Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 9th, 2009
It’s tough being a religion teacher these days, what with the kids and their “hard-headed empiricism” and schooling in “scientific methods.” And when you try and teach them about “the intangible,” why, they think it’s all “fortune-telling and ghosts,” just like they see on the television and the internets! That’s why you can’t just assume [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 8th, 2009
When I saw the article title “Why does God allow evil to succeed?” I was hoping that the Kansas City Star was going for some sort of hard-hitting, Pulitzer-aspiring exposé involving several reporters and months of investigation, culminating in a 5-day multi-part series. (“Part 3: Evil in Our Community.”) Unfortunately, once I clicked through I [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 16th, 2009
(according to Google News) 1. Fail to predict your best friend / employer’s sudden death: He never thought he’d be CEO material. And yet here he is, running the 6-year-old John Entwistle Foundation, working every day to get musical instruments into the hands of poor and sick kids. “If you want to make God laugh,” [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 30th, 2009
It can be tough being a Christian. You have to believe all sorts of unbelievable things. You have to go to church every Sunday and listen to some preachy dude beg for money. You have to put up with brilliantly-written, riotously-funny, expertly-argued books patiently debunking your faith. (I suppose this one doesn’t really distinguish you [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 24th, 2009
Over at HuffPo, “after-hours rabbi” Alan Lurie describes four “impediments” to “experiencing god” that he wishes he’d lectured a skeptical job applicant about. 4. The worry that “spiritual experiences” are just feel-good self-indulgence. Why would someone worry that something is a “feel-good self-indulgence”? Here are some other feel-good self-indulgences: eating cookie dough straight from the [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 2nd, 2009
Nothing, if you believe the RIAA-scripted talking points regurgitated by our friends at Everyday Christian: Under current copyright legislation, downloading music for free is definitely theft under letter of the law. Although I really shouldn’t expect someone writing on a site called “Everyday Christian” to be able to accurately describe the world, I can’t resist [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on May 30th, 2009
Some god-believers (especially those named Jotham) insist that their god is “perfect.” In fact, there are entire (specious) arguments for god’s existence premised on this belief. Other god-believers, however, allow that their god might not be perfect, and might sometimes need (for example) refueling, new tires, radiator-debris removal, windshield-washing, tire-pressure adjustments, and brake pad replacements. [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 24th, 2009
Randal Rauser is an associate professor of historical theology at Taylor Seminary, Edmonton. One day he bought a Bible for his seven-year-old daughter, and was shocked — SHOCKED — to discover that it was full of god-mandated genocides: The page with Deuteronomy 20 features a factoid bubble with a green parrot which informs me that [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 18th, 2009
You are probably familiar with “megachurch pastor” T.D. Jakes, whose stepson recently exposed himself to undercover police officers. (The kid’s attorney is apparently called “Faith Johnson”, which is pretty much the best name possible for someone involved with a religious exposure case.) The news story is unfortunately vague on what this “exposure” entailed, forcing me [...]
