Heretical musings on religion and culture from a literary scholar
"Impact Apologetics" sells info products online on how to argue with Atheists. On the product description of one of their main products, "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist" (which comes in book, CD and MP3 formats) they have the following quote, which they claim is a Five Star review on Amazon.com from an Atheist: Having read quite a few Christian apologetics books, I feel I can say that this one is by far the ...
I started this blog about a decade ago, when I was young and bold and idealistic. I believed that everything should be challenged: especially beliefs that we hold dear, because they can be dangerous. Every idea, belief, and concept should be tested and either found strong and valuable, or weak and useless. Nothing should be prioritized over reason, pursuit of knowledge, Truth. But I've mellowed. Or you could say, I've been distracted. I still research and write what ...
I got up early the second day of the conference, took a coffee and a pastry from the hotel lobby, and headed to the convention hall in Springfield Missouri. There was a large crowd outside today. I smiled, eager to meet new friends - until I realized they were Christian protesters. Skepticon describes itself as the "Largest Free Conference on Skepticism" in the nation, and it has been a well-known atheist convention for several years. I'd flown ...
I went to Skepticon 5 expecting a group of heretics that would get a kick out of my inversed reading of Milton's Paradise Lost, which claims that Satan is the hero of the story (which was actually the mainstream reading before it became the "mistaken reading", and is now coming into vogue again by top Milton scholars). I was surprised to find that Satan makes atheists uncomfortable. Atheists already have a huge image/perception problem, with the ...
The Grey (2011, starring Liam Neeson) is, on the surface, a man versus nature survivalist story about a group of man facing the elements and a pack of vicious wolves in the aftermath of a plane crash. However, this background is really just a platform to explore the movie's true theme: dignity in the face of death, and whether or not religion is helpful to ease the transition. On the one hand, given that the protagonist and ...
Any good Christian has to believe in demonic possession. After all, Jesus was always casting out demons. If the Bible and Christianity is true, then Jesus couldn't have mistakenly viewed mental illness using the common superstition of possession. He would have known better. So they're real. That basis has been the support for dozens of demonic possession/exorcism movies, which mostly make good entertainment because, demonically possessed people look really freaking scary. They are great horror flicks. But ...
In the book trailer for the new book "Did Jesus Exist", Bart Ehrman says "as a historian, I can assure you, that no matter what anybody else says about him, Jesus most certainly existed. There is as much evidence for Jesus, Ehrman continues, as the evidence for dozens of other historical figures. So lack of evidence should not lead us to doubt the historical Jesus. This much is true - but lack of evidence isn't the ...
My sister sent me the following chain letter, which goes into surprising detail about exactly how, physically, Jesus suffered on the cross. The point of the letter is to get you to feel his pain, which generates an emotional catharsis; it makes you first feel guilty, and then overwhelmingly grateful. Don't forget that this highly robust psycho-religious emotional experience was already being practiced by the Jewish women mourning for Tammuz in the Spring on the ...
Wearing skulls and dressing in black will get you killed - at least in Iraq, where dozens of teenagers have been stoned recently for wearing black and channeling Emo. "Emo" is a Western subculture that follows the revival of gothic and horror trends in society and literature, and also parallels closely the attraction to vampirism, witchcraft and magic. Skulls and crossbones have become super cool symbols in international pop culture; even hello kitty is on board. As ...
An online review posted about Disney's 2012 John Carter of Earth movie runs thus: "John Carter evokes pretty much every sci-fi classic from the past 50 years without having any real personality of its own." The essential thing to keep in mind, however, is that Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars was first published almost a century ago in 1917! Science fiction and fantasy novels and stories since then are deeply indebted to John Carter. Others ...
***Oops - the movie adaptation of Paradise Lost starring Bradley Cooper has been canned as of February, 2012! It's a crying shame...Hope they revive it down the road.*** For the past decade, traditionally marginalized or "evil" characters have gained the limelight - witches, vampires and werewolves have changed from creatures of the night to tragically misunderstood victims of humanity's bitter prejudice. At the same time, Western humanist values caused us to champion rebel heroes - heroes ...
I first encountered St. Anselm's Proof of God during my undergraduate studies in philosophy and theology. I was at the time a struggling Christian, and there is a power and simplicity in Anselm's logical proof of God's existence that - once you get it - seems mystical. It dances around in your brain, both inviting you to look closer but refusing to be nailed down. As a logical proof it is inescapable and undeniable, but ...
If you're interested in religious mythology, astrological symbolism, or supernatural folklore, grab my book Gods of Myth and Man. You can go buy it on Amazon.
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