ROD ASKS: Was Marx right? Is religion the opiate of the masses? THE RELIGION GUY ANSWERS: This blog’s third item about atheism and atheists in seven weeks!  Rod cites the famous quote about religion from a 26-year-old Karl Marx in 1844, four years before he co-authored the momentous “Communist Manifesto.” Here’s the full context in his typically prolix prose, from the introduction to “A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right”: “The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly... Read more

ANNE ASKS: What is the explanation for today’s “young earth” movement among evangelicals? THE RELIGION GUY ANSWERS: This question  highlights the split between many Christians in science and a wing within conservative Protestantism that believes Genesis chapter 1 requires a “young earth” chronology with earth and all living things originating some 10,000 years ago, not the billions of years in conventional science. Confusingly, this is called “creationism” though Christians who accept the long chronology also believe God created earth and... Read more

DANIEL ASKS: Is it becoming possible to be religious without believing in god? (the lower-case “god” is Daniel’s usage) THE RELIGION GUY ANSWERS: This is partially a repeat from March 22, 2013 when The Guy posted “Is atheism a ‘religion’? Is the Pope Protestant?” That headline indicated the idea seems ludicrous on its face. Yet, as the item explained, things are actually somewhat complicated. The Guy won’t repeat that material here. Meanwhile there’s intense interest not only in definitions but... Read more

MICHAEL-ANN’S QUESTION: While millions observed Easter Sunday or the Passover season April 20, some folks were celebrating the annual “4-20,” numerical code for the marijuana subculture. That coincidence caused Michael-Ann to wonder “how many religions use weed (and other mind-altering drugs) to reach spirituality?” THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: The best-known example is the Rastafarians, who are deeply rooted in Jamaica and among U.S. immigrants from that nation. Rastas, easily identified by their dreadlocks, smoke “ganga” in worship though they prohibit... Read more

THE RELIGION GUY EXPLAINS that no-one has yet posted a question on the June 30 U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing certain religious exemptions from the Obama Administration’s birth control mandate. So The Guy is posting his own analysis of an important case that highlights the nation’s religious, moral, legal, and political divisions. The case involved the Hobby Lobby craft stores and two smaller businesses wholly owned by evangelical Protestant families. They believe that because human life begins at conception it’s... Read more

JOHN ASKS: [Dietrich Bonhoeffer] was a hero and martyr for the faith, but is it possible evangelical Christians in America have lionized someone whose theology is not actually in sync with theirs? THE RELIGION GUY ANSWERS: Books by and about Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945) sell without letup, including no less than seven biographies since 2010, plus novels, plays, films, unending articles, even an opera. The German Lutheran pastor is one of the past century’s most revered authors with must-read titles... Read more

DUANE’S QUESTION: He’d like to know what The Religion Guy was talking about in this from “Religion Q and A” on June 8: “When atheists seized governments in the 20th Century they fused their belief in unbelief with state power and enforced it with a cruel vengeance unmatched by the worst cross-and-crown tyrannies during Christendom’s bygone centuries.” THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: The Guy was thinking of hard facts about Communists holding political power. To explain the comment (which compared Communism with... Read more

MADDIE ASKS: How much of … eastern and western religions have had an influence on the [atheistic Chinese Communist] Party’s ideology? THE RELIGION GUY ANSWERS: Not much, on the surface, but there’s obvious affinity with Confucianism that the Communist authorities don’t admit. However — Is Confucianism a “religion” or a mere humanistic philosophy, since it lacks defined gods and supernaturalism? Dr. G. Wright Doyle, director of the scholarly Global China Center (www.globalchinacenter.org), is currently in China researching Maddie’s issue and has... Read more

LISA ASKS: Do all religions teach separation between church and state? If not, which ones, and why? THE RELIGION GUY ANSWERS: Separation of church and state (the usual phrasing though “of religion and state” is often more accurate) is an achievement of modern politics and by no means a universal one. Among world religions, after long struggle Christianity helped create the concept and broadly favors aspects of it in most countries.  Islam stands at the opposite end of the spectrum, often considering it alien... Read more

SANDRA ASKS: Can common ground be found to unite the Ukrainian-speaking and Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine [and could the harmony across church lines] during the Maidan protests point the way? THE RELIGION GUY ANSWERS: Possibly. But this troubled nation with a declining population of 45 million has excruciating religious and political history to overcome. It is blessed and cursed by geography, with rich farmlands and mineral resources yet perennially caught between East and West. Now that Russia has seized power... Read more