Reading Time: 2 minutes It’s always a good feeling to get a letter like this one, from a correspondent who asked to remain anonymous for now. Hearing that I played a part in someone’s deconversion brightens my whole day. I don’t get letters like this every day, but I do get them from time to time, and I treasure […]
Correspondence
Posted inGeneral
I Get Religious Mail: Bibles for China
Reading Time: 3 minutes Like Western businesses seeking to expand, religious evangelists are engaging in calculated self-censorship.
Posted inGeneral
Letter-Writing Wednesday: Andrew Cuomo’s Bad Faith
Reading Time: 2 minutes Dear Governor Cuomo: As a New York State resident and a Democrat, I was dismayed to read that you vetoed a bipartisan bill passed by the legislature to reform the state’s woefully inadequate public-defender system. What’s even more disgraceful is that you let the legislature pass the bill back in June of last year and […]
Posted inGeneral
Letter-Writing Wednesday: Don’t Help Republicans Govern
Reading Time: 3 minutes We owe our opponents across the aisle the same respect and consideration they showed us.
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From the Mailbag: Activism Makes a Difference
Reading Time: 3 minutes As you can imagine, I’ve been feeling pretty pessimistic since the 2016 election. It’s seriously undermined my positive and optimistic view of America’s future. But I’ve always believed that minds are changed one at a time, and as slow and difficult as that is, it’s the only way to bring about lasting transformation in a […]
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I Get Religious Mail: St. John’s Folly
Reading Time: 2 minutes I’m continually surprised by what people are willing to declare a “charitable” cause and ask others for money for. This week, I got a solicitation in the mail that pushes those boundaries even further: This letter is asking for money to help pay for the upkeep of St. John the Divine, a huge Episcopal cathedral […]
Posted inGeneral
I Get Religious Mail: That’s Not What “Miracle” Means
Reading Time: 3 minutes A Christian charity that wants to cure people of a disease God sends to punish sinners.
Posted inGeneral
I Get Religious Mail: Trust in God, Go Hungry Anyway
Reading Time: 3 minutes The apologetic doublethink required to believe in miracles while asking for donations.
Posted inGeneral
From the Mailbag: Minds Do Change
Reading Time: 2 minutes Changing your mind about the belief system that’s defined your life is a rare occurrence, one that demands an uncommon degree of courage and intellectual honesty. For obvious reasons, it’s something that atheist bloggers don’t expect to see too often, even if most of us would say that helping it happen is the whole purpose […]
Posted inGeneral
I Get Religious Mail: Bibles, Not Peace
Reading Time: 2 minutes The flow of religious junk mail in my mailbox seems to be accelerating. Here’s the latest, a begging letter from the American Bible Society. (Click for larger.) The thrust of this solicitation is that American soldiers deployed abroad desperately want to read Bibles, but somehow can’t get any – a near-certain falsehood to begin with, […]