Spiritual, not religious: Your own personal Jesus   Brian, the pastor of a new church in Plano, Texas, works evenings at a coffee shop to make ends meet. His wife stays at home with their children, and their church is not to the point that it can support a full-time pastor. As coffee shops grow in their social importance, pastors like Brian are realizing the value of spending time there. Some ministers have started book groups, knitting circles and even... Read more

Intelligent design: Making a mockery of science By Christian Piatt (This column originally appeared in the Pueblo Chieftain newspaper) I listened to a sermon series on intelligent design recently. The minister went through the many sophisticated organs, cells and systems within the human body, and after each example, he pulled out a coin. He went from cellular mitochondria to the visual cortex, pointing out each time how unlikely this system was to occur by accident. Each point was punctuated by... Read more

Last night’s episode was another good one, although I found it a little more confusing than the others this season. Locke’s sweat lodge scene was excellent. It was very creatively portrayed, and tied back in to Locke’s spiritual quest on the island. It was the beginning of his new enlightenment, of sorts. Also interesting was that he built the sweat lodge within the framework of the church Eko and Charlie are building, thus merging multiple faith traditions in a sense.... Read more

Just a note to let you know my book, “Lost: A Search for Meaning,” is up for sale now online.  The publisher said this morning that the books may be done at the printer as soon as two weeks from now, so hopefully pre-orders now won’t have to wait very long for their copies. You can purchase directly from the publisher at the following link: http://www.cbp21.com/ProductDetail.asp?ProductID=2834 This is cool not only because you help out a smaller publishing house by... Read more

How much faith does it take to be an atheist? By Christian Piatt Originally printed in the Pueblo Chieftain Newspaper I love National Public Radio. I might as well wear a scarlet “N” because I’m such an NPR nerd. Every Friday, the show, Talk of the Nation, does a “Science Friday” special. This week, they interviewed Richard Dawkins, who is an evolutionary biologist, an atheist, and author of the book, The God Delusion. He is articulate and moderated in his... Read more

School shootings: We ask why, but need peace By Christian Piatt  (Originally printed in the Pueblo Chieftain newspaper) On Monday, Charles Carl Roberts entered a peaceful one-room Amish schoolhouse with the intention of slaughtering all of its young female occupants, as well as himself. As of Monday afternoon, four children, a young teaching assistant and the attacker all were dead, with five more still in critical condition. In a call to his wife, and in notes he scribbled out prior... Read more

First off, I was very pleased with this episode. It revealed a lot about the Others, filled in some back story on Jack, but left plenty to look forward to (no surprise). So, what did we learn last night? The Others have some kind of weird suburban Stepford kind of community going on.  However, right on the perimeter of the neighborhood are a series of cages and experimentation facilities. At one time or another these have held bears, but they... Read more

I’ve gotten formal approval from the editor to place a free chapter of my upcoming book on my website in PDF format for download.  I submitted the final changes today, so as soon as they make these last corrections and get the whole thing converted to PDF, I’ll post the chapter. I’m open to suggestions as to which chapter to post.  I can only do one, but let me know which one you’d want to read most. The chapter titles... Read more

Church and sex don’t mix, but they should I was the music minister at a small church in Texas for a few years before coming to Colorado. My wife, Amy, worked with the youth group, which varied in size from two to six kids at any given time. There was one 16-year-old girl who was mature beyond her years. She was intelligent, had plans for college and was a natural leader. Then she got pregnant. After conferring with her mother... Read more

A look into the shadows: A brief history of hell and Satan (Part two of two) By Christian Piatt (This column originally appeared in the Pueblo Chieftain Newspaper) Last week, I discussed some of the historical bases for our contemporary understanding of Satan. This week, I’ll consider how hell evolved as part of the Christian faith. In Old Testament scripture, the resting place for the dead is called Sheol. While some believe this is the same as hell, there are... Read more