PAULA’S QUESTION: When people say their loved one went to heaven, why doesn’t the preacher tell them that no-one goes straight to heaven? If they did, what would be the reason for the resurrection? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Christian doctrine says that after death a believer’s soul enters the presence of God in the blessedness of heaven, and then in the end times will be reunited with a transformed body. Christianity contrasts with Eastern religions’ belief in reincarnation, a long... Read more

THE QUESTION: If the Bible is a revered guide to morality, why didn’t it abolish slavery? The Guy poses this issue that was raised in many comments posted after our October 17, 2016, “Q and A” about people who abhor Jewish and Christian Scripture. THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Toleration of slavery, in which some people own and control others as property, is a favorite Internet attack skeptics level against the Bible. Greg Carey of Lancaster Theological Seminary says slavery is “the... Read more

RACHAEL’S QUESTION: I’ve heard of Yazidis but don’t know much about them. What are some basics of their beliefs? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: The genocidal effort by the “Islamic State” (I.S.) to exterminate devotees of this small Kurdish religion centered in mountainous northern Iraq is a great moral outrage of the era. The opponents’ bloodthirsty zeal exceeds even the persecution, enslavement, exile, and murder I.S. has visited upon Christians. With Mosul as the current focus of coalition combat to expel I.S.,... Read more

NORMAN’S QUESTION: The Bible is the most-purchased and least-read book of any. What can we do to discourage the reading of this dangerous book? The medieval church kept it wisely in Latin. The damned Protestant Reformers wanted everyone to read it and look what evil that has accomplished! Shall we burn it? Shall we prevent it being sold? I am serious. THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: The Religion Guy would have ignored this one except for the last three words above... Read more

MARK’S QUESTION: Liberal biblical scholars say Abraham never lived and was a literary invention of “priestly” writers in exile in Babylon. Since we have no archaeological data on him, how do we know he really lived? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: The patriarch Abraham is all-important as the revered founding forefather and exemplar of faith in the one God, this not only for Jews and Christians but Muslims, whose Quran parallels some of the biblical account on him in Genesis 11... Read more

NORMAN’S QUESTION (summarized and paraphrased): The New Testament letter of 1st Thessalonians regards the coming of the Kingdom as imminent. But don’t 2nd Thessalonians and later New Testament letters indicate the church was coming to terms with the fact that Paul (and Jesus himself) were mistaken about this? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Experts say the first of the two letters Paul, Silvanus and Timothy sent to friends in the Greek city of Thessalonika was the earliest New Testament book to... Read more

AN ANONYMOUS READER ASKS: In the U.S. there is a strong tendency among certain segments of the population to emphasize only the negatives of Islam and only the positives of Christianity. What would you say to the Christians who believe in beating their children? THE RELIGION GUY ANSWERS: This responds to our July 26 item on verse 4:34 in the Quran that directs husbands to beat rebellious wives, currently a political issue in the Muslim world. Islamic interpreters explain that... Read more

THE QUESTION: What does Islam’s holy book, the Quran, say about husbands beating their wives? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: The Guy is posting this item himself rather than our usual answer to a question posted via the Website because this oft-discussed matter has become an important public dispute. In heavily Muslim Pakistan, the nation’s Parliament is advised by a Council of Islamic Ideology, experts assigned to make sure laws fit the faith’s mandates. The Senate’s human rights committee now wants... Read more

GAIL’S QUESTION: Why don’t the Orthodox and Roman Catholics cross themselves the same way? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Catholic and Orthodox parishioners make the “sign of the cross” before personal prayers, upon entering a church, at various points during worship, and otherwise. Priests make the sign not only during the sacraments but use it to impart blessings on people or objects. Not to mention the familiar sight of superstitious athletes doing so before free throws or penalty kicks. Lately, Communist... Read more

NORMAN’S QUESTION: Given that many religious groups have some very socially undesirable beliefs and, even more, practices, how much does religious liberty in America need to be restricted? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Here’s a sketch of a very complex constellation of issues. The question provides no examples of what’s offensive but The Guy guesses that Norman is a liberal critic of religion who especially decries “socially undesirable” religious stands on moral matters like homosexuality. Such hostility from liberals, in turn,... Read more