Patrick Greene, a lifelong atheist known for his public stands against Christianity, recently announced that he has become a Christian. There are lots of ways to look at this. Some Christians may take this as validation that they were right and atheists were wrong. Some might consider it a point for the good guys. But such attitudes further the divide between people with more in common than not. Aside from that, it misses the most important point. Greene was what... Read more
We had our fourth annual Passover Seder at Milagro last night. I know, you’re thinking, “what are a bunch of goys doing celebrating a Jewish tradition?” Given that the central act of our worship service every week – communion – was first introduced by Jesus at his last Seder, we figure if it’s good enough for Jesus, it works for us too. For the most part, it was a party. But there’s a point at which the leader reads off... Read more
It’s interesting how certain patterns emerge in our lives sometimes. Part of it, I expect, has more to do with awareness than actual coincidence, like when I start seeing blue Pruises (Prii?) everywhere after buying one. Yesterday I got a book in the mail called Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment by Janet Heimlich. And a couple of days before that I got an email through my website, which I’ll share in a minute. A while back... Read more
Lots of folks love preaching about the risen Christ on Easter Sunday without talking about what he went through to get there. It’s a bad habit we Protestants have, but plenty of us skip right over Maundy Thursday and Good Friday to Easter. Part of this is because we don’t like to have to deal with the darkness of Jesus’ crucifixion, suffering, death and burial, but it’s also because we don’t really understand the resurrection. For me, resurrection is a... Read more
Serving up your Sunday edition of really bad church signage. Church sign epic fails, part five Church sign epic fails, part four Church sign epic fails, part three More church sign epic fails Church sign epic fails Read more
This is a funny little trailer my son, Mattias, and I put together to tell folks about my new memoir on fatherhood, family and faith called “PregMANcy: A Dad, A Little Dude and a Due Date.” For more info, visit my website at www.ChristianPiatt.com, or my publisher’s website at www.ChalicePress.com Read more
I don’t usually post other people’s work on my own blog. But this conversation about “Why Young Adults Quit Church” has become much, much bigger than my handful of articles I wrote to add my two cents. In addition to media in the Midwest and even Australia picking up on them, other writers are beginning to respond to the original posts, adding their own ideas to the mix. To me, that’s when conversations like this get interesting. I got a... Read more
On March 19th, Rick Santorum was canvassing Louisiana in an attempt to woo voters when he accepted an invitation to speak at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church in Baton Rouge. He was introduced by Pastor Dennis E. Terry who delivered what has since become an infamous sermon as an introduction for Santorum. There are so many disturbing elements to this video that it’s hard to know where to start. And though it is important to note that Santorum did not say... Read more
I’m working on wrangling the final submissions for book three in the Banned Questions series, which will be Banned Questions About Christians. It’s funny because sometimes the seemingly easiest questions are the ones that respondents struggle with the most. Case in point: I got an email from Carol Howard Merritt today, who is writing for the book. She has wrestled with a question for days that effectively asks: what is an emergent Christian? After trying in vain to get out... Read more
As further evidence that atheists are as diverse as their faithful counterpart, Alain De Botton has penned a controversial new book called Religion for Atheists. And not surprising, he’s gotten no small amount of push- back from the atheist community for his work. He’s hardly the first to write a book examining the value of religion for an atheist perspective, but his is the most recent. Bruce Sheiman wrote a book in 2009 called An Atheist Defends Religion: Why Humanity... Read more
Christian Piatt
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In