Having doubts? Just stop it!
I used to follow Christian author, Frank Viola, a little bit when I was a pastor and a graduate student. I never really cared much for what he was saying. I quoted him in my dissertation but not...
View ArticleAre atheists the most hated group in America?
So, I started a bit of a kerfuffle over on my Year Without God Facebook page last night when I posted this image above with the caption, Can we cut the martyrdom complex? It’s not a competition.By the...
View ArticleDifferent era, same injustice
I’m completely geeking out right now! I’m sitting at the Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT (actually, in the Carriage House next door) where I’m speaking tonight at 7 pm about my Year Without God. I’ve...
View ArticleAdventist “Holy Sexuality Conference” cancelled
UPDATE: Further clarification from the South England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists below —- My former denomination continues to make headlines, though not in the way they’d like, I think. Ben...
View ArticleAmerican Christians scramble for silver lining in Pew religion poll
Pew Research report shows Catholics and Evangelicals both declining, but it’s still good news, they say. Or at least okay. by Ryan Bell and Dan Arel Americans are losing their religion. At least that...
View Article“Mommy, can I draw Muhammad?”
Fellow Patheos Atheist Channel blogger, Wendy Thomas Russell, invited a group of people to participate in a group blogging project. As she writes, “Occasionally this blog features a series called...
View ArticleThe Story of God
Variety announced today that Morgan Freeman will narrate a new TV series scheduled to air in 2016 on the National Geographic Channel, called “The Story of God.” From the story: “God is arguably the...
View ArticleIntimations of Anti-Theism
I’m ambivalent about anti-theism. In general, I think believing in and appealing to invisible, supernatural agents is detrimental to human moral and intellectual development. My feelings about religion...
View ArticleIntroducing Life After God
What happens when you spend six months or a year or five years wondering about the existence of God and concluding that there is, at best, no compelling reason to believe? In particular, what happens...
View ArticleThe religious life of Joe Biden
I can count on one hand the times that a politician has brought me to tears. This interview, which many of you will have no doubt already seen, is one. Vice President Joe Biden’s obviously genuine...
View ArticleLeniency or Amnesty for Victims of Campus Sexual Violence? The Role of Religion
Schools around the country are struggling to address what some say is an epidemic of sexual violence. The U.S. Department of Education, members of both houses of Congress, and well as many academics...
View ArticleAn Open Letter to the President of Pacific Union College
Dear Dr. Heather Knight, I was disappointed to learn this morning that I was dis-invited from the lecture I was to deliver to the Pacific Union College Psychology and Social Work students this Thursday...
View ArticleThe United States becomes steadily more secular
In a follow up report released today, Pew Research Center reveals that the United States is becoming steadily less religious and more secular. Though Pew describes this report as generally revealing “a...
View ArticleHow gods are born and borne in human culture and cognition
One of the most fruitful ongoing conversations I’ve had over the past two years has been with LeRon Shults. We recently met up in Newport Beach where he was attending the annual meeting of the Society...
View ArticleThe Guardian: Ben Carson and his Seventh-day Adventist faith
Earlier this week the Opinion editor at The Guardian emailed me to ask for my thoughts about Ben Carson and what relationships his Seventh-day Adventist faith might have to do with his run for the U.S....
View ArticleThe End of Atheism: a review of Everybody is Wrong About God
In January of 2014, after a long, 19-year career as a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, three theological degrees, and the slow liberalization of my belief system, I began a personal exploration of atheism...
View ArticleThe empty promise of eternal life
One of the perpetual challenges I get from Christians about my new non-belief in the supernatural is the impact this has on life’s present meaning, especially absent any universal, external,...
View ArticleA Human(ist) Revolution
Several of the ideas in this piece were hashed out in conversations with two friends: Cass Midgley and Matthew Faraday. I am indebted to their thoughtful insights in developing this piece. Any...
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