I saw this on Facebook. It is right at the intersection of religion and science fiction. But I am not sure what to make of it. Also at the intersection of Star Wars and the Bible is this: Read more
I saw this on Facebook. It is right at the intersection of religion and science fiction. But I am not sure what to make of it. Also at the intersection of Star Wars and the Bible is this: Read more
Via the Patheos Progressive Christian Channel on Facebook. Read more
Scott Bailey shared the promotional video for the upcoming series on the History Channel, Bible Secrets Revealed, on YouTube. I do not think that it will change your mind about everything you think about the Bible. But they really did interview some of the world’s leading scholars – and also me! Read more
Jeri Lofland shared her testimony about the impact of Ken Ham on her life, and how it led to her current atheism, on the blog Heresy in the Heartland, in a post with the title “Ken Ham: The Evolution of a Bully.” It was since picked up by the blog Homeschoolers Anonymous. UPDATE: The above image seemed to provide an even more relevant accompaniment to this post than the one I originally used. I found it online on Goodreads, shared... Read more
Yaholo Hoyt wrote a post about “God boxes” and this part really jumped out at me: I have met many Christians who feel like accepting others “as they are” without converting them is somehow betraying what they believe. But what good are your beliefs if they simply keep you away from others? If your beliefs do not empower you to love others, then they have no value at all, no matter how “right” they are. Accepting others does not invalidate... Read more
Jeremy Myers wrote a blog post “Biblical Illiteracy is Not a Problem.” I really wanted to be able to disagree, given the title. But I don’t. The point of his post is that, if Christians knew only small snippets of the Bible – “Love God” and “Love your neighbor” – and actually practiced it, that would be OK, even if they did not know more. From this perspective, it is not illiteracy, but refusal to put into practice what we... Read more
This year’s war on Christmas has begun. It is being waged by groups such as Liberty Counsel, who are encouraging Christians to avoid interacting with non-Christians once again (and also illustrating hypocrisy by not putting Chick-fil-A on their naughty list, as Hemant Mehta highlights). If my calculation was right last year when I wrote about this, then that makes this the eleventh annual attempt by the group to undermine Christmas. Also seeking to undermine Christmas are the makers of the... Read more
HT Bob Cargill. Making a video while driving, and claiming that having a preview for a documentary series with no preachers in it is somehow equivalent to what Hitler did, makes you seem ridiculous. No, really, much more ridiculous than the sensationalized claims in the ads for the documentary series – and those are pretty ridiculous (they say that the series will challenge everything you think you know about the Bible!) I can’t help but wonder whether someone paid this... Read more
The above cartoon appeared in the newspaper the same day we started discussing Goethe's Faust in my class. We have not reached his deal with Mephistopheles yet, but will next time. I usually get students to discuss what, if anything, they would sell their soul for – or, if they are not comfortable with that scenario, then what they would wish for if they had one wish. Despite what Hemant Mehta famously did, I do not believe you can really... Read more
Not everyone debates religion in the way the Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal cartoon below depicts. And it is problematic when religion tries to be like arithmetic. And yet I wonder how much it is the desire to offer proofs in a manner that only math can, that leads to debates about religion taking the form they sometimes do in our time. Read more
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