Reading Time: 2 minutes As I meander along the sometimes remote byways of the nonreligious environment, I frequently come across some lovely sunlit glens. I recently found one in the form of a quote posted by someone named u/Lazy_boa in Reddit’s r/atheism tributary, titled “Mark Twain summed up the absurdity of God over a century ago.” This quote submitted […]
Posted inCulture
Intentional Ministries: When Congregations Are Pastors’ Worst Problem
Reading Time: 8 minutes The natural inclinations of awful people tend to be awful. And such people can make an innocent visit to a neighborhood church into a horror story those guests will remember for years.
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Calvinists, On Why People Dislike Calvinists
Reading Time: 8 minutes Recently, I discovered that Calvinists themselves have caught on to outsiders’ near-universal dislike of them. But as usual for extremists, Calvinists’ utter lack of self-awareness has led them to some really wacky conclusions about why that dislike exists.
Posted inReligion
Bad Advice: The Worst Part of Cognitive Dissonance
Reading Time: 11 minutes Today, let me show you what happens when a Christian suffering from doubts collides with the tribe’s collective wisdom about dealing with doubters.
Posted inReligion
Cognitive Dissonance: (Not) Answering the Big Question
Reading Time: 9 minutes Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been talking about cognitive dissonance — that uncomfortable state people get into when they realize they hold contradictory beliefs. The people who take Christianity the most seriously seem to be the most afflicted by it. We’ve seen how Christians respond (poorly) to cognitive dissonance in general and also regarding prayer. Today, […]
Posted inReligion
A Crisis of Conscience for a TRUE CHRISTIAN™ Clerk
Reading Time: 8 minutes Hi and welcome back! Gosh, being a TRUE CHRISTIAN™ is so hard nowadays. Not only do TRUE CHRISTIANS™ have to Jesus harder all the time, but they have to make sure everybody around them knows they’re the most Jesus-ified Jesus-ers who ever Jesus-ed. And there’s no better way to demonstrate their Jesus-ification than inserting themselves […]
Posted inGeneral
UYC: Single Christian Man Tells ‘Christian Girls’ Never to Settle (LSP #159)
Reading Time: 7 minutes He’s one of many, many thousands of men and women in his end of Christianity desperately seeking spouses these days. And his reaction to frustration is, sadly, all too common for authoritarian male Christians.
Posted inReligion
Married Evangelicals Are Not Okay: Pandemic Edition
Reading Time: 10 minutes People don’t know the grim reality of evangelicals’ marriages, much less why this whole pandemic situation is tearing apart the already-shaky foundation of those marriages. So today, let me show you why evangelical marriages face challenges right out of the gate — and why lately, their facade is crashing right down to the ground.
Posted inReligion
Loudly-Christian Businesses And The Company They Keep
Reading Time: 11 minutes A while back, I showed you some disturbing information about businesses that trumpet how very very very Jesus-y they are. Today, we merge that trend with multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs). It seems that a very very very Jesus-y boutique salon haircare guru has been associating closely with an especially-nasty MLM shill–and reaped the consequences of his poor business decision. As the saying goes, we’re known by the company we keep. Today, let me show you a story that might well function as the saying’s case study!
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Robert Fisher: Instant Enlightenment NOT Found Here
Reading Time: 9 minutes My ex-C friends are reeling–as they should be–at the news that a recent Republican scandal hit a little close to home this past week. To me, the story illustrates one of this blog’s primary messages: that deconversion doesn’t actually instantly confer enlightenment or wisdom upon anybody.