Analyzing Christianity
God’s Not Dead, but he’s sure mortally embarrassed (Review)
“God’s Not Dead” is an incredibly inept and horrible movie, and this is my full summary of it.
Analyzing Christianity
The Vast Comfort of Literalism
Ever wonder how someone converts into fundamentalist or evangelical Christianity? Here’s how I ended up there.
Analyzing Christianity
The Handbook: The second big mistake apologists make
Last time we talked about apologists, we talked about their first big mistake: that they start with a conclusion and find some kind of logic that will get them to that conclusion. That’s called arguing top-down. In bottom-up arguing, one starts with observations and measurements and builds the argument around Read more
Analyzing Christianity
A particularly ugly episode in the anti-abortion culture war
It’s been a rather mind-blowing week over in Christian Bizarro-land. The anniversary of the landmark decision Roe v. Wade was coming up, and it happened to coincide with the start of a legislative session in Congress, so naturally there’s been quite a lot of grandstanding and showboating going on as Christianist politicians and religious leaders alike jockey to demonstrate who loves fetuses the most.
Analyzing Christianity
The Handbook: Circular Arguments.
I’ve compared the efforts of Christian apologists to watching a Roomba repeatedly hit a wall, and nowhere do we see that analogy in action better than with a circular argument. That was one of the early topics I tackled here here on this blog like a year and a half ago, but I want to discuss circular arguments because since then I’ve noticed even more that Christians like circular arguments–almost as much as this tuxedo cat likes riding its Roomba.
Analyzing Christianity
William Lane Craig’s moral failings are far worse than mine
Way too many Christians talk a very big game about having a monopoly on morality. They even frequently claim that non-Christians either lack the capacity for morality or are aping Christianity’s monopoly on it. But they’re wrong. The worst moral failings aren’t found in the Bible. No, for that dubious honor we must look to the people who use the Bible to excuse their own moral failings.
Analyzing Christianity
The Unequally Yoked Club: Second Fiddle.
Today I read a downright heartbreaking post (that now seems to have disappeared, alas, sorry gang) (re-ETA: see comments, someone found it again!) about an ex-Christian man who is rightfully upset that his significant other is getting more and more involved in religion. It was called “I Won’t Play Second Read more
Analyzing Christianity
A Tale of Two Megachurches.
One of the reasons I tend to be so optimistic about America’s future is that we are slowly coming to our senses about some of the religious overreach that’s been going on recently. I know that–especially given the dismal outcome of the last election–that it can sometimes feel overwhelming, but I don’t think that my optimism is at all out of place. Here are two examples of why I think that.
Analyzing Christianity
The one thing Christian parents aren’t doing
Given the demonization done of ex-Christians and atheists, given how little most folks–especially fundagelical parents–know about either group, given how poorly most Christian denominations understand real love, I can totally get why parents might worry about the state of their kids’ spiritual health. It’s misplaced, but it’s still there.
Analyzing Christianity
The Unequally Yoked Club: The real threat is love
Last time we talked about how church leaders and teachers have been pushing the false idea for years that marriages must be “based on Jesus” or else terrible things will happen to the couples involved. Today we’ll talk about some of those terrible things, and then we’ll talk about the Read more