Dear Christian Friend, I want to ask you a question, but first I have to clarify to whom I am speaking, since the word “Christian” has come to mean so many things it’s hardly even useful anymore. I’m not speaking to my friends and family who’ve gradually been nudged away from That Old Time Religion to something indistinguishable from FOX News. I’m not talking to people who still think Donald Trump is a brilliant businessman and an anointed Man of… Read more
April 17, 2019
Help Me Do What I Do
April 17, 2019 By Neil Carter
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During the school year, for my day job I teach high school Algebra. Then I write in my “spare time” when I probably should be doing something else to help pay the bills (have you ever seen what teachers in Mississippi make?). Aside from a full panel of Daddy duties, I try to use any free time I get to catch up on the writing I haven’t had the time to do during the rest of the week. I’ve finally… Read more
April 13, 2019
A Religion Obsessed with Blood
April 13, 2019 By Neil Carter
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It’s amazing how different your upbringing can look to you after you get some distance from it. I grew up holding certain things as sacred which I now realize are nothing of the sort. Or perhaps I should say I see now that “sacredness” is a subjective value assigned to a thing by an individual or group. What makes it “sacred” is that it’s sacred to them. [ audio | pdf | doc ] Outside that group, however, the magic disappears…. Read more
March 30, 2019
Award-Winning Physicist: Science Doesn’t Support Atheism
March 30, 2019 By Neil Carter
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Last week, Scientific American published an interview with Marcelo Gleiser, a theoretical physics professor at Dartmouth and this year’s winner of the Templeton Prize, in which he said some things about the interplay between science and faith that ruffled some feathers. Gleiser, who identifies as an agnostic, said a number of things I would disagree with, mostly because of the way he seems to be defining his terms. But semantics aside, I have to admit that he makes a legitimate… Read more
March 29, 2019
Faith and the Power of a Magic Feather
March 29, 2019 By Neil Carter
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“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” –Philippians 4:13 Growing up evangelical, no message featured more prominently in my understanding of the Christian life than this verse. After John 3:16, this verse tops just about everybody’s list of favorite Bible passages, rivaled only by the verse in Jeremiah that says “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord…” I know these verses top those charts because I still have a plethora of Christian friends in my… Read more
March 19, 2019
Listening to the Still, Small Voice
March 19, 2019 By Neil Carter
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In my youth group days, we had a skit we would perform in which someone portraying Jesus would follow the protagonist around wherever he went, silently accompanying him throughout his daily routine. Jesus would sit invisibly beside him in class, walk with him through the halls, and even go out with him on dates (creepy), but he’d never say a word. He just stood there, watching. The point of the skit was to drive home that Jesus is there all… Read more
March 12, 2019
Captain Marvel and the Evangelical Male Ego
March 12, 2019 By Neil Carter
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I remember once venerating “the gospel” as a sacred message with which you weren’t supposed to tamper. In fact, I recall reading somewhere that even if an angel from heaven were to appear delivering an alternative message, faithful Christians should disregard it. Given how precisely that comment anticipated the Mormons (I mean Latter-Day Saints), I sometimes wonder if Joseph Smith wasn’t just trolling everybody. In context, Paul was berating the gullible residents of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) for accepting… Read more
March 5, 2019
Why I Chose the Atheist Label
March 5, 2019 By Lori Arnold
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Back in 2014 when I finally came to grips with the fact that I was no longer a Christian—and in fact, an atheist—I made the decision to “come out.” A number of reasons supported this decision, even though I knew by doing so I’d be causing pain and anger and risking rejection and disapproval from family, friends, co-workers, and even possibly future employers. (I was both right and wrong, by the way. While a number of people did react just… Read more
March 4, 2019
Projects in the Works
March 4, 2019 By Neil Carter
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I’ve got about a dozen blog posts in the queue waiting to see the light of day, but life hasn’t yet afforded me the time I need to get them finished. I feel like I’m zeroing in on some seminal ideas, too—maybe not new to everyone else but still new to me—so I’m eager to get the chunks of time I need to get those done. My current crop of students is dramatically accelerating the aging process, plus I think… Read more
March 1, 2019
Kissing Hank’s Butt
March 1, 2019 By Neil Carter
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**Originally this story appeared under a slightly different title, but I’ve altered a couple of words so people can share it with a wider audience.** This morning there was a knock at my door. When I answered the door I found a well groomed, nicely dressed couple. The man spoke first: John: “Hi! I’m John, and this is Mary.” Mary: “Hi! We’re here to invite you to come kiss Hank’s butt with us.” Me: “Pardon me?! What are you talking about?… Read more
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