In my experience, self-described naturalists tend to get irritated when you point out that naturalism often functions as a religion. Perhaps it is because they recognize that there is little space between functions as religion and is a religion just as there is little space between functions as a house and is a house. Granted, for purposes of city […]
religion
If Naturalism Functions as a Religion, Does it Follow that Naturalism is a Religion?
Being Religious Does Not Make You a Theist
Almost a month ago, I published an incredible, awesome article titled “Being a Theist Does Not Make You Religious.” The point was to desynonymize “theism” and “religion,” to break the easy conflation of these terms, to show that a person may be one without being the other. And so, in that article, I established that […]
Being a Theist Does Not Make You Religious
Time and again in conversation with atheists I find them insisting that theism is an essential component of religion. Indeed, it is not uncommon for them to conflate the two as if theism and religion were straight-up interchangeable. They are wrong. Flatly wrong. Being a theist and being religious are two very different things and […]
Does religion impose oppressive dress codes?
One of countless examples of a child being forced to wear something they don't want to wear due to social expectations. Unfortunately, for "Atheist Republic" that common social reality is framed as theism vs. atheism. As if atheist kids never have to wear stuff they don't like????? https://t.co/D9NSjneXw0 — Tentative Apologist (@RandalRauser) February 4, 2019 […]
Would you disciple a Muslim child against his parents’ wishes?
Yesterday on Twitter I posed the following question: Your 15-year-old Muslim neighbor is really interested in Christianity, but his parents have forbidden him from going to church. He just asked you to help him defy his parents' wishes by secretly taking him to church youth group. Do you agree? — Tentative Apologist (@RandalRauser) February 19, […]
The Best Religious Joke Ever isn’t About Religion (and why that matters)
Emo Philips’ 1985 comedy album E=mo2 features a famous joke about meeting a guy on a bridge. He shares that joke in this 1987 comedy performance: In 2005 Philips’ joke was voted the best religious joke ever. The only problem is that in my view the joke isn’t really about religion per se. Rather, it is […]
Sports, violence, and irrational secularists
Let’s approach the matter of religion and violence from a slightly different angle. I lived in London, England for a couple years. One day I was strolling down the sidewalk when I noticed the street had been blocked off at an intersection and a couple dozen bobbies were standing around nervously. Curious, I went up […]
Does religion cause violence?
A commenter named Logic Ninja just posted a comment that made a couple points in the discussion thread to my article “Haha. Imagine that.” The second point concerned the linking of religion and violence. Logic Ninja wrote: “If there were no religion, do you think there’d be MORE war, or LESS? If you answered “more,” […]
Haha. Imagine that.
Ahem, Imagine if you caricatured a complex religious worldview you reject which claims billions of adherents from all cultures, socio-economic backgrounds, and educational levels, by comparing it to an infantilized belief of childhood. And then you went on to ignore all the complex cultural, socio-economic, political, and religious factors that lead to societal violence and war by suggesting the […]
Religious Fanatics
Today Michael Brown tweeted the following: “What the world calls fanaticism and much of the Church calls extremism, God calls normal.” The observation reminded me of a statement that Noam Chomsky once gave about so-called “religious fanaticism”. In the interview Chomsky is asked about religious fundamentalism. He replies, “There have been a lot of cross-cultural studies […]
The Pastafarians have infiltrated my daughter’s school
The other day my daughter reported that three boys in her junior high class came to school wearing colanders on their head and smugly declaring themselves devotees of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I’ve been following Bobby Henderson’s satirical new religion for the better part of the last decade (it was launched in 2005) and I’ve […]
Why Christian presidential candidates need more Christianity in their campaigns
If you’re following the American race for the White House, you might be excused for mistaking the candidates for itinerant preachers. And I’m not just talking about Mike Huckabee. Even Donald Trump has taken to waving a Bible as he publicly mulls over the profundity of Two Corinthians. This kind of behavior has led to many […]
Only One Savior: politics and religious exploitation
Thursday’s Fox News Republican Debate may have lacked Donald Trump, but it more than made up for it with some refreshing moments of political discourse, the high point being John Kasich’s bold call to help the mentally ill. And then there were the low points. Among the lowest was Marco Rubio’s exploitation of religious belief […]
