Tag: Life

Do healing miracles prove God exists?

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 […]

“The implications of my atheism were incompatible with almost every value I held dear”

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”.

So who’s dogmatic and intolerant?

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?

Making sense of God

Tim Keller is well known these days. A Reformed pastor who is hip. An insightful commentator and a successful writer of books for christians. Eight years ago he published The Reason for God, a thoughtful book of what we might term “soft apologetics” – that is, he didn’t try to present strong arguments for the […]

Do we need God for life to have real meaning?

I’ve been reading a little about meaning in life. Psychologists tell us we need to have meaning and purpose in life for our psychological wellbeing. With a sense of meaning, we are more likely to be happy, have a positive sense of our own identity and be more resilient under stress But what gives our […]

Atheists and christians – does it have to be war?

I have several times blogged on how christians and atheists relate to each other on the internet, because I think courtesy is better than rudeness, and attitudes on both sides can be improved. So I was interested in christian author Benjamin Corey’s thoughts on this.

Atheists and religious traditions

Today is Thanksgiving in the US. Thanksgiving can have different meanings for different people, but probably the two main emphases are a day for family to get together, and a day to thank God for his many blessings to us. So what does a conscientious atheist do? Should she just shut up and join in? […]

Hugh Mackay on why people stop going to church

I am currently reading Hugh Mackay’s book, Beyond Belief, which addresses the question of how people find meaning in life with or without religion. Hugh is probably Australia’s leading social researcher and commentator, regularly appearing on talk shows and in newspaper article. He is neither a christian nor an atheist, probably best described as having […]

That nagging feeling that you’ve been wrong all your life

Mark Bauerlein is Professor of English at Emory College. He has written books on modern culture, and written articles for several popular American magazines. He has been called one of the Independent Women’s Forum’s “favorite intellectuals”. And five years ago, after more than three decades as a comfortable atheist, Mark converted to christianity. What happened?

Neuroscience, psychology and God

A lot of christians struggle with the idea of biological evolution because it seems to leave God out of creation. But I think evolution points to God if we consider some of the findings of neuroscience and psychology.