Godless in Dixie - Skepticism with a bit of a drawl.

Why Christianity Keeps Producing Hypocrites

December 11, 2018 By Neil Carter

Few things are more central to human nature than hypocrisy. In a way, our whole existence is a lifelong attempt to “fake it till you make it.” We learn by imitation, which means we are always pretending to be something which we have not yet become…right up until the moment that we’re no longer faking it. That’s why imposter syndrome is such a common struggle. But in time we become what we mimic; as historian Will Durant reminds us in paraphrasing… Read more

Deconstructing My Religion: A CBS Documentary (Video)

December 4, 2018 By Neil Carter

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Last night CBS Religion & Culture aired a short documentary (26:55) about the ongoing struggles of people who were raised in evangelical Christian churches but later left them for any one of dozens of possible reasons. Followers of this blog know that’s very much in my wheelhouse, and some may even remember CBS Sunday Morning including me in one of their previous treatments of this subject as a part of their coverage of the Openly Secular campaign. They interviewed half… Read more

What’s a Church For, Anyway?

December 3, 2018 By Neil Carter

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I recently wrote about a revelation of sorts that I feel I need to unpack a bit more. I attended a large Baptist church in an affluent community not too far from where I live and witnessed first-hand how sincerely some white evangelicals are struggling to understand why all their valiant efforts at winning the culture wars in America haven’t actually made anything better. In fact, things seems to be getting progressively worse every day. To be sure, they’ve won… Read more

Disagreeing with You Doesn’t Mean I Hate You

November 29, 2018 By Neil Carter

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From time to time I get commenters who accuse me of hating Christians and, no matter how sincerely I implore them to show me where in my writings I demonstrate hatred for them, they always seem to just keep repeating the assertion without offering anything specific. This both fascinates me and annoys me. Granted, this accusation tends to come from people who haven’t read much at all of what I’ve written. In fact, I usually get the sense that commenters like… Read more

How the Church Became What Jesus Hated

November 22, 2018 By Neil Carter

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While I’ve considered myself an atheist for nearly a decade now, sometimes I go back to church again just to remind myself of why I left it all behind in the first place. The experience rarely disappoints. The past two free weekends I decided to visit a church I had never been to before—even though I did go to kindergarten there when I was little. Or rather I went there when it was still in its old location, back before… Read more

Outgrowing Our Religion: Are We Ready?

November 18, 2018 By Neil Carter

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An old friend from my church days pulled me aside one day to ask me a few questions about why I left the faith. I appreciated her willingness to talk to me, especially given that her husband, with whom I had been closer, hadn’t spoken a word to me since he first heard the news. After grilling me about a handful of topics, she quipped that she didn’t see any horns sprouting out of my head. I didn’t at all… Read more

Husband to Wife: Without Jesus You’re Unlovable

November 4, 2018 By Neil Carter

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I interact almost daily with friends who no longer buy the Christian story but whose families still do, and you wouldn’t believe the things they hear about themselves from their loved ones. Or maybe you would. If you’ve ever been the only skeptic in a sea of devout believers, it’s quite possible that nothing will surprise you. One friend who kept her atheism from her evangelical Christian husband for years finally told him the truth just a few weeks ago,… Read more

What the Great Pumpkin Teaches Us About Faith

October 31, 2018 By Neil Carter

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Like every year before, last night my girls and I dusted off our copy of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown to watch while we carved our own pumpkin to greet trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood. I love watching how my daughters’ faces squinch up as they grope around inside the gutted gourd, extracting seeds and goop to make room for the little candle we’ll put inside. I also enjoy watching Linus van Pelt perennially gushing about The Great Pumpkin, a fictitious being… Read more

What the Church Is Doing Right

October 18, 2018 By Lori Arnold

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I work for a humanitarian network, so I spend a lot of time talking about service in the community. At work recently, I participated in a number of meetings with different individuals discussing ways to increase service delivery and the engagement of volunteers. Unsurprisingly, what came up over and over again was people’s involvement in their churches. They shared the different missions and ministries their congregations are involved in, and these conversations made me want to turn the page a little… Read more

Smallfoot: Following the Evidence Wherever It Leads

October 12, 2018 By Neil Carter

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“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” –Upton Sinclair This past weekend I went to see the movie Smallfoot, and I gotta tell ya, it hit me in the feels. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a cinematic masterpiece, and if you’re not much for animated flicks, you’re probably not going to care much for this one, either. But with four daughters I’ve been a… Read more