Daylight Atheism » Religious Liberalism

Strategically Supporting Religious Charities

Ebonmuse — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:06:18 +0000

Are there any circumstances under which an atheist can support a religious group doing social work, even if doing so may advance a religious message we disagree with?

This is on my mind because of the post I wrote last month about the Foundation Beyond Belief supporting a Quaker charity, and because I just finished reading Nomad, Ayaan Hirsi Ali's excellent second book, which serendipitously ... [visit site to read more]

Anarchy in the U.K.: The Anglican Crackup Continues

Ebonmuse — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:51:49 +0000

I've written before about the ongoing schism within the Episcopal church, but those posts only concerned the goings-on in America. Now that battle has spread across the Atlantic and into the heart of Anglicanism, and it's looking more and more likely that the church will be cloven in two at its roots. visit site to read more]

Why Won't You Atheists Just Go Away?

Ebonmuse — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:50:42 +0000

The Newsweek/Washington Post blog On Faith has posted a series of responses from panelists to the American Humanist Association's new holiday ad campaign (HT: An Apostate's Chapel). Here's the question they asked:

What do you think of the American Humanist Association's new "Godless Holiday" campaign? The ads, ... [visit site to read more]

The God of Shadow and Vapor

Ebonmuse — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:39:51 +0000

In April, I wrote a piece chastising Madeline Bunting for her willful invocation of the Courtier's Reply, in which she attacks atheists for criticizing the beliefs actually held and practiced by billions of people, rather than the beliefs of a tiny minority of theologians and pundits like herself.

But let it not be said that we shy from a challenge. In this post, I'll take up the issue of religion as it is held ... [visit site to read more]

Fundamentalism Is Alive and Well: A Reply to John Shelby Spong

Ebonmuse — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:30:57 +0000

I recently finished reading two books by the Anglican bishop John Shelby Spong, Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism and Why Christianity Must Change or Die. Spong is infamous for his near-total rejection of the tenets of Christianity, despite being a member of the clergy, and these books witness to that: he doesn't believe in miracles or an afterlife, denies the Trinity, denies the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus, and in fact, doesn't believe in God as an external ... [visit site to read more]

The Soft Landing

Ebonmuse — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 15:30:39 +0000

Although it's much too early to look forward to a world without religion, one thing we can be confident of is that the numbers and influence of atheists will continue to grow in the near future. Census figures over the last few decades have consistently shown the rise of the nonbelievers in the educated and industrialized nations of the First World - even in America, despite its high religiosity as compared to its ... [visit site to read more]

On Fear and Seeking

Ebonmuse — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:16:56 +0000

Slacktivist, a progressive Christian blogger whom I read regularly, has some words of advice for the new atheists on how best to win converts. You'd wonder why a Christian would want to give advice to atheists about how to do this - indeed, such "advice" is usually just concern trolling when it comes from the religious right - but Slacktivist is a different kind of Christian, emphatically not a member ... [visit site to read more]

On Inerrancy

Ebonmuse — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:48:47 +0000

Pandagon's recent post on Carlton Pearson, and the comment thread there, got me thinking about the question of inerrancy.

Last February, in "The Aura of Infallibility", I observed that the apologist's claim of ... [visit site to read more]

A Glimpse of the Garden

Ebonmuse — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:34:50 +0000

By way of Pandagon, I came across this incredible story from NPR's This American Life, an hourlong report on, and interview with, the evangelical pastor Carlton Pearson.

Pearson was once one of the rising stars of the religious right: a hardcore Pentecostal preacher, head of an Oklahoma ... [visit site to read more]

Further Thoughts on John Haught

Ebonmuse — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 19:16:16 +0000

Since the comment thread for my post "On Amateur Atheism" has sparked a lively debate, I looked around on the internet earlier today for some further explanation of John Haught's views. I found them in this Salon interview, and I'd like to offer some further comments on the theology outlined therein.

One of Haught's major points ... [visit site to read more]

How Not to Fight the War on Christmas

Ebonmuse — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 15:30:02 +0000

Lately, there have been some encouraging signs that believers of conscience are more willing to stand up to the religious right than they once were. But this effort, though well-intentioned, is not the right way to do it.

It's time for a ceasefire in the Christmas culture wars.

...We invite Messrs. O'Reilly, Gibson and Donohue to join us in a new campaign of civility and conscience that restores our focus on the common ... [visit site to read more]

Season of Division: The Episcopal Church Splits Up

Ebonmuse — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:43:07 +0000

There's at least one Christian denomination that won't be singing "peace on earth" this holiday season. A diocese of the Episcopal Church has seceded and plans to align with a South American branch of the Anglican Church, the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. (For readers unfamiliar with the tedious details of church hierarchy, the Anglican Church is the global denomination; ... [visit site to read more]