Agnosticism, Atheism, Christianity, Faith, God, Religion, Truth

It Just Fits Together So Well!

Not long ago, fellow blogger John Zande wrote an excellent post titled "Jesus Christ: Just Not Worth a Sheet of Paper." It's actually not as derogatory as the title suggests. Some apologists have suggested that the reason we have no contemporary accounts of Jesus' life is that paper was so expensive. That's the argument John… Continue reading It Just Fits Together So Well!

Agnosticism, Atheism, Christianity, Faith, God, Humanism, Morality, Religion, Truth

Collateral Damage

Yesterday, the discussion on this thread got into the subject of the problems of evil and suffering. One of the participants in the discussion suggested that the dilemma could be resolved if God had reasons for allowing evil and suffering to exist, even if we don't know what those reasons are. On the surface, this… Continue reading Collateral Damage

Agnosticism, Atheism, Christianity, Faith, God, Religion, Truth

A Similar Journey

To my friends that read this blog, I've run across another that you should check out. I haven't actually read his blog entries yet -- instead, his landing page is an intro to his journey out of faith. And it consists of multiple pages, much like reading a book. The layout is brilliant, and the… Continue reading A Similar Journey

Agnosticism, Atheism, Christianity, Faith, God, Religion, Truth

Never Going Back

I value open-mindedness over most other things. When I was going through my deconversion and having frequent religious discussions with my family, I often felt that they weren't being open-minded. I know that it's hard (perhaps impossible) to judge how open-minded someone else is being, so I hesitate to even pass that kind of judgment.… Continue reading Never Going Back

Agnosticism, Atheism, Christianity, Creationism, Evolution, Faith, God, Religion, Science, Society

Winning Isn’t Everything: Evolution Rewards Altruism

Ran across an interesting video today that discusses a new study from Michigan State University which found that being selfish is not advantageous from an evolutionary perspective. Sometimes evolution-deniers claim that if evolution were true, then compassion is a weakness. We would be better off if we were completely selfish -- if we swindled others… Continue reading Winning Isn’t Everything: Evolution Rewards Altruism

Agnosticism, Atheism, Christianity, Faith, God, Religion

6 Types of Atheists

This article's been out for a week or so, but I hadn't seen it until today. Two researchers at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga have just published a study they've compiled from a survey of 59 atheists and agnostics. I recommend reading the article (it's not long), especially because it has a slide show… Continue reading 6 Types of Atheists

Agnosticism, Atheism, Christianity, Culture, Faith, God, Religion, Salvation, Truth

Discussion: What Did Jesus Teach?

This post is not going to be in the standard format. Instead of laying out what I think about a particular issue and then possibly getting into a discussion afterward, I really just want to ask a series of questions that I hope readers will answer in the comment section. My background with Christianity is… Continue reading Discussion: What Did Jesus Teach?

Agnosticism, Atheism, Christianity, Faith, God, Religion

How Convincing Are Miracles?

I like the above image, because it's so absurd. Not that the miracle itself is absurd, but that someone could see such a thing and still dismiss it. A while back, we had a discussion on this blog about the effectiveness of miracles. Not the "oh, my aunt has a friend that knows someone who… Continue reading How Convincing Are Miracles?

Agnosticism, Atheism, Christianity, Faith, God, Religion, Salvation, Truth

The Historicity of Jesus

On a recent blog post, conversation turned toward the reliability of the New Testament, and more specifically, how much evidence we have for whether or not Jesus ever existed. Instead of continuing the discussion there (since it had already broken the 500th comment mark and this would have taken the conversation in a different direction),… Continue reading The Historicity of Jesus