Daily Archives: June 3, 2010
Changing the Religious Landscape
Paul Kurtz
In a tribute to Paul Kurtz, John W. Loftus can’t resist throwing in some shameless self-promotion. He says of his book The Christian Delusion that it is “helping to significantly change the religious landscape.” I have a Google Alert set up for that book. And I’m not getting many hits. At all. Most hits just contain the words “Christian” and “delusion” together in the same article. The only reviews are atheist. I know of two upcoming Christian reviews, one by Randal Rauser and the other by Jason Berggren. I think that J.P. Holding is going to do a refutation for an upcoming E-Block Newsletter and I’m planning on doing one on this site.
Four apologists, and the rest of the faith community seems to be ignoring this work. Way to change the religious landscape!
Deuteronomy 6:16 Illustrated
Deut 6:16 Illustrated by Mark
Mark from Proud Atheists takes the cake with the following display of unbridled stupidity:
I have filled a glass of water and it is sitting on the countertop in my kitchen. If any Christians would like to pray to Jesus and ask him to change the water into wine, feel free to do so.
If the glass of water turns into wine, I will not only become a believer in Christ, but I will eat dog shit sandwiches for one day (a minimum of 3). How long is this challenge? I am allowing 48 hours for you to prove your faith and strength of your mythical beliefs.
First, I would just like to say, that it would be hilarious if someone broke into his house and replaced the water with wine while he slept.
As much as I would like to see video of Mark eating dog poop sandwiches, the very fact that he mentions he will do this betrays how likely he thinks the water-wine conversion is. His predisposition is already negative going into the little “test” that he has manufactured. A positive result–the water actually turning into wine–is probably going to matter little to someone with the atheist “A” tattooed on his shoulder. He’s already picked a side.
Check here for more information on why God doesn’t make personal appearances to people. It doesn’t do any good! People really will see whatever they want to see.
Dan Phillips Tells It Like It Is
Dan Phillips from Pyromanics has an excellent post on why people deconvert from Christianity. I had similar thoughts rattling around in my head for quite some time, but never bothered to put pen to paper to get the thoughts out.
It is an unmistakable pattern in most deconversion stories that I’ve read that the author is usually attempting to justify some sin or sin-pattern within his or her life when the deconversion is made. Phillips lays this out pretty plainly in his post.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Thank God for Dan Phillips!
Josiah Concept Ministries 