Whatever we’re doing now to ensure church-state separation clearly isn’t working as the Founding Fathers intended. The problem is that even former true believers still have religion on the brain—literally—as do continuing true believers. I’ll explain later. The upshot is that until we change the U.S. Constitution to explicitly, categorically separating all religious intrusion and […]
Religion
Posted inReligion
If prayer doesn’t work the way Jesus promised, make it more complicated
To Jesus, prayer was a simple affair—ask and receive. Why then all the complications? Why get others to hear your prayer, pray to a saint, light a candle?
Posted inReligion
Following Jesus’s rules isn’t so hard
What’s impossible about following Jesus’s rules? Sure, they’re strict, but we only have to follow them for a year or two … right?
Posted inReligion
The many red flags Gracepoint Church waved
In a very real sense, Gracepoint weaponized the deepest yearnings and aches of its prey, then played upon their deepest fears to gain their ongoing compliance.
Posted inFree Expression, Gen Z Rising, Politics, Religion
What we talk about when we talk about hijab—a view from Tehran
Like all people called to witness the unraveling of history as it happens, I am plagued more than anything by anxiety, a child of uncertainty. The tidy parade of events in history books belies the fact that those living through it do not know how their chapter will end. Will the chaos in Iran breed anything but further chaos? Will everything fall apart?
Posted inPhilosophy, Religion
Can you even calculate a best possible world?
One of the arguments in my most recent book 30 Arguments Against the Existence of “God” concerns OmniGod creating this world, and that this world must be the best of all possible worlds. This is because OmniGod is constrained by his characteristic of being all-loving. In being omnibenevolent, God’s actions must always conform to this […]
Posted inReligion
Yet more Bible reboots
Consider some more reboots: After Adam, Noah, and Abraham, we get Moses and then Jesus. And maybe the story continues to reboot.
Posted inLGBTQ, Religion
On Yom Kippur, and its homophobic beginnings
In the early days of October, millions of Jews will observe Yom Kippur. During this most sacred day of the Jewish religion, the faithful will spend hours fasting, praying in synagogue, and spiritually atoning for their wrongdoings against God and people. While many Jews are not regular synagogue attenders, if they do ever go to […]
Posted inReligion
The Bible story reboots
Let’s look at the repeated story lines in which God makes an everlasting covenant with his people. There’s a The End, and then the story lurches forward with another reboot.
Posted inLeaving Religion, Nonreligious News, Religion
The evolution of religion and the rise of the nones
The decline of Christianity in the United States does not mean that “religion” is dead or dying. News of the death of religion may excite humanists, but it is unlikely to go extinct. Religion is an adaptable social phenomenon. Religious beliefs and behaviors have always evolved. In a free country, this evolution will continue. Secularism […]