Codex Disbelievium
The Power of Prayer, Part Two (and the beginning of the end of faith)
I needed answers, and I needed them quickly.
Codex Disbelievium
The Power of Prayer: Part One (the Lead-Up)
It’s not an exaggeration to say that tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people were praying for Daniel’s recovery from brain cancer. He was one of the Big Name Fans in our denomination; we had ties to mission churches all over the world as well. I was one of the people who spent quite some time on her knees praying for Daniel’s recovery. Even Biff, who very rarely prayed anywhere but in church, prayed for him. We were absolutely convinced that God would heal him. Why wouldn’t he?
Analyzing Christianity
The cloud has moved: How I almost joined a cult
Communities get these ideas sometimes to live together and re-enact their ideals. It’s part of being human. But things can go hideously wrong in authoritarian groups, and I’ll show you how today.
Codex Disbelievium
Cassidy wept. (Or, the Problem of Suffering)
I still remember where I was standing and what I was doing the first time I ever saw a tornado. I was in my late 20s by now. I lived in the smack middle of Kansas in a tiny town notable mostly for being a convenient stop on the highway Read more
The Games We Play
Defining Moments: Rapture Scare, Part Two.
All this time, despite my misgivings about the very un-Christlike people in my church’s leadership and in my own little family, I spent a lot of time at the church, as one might expect. My mother’d been downright alarmed when she’d realized I was spending five out of every seven Read more
Analyzing Christianity
Mike Warnke: Inaugural member of the Cult of Before Stories
The Christian love of bombastic testimonies creates a ‘cult of before stories’ full of believers who richly reward their biggest liars.
Analyzing Christianity
How my boyfriend got exorcised
Now that I wasn’t involved in weird evangelical churches anymore, I blossomed at last in the late 80s. I discovered the Drama Club at school, slowly made normal friends, and tried to fit in. I got involved with a historical re-enactment group called the Society for Creative Anachronism and found Read more
The Games We Play
Defining Moments: The Weird Kid
I’m out of the Southern Baptist megachurch by now and sitting in the school library at a long table with some girlfriends researching something or other. The library is built right in the middle of the school building itself, with glass walls so anybody inside can see everything going on Read more
The Games We Play
GMing the Antichrist.
Over the years of my youth, I got involved first in comic books, then in Dungeons & Dragons. Mom was just happy I was out of the house and talking to real people instead of staring fixedly at the tiny little television in my bedroom playing Atari games. Once my Read more
Codex Disbelievium
Defining Moments: The First Step.
Everybody says their Catholics are the most hardcore, but I’m here to tell you that my German-Polish family is probably a front-runner for the gold medal winners of Catholic fervor. I grew up thinking everybody had an aunt named Sister Seraphia and uncles with fancy collars. We even had a Read more