Posted inChristianity/Jesus

The “Christmas story” is just one of many stories, and not the best

Here's one way I celebrated Christmas this year -- by writing a blog post that critiques a "Message of Christmas still rings true in 2014" editorial in our local newspaper.  Enjoy, churchless. There's a better message than the "Christmas story" Excerpt: The editorial starts off this way: The Christmas story is one of joy, of celebration, of hope. Its message of peace on Earth and salvation for humankind is as powerful, as relevant and as needed today as it was on that silent, starlit night some 2,000 years ago. Well, some people feel this way. Lots don't. Those words, salvation for…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus

Atheist middle-school girl gets preachy church official kicked out of Salem school

Here's some great churchless news from right here in Salem, Oregon.  The Friendly Atheist blog picked up on a local newspaper story and described the beginning of what happened in "Young Atheist Gets Youth Pastor Banned from Middle School After He Preached to Her At Lunch." Tim Saffeels volunteered at Straub Middle School in Salem, Oregon, meaning he supervised during lunch periods, reminded students to clean up after themselves, and served as a role model during his time there. Last week, he sat near a group of students, including one who attended Salem Heights Church, where he serves as youth pastor.…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus God

Believing in God is hard work (since God isn’t real)

Thanks to a David Chapman tweet, I came across an academic article about religious belief. Interesting stuff. Below I've chosen some excerpts from Pascal Boyer's piece which capture, pretty much, the gist of his commentary on another scholar's book, "When God Talks Back." Since for many years I was a member of an India-based organization, led by a guru, which believed it was possible to communicate with God in a supernatural fashion, I was intrigued by how similar the basic process used by Christian evangelicals is -- when they try to convert their "reflective" beliefs into "intuitive" experiences of God's…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus Religions

Pope Francis is cool, but Catholic Church still leaves me cold

Compared to his predecessor, Pope Francis is a breath of religious fresh air. After reading TIME magazine's cover story (Francis is Person of the Year) I came away with fairly positive feelings about the new leader of the Catholic Church. But what makes this Pope so important is the speed with which he has captured the imaginations of millions who had given up on hoping for the church at all. People weary of the endless parsing of sexual ethics, the buck-passing infighting over lines of authority when all the while (to borrow from Milton), “the hungry Sheep look up, and…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus

I get a “good news/bad news” sort of letter from a Christian

A few days ago a letter arrived in the mail. Not email. The regular mail! Amazing. A miracle of sorts, since this happens so rarely in these Internet times. It contained some good news and bad news for my churchless soul. Figured I might as well share it, since others are in the same non-believing boat I am.  My comments are interspersed in italics. Hi Brian, I recently noticed your article in a community paper, sharing your life emphasizing that "life doesn't make sense." Appreciate your honest evaluation. You've searched in many places. For freaking sure. You can't believe where…
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Posted inBooks Christianity/Jesus

Eben Alexander’s “proof of heaven” has been disproved

Well, it turns out that my skepticism about Eben Alexander's so-called "proof of heaven" (title of the book he wrote) was well-founded.  An investigation by Esquire magazine found all kinds of problems with Alexander's tale, including his credibility. The resulting article, The Prophet, costs $1.99 to read if you're not an Esquire subscriber.  I paid up. After reading the well-written piece, I feel like I got my money's worth. The four "don't believe him!" posts I've written about Alexander, here, here, here, and here, now are shown to have been valid, while Alexander's claims are either deusional or worse --…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus Science

People in United States are embarrassingly ignorant of evolution

Way to go, citizens of the United States! We're almost #1 in... Percentage of people who don't accept the reality that humans evolved from earlier species of animals. If we can just get more people in Turkey educated in modern science, and/or divorced from fundamentalist religion, the United States has a good chance of being #1: the most ignorant of 34 countries about a central fact of modern science. Pathetic. Embarassing.  It's no wonder the United States is falling behind the rest of the world in so many areas. Our citizens are astoundingly clueless about basic facts every person should…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus Personal/Stories

No, Virginia, there isn’t a Santa Claus

My wife and I aren't super-grinches around Christmas. We're pleased to let religiously minded people engage in their fantasies about virgin births, humans who are sons of God, and other miraculous supernatural stuff. But I've got problems with encouraging a belief in Santa Claus as a real entity.  Looking upon Santa Claus as akin to the Easter Bunny is preferable. I doubt many kids believe in the literal reality of the Easter Bunny as intensely as they believe in Santa Claus. And giving up a belief in the Easter Bunny seemingly comes earlier and easier than a belief in Santa.…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus Death/Rebirth

Brain damage can convince you of Christian bullshit

Recently someone emailed me about my "Heaven is NOT real, no matter what Eben Alexander says" post. She wondered why I thought his heaven seemed so Christian. To her, Alexander's account of the afterlife sounded more Hindu. Well, I'm no expert on Hinduism, but that assertion seems dubious to me. A quick check-in with the Great God Google taught me some things about Hindu notions of the afterlife. A Wikipedia article on the subject emphasizes Hindu belief in karma and reincarnation. We keep coming back to life on Earth, not an eternal life in "heaven." Heaven and hell are temporary…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus Death/Rebirth Science

Heaven is NOT real, no matter what Eben Alexander says

I'm impressed with myself. (And not for the first time, nor the last.) Noted religious skeptic and neuroscientist Sam Harris has much the same reaction as I did, albeit more fully and cogently stated, to Eben Alexander's ridiculous claim that while in a coma, when his cortex supposedly was "completely shut down," he had an experience of heaven that must have been separate from brain activity. Hence, a soul travel of some sort to God's realm. Here's what I said about the guy's story three days ago, in response to a comment on this post. Rain, I'm not much impressed with…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus

How is eating fast food chicken godly?

Having been a vegetarian for over forty years, and being familiar with how many (most?) Buddhists and Hindus consider killing animals for food to be sinfully bad karma, I'm struck by the bizarreness of Christian Mike Huckabee saying that the godly thing to do on August 1 is head to Chick-fil-A, a fast food chain, and eat a bunch of chicken. Dana Milbank explains.  “The goal is simple,” he announced this week, calling on Americans to help those who honor “the Godly values we espouse by simply showing up and eating at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday, August 1.” As of lunchtime…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus Politics

Mitt Romney, you’re wrong: this isn’t a Christian nation

There are lots of reasons for people in the United States to vote for President Obama rather than Mitt Romney in November. Romney's sucking up to evangelical Christians is just one reason -- but an important one. In a recent speech at a hotbed of Christian'ist fundamentalism, Liberty University, Romney told the assembled believers in an imaginary God the untruths they wanted to hear. In the same week that President Obama galvanized his base by endorsing same-sex marriage, Mr. Romney’s message was that evangelicals could count on him to operate as president under “a common worldview,” including his position that marriage…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus Radha Soami Satsang Beas

What if Jesus had acted like a rich Indian guru?

A few days ago "Jimi" left a comment on my blog post, Radha Soami Satsang Beas guru makes $254 million. He/she said, in part: I've been reading this article and comments and I'm not sure what the issue is... It looks like BJ [Baba Gurinder Singh Ji, the guru] and family bought some shares and sold them and made a profit. What's wrong with that? Am I missing something? Is there something wrong with him being wealthy? I replied: Jimi, you are indeed missing something. Gurinder Singh got a special insider deal on the shares. He didn't buy them as…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus

Anne Rice’s Christian deconversion

Even though several years ago I'd blogged about vampire author Anne Rice's rejection of organized Christianity, I'd forgotten about this until recently -- when I saw her interviewed on The Colbert Report. The Colbert Report Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive In the interview it sounded to me like Rice had gone all atheist/agnostic. Maybe she has...now. Back in 2010 she was still professing a commitment to Jesus, but not to Christianity as practiced by many, if not most, people these days. This is what she said on her Facebook page, when she announced her…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus

Resurrection has some problems. Like cannibalism.

Today I celebrated Easter in a churchless fashion. To commemorate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, I read a fascinating chapter in Steven Cave's book, "Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How It Drives Civilization." The chapter, St. Paul and the Cannibals, dealt with one of the four paths by which immortality is sought: Resurrection. Cave describes it as, "Although we must physically die, nonetheless we can physically rise again with the bodies we knew in life." (The other three paths are Staying Alive, Soul, and Legacy.) Cave related the familiar Biblical tale of Christian-hating Saul becoming Jesus-loving…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus

Jeff Bethke says “I hate religion,” but he loves organized Christianity

Not being clued in to the latest Christian YouTube trends, until I read the latest issue of TIME magazine last night I'd been unaware of the super-buzz surrounding Jeff Bethke -- whose Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus has gotten almost 20 million views. (The TIME article is only available online to subscribers, but here's an earlier piece about Bethke.) It's a slick video. So slick, it seems likely this wasn't solely produced by a Jesus-loving young guy whose only motivation was to draw people away from organized Christianity. But before I say more along this line, have a look…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus Humor

I’m doing the “work of Our Lord.” Surprise to me.

Who knew? Certainly not me. Just got this email from Rev. Shawn Malloy, my "brother in Jesus." Dear Brother Brian My brother in Christ I want to say I love the sight [site?] and I pray that your Facebook launch will be success.  You are doing the work of Our Lord so my prayers are with you. Sincerely, Your Brother in Christ Jesus ________________________________ Reverend Dr. Shawn M. Malloy DDFounder and Senior PastorMalloy Ministrieshttp://www.malloyministries.org Excellent news. If I learn after I die that I'm wrong, and Jesus truly is the Son of God who died for our sins, I can…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus Humor

Atheists, pray for the Patriots to beat Tim Tebow

Today is apocalyptic. God-loving quarterback Tim Tebow and his Denver Broncos play Tom Brady's New England Patriots in an important NFL playoff game.  This isn't only a football game. It's a battle with cosmic significance. Will in-your-face, obnoxious, Christian "Tebowing" win out, leading fundamentalists to believe that, indeed, God is on the Nuggets' side? Will a quarterback who says he's still a virgin (Tebow) triumph over a guy (Brady) who fathered a love child with another woman and now is married to supermodel Gisele Bundchen? God, I hope not! Like some of the Patriots, I'm tired of Tebow talk. So…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus

Tim Tebow’s “Tebowing” is religious obnoxiousness

I like Tim Tebow. Never met the Denver Bronco's quarterback, but when I've seen him interviewed on TV (Jon Stewart talked with him on The Daily Show fairly recently) Tebow comes across as humble and unassuming. But that's when he isn't "Tebowing," an irritating in-your-face display of his Christianity, where Tebow gets down on one knee, with his elbow resting on his other knee, head bowed in a prayerful stance. This has become a craze, with a web site devoted to Tebowing (including a Top Ten, naturally; the dog doing a modified version of the posture was the only photo…
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