Category Archives: Atheism

FASCINATING STUDY OF SOMEONE WE THOUGHT WE KNEW!

This is the fourth book I’ve read by the author.

Larsen is a top-notch scholar who has a good nose for the telling anecdote. He is astute in finding evidence that corrects popular, but wrongheaded views, especially those that relate to his area of expertise, the Victorian Era.

This biography on Mill is everything you would want. It is elegantly written, the author brilliantly corrects various misguided notions, and you learn about a person that is all too easy for us religious types to dismiss.

Highly recommended!

I should add that I am hoping Oxford offers this as a paperback at a lower price.

TOP TEN CHRISTMAS SONGS FOR ATHEISTS

The criteria: Songs cannot have any mention of God, Jesus,

angels, saints, or miracles. Not even in Latin.

10. White Christmas

9. Jingle Bells

8. Sleigh Ride

7. Silver Bells

6. We Wish You a Merry Christmas

5. Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

4. Santa Baby

3, Carol of the Bells

2. Winter Wonderland

1. Deck the Halls. It’s totally gorgeous. It’s unrepentantly

cheerful — jolly, one might even say — with just a hint of

that haunting spookiness that makes for the best Christmas

songs. It celebrates all the very best parts of Christmas: singing,

 playing music, decorating, dressing up, telling stories, hanging

around fires, and generally being festive with the people we love…

And it doesn’t mention God, or Jesus, or angels, or virgin births,

or magical talking animals, or redemption of guilt through blood sacrifice,

or any supernatural anything. Not even once. Heck, it doesn’t even

mention Christmas.

https://www.alternet.org/2010 + Add New Category /12/10_best_christmas_songs_for_atheists/

HOW CAN YOU PROTEST?

Christians have a solid basis for saying something may be legal, but remain immoral.  Abortion is a good example.
Atheists don’t have a good basis for saying is immoral even if it’s illegal.  Think of the scandals brought to the fore by the MeToo movement.
On what basis can someone protest when they don’t believe in God?

MORTALITY

This is the second book I’ve read by the happy atheistic gadfly, Christopher Hitchens.  His writing is beautiful, funny, and makes you think, even, perhaps especially, when you disagree with him.

This was his last book.  He was dying of esophageal cancer.  

Read to find out how an atheist can have better theology than the silly notions of too many Christians.  Read for the enjoyment of engaging great writing.  Read to consider what kind of friend you want to be to your atheist friends.  I hope you have some!

SO SIMPLE, SO NEGLECTED

Watching the video I posted yesterday reminds me of a simple, yet widely neglected truth: Christians must wrestle with the beliefs of their faith.  We are now embarrassed to say doctrine and theology.  Sounds too impractical.  If people come to that tragic conclusion, it is either the teacher’s fault or it could be the student’s fault.  But it is never the subject of vibrant and life-giving theology.  And notice how I felt compelled to modify theology.  Maybe I am too defensive!

What happens when we mainly attract people to church with the social benefits, yet they don’t really understand much of what the Christian faith is about?  Well, if they get troubled and want to ask probing questions, they might be told good Christians don’t struggle with such things.  I’ve heard my share of such horror stories.

Christianity is true, but rightly understood it is beautiful, compelling, worth everything we are and have.

GRAB A STRONG CUP OF COFFEE

Warning, and I am serious: Make sure you are ready spiritually to listen to the eighteen minute clip below.  Bart is the son of the famous, Christian speaker Tony Campolo.  Bart started many ministries, but recently became the first secular humanist chaplain at USC.

Below is the article followed by his short talk.  This is the kind of stuff that motivates me to put together a new seminar called “Listening to Skeptics and Doubters.”  Here is the brief description of that course/seminar.  If you know of a church or any organization who would be interested in having it, drop me a note at davidgemoore@gmail.com.

As Christians we understandably are quick to answer the questions raised by detractors of the gospel. 

In this course/seminar/talk (all options are available), I will certainly offer responses to the objections raised by those outside the Christian faith, but I seek to do something more. 

My approach follows somewhat in the spirit of Christian philosopher, Merold Westphal.  He patiently allowed Freud, Marx, and Nietzsche to bring their various cases against Christianity.  Then he did what most Christians don’t: he conceded that some of their concerns were valid.  Professor Westphal offered answers, but first he gave ample time so these three “masters of suspicion” could speak freely.  

We will look at five challenges to the Christian faith from the nineteenth century.  All five challenges remain with us today:

*Critiques of Christianity from writers like Emerson and Melville along with the serial doubter, poet Emily Dickinson.

*New challenges due to immigration of moving from a largely Protestant nation to more of a “banquet” of religious options.

*Processing the carnage of the Civil War, numerically a 9/11 every day for about seven years!

*Attacks on the Bible from radical scholars which caused many to lose confidence in the Christian faith.

*A new paradigm of origins thanks to Charles Darwin.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2014/september/deconversion-some-thoughts-on-bart-campolos-departure-from-.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IDoNAWOC5g

TALKING TO AN ATHEIST PART 4

Among other things, it seems all of us long for two things.  First, we want our own individual lives to matter, and second, we want to be part of something bigger than ourselves.  The first, I will call “unique impact” and the second, “community.”   Think about work as one example.  At work, we don’t want to be the proverbial cog in the wheel.  Rather, we want our individual contribution to be seen as unique, and therefore integral to the success of the company. Appreciating individual abilities is why so many companies recognize employees with awards.  We all love to be valued for what we uniquely bring to the table.  It seems we are designed for “unique impact.”

On the other side of things, we desire to be part of something bigger than ourselves.  We long to be part of a group of people who truly love and care for one another.  That is community.

If we are hard-wired for “unique impact” and “community,” where might these come from?  Understanding the Christian view of God provides a clue. Christians believe in one God, yet three Persons, all of whom are fully God. It is not a pie where each Person of the trinity is 33.333% God.  Neither is the trinity a belief in three gods.  There is a deep mystery with the trinity to be sure, but think about this.  The Bible says each Person in the trinity has unique roles and functions, yet all three Persons of the trinity are in complete harmony with one another.  If you are created in the “image of the triune God” as the Bible states, doesn’t it make sense that this is where your desire for “unique impact” and “community” would arise?  Search out other religions and philosophies.  You will find the trinity is unique.  

TALKING TO AN ATHEIST PART 3

I reminded my atheist correspondent that the Christian God is unique.  That in and of itself does not make it true, but it should cause us to pause, especially when we think about the other major religions.
Islam and Judaism have a big God (theologians like to call this transcendence), but their God does not come near (what theologians call immanence).
Hinduism and Buddhism have a god(s) who may be very near, especially with the latter’s pantheism, but transcendence gets lost.
Christianity has both: a transcendent God who comes near.
Again, unique, but that is not quite an argument for its truthfulness. 
The final post on Tuesday about the trinity does make a case that is compelling from the standpoint of truth, so stay tuned.