Reading Time: 7 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been talking about Christian Smith’s 2019 book Atheist Overreach. We’ve covered the three questions that Smith asked and answered in his book. Now, let’s look at the conclusion he draws from his work. Namely, he thinks secularization will ultimately fail — making religion dominant once again across humanity. So […]
reality
Posted inReligion, Science
What ‘Atheist Overreach’ Gets Wrong About Meaning and Purpose
Reading Time: 8 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been talking about Christian Smith’s 2019 book Atheist Overreach. In it, he makes three central arguments. Up to now, we’ve been talking about his attempt to negate science as the only real source of knowledge humanity’s ever discovered. But today, we dive into why he had to do that. He […]
Posted inReligion
Deconversion: How Reality Drained My Faith Pool
Reading Time: 10 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been talking about a Christian book called Atheist Overreach. In particular, yesterday we discussed the ways that Christians mangle and negate science — and even deny reality itself — to make their claims look more valid. That line of thinking led me to memories of my own deconversion. Today, […]
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 the Hogans’ Marriage Seems So Evangelical in ‘This Present Darkness’ (LSP #139, Ch. 21)
Reading Time: 8 minutes In this installment, we check out the deteriorating marriage of Kate and Marshall Hogan. In two of the subplots given to us in Chapter 21, their relationship takes center stage. So today, Lord Snow Presides over some more evangelical projection — this time in the case of the Hogans’ marriage!
Posted inReligion
Tim Keller: In His Dreams, He Is Free Indeed
Reading Time: 10 minutes Welcome back! My husband has this hilarious way of describing really delusional people: In our dreams, we are free indeed. And when I heard about today’s story, that saying was the very first thing that popped into my head. See, Tim Keller, a venerable name in Christian leadership circles, thinks that the pandemic will lead to a […]
Posted inReligion
The Power of Positive Thinking, Rethought
Reading Time: 11 minutes Today, let me show you what positive thinking looks like when it goes overboard and gets unhealthy — and why so many really awful people love it when positive thinking acts naughty like that.
Posted inThe Secular
Rainstorms aren’t God-sent. Like all of nature, they couldn’t care less.
Reading Time: 2 minutes Some rainstorms saturate wide areas, some only tiny ones. It depend upon the irresistible necessities of physics in weather. No gods necessary.
Posted inReligion
The Crybullies of Christianity (Don’t Understand Themselves)
Reading Time: 9 minutes Last time we met up, I showed you a survey that revealed what evangelicals believe about themselves. Today, I’ll show you how that self-image stacks up against reality.
Posted inReligion
The Christians In Denial About Christianity’s Decline
Reading Time: 8 minutes Somehow, some Christians stick out their widdle lower lips and screech that NO, they can’t be in decline! Today, let’s meet some of them–and maybe look at why they seem so dead-set against reality.