Reading Time: 5 minutes Like most Afghans, Rahim was born a Muslim. Not that he cared much about religion. What he did care about was flying. And being a bright adventurous young man, he became a pilot. With Aryana, the Afghan Airlines, that flew, among other routes, from Kabul to London. The line started operating three years before I […]
conversion
Posted inEducation
A Christian school had kids write letters persuading a friend to stop being gay
Reading Time: 4 minutes The Christian Academy of Louisville in Kentucky told students to write letters urging a fictional gay friend to renounce homosexuality. The assignment, which was due on Thursday, came to light after a parent of one of the students shared screenshots of the rubric with a friend, who then posted them online. The assignment was apparently […]
Posted inLGBTQ News
Well, Boris Johnson, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten us into!
Reading Time: 4 minutes From Brexit through to the Partygate scandal, Britain’s posturing prat of a prime minister managed to turn the UK into an international laughing stock—and he’s now landed the country in another pickle over the cancellation of an international LGBT+ conference his own administration organized. Last year, the Conservative government called on businesses and individuals to […]
Posted inReligion
Manga Messiah: Another Bait and Switch Evangelism Attempt in Japan
Reading Time: 10 minutes Out of everywhere evangelicals seek to make sales, Japan might be one of their most resistant evangelism markets. But three dishonest evangelical couples have recently decided to use some beloved Japanese art forms to lure in unsuspecting marks: cosplay, fake collectibles, and a manga-style comic book called Manga Messiah.
Posted inGeneral
The Conversion of Bernice Krueger in ‘This Present Darkness’ (LSP #154, Ch. 36-37)
Reading Time: 8 minutes Hi and welcome back! We turn our attention now to Frank Peretti’s 1986 novel, This Present Darkness. In this installment, the finale continues to build. And that means that Peretti continues to move a bunch of plastic cut-outs shaped like people around on his gameboard to their rightful places. So far, Bernice Krueger has escaped his […]
Posted inReligion
The Heartbreak of the Teen Zealot
Reading Time: 9 minutes Recently, I saw something that downright dismayed me: a young evangelical who’s very upset about upsetting her family with evangelism. It reminded me very much of how I acted at that age. As you can imagine, her tribe gave the very worst advice imaginable. Today, let me show you the damage youthful zealots can do to their relationships and lives, and why it doesn’t bother older Christians in the least to encourage this behavior.
Posted inPsychology, The Secular
Conversions from Atheism: Ritual Behaviours
Reading Time: 5 minutes I recently posted a few posts in a series of articles concerning some research by Joseph Langston into conversions from atheism to Christianity. As he predicted, a kickback from atheists was on the cards. This can be seen in the posts and the comments to these posts: On Atheist Conversions to Christianity How I Define […]
Posted inThe Secular
Langston on the Validity of Christian Conversions from Atheism
Reading Time: 10 minutes I recently posted the first in a series of articles concerning some research by Joseph Langston into conversions from atheism to Christianity. As he predicted, and as you can see from his writing here below, a kickback from atheists was on the cards. I fully understand why atheists will push back on claims of atheist […]
Posted inPsychology, The Secular
On Atheist Conversions to Christianity
Reading Time: 5 minutes I have edited a collection of deconversion accounts from different religions to atheism and agnosticism titled Beyond an Absence of Faith – it’s a great book and I would love you all to grab a copy. I was recently contacted by Joseph Langston, who works with a group called the Atheist Research Collaborative. He was telling me about […]
Posted inUncategorized
The Conversion/Deconversion Wars: Islam and Christianity
Reading Time: 3 minutes It turns out that (American) Islam is losing Muslims at a pretty high rate. About a quarter of adults raised Muslim deconvert. The problem is, from a secularist’s point of view, is that just as many convert to the religion. It has a high conversion rate, especially when compared to Christianity. Islam is growing by […]