thoughtful ideas on life's big questions
July 31st, 2017
What would be strong evidence for God? Some look outwards to the universe or inwards to ourselves, and argue that God is the most plausible explanation for the beginning and the design of the universe, or for human consciousness, freewill, rationality and ethical sense. Others point to Jesus, the man who was God, his miracles, […]
July 25th, 2017
July 7th, 2017
History can sometimes be a battleground in the atheist-christian “wars”. Old Testament history, the life of Jesus, or the misdeeds of the church or individual christians can all become arguments that sceptics use to provide reasons to not believe. But not all the arguments are based on good history, and one atheist feels strongly about […]
June 27th, 2017
I’m a reasonably self critical person (some would say too much so), and I’m no fan of much of what goes in in churches and christian circles. So I’m not really interested in defending modern christianity as a social entity. But at the same time, when sceptics criticise “religion” for poisoning lives and emotionally warping […]
June 11th, 2017
Which side are you on? The idea of divine healing is a polarising one. Non-believers are generally fairly suspicious, feeling healing is against medical science. Many christians are highly supportive of the idea that God heals today, and quite possibly have a personal story of healing to tell. But other christians are made of sterner […]
May 28th, 2017
This post told the story of Sarah Irving-Stonebreaker. I have now moved this information to this page: “The implications of my atheism were incompatible with almost every value I held dear”.
May 15th, 2017
Hugh Mackay is probably Australia’s leading social researcher and commentator. His book Beyond Belief (2016) explores spirituality and religious belief in Australia. It is, I think, as much a vehicle for Mackay to share his own spirituality as it is solid social research, and it contains some interesting insights. In a chapter titled Reasonable Faith […]
May 1st, 2017
Religious people, especially conservative and fundamentalist believers, are often stereotyped as dogmatic and intolerant. Do the facts support this stereotyping? How do other people compare? And what is the cause?
April 23rd, 2017
Most people like to think they are logical, and have good reasons for their choices – including their choice of believing in God, or not. But modern atheists often accuse christians (and believers in other religions) of not basing their beliefs on evidence and reason. And it’s a plausible argument, for psychological studies have suggested […]
April 14th, 2017
There’s a quiet but dramatic change going on within christianity, about our understanding of the death of Jesus. Critical non-believers often seem to be unaware of it. Many christians seem to be unaware of it too. But it is making a major difference to how christians see God, the scriptures and their faith. And Easter […]
A list of all blog posts, in reverse chronological order, is on the Blog archive page.
