My email to "Veterans of the Truth," 14 July 2010

I discovered the website "Veterans of the Truth" years ago and they helped me resolve emotions about our erstwhile religion. But I find their insistence upon the "real Jesus" disappointing.

I discovered when I was 26 years old, in the early 90's, that "The Truth" is not the one true way. This happened when I read Doug and Helen Parker's excellent "The Secret Sect," which I'd discovered in the bibliography of another (poorly-written) book, and had then found at the Seattle library.

This was liberation to me. I had not been going to meetings for years — but oh, I felt guilty.

Now, after these years, and after new information and thoughtfulness, I can no longer support the idea that Jesus ever existed, nor that the Bible is even mostly true.

And that's freedom, in my opinion. No more; never again. Christianity is hurtful, and it's not based upon truth, at all.

God, yes. The Bible, no. Jesus, no. It's just not true. It didn't happen. There's just no credible evidence for it. And people who insist that "'The Truth' is not true but here's what the Bible says about Jesus' true way"... it's not right.

That's my perception. And that's my opinion.

Steve Edwards