The Catholic Church is worried because people are leaving the church… That might be a good thing from an atheist perspective except the people are “join[ing] Pentecostal and other evangelical movements” instead. “We shouldn’t begin by asking ourselves what is wrong with the Pentecostals, but what our own pastoral shortcomings are,” [Cardinal Walter] Kasper told the gathering, noting that such evangelical and charismatic groups count 400 million faithful around the world. Why are people leaving the Catholic Church? Where to… Read more
This past Saturday, I was interviewed on a show called Unbelievable? airing on Premier Christian Radio in the United Kingdom. The host was Justin Brierley and he had me alongside Tom Price of the Damaris Trust, an “educational charity with a Christian foundation.” You can listen to the full interview by going here. [tags]atheist, atheism[/tags] Read more
We have had many postings and long discussions about religions, religious beliefs and the political or social effects of religions or religious people. Many commenters have expressed why they disagree with or are skeptical about all those things. But atheists, skeptics, humanists, freethinkers, whatever we non-god-believers call ourselves have more to our lives than constant controversy with religion. We have opinions, points of view and even beliefs about many other things, and people in general can be inconsistent in the… Read more
Hey all! Thanks for welcoming me as a contributor to Hemant’s site. I’m excited to be part of the team. As many of you know I am a Christian pastor that has been participating in the conversations here for over a year now. I have a great respect for atheists, and while I obviously don’t always agree with all your perspectives, I have found that the questions you have raised about my faith have been invaluable to me in refining… Read more
Some things just beg to be made fun of. Some things need to be made fun of. So when I looked at the Creation Museum Pics that Hemant posted and I saw this one, an exhibit about two kids visiting the museum, (what the heck is that for?) the talk bubbles that are actually there over the two figures gave me an evil idea. Mwohoohoohahaha! So I put talk and thought bubbles over some of the characters in these other… Read more
I’m out of town for a few days and probably won’t be posting or moderating comments until Saturday. So consider this an open thread to discuss whatever appropriate topics you’d like (as long as your comments don’t need to be approved by me). You can also welcome a new contributor to this site, Mike Clawson! This is a very brief intro, but Mike is a Christian pastor who has kindly answered your questions and consistently makes insightful comments on this… Read more
Mojoey had problems on a flight because he had my book in his possession. So what must it be like when someone carries Christopher Hitchens’ God Is Not Great? One atheist got on a plane and saw someone reading Hitchens’ book. So he said something to the reader: I commented on the book saying how much I enjoyed it. The passenger looked a bit stunned when I mentioned this. At first I thought maybe he was fundie doing research on… Read more
It never gets old to hear someone discovering a “new” religion for the first time. Mary Fons, a fantastic actress/writer living in Chicago, knew relatively little about Mormonism. But recently, she has been reading Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, picking up quite a bit of information in the process. (The story tells the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and focuses on the more fundamental aspects to it.) She learned, for example,… Read more
You wouldn’t want to go to a place that is anti-Christmas, would you? Liberty Counsel has put out their “Naughty & Nice List” (PDF) for 2007. The list tells you which stores are openly celebrating Christmas (nice) and which are more inclusive of all holiday traditions (naughty, naughty, evil heathens). For example… Bloomingdale’s is naughty: Web site: “Gifted 2007,” one “Christmas” ornament, one Christmas makeup kit, no celebration of Christmas made evident, no Christmas e-card or gift card, but there… Read more
Just when you thought Gideon Bibles were going away, they re-emerged in a North Carolina classroom: Geri Weaver, the mother of a student at E.E. Miller Elementary School in Fayetteville, notified the American Civil Liberties Union after a stack of New Testaments were made available in her son’s classroom on Nov. 9. The books have the imprint of the Gideons, an international group known for placing Bibles in hotel rooms, but it was unclear whether a school employee or outside… Read more
