Have any of you (Christian or atheist or otherwise) had encounters with Christians who were well-meaning about sharing their faith, but actually ended up pushing you further away from Christianity? I imagine this happens more frequently that we think. I’m not talking about Fred Phelps or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell or other “fringe” types. I mean normal, everyday people. At a church. During college. Maybe a neighbor. Is there someone who intended on helping you find God (or in… Read more
David Plotz at Slate finally finished his quest to blog the Bible. He said this about what he was doing last September: My goal is pretty simple. I want to find out what happens when an ignorant person actually reads the book on which his religion is based. Not a bad idea. Plotz is Jewish, but the same idea should apply to Christians. Reading the book your religion is based on (not just particular excerpts during church) is worthwhile. It… Read more
ChooseDoubt says he got fired because of his atheist views. His details are vague (he says he can’t go into detail for legal reasons), but if the story is true the way it’s described, it would be awful. And so very illegal. I recently lost my job. I was forced out – fired – ostensibly for disagreeing with my boss over the subject of faith. He felt, as a catholic, it was absolutely fine for him to express a sincere… Read more
Publishers Weekly has an article discussing how books about atheism are in vogue. There’s nothing you haven’t heard before in the article, but I did think it was interesting to see how all these books have been selling. The numbers aren’t exact (they’re lower than the actual amounts), but they give you a good estimate of the relative successes of the various books: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins: 282,000 copies sold The End of Faith by Sam Harris: 250,000… Read more
***UPDATE: Phil’s my friend now! Yay!*** I got an email the other day that said I have a new Facebook friend. But it wasn’t a random person… it was Phil Plait, the excellent blogger at Bad Astronomy! This was very exciting. As far as science bloggers go, Phil’s at the top of the pack. He even included a short message saying hello and that we had met at The Amaz!ng Meeting. That was true– I met him earlier this year…. Read more
