Reading Time: 7 minutes OnlySky · Our biggest mistake: We did as we were told | Neil Carter Those of us who broke up with Jesus (he wouldn’t return our calls) are accustomed to having our motives and our sincerity questioned by those still happy with their faith. We get it all the time. We hear that we weren’t authentic enough, […]
faith
Posted inLeaving Religion
The two main reasons I left my faith
Reading Time: 5 minutes OnlySky · The two main reasons I left my faith | Neil Carter For us ex-evangelicals, the Christian message was framed as an invitation to a personal relationship with the Creator of the universe. It wasn’t until after we accepted the invitation that they turned around and shamed us for wanting such a thing. It […]
Posted inReligion
How Christianity is like Bitcoin
Reading Time: 4 minutes OnlySky · How Christianity is like Bitcoin RIP my inbox, I know. But hear me out. I can imagine a world in which cryptocurrencies are safe, secure, and more readily accessible to a broader range of people. Perhaps that day will come, but we are nowhere near there yet. Today, cryptocurrencies are still plagued by […]
Posted inFiction
Faith with a smile
Reading Time: 2 minutes Guest post by Bert Bigelow, a long-time contributor to A Tippling Philosopher. Sometimes dreams can be quite entertaining. Here is one I had recently. I was shopping for veggies at a local farmer’s market, and I noticed a guy who was watching me closely. In fact, he was staring at me. Now, I am not […]
Posted inMeaning & Purpose
The resurrection of Ethical Culture
Reading Time: 5 minutes This one’s for my people. My Ethical Culture people, the people I spoke to in my last column declaring Ethical Culture “dead.” I have heard from a lot of you in the day since my column was published. Some of you are angry. Some of you are sad. Some of you are relieved that someone […]
Posted inMeaning & Purpose
Ethical Culture is dead. Long live congregational humanism!
Reading Time: 10 minutes I can pinpoint the exact moment I realized Ethical Culture was dead. I had just struggled through yet another virtual board meeting, the discussion dominated by an issue that had riven our tiny federation of humanist congregations for months. Once again, institutional dysfunction was getting in the way of progress. We had a clear opportunity […]
Posted inSecularism
Christians need their faith to be true
Reading Time: 7 minutes When you leave the Christian faith, people come out of the woodwork to impugn your motives for leaving. First I was informed that I did it so that I could have more sex, then I was told I did it to make money. Someone else said I must have a problem with authority because I […]
Posted inUncategorized
Faith as a Foundation for Belief
Reading Time: < 1 minute Short one today, as I am being interviewed by Harmonic Atheist (Tim Mills) on the Resurrection AND giving a presentation to Florida Atheists on the same topic tonight. This: Discuss. Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A Tippling Philosopher You can also buy me a cuppa. Or buy some of my awesome […]
Posted inPolitics
Why the church keeps getting Covid wrong
Reading Time: 5 minutes I live in the Deep South, and now that the Delta variant is here, I’m back to wearing a mask again wherever I go. School started back for us last week, and masks are mandatory because our district doesn’t have any wealthy white people bullying the school board into disregarding the pleas of every hospital […]
Posted inReligion
What’s wrong with asking for a miracle?
Reading Time: 6 minutes When people ask me why I left my faith, I always find myself spending the first part of the conversation discounting assumptions they bring about why this keeps happening to people they know. They usually reach for one of several non-rational causes: Somebody hurt you once You went to the wrong church You just want […]