Jesus never addressed the topic of atheism. That fact is hardly surprising since there weren’t any atheists in the ancient Greco-Roman world, and certainly not in the region of Judea and Palestine in which Jesus lived his life. Nonetheless, Jesus’ subversive teaching, so beautifully captured in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, has much to […]
Archives for June 2015
Ten things that are more disturbing than gay marriage
Over the last couple days evangelical Christians (at least the ones I’ve been hearing) have expressed a lot of outrage over the US Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage. With that in mind, I thought I’d offer a short list of ten things that seem to me to be more disturbing than gay marriage. Here […]
Review copies of Is the Atheist My Neighbor? for Bloggers
If you are a blogger interested in a review copy of Is the Atheist My Neighbor? you can email me at the contact section for my website. Send me your name, mailing address, and blog URL and I will forward the request to the publisher. If you prefer an ebook (which should be available in a […]
Many Bad Bibles … and the Worst of them All
I buy bad Bibles. Call it a perverse fascination with consumer culture if you like. I prefer to think of it as a genuine interest in the ceaseless ways that the marketplace finds to represent the Bible to those who have the money to pay for it. The charismatics get Spirit-filled study Bibles, the tree […]
Barack Obama on Is the Atheist My Neighbor?
This one was a real surprise. Apparently somebody in the Washington press gallery snapped this picture the other day of the U.S. president reading my new book. The reporter then asked Obama why he was reading Is the Atheist My Neighbor? and he replied: “If Randal can unite atheists and Christians, maybe I can unite […]
God and Moral Obligation: A Review
C. Stephen Evans. God and Moral Obligation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. John Rabe was a German businessman working in Nanjing, China in 1937 when it became clear that the advancing Japanese army was soon to overrun the city. Given the notorious reputation of the Japanese for brutality, the obvious course of action beckoned: flee the war-torn country by retreating […]
Are we there yet? The long journey to Pluto
This summer, parents around the world are going to endure that familiar whine from the backseat: are we there yet? At those moments just be thankful that your road trip is not as long as the journey of the New Horizons probe to humble Pluto. Here is a great website for the probe with the latest […]
11. The 59-Second Apologist: Is the incarnation a contradiction?
John 1:14 declares that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” But how can it be that the eternal, infinite divine Word became a temporal, finite human being? In this episode of the 59-Second Apologist we seek to bring some illumination to this perennial theological question. For further discussion of the account provided here, see chapter four of […]
Would you sacrifice your son if God told you to?
Yesterday I noticed the following retweet from Secular Outpost in my feed: Dawkins’ question is an example of what I call the “If there is a God then everything is permitted” meme. According to this meme, theism leads to moral chaos because God could command actions that constitute moral atrocities. I frequently encounter this particular […]
Knocking Down the Strawman Theist
In my last article I made some positive comments about Julian Baggini’s book Atheism: A Very Short Introduction. The book is pithy, clear, and presents a very useful explication of how atheism relates to naturalism. Unfortunately, it is also brutal when it comes to engaging theistic philosophy of religion. This becomes readily apparent in chapter […]
Further reflections on Baggini’s Atheism: A Very Short Introduction
Just over a year ago I began reading Julian Baggini’s little book Atheism: A Very Short Introduction. It’s a great little book, far more engaging and reliable than a library of new atheist books. That doesn’t mean I agree with it, however. Indeed, I didn’t get far before I wrote a response “Is atheism a […]
75. Allan Effa on Religious Pilgrimage
Today the idea of pilgrimage seems strange to many of us. But it was not always so. Pilgrimage used to be a common part of life as Christians sought spiritual renewal, a closer walk with God, and perhaps some time off in purgatory along the way. And even long after Protestants had set aside the […]
Is the Atheist My Neighbor? is now in stock at Amazon
At long last, Is the Atheist My Neighbor? is in stock at Amazon.com. And you can order it by turning in the direction of this arrow and clicking on the widget. How’s that for simple?! (Unfortunately, it’s a bit more complicated if you’re reading this on a smart phone.) So join the revolution and read […]
