Atheists in the Pulpit?
If ministers can't even believe what they preach, how can anyone else have faith?
View ArticleThe Faith Of Our President
August is a stupid month. It just got stupider, at least when it comes to faith and politics.
View ArticleThe Unbearable Stupidness of Talking about the President’s Religion
Can we talk? I mean, can we talk about something that actually affects people’s lives?
View Article“You’ve Never Met a Muslim”
Four New York Muslims take the anniversary of 9/11 to reflect on piety and patriotism, on sharing classrooms and rituals of community life, on the courage and goodness of New Yorkers, and on the...
View ArticleNuns Pray, Rangers Lose
So much for the efficacy of remote prayer. Or is there more to think about?
View ArticleWay Beyond Atheism: God Does Not (Not) Exist
Most principled atheists do not go beyond simple denial. They refuse to go further, to seriously question the ground beneath their feet. And, by holding on, consciously or not, to their unjustified...
View ArticleLying about Santa: The Irrelevance of Proof to the Holiday Spirit
When a serious philosophical lecture on the origin and meaning of Santa Claus is interrupted by the tinkling of bells, jovial laughter, and the mysterious delivery of a case of beer, our writer has the...
View ArticleAt National Prayer B’fast Obama Defends His Faith… Again
Some unsolicited advice on how Mr. Obama should talk about his faith.
View ArticleIn Wake of Murder in Uganda, LGBT Group Protests Prayer Breakfast
Yesterday morning President Barack Obama gave the keynote address at this year’s National Prayer Breakfast, a longstanding tradition among presidents since Dwight D. Eisenhower. The breakfast also drew...
View ArticleThinking Theologically About Wisconsin Union Conflict
What has faith to say about the conflict between Scott Walker and state workers' unions?
View ArticleUnreasonable Doubt: Vincent Bugliosi Defends Agnosticism
When he’s not writing bestselling books, Vincent Bugliosi is a legendary prosecuting attorney. As such, he is certainly well acquainted with the legal policy of presumption of innocence. His newest...
View ArticleTeach Your Children Well: Challenging Religion-Based Sexism
During my lecture I faced a standing room crowd of heretics, fence sitters, curiosity seekers, and true believers bracing for a circus sideshow. Traveling across America to speak on freethought and...
View ArticleMelissa Harris-Perry: LGBT Advocates Need Public Progressive Faith
“As a black, feminist, marriage-equality advocate I reside at an important intersection in this struggle. This movement must acknowledge the unique history of racial oppression, while still revealing...
View ArticleDo Atheists Belong in the Interfaith Movement?
The atheist and the interfaith movements actually share a common point of origin: they both started, in part, as a reaction to religious extremism. Much like the atheist movement, the interfaith...
View ArticleAmericans Lose Faith, Sinning with Transfats, the Elusive God Particle
A roundup of the week’s religion headlines.
View ArticleGod Wants You to Work Harder, and to Stop Complaining
So-called “workplace spirituality” teaches people that the anxieties associated with global capital are inevitable, even part of the natural order of things. Under the highly deregulated conditions...
View ArticleWhere Do “Sacred” Values Live in the Brain?
For the research subjects’ sacred values, the ones they wouldn’t give up on for any amount of money (they could ‘auction off their value’ for up to $100), what lit up in the brain were areas known to...
View ArticleA Valentine for the World…and for the Church I Left
I’m not an unbeliever. No way. My theology is fuzzy, a bit of a smorgasbord—Emerson and Tolstoy and Jesus and Augustine. I would be happily worshipping with Quakers if I could find any; the “inner...
View ArticleAn Atheist Hero is Something to Be
Faith is completely redundant. It may take a long time for people to figure out it’s redundant, but given what we know about psychology and the way the brain works and the way evolution has taught us...
View ArticleHarold Camping Is Not Sorry
Harold Camping admits he was wrong, but only in the most technical way. He wasn’t really wrong, he is saying, because he trusts God, and was just passing God’s false prophecy along. It’s not that he’s...
View ArticleComing Out As a Heretic
For folks who are unorthodox but aren’t atheists, who care about metaphysics but who aren’t mystics, perhaps the good old-fashioned term “heretic” will satisfy.
View ArticleHerman Cain Sings For the Press
Jesus may be looking beyond the candidate's faults, but we're not.
View ArticleFaith and Football: What the Gospel Church Can Learn from the NFL
Who knew it would turn out that the NFL has a thing or two to teach the gospel church about love, acceptance, and the struggle to overcome in a world of injustice?
View ArticleToward a Non-Malignant Faith: An Interview with Brian McLaren
What McLaren is after is a Christian faith that is not automatically hostile to other faiths and to no faith: he calls this “strong-benevolent” Christianity, observing along the way that only active...
View ArticleNo Zombies Here, Just a Bunch of Women Talking to the Dead
Title: Talking to the Dead: Music, Religion, and Lived Memory among Gullah/Geechee Women Author: LeRhonda...
View Article‘I Don’t Buy It’: The Gospel According to Frank Underwood
With bonus: 12 Quotes from the Underwood Bible
View ArticleRubio’s Awkward Balancing Act Between Evangelicals and Catholics
Marco Rubio’s “Faith” evangelical outreach ad, which debuted in Iowa over the weekend, can be seen...
View ArticleWhy Faith Needs Redemptive Struggle to Be Meaningful
I have had the honor of working extensively with the Rev. Dr. William Barber II,...
View ArticlePaul Schrader’s “First Reformed” Depicts Death Struggle Between Hope and Despair
A younger Paul Schrader might have chosen to end this film, which many critics are calling his masterpiece, in apocalyptic violence. But I don’t think it’s quite right to conclude that Schrader has...
View Article