One sometimes encounters people who assert that, unless there is a
God, life has no meaning. Now, as soon as we ask what they mean by
God and by the meaning of life we enter a quagmire from which it is
impossible to get out. Read on…
We are all God’s children
And this is sibling rivalry.
These wars, free enterprise
all bids for attention. Read on…
“A God who kept tinkering with the universe was absurd; a God who interfered with human freedom and creativity was tyrant. If God is seen as a self in a world of his own, an ego that relates to a thought, a cause separate from its effect, “he” becomes a being, not Being itself. An omnipotent, all-knowing tyrant is not so different from earthly dictators who make everything and everybody mere cogs in the machine which they controlled. An atheism that rejects such a God is amply justified.” Read on…
A Scrabble board of words
questions and answers
arranged by unknown players –
visions of God dreamt up
from pages of the Bible. Read on…
The charade continues,
Between giggles, swaying hips,
Sips of fine wine,
Shucking down Oysters,
Tearing into prime cuts of meat. Read on…
My Sabbath Ends Earlier Than Yours
My Sabbath ends earlier than yours.
Faith leaks from the seams; before sundown,
the seventh day has become the same
as the sixth. It is like falling out of love,
God’s glamour dissolves into the walls
of the house, the trees on the lawn, Read on…
Sitting atop the ridge at dusk, thinking. In the untamed valley spread out before me are millions, or perhaps billions, of things, living and dead. No two of those things are the same, not down in the fine structure, or mainly even on the surface. Like snowflakes and fingerprints, each of the things that I see is an individual. Few of them are reasoning, not as we see it. Reminded then, in my mind, I look out into the world … Read on…
Most of my talks with God took place inside my head but sometimes, when we were in complete privacy, I would speak out loud. He was unfailingly patient and was also pretty realistic. He made me no wild promises; instead, He assured me that no matter how life unfolded, I would be able to summon up the inner resources to make it through and maybe do a little good for others along the way. He spurred me to walk half … Read on…
Agnosticism is simpler than it sounds, and also much more difficult. Most would define agnosticism as the view that the truth of certain claims (especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims) are unknown or unknowable. Simply restated, man cannot rationally have sufficient knowledge to either prove or disprove the existence of one or more religious deities, if any. As such, agnosticism is not a statement of either belief or disbelief. … Read on…
Dan Barker had religion, big-time. As a teenager he became a high-octane evangelical preacher, making his living performing at churches and writing Christian songs. After 19 years, he quit, having after a long struggle come to realize it was all hokum. His book, Losing Faith in Faith, explains. It’s axiomatic that religionists and atheists have difficulty understanding each other. Barker’s book is useful because he has inhabited both worlds, and understands better than most atheists the religious psychology he critiques. … Read on…