What’s New With Famed Christian Convert Ayaan Hirsi Ali?

Last updated on: May 15, 2026 at 11:04 pm By Richard Ostling

THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Former Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali was once the most celebrated female ally of the male “Four Horsemen” leading the militant “New Atheism” movement. But in 2023 she posted a surprising column on unherd.com headlined “Why I Am Now a Christian,” echoing Bertrand Russell’s 1927 booklet “Why I Am Not a Christian.” See, she emphasized that Christianity is essential for a moral civilization, but embraced the faith personally “because I ultimately found life without any spiritual solace... Read more

Did Paul Write the 13 Biblical Letters? Did He Even Exist?

Last updated on: April 27, 2026 at 10:18 am By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: These questions will strike most people as absurd, but they’re taken seriously in a heterodox assessment of the great Christian Apostle by staff writer Adam Gopnik in the April 20 New Yorker magazine. In amusing asides, Gopnik likens Paul’s style to that of Leon Trotsky, the Communist founder assassinated by order of Stalin. And since Frank Capra mused about a movie with Frank Sinatra playing St. Paul, Gopnik nominates rakish Dean Martin as St. Peter. The... Read more

What Is Christian Zionism and Why Is It So Complex?

Last updated on: April 11, 2026 at 8:39 am By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: As with “Christian nationalism,” this is a rather slippery term that can be used to browbeat religious and political opponents. The relation between Christianity and Israel is vastly complex, and this article can merely try to clarify a few aspects. Merriam-Webster defines Zionism as “an international movement originally for the establishment of a Jewish national or religious community in the historical region of Palestine and later for the support of modern Israel.” Since modern Israel was... Read more

Dying at Easter, How Does a Former Senator Contemplate Life?

Last updated on: March 27, 2026 at 9:46 pm By Richard Ostling

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What Does Dying Sasse Believe? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Ben Sasse is dying. In fact, doctors thought the 54-year-old former U.S. Senator from Nebraska might already be dead by now after he was diagnosed before Christmas with stage four pancreatic cancer, beyond surgical help. Yet he gets to celebrate another festival of eternal life thanks to aggressive chemotherapy at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, along with morphine to control pain. During a round of media appearances, Sasse said... Read more

How Did Muslim Radicals Gain Power Over Iran?

Last updated on: March 17, 2026 at 10:36 am By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: With the American-Israeli war on Iran monopolizing the news – and driving up prices at the gas pump – the full context requires understanding of the surprising 1979 Islamist revolution when the nation lurched from tyranny under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (and his father before him) to tyranny under the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Ever since, a theocracy based upon his radical version of Islam has oppressed the long-suffering Iranians and vexed the Mideast and West with... Read more

Would the Existence of Space Aliens Threaten Christianity?

Last updated on: February 27, 2026 at 9:22 am By Richard Ostling

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An intriguing religious issue is raised by an odd space-age colloquy in mid-February between Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Out of the blue, political podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen asked Obama, “Are aliens real?” He immediately replied, “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them” and he knows of no proof that extraterrestrials exist. In the ensuing ET-and-thee hubbub, Obama soon clarified his reasoning: “Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances... Read more

Should Religions Have Rituals Such As Baptism for Infants?

Last updated on: February 13, 2026 at 11:13 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: This question might seem absurd, since religious birth rituals are so universal. But Christian baptism of infants is being assailed by a prominent (though alienated) Catholic, Mary McAleese, who was the president of Ireland from 1997 to 2011. The headline on a January 11 (paywalled) article she wrote for the Irish Times, the nation’s leading newspaper, announced that “Baptism Denies Babies Their Human Rights.” Infant baptism is a “systemic and overlooked severe restriction on children’s rights... Read more

Why Are There 3 Versions of the Lord’s Prayer?

Last updated on: January 30, 2026 at 10:47 am By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Christians’ most beloved prayer occurs in Matthew 6:9-13 as part of Jesus’s “Sermon on the Mount,” perhaps the most memorable speech in human history. (What competitors can you think of?) The New Testament also contains a second, briefer version of the great prayer, in Luke 11:2-4 (on which more below). In Matthew, Jesus tells believers not to pile up many words in praying and offers a simple, concise example. Here is the Matthew wording from the... Read more

America and Venezuela: A “Just War”?

Last updated on: January 17, 2026 at 3:09 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: As the complexities in Venezuela continue to evolve, President Donald Trump held his first face-to-face meeting this week with democratic opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. Universal consensus says her party won the 2024 presidential vote by two-thirds or better, whereupon despised dictator Nicolás Maduro, now imprisoned in New York City, stole the office. However, Trump has submerged hopes for eventual elections and is working in tandem with those who ran Maduro’s spurious regime, now led by... Read more

Why Is the Bible So Complicated?

Last updated on: January 3, 2026 at 2:48 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: The Guy is taking a holiday breather and re-posts a classic question from 2015 in the early days of the Patheos Religion Q&A feature. A reader filed the following on behalf of a Prison Fellowship pen pal: “If divinely inspired holy books are for our guidance, benefit, spiritual enlightenment, etc., why is much of it so obscure and beyond the common lay person’s understanding? Where do I draw the line between sticking to what I can... Read more

What did Jesus say about judging people?