Archive for category Atheism
A disgusting example of a ‘Christian’
- Image via Wikipedia
Ken Pulliam a former evangelical Christian turned agnostic or the such has died (you can read his story here), and yet his blog lives on. At least until the posts which he has written stops auto-posting. His latest one questions whether or not Adam and Eve had freewill. To be honest, I haven’t read much of Ken’s work, but I am sure he will be missed. What disgusts me however, is the comment left by a ‘Christian’ blogger on that latest post. Rhology, who is a militant anti-whatever he is not, it seems, left a commet which reads,
Goodbye Dr Pulliam. Your pitiful arguments against Christianity will be missed. I pity you greatly.
As a Christian, I believe that one of the greatest things to happen to my faith is the interaction with those who so strongly challenge it, and the more so, with those so hurt by it, destroyed by it, or those who simply see no value in it. People in some way like Dr. Ken Pulliam.
People like Rhology are those who needed Pulliam the most. But, they also need more importantly, the love of the Christ Whom they claim to serve. I do not pity Dr. Pulliam; I pity Rhology.
Related articles
- RIP, Ken Pulliam (unreasonablefaith.com)
- The evangelical identity crisis | Alan Wilson (guardian.co.uk)
Penn Jillette and the guy who got it
Thanks to Bobby V. (via Facebook) for this –
Pondering God’s “Super Powers”
Posted by Robert J. Wilson in Atheism, Debate/Discussion on August 9, 2010
I’m a huge fan of comic books. A huge fan. So my use of superhero lingo in this post is in no way intended as a semantic slight.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I have a question:
What would you say are the Christian God’s super powers, and why?
Growing up in a Southern Baptist Church, I was taught (by laymen with little or, more often, zero formal religious education) that God was omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. Having no formal religious education myself, I’ve always had a sense that this list was vaguely rooted in scriptures such as “before I formed you in the womb, I knew you” and others.
For those of you familiar with the old DC Comics Who’s Who books, what would God’s entry say if he were featured in such a format?
I look forward to reading your thoughts in the comments…
Chris Hitchens – Refuses to punk out, offers blessing
I agree with him, actually. Here is a man who hates Christianity and religion in general, faced with a possible death sentence (but aren’t we all?), and vows to not turn to Christ on his deathbed.
In his first television interview this week with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Hitchens said the only time he may “hedge [his] bets” is if he is very ill and half demented and does not have control over what he says.
While “the faithful love to spread these rumours” that on his death bed he will finally accept Christ, the atheist said he would not do “such a pathetic thing” while he’s lucid.
“I could be quite sure of that,” he told Cooper. And if there are any rumors saying otherwise, he said, “Don’t believe it.”
……
Hitchens – who has asserted that he distrusts anything that contradicts science or outrages reason and does not believe in heaven or hell – said he does not pray even as he faces a tough form of cancer.
“That’s all meaningless to me,” he said. “I don’t think souls or bodies can be changed by incantation or anything else.”
He expressed earlier that he was surprised by the number of prayer groups that formed – many of which are praying that Hitchens makes peace with God and gets saved. And he doesn’t want to stop them.
“I say if it makes you feel better, then you have my blessing,” he said of those praying for him.
Turning to Christ on deathbed would be ‘pathetic’, says Hitchens | Christian News on Christian Today.
Good for him, I say. No turning back now, I reckon.
Personally, I don’t like death bed confessions. I believe that when you live your life in full opposition to God and Christ, why punk out at the end, the last few minutes of your life?
I’ll pray for him, but in the end, not even most Christians have the strength of their convictions which I’ve seen some atheists have. We can all hope of a death bed confession – something to tell our children about, as they do with Darwin, Dakes, etc… – but would it really be sincere?
Dissecting the Angry Atheist
I have to admit, I believe that I can understand how some become angry with religion – I don’t understand everyone’s story or struggle, but you look at the abuse that goes on… Of course, humans will find a reason to abuse, religion or not. Money or not. Hate or not. Alan Lurie has a decent post on the New Atheists (thanks to Steph on Facebook) on Huffpost:
I completely agree with their warnings about the threat presented by the growing rise of religious fundamentalism and extremism, and applaud their encouragement for people to think for themselves and to challenge doctrine of all kinds. These are, of course, important points. But these books don’t seem content to stop there. What has struck me most powerfully about these books, and many of their adherents, such as the man in my class, is the angry, sarcastic, and dismissive tone, and the blind stereotyping of faith and religion.
Read his entire article – of course this is coming from a believer so he is immediately dismissed…
Question of the Day: Is Any Religion Valuable?
Posted by Joel in Atheism, Debate/Discussion on July 23, 2010
See this post…and this post….
Is religion valuable to humanity? Think abstract, and not just the Christian religion.
But, does religion help establish right and wrong and give a sense or goal to humanity? Could humanity exist without a religion of some sort?
Atheism and Humanist Values
There is nothing inherently “humanistic” about atheism, and some forms of militant atheism–the outwardly obnoxious, deliberately offensive kind now primarily associated with the Center for Inquiry and the minions of the new atheism–are unhumanistic.
Dr. Hoffmann, in attempting to create a Lexicon of Humanism, refuses to list atheism in it, citing,
But you will not find a definition of atheism in the lexicon, because it is not a value and carries no subordinate values with it. It is not a virtue, because virtue (when I get around to defining it) has to be grounded in human good and happiness.
It is one of the best posts that I’ve read on atheism as a virtue… I tag Robert for a response, after you read the rest of the post here,
