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It’s said that within 50 years of our own deaths, every human being who has ever been personally caressed or lashed by our voices will also be dead; while technology can help keep our voices alive a bit longer, it’s not the same as the feel of air currents disturbed by our particular voices coming from our particular throats, is it? People have always craved that direct connection. That’s one of the benefits they get from religion–an instant context in which to perform together and to connect.

There’s a science-fiction novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle called The Gripping Hand. In it, they talk about a three-armed race called “Moties” who have this interesting expression. You know how some folks say “On the one hand.. on the other hand..”? Well, because of their anatomy, in much Read more

It’s time again for another episode of “Christians Behaving Badly.” I’ve seen some additional–and dramatic– stories of Christians who did not actually experience the 180 turnarounds that Christians like to say people experience with Jesus. I’m bringing this up because Christians like to pretend otherwise, and it’s time we really Read more

I hope your holidays are going well so far! Welcome back. I realized not long ago that I’ve made references to “logical Christians” a couple of times here, and I wanted to talk about that idea a little bit now. I truly believe that “logical Christians” are about the very Read more

Christians call their religion the “good news,” but there’s even better news today in the form of an explosive new survey about religious and spiritual opinions in America: we’re getting less religious and more accepting of reality. Who’d’a thunk? Harris Interactive is apparently a big polling and research company based Read more

Weddings make me so emotional. They’re such a raw, visceral statement of hope and love, such a singularity of joy, a shriek of intention heard ‘cross the rooftops of the world. So yes: every state that gets equal marriage, you can bet I’m bawling like a baby over the thrilled Read more

This time of year seems quite appropriate to talk about a virgin birth. Or rather, 46 of them and counting. In a rather surprising long-term study done over 19 years and involving 8,000 participants, researchers followed women over their lifetimes to get some information about women’s sexual behaviors and attitudes. Read more

There’s this TV show about rich backwoods hicks with ZZ Top beards. It’s called “Duck Dynasty.” They own a successful hunting-goods company of some kind and they’re rich but they dress and groom themselves like any bunch of rednecks you’d see at any Southern Wal-Mart in the United States. They Read more

Yes, I saw the Harris Poll and the thing about the virgin births, and we’ll talk about those both really soon, I promise. Today I want to talk about this idea I had as a Christian where I thought that being a Christian was this awesome and wonderful thing and Read more

One of the greatest of all the benefits of Christianity is supposed to be hope. So why do so many Christians seem to lack it? Today we’re going to look at the very sad case of a Christian man who lost hope, and we’re going to talk about some things Read more