian - This website contains a long list of atrocities committed by Christians from ancient times up to the present day. Among the hundreds of entries in the list are many instances in which Christians mass-murdered tens of thousands of people at one time.
Rational Response - This content of this site is designed to encourage rational thinking in all matters, especially with regard to ethical and moral questions. Various articles consider some of the ethical and philosophical issues which arise in everyday life, and take a skeptical view of the answers provided by major religions. The site also opposes any attempts by organized religious groups to inject their agendas into official public and government policies.
Religious Tolerance.Org - This website tries to promote mutual understanding and tolerance among people of all beliefs. It argues that every individual should have total freedom to form his or her own beliefs, and it opposes attempts by any one group to impose its practices or beliefs on other groups. The site tries to present different viewpoints on major issues of our times, and to this end it contains more than three thousand articles and essays on a large variety of subjects, including the life and teachings of Jesus, inconsistencies in the gospels, strange religious rituals, why people do evil things, and whether hell really exists.
Skeptic Friends - The goal of this site is to promote logic, critical thinking, and science as the optimum way for a person to arrive at his or her personal beliefs and moral values. For this purpose Skeptic Friends invites inputs from people who have a variety of viewpoints and experiences. The site also conducts polls and permits anyone to submit articles for possible publication on the site. Various forums allow visitors to discuss current issues relating to the world's religions.
American Humanist Association - Humanists believe that reason and science are the best approach to an understanding of the world around us. They also believe that dignity and compassion should be the fundamental basis for how a person acts toward others. The mission of the American Humanist Association is to promote humanist activities throughout the world, with the goal of making it a better place for everyone. Based in the United States, its specific activities include advocating for the full separation of church and state, improving public education, promoting scientific and medical research, and spreading democracy. It also publishes the award-winning magazine, the Humanist.
Atheist Oasis - People interested in religion, atheism, and skepticism can come to this site to discuss recent news events, social issues, and the problems caused by religion. Two continuing topics of discussion are the attempts by Christians to force their superstitious beliefs into the secular government of the United States, and the efforts by the non-religious to maintain separation of church and state. The operators of the site post frequent reports on the political activities of fundamentalist Christians, and these often lead to new debates.
Daylight Atheism Article on Faith Healing - Here is a good article about fake faith healings, and their potentially tragic results.
No Beliefs - Dark Bible - This website focuses on some of the darker aspects of religion. It discusses the numerous acts of violence committed by the biblical Christian God, and by Christians themselves. It also takes a skeptical view of the Christian explanation for why Jesus had to die on the cross before God would forgive humankind's sins. It also questions why this same God has condemned millions of people to eternal torment in hell merely because they didn't accept the usual Christian explanation for the crucifixion.
20 Reasons to Abandon Christianity - This is an online copy of a short book of the same name. The book's stated purpose is "to list the most outstanding misery-producing and socially destructive qualities of Christianity in one place." The 20 reasons to leave Christianity include: its long history of torture and murder, its intolerance of other religions, its dishonesty, its arrogance, its cruelty, its past association with slavery, and its misogyny.
The article about misogyny discusses such matters as biblical verses requiring that women submit to their husbands, exclusion of women from the clergy, the traditional tolerance of wife-beating in Christian countries, and the era of the witch hunts. Here is a quote from the discussion of the witch hunts: "Christians all across Europe were engaging in a half-millennium-long orgy of torture and murder of "witches" at the direct behest and under the direction of the highest church authorities. The watchword of the time was Exodus 22:18, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," and at the very minimum hundreds of thousands of women were brutally murdered as a result of this divine injunction."
Ancient Skepticism - This scholarly article details the history of skepticism in ancient times, and how the thinking of the skeptics of that period has affected subsequent developments in philosophy, science, government, and religion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skepticism - This article discusses various aspects of skepticism, including its history, its influence on society, and its application in areas such as science, religion, and philosophy.
Weird Beliefs - The entries on this page describe some of the strange beliefs that are found in many religions. These include demonic possession, incorruptible bodies, hungry ghosts, the Christian trinity, snake handling, sacred mushrooms, religious relics, the Wandering Jew, weeping statues, the Grim Reaper, original sin, the devil's mark, divine interventions, the Rapture, prayer wheels, the Dance of Death, and transubstantiation. Skeptics and atheists sometimes use such beliefs as evidence to support their contention that traditional religions are nothing but superstitions.
http://www.jesuspolice.com - The purpose of this site is to correct some of the mis-information and misconceptions about the life of Jesus. Corrections discussed on the site include:
... His name wasn't Jesus Christ.
... He wasn't born on December 25.
... He wasn't born in Bethlehem.
... His mother wasn't a virgin.
... He wasn't an only child.
... He had more followers than is commonly believed.
... His family may not have been poor.
This site also includes a timeline of important events in the history of Judaism and Christianity.
http://www.atheist.net - This forum is designed for individuals who want to promote a philosophy that is founded in science and logic, and that considers the human being to be the main point of reference for morality, ethics, honesty, and individual freedom. This philosophy is in direct opposition to any attempt by organizations or governments to force a particular religious belief on any person.
Christian Quotes - This is a list of quotations in which famous Christians applaud mass murder, torture, witch burnings, and other heinous crimes. Here are two sample quotes:
Martin Luther said:
"Make short work with heretics, they can be condemned unheard. And while they are burning at the stake, the faithful should destroy the evil root and branch and bathe his hands in the blood of the bishops and the pope who is the devil in disguise."
Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt said:
"I don't go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of ten are, and I shouldn't like to inquire too closely in the case of the tenth."
Burning Times (Auto-da-fe) - The article describes the Auto-da-fe, a Christian "ceremony" in which dozens of heretics or witches were simultaneously burned alive in front of a crowd of spectators. It served as a warning of the probable fate of non-believers, and raised income from the property that was confiscated from the victims and their families.
Here is a quote from the article:
"Attendance at an auto-da-fe was not merely a major social event and civic occasion: it was a religious act which even the king himself was obliged to attend. It was a collective act of sacrifice in which victims were roasted to appease the Christian godman ... Doomed prisoners were led in procession to the place of execution. The burning would be held on a Sunday or other holy day so that the maximum number of people could attend."
Skeptic Wiki - This is an encyclopedia of skepticism, science, and reason created through the collective efforts of many anonymous individuals. It is an ever-expanding encyclopedia because the wiki software allows anyone to create a new article or edit an existing article. The main subject categories include aliens and UFOs, rare medical treatments, conspiracy theories, frauds and scams, pseudo-history, illusions and delusion, atheism, agnosticism, logical fallacies, paranormal phenomena, relics, pseudo-science, strange beliefs, and medical quackery. Many of the articles are enhanced by the presence of images and videos.
Alternative Encyclopedia of Religious Beliefs - This encyclopedia brings to light many interesting historical facts not mentioned in most religious encyclopedias. The thousands of entries cover such unusual topics as the Abbot of Misrule, Adam's Peak, Amarnath Cave, the Aryan Religion, the Ecuadorian Massacre, Agapetism, the Bible-based Church of Fire, Book of Shaddows, Cannibalism, Cat Worship, Naked Dancing Cult, the Church of the Most High Goddess, the Church of the Quivering Flesh, and Crucifixion Re-enactments. This is also an excellent resource for anyone looking for information about obscure religious cults.
http://www.the-brights.net - This is the website of the Brights Movement, which is an attempt to rid the world of superstitions and false religious beliefs. Participants in the movement generally have a view of the world that is free of supernatural and mystical elements. They believe that this viewpoint leads to higher moral and ethical standards, and they want to spread these higher standards to society as a whole. For this purpose, members are encouraged to speak out as activists in their local communities in an effort to raise the awareness of the problems caused by superstitious beliefs.
Christianity and the Nazis - According to this article, the vast majority of Hitler's supporters in Germany were Christians, as were most members of the Nazi party and nearly all of the soldiers in the German army. The article also provides many examples of how leading church officials, both Catholic and Protestant, cooperated with Hitler and the Nazis throughout their rise to power.
Here is a quote from the article:
"Most German Christians supported the Reich. Many continued to do so in the face of mounting evidence that the dictatorship was depraved and murderously cruel. Elsewhere in Europe the story was often the same. Only with Christians' forbearance and frequent cooperation could fascistic movements gain majority support in Christian nations. European fascism was the fruit of a Christian culture. Millions of Christians actively supported these notorious regimes. Thousands participated in their atrocities."
The Skeptic's Guide - This website offers a weekly podcast from the New England Skeptical Society in association with the James Randi Foundation. Each podcast discusses the latest news from the world of the paranormal, fringe science, religious belief, and controversial claims, but always from a scientific point of view. The site also contains an article called the "Top 20 Logical Fallacies", which describes various logical errors that people sometimes make, as well as tricks that people sometimes try to use in their arguments. There is also an archive of images, videos, and past podcasts.
NOTE. To see another list of websites which express skeptical views, go to Atheist Sites
Other pages on this site include religion dissent, glossary and home.
