Reading Time: 3 minutes The evidence for Christianity may be lacking, but it sometimes does deliver on one promise, the promise of hope. But look closer, and you’ll see that Christian hope has downsides.
Psychological manipulation
Posted inReligion
How to stop enabling a spiritual narcissist
Reading Time: 4 minutes OnlySky · How to stop enabling a spiritual narcissist | Becky Garrison When I read stories such as the blinged-out Brooklyn bishop robbed at gunpoint of more than $1 million worth of jewelry, new allegations of Ted Haggard behaving inappropriately with young men, or the ongoing scandals facing holy hipsters such as Hillsong Church, I […]
Posted inReligion
You are nothing without your pimp Jesus Christ
Reading Time: 4 minutes From the dimly lit corner of the main room of the strip club, I see a man sitting by himself. He catches me looking and gestures for me to come over. As I approach, he is wearing a warm smile and has a distinct twinkle in his eye. He says, “Looks like you’re having a […]
Posted inGeneral
How Controlling People Try to Force Forgiveness
Reading Time: 6 minutes That’s what I saw in that one video that I wish I could find again. In the context of apologizing, an influencer got up on stage and began talking about her own apparent requirements for granting forgiveness. She told her audience that if someone comes to her admitting their mistake and owning up to it, then she forgives them. Ta-da! Very clearly, she was ordering her audience to do the same for her.
Posted inReligion, Science
It’s All in How You Ask the Questions: Christian Polls
Reading Time: 7 minutes How questioners phrase their questions really matters — and quite a few Christians very obviously do not want to gather accurate information.
Posted inReligion
Blame ≠ Evidence (More Cherished Christian Myths)
Reading Time: 8 minutes Today, let me show you how toxic Christians resort to blame games when they realize they’ve backed themselves into a corner for lack of evidence.
Posted inReligion
‘Atheist Overreach’ and the Problem of Wingnuts
Reading Time: 8 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been looking at the 2019 book Atheist Overreach by Christian Smith. It examines the question of religion’s necessity to modern societies. Shockingly, a Christian writer lands on religion being super-duper necessary OMG y’all. One thing I’ve been noticing as I read this book is that it illustrates perfectly the Problem of Wingnuts: how […]
Posted inReligion
Why Science- and History-Based Apologetics Fails So Dramatically
Reading Time: 8 minutes Apologists — especially in evangelicalism — love to lean hard on arguments based on science and history. Out of everything they could reach for, these are the silliest possible tactics in their limited arsenal. Today, I’ll show you why.
Posted inReligion
How Religion Hijacks the Weirdness of Liminal Spaces (Pre-Easter Post)
Reading Time: 10 minutes I want to dive into the way that liminal spaces affect us–and how they’ve impacted humanity’s view of religion ever since we realized what they were. Often, they’re at least partially responsible for those sometimes-spooky, mysterious experiences people have that they can’t explain: That One Weird Thing That Happened Once (TOWTTHO), which they often attribute to the supernatural. But they’re not supernatural. They’re perfectly natural. And today, I’ll show you how they work.
Posted inGeneral
What Christian Apologetics Actually Accomplish (And the Faith Pool)
Reading Time: 8 minutes The error in Christians’ thinking involves what apologetics’ goal actually is. We’re going to be discussing a Christian apologist soon, so today, let me show you what apologetics is, then brush us up on a concept called the faith pool.