Tebow, God’s Favorite Quarterback:

I hang out  and socialize with an inordinate amount of Christians, it’s something I’m open to and greatly enjoy – but rather recently it seems that the most common topic among many of them is now none other than Tim Tebow, the quarterback (he throws the football) for the Denver Broncos (a team in the NFL). Tebow’s iconographic rise to Christian stardom seems to be the result of his willingness to make public expressions of his faith.

From a Superbowl commercial in 2010 with a decidedly pro-life message (and sponsored by Focus on the Family) ,to the now trademark Tebowing that seems to be a new spontaneous fad among all sorts of Christians, and frequent mention of his faith during interviews you cannot avoid the fact that Tim Tebow is a Christian and proud of it. Christians seem to have been desperate for a well known sports star to call their own and they’ve found one in this Heisman winner and are quick to defend any ill words directed his way.

In yet another example of how sometimes we atheists only need to sit back and wait for someone to say something ridiculously stupid his pastor, Wayne Hanson of Summit Church in Colorado, has even gone so far as to attribute a 6 win streak earlier this year to being “God’s Favor“.

The God of the Christian Bible has a vested interest in American Football.

Just let that sink in for a moment.

There are Christians that believe that football, and not even the good kind, is an event so important to the Christian God that he is willing to intervene in some way to ensure that his favored team or player makes the playoffs.

Floods in Taiwan, fires in Texas and California, drought in Georgia and Africa, extreme famine across large swaths of the African continent, tsunamis in Japan and India – all being ignored, presumably because Jehovah is too busy watching Tebow make the winning pass.

I believe, and I truly hope I’m right here,  that this belief represents a minority of the Christian community.

Tebow and the Bible

I don’t know this guy personally so I’d be remiss to say that he’s probably some jerk that likes to push his faith on people.  In fact, I don’t actually believe that to be the case. I believe that Tim Tebow is likely very sincere in his faith, I believe that his reputation as a kind-hearted team-mate is an actual representation of who he is. I don’t have an issue with him one bit outside of the fear that he might be evangelical enough to be a neo-conservative that believes he has the right to limit the freedoms of other people. I believe that he really wants to use his status to bring people into his faith and that he truly wants to preserve his virginity until he is married. Not one of these things is surprising to me, and they shouldn’t be, as these things are largely mandated in the Christian Bible and I personally exhibited the same behaviors (minus the ability to throw a football in anything resembling a spiral) when I was a Christian.

The issue with Tebow’s faith comes with a reading of Matthew’s Gospel 6: 5-6

5“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”  ~ ESV

Maybe Tim didn’t get exposed to this verse during his rearing. When I was a young and immature Christian I ignored this verse too, it didn’t sink in until much later in my faith that perhaps any showboating I might be doing would have the opposite of a desired effect – in that it might put attention on me, rather than God. My Christian life is long gone, but I still think it important that Christians know their Bible and do as it says. Believers, take notes.

The Passion of the Tebow

“The Liberal Media” – an ever present enemy of all thing right and good,  has been apparently fixated on attacking Tim Tebow because of his faith. I’ve not actually heard anyone give an example of this sort of attack, nor have I been witness to any of these attacks myself (as if I’d listen to sports radio) – but almost every Christian that talks about this guy in my presence is sure to talk about how he is being persecuted and that somehow Evangelical Christianity is “the only group left that it’s P.C. to publicly bash.”  This, coming from Christians in the American South, is absurd – as over 60% of Southerners and Americans are Christians themselves.

Perhaps becoming an icon of American Football and being seen by millions of people a week simply makes you privy to a certain amount of increased scrutiny over, lets say, your local high-school’s quarterback. Perhaps further, the willingness to make open and public displays of your faith is likely to bring a certain amount of scrutiny to the way a person lives that faith in ways that wouldn’t apply to Christians that didn’t have an actual prayer stance named after them.  I’m only guessing, but I don’t think anyone intends to make Tim Tebow a martyr – and anyone that believes that being under the watchful eye of sports commentators is in any way tantamount to persecution needs to recheck the dictionary as well as their priority list.

Just maybe being ” P.C. to publicly bash” isn’t the result of being an evangelical Christian, but the result of what evangelical Christianity represents today; bigoted, gay hating, anti-evolution extremes of the Christian right. It’s quite possible that this bashing is as politically correct and accepted as the bashing of an extremist Islamist group that desire to push the world into Sharia law. It’s not the fact that Christian groups exist but the hell-bent nature in which they bash absolutely everything they hate so unapologetically that makes them an target for backfires of hurt and anger they so often bring. To me, it seems that Tebow may just be a victim of those that called themselves Christians before him – and he might pay a small price for that, or he may just have to accept his new role as the idol of  angry believers unwilling to take their own medicine.

To conclude, I can only give the man the benefit of the doubt. Tim Tebow is probably one of the nicest, most humble Heisman trophy winners of all time and I hope that he is as genuine as he seems. I also hope that he takes this fame and opportunity to point out that he is neither worthy of worship,  divine intervention in the NFL, and to educate the masses on all the prayers his god isn’t answering from the millions dying daily as a result of natural disaster and famine.  If you are reading this post I also hope that you’ll do something about famine either in your own back yard or around the world by finding a way to benefit those in need.

Oh, and don’t claim god’s providence in a football game; that just makes you look stupid.

As a white Southerner I’ve been raised by the adults in my life to believe that “race mixing” is wrong.  I’ve been raised with the idea that black people are somehow inferior to whites and that it’s best that we just avoid associating with one another. The ‘ N ‘ word was probably the most commonly used word in my family growing up. None of these things are atypical of white people raised in the community I come from. In fact, my county is still arguing over Confederate flags – I couldn’t be more embarrassed by this fact.

All of these things I have always hated. I’ve argued with adults since I was about 8 years old about how ridiculous these assumptions were and how much some words hurt people. Racism has never made sense to me – but it’s always been around me. I do understand what it means, I understand how prevalent it is, and I know what it feels like to stand up for what is right completely alone.   While the rest of America may be well past the Civil Rights Movement, many parts of the South are still fighting it daily.

It’s important that my readers understand: I hate racism, I hate homophobia, I hate intolerance, I hate backwards thinking, and I hate bigotry. I don’t tolerate any of these things in my life and I never will. What I’m about to say isn’t in defense of bigotry in any way – let this be made exceedingly clear.

I believe that when the US Constitution demanded that Congress “make no law respecting the establishment of religion or preventing the free exercise thereof” that it meant just that.  Despite the many flaws of the men that wrote this document they recognized that any impedance on religious freedom or the freedom to speak freely was a grievous thing that given a society intent on liberty could never be tolerated.  Any attempts to force this church into marrying interracial couples by government, or even preventing the Westboro Baptist Church from doing the vile things they do in the name of their god should be crushed – by all of us.

I believe that people have the right to hate. I believe that people have the right to be bigoted closed-minded homophobes and to scream that hate from the rooftops if they so choose.  I believe that you and I have the right to shout back, to love, to speak to the virtues of tolerance and understanding, and to use our unified voices to change these minds – but we don’t have the right to silence them.

If you believe in democracy and freedom then you have to take the bad with the good, the grotesque with the beautiful. If we intend to keep the church out of the state (which we desperately need to work on), we must also keep the state out of the church.

I’m not surprised that a small country church in Kentucky is stuck in the 50′s, I wouldn’t be too surprised if one of the over 280 churches in my county decided to adopt the same policy – but what gives me hope is that these churches and the people that drive them will be gone in 10 years because they’ve lost the war of ideas.

Racism is slowly dying in the South, it’s been a long road  but every generation amazes me as it moves beyond the ideas that defined our past. Homophobia isn’t far behind – the generations of people  stuck on this old way of thought are dying out in groves and their children’s children are now having kids that don’t see color or hate, one day they will have kids and they’ll see even less. It’s getting better, tolerance is winning – but it isn’t winning because we tried to outlaw hate, it’s winning because we’ve decided not to let it continue within ourselves.

No matter how much I hate bigotry, racism, Westboro Baptist Church, and now Gulaney Freewill Baptist I believe fully in the rights of people and churches to hate whom they want to hate. I will despise everything about what these groups do, but I will defend their right to do it and I’ll take my battle into the marketplace of ideas.

Notes:

1: I’d like to make one exception to the claim of being raised around racism:  My mother, to the best of my memory, has never displayed racism. This is an incredibly rare thing in the South, but I credit her for befriending people of different races and helping me to be exposed to different people growing up.

2: There is , of course, one caveat to religious freedom:  When people are harmed, this should not be tolerated by anyone – and I fully endorse government intervention when lives are endangered.  I think this goes without saying, but if I don’t put it here someone will surely start to gripe.

This year, rather than discussing the pagan origins of the Christmas holiday (and others) or going off on yet another rant about how frustrated this whole thing makes me I’m going to ask that the members of the Christian faith that are reasonable enough to know that they don’t have a monopoly on holidays during the winter months hold the less scrupulous believers around them accountable for their words and actions. I’ve made this plea before – but in this instance it is a matter of timing.

This year, unlike previous years, I want to hear more believers discussing openly and condemning the right-fighting and hate mongering that occurs within their own community. I want to hear pastors talking about the fact that other holidays exist around this time and that it is perfectly OK for a retailer to try to include different faiths in their advertisements (and if the pastor really wants to impress me, they could talk about how the alleged Jesus wasn’t a consumerist or about how the early church was indeed a Socialist structure)

During my lengthy discussions with pastors and believers that I’m friends with I’ve noticed that there is a tendency for intelligent and critically thinking people within the Christian community to be far too silent and unwilling to challenge the many voices of irrationality, anger, and malcontent. In a prime example of the squeaky wheel getting all the oil, I believe that the good people within the community of all faiths are being outnumbered and over-encumbered by the numbers and the volume of those that fail to meet the standards of intelligence – unfortunately I can’t do anything to fix that outside of my own community identity and the task of repairing this problem lies directly at the feet of the silent thinkers within the church.

Much like Islam is most often associated with extremism or terrorism, Christianity is most often associated with closed minded bigotry, hypocrisy, and creationism. While many of these objectionable things are often very much a part of these faiths – one must wonder whether or not they present a majority of those that identify with these faiths. If this is the case then there must be some sort of obligation for those well reasoned and kind hearted believers to attempt to enforce change from within – or to move without to make something better. If, and I hope this is the case, the majority of believers are well reasoned and merely suffering cognitive dissonance in one single area of their lives – I think it’s well time to speak up and become considerably louder than their embarrassing counterparts.

If Fred Phelps, Pat Roberson, Jerry Falwell, and their less famous equivalents don’t represent the faith that you hold dear then you have a job to do in repairing the damage they’ve done in the name of your god. If ignorant Christians that want to monopolize a holiday season with rhetoric and hate don’t represent your faith, then it’s time to speak up and show the world around you – including the very believers we are discussing here, the error of their ways. If you are tired of being grouped in with bigots and hate mongers then it’s time to change that image or remove yourself from the association you hold with those people. I can think of no better time to begin than during the holiday season (except maybe the political season).

Begin correcting your pastors and your fellow believers when they are wrong. Make people accountable for the words they say and the claims they make. The next time someone makes an egregious claim or sensationalizes a portion of a fact – call them out on it.  If you decide to take up this cause…good luck.

Losing faith comes with many difficult trials for most.  Facing the reality of death is one of those trials, coming to grips with the knowledge that what you once looked forward to may be the absolute end of your existence entirely. Recognizing this can be painful and scary not only when we consider our own lifespan but also of those we love.

I don’t know what happens after we die, it seems that our organs and our brains stop functioning and with that our consciousness does as well. I don’t have any reason to believe that we have  “souls” or  “spirits” even though those things sound nice. I think this one life is all we have, anyone that claims to know otherwise is lying or is falsely convinced that he is correct.

Often during the transition from faith to doubt many find themselves facing an existential crisis where the end result of life becomes overwhelming and scary, life without something to shoot for might seem purposeless and depressing. For me this recognition of ultimate fatality made me recognize the scarcity of life; with less than 100 years to do as much as I can as opposed to the eternity I once believed in, I suddenly have more purpose than ever. I have lots to do if I want to make an impact on my world and my society – now more than ever life is full of purpose and meaning because it is so rare , so short, and so fleeting.  I appreciate life more now than I did as a believer and one of my biggest fears is wasting it on falsities.  I no longer have eternity to look forward to and in the market of life this scarcity makes it all the more valuable.

I don’t think any of this means that we can’t be sad about death or that we shouldn’t be afraid to die, fearing death is one of the mechanisms of survival we’ve evolved to have. Death of a loved one hurts, it’s supposed to hurt to not have someone you love around any longer – death is an inconvenient and uncomfortable truth that will happen to all of us and grieving is normal and perfectly fine.

Defining “making the best of it” isn’t something I can do for anyone – I think you have to decide that for yourself. What do you want your life to represent? What do you value enough to dedicate this one life to?  I can answer those things for myself, but they are as varied as the human race.

Fatality doesn’t make life meaningless, it makes life more precious and meaningful.  Remember that and make the best of what you have.

Brian Knapp writes for ChoosingHats.com

If you prefer to download and listen later or on your MP3 Player you can download it Here.

(total run time is about 1 hour and 47 minutes)

I’ll have a commentary on the debate shortly, in the mean time please feel free to provide critique of my positions (or Brian’s) in the comments below.

Please don’t misunderstand me, there aren’t very many things that I agree with in the Bible – but of the few things I find agreeable is the mandate that those that believe should provide ministry (or help) to those in need – the homeless, the poor, the widows, and the orphans.  Managing to forget for a moment all of the fire, brimstone, rape, and genocide – these initiatives are worthwhile and respectable – if not largely forgotten and considerably less possible considering the current state of the Christian body as a bloated and  inefficient bureaucracy.

The Reality

Dodge County Georgia, the county I live in, has 271 different Christian churches and according to the 2010 Census around 22,000 people.

1:80 - the ratio of churches to people in Dodge County, GA

1:80 – that’s the ratio of churches to people in the county I live in. The poverty rate is %23.4.

Each of these churches has to take up monetary gifts from congregants to pay for electric bills, any loans on the buildings, taxes, various other expenses,  and staff. These things must be paid before a dime goes to charitable causes – for many smaller churches it’s nearly impossible to pay the monthly expenses alone, much less use any leftovers for the benefit of those that could use the assistance.

One of the most sickening things about the way these churches are organized is the fact that in large part there are “white” churches and there are “black” churches – the lines of segregation in the South are most well visualized by looking at church attendance. One instance that I find particularly infuriating is with two little country churches that I frequently pass by (one of which I attended when very young) – these Southern Baptist churches are less than 100 feet apart yet one has white attendees and the other has black attendees…this seems to me like insanity.  The church I left wasn’t like this, that much I’m glad for – we had people from all backgrounds; white, black, wealthy, poor,  and furthermore we – our tiny church – had one of the only food pantries available to the public in Dodge County at the time.

My point is that millions in potential aid are being wasted on overhead because the Christian Church is divided into so many fragments that achieving a worthy net benefit is nearly impossible.

The Fantasy

The Epistles of Paul and the book of Acts called for a unified church, a body of believers made up of different people holding only their faith in common – the churches he described were regional, efficient, and handled squabbling without splitting into a hundred different pieces. What was originally intended is unrecognizable in today’s church and I’ve been sure to point that out frequently at the Bible study I’ve been attending.  In the US Christians make up at least 60% of the population – most of whom believe that they should tithe 10% of their income to their church, the amount of money being raised by Christian churches in this country is staggering yet the potential net benefit of these numbers is far from achieved.

The Challenge

271 churches in Dodge County, GA should be able to ensure that every belly is full and every home is warm instead of  making sure that the church lights are on, the stained glass windows are clean, and the pastor is paid. 271 churches is supposed to be one church – or so I hear. Saying these things might upset a few, especially if you depend on a congregation to pay your salary – but I think that most Christians that have actually read the Bible know that I’m right in this…I just don’t know what anyone is willing to do about it  as the status quo seems to be comfortable and easiest to maintain.

If Secular Humanists had the type of money and influence that Christian churches do we’d be able and willing to do the things they aren’t – unfortunately we are but a few. I  think that poverty is on all of us and when writing something that condemns the lack of action of so many I must now point back at myself and ask why I’ve not done more with the little I have…and so I will.

I discussed the contents of this post with a friend of mine today over lunch, this friend is a pastor and he agreed with me on a lot of these points – it turns out that there are believers that recognize the problems within their faith and that really believe in the charge to care for those in need. I suggested to the pastor that given the opportunity I believe that many  atheists and Secular Humanists would be inclined to work with churches and ministries that were trying to meet these needs, I know that I would be glad to give my time and the funds I could spare to work with a church if I could be certain that the efforts were truly helping people in need. I believe that people who disagree over religious beliefs can work together to meet common goals, I think doing so is something to be desired and I’d like to see our two respective communities work together for the benefit of those around us. The challenge will be finding churches and believers willing to do that.

Discussion Questions: (comment below)

Christians:

Aside from telling me if you agree with what I’m saying here, would you personally be willing to work with non-believers for the good of your community? Would your church?
Also, I dare you to share this with your church or pastor!

Atheists/Secular Humanists/Non-believers:

Would you be willing to work with a church or Christian ministry that focused on feeding and clothing the poor in your community? What stipulations might you put on an organization before committing your time or money?

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The world of Christian news has been buzzing lately with news that Rich Suplita, Professor of Psychology for University of Georgia and former sponsor for the campus’ atheist club UGAtheists, has renounced atheism and embraced the Christian faith.

Suplita isn’t the first atheist turned Christian to be used as fodder by the evangelical camp; Anthony Flew, Lee Strobel, and others are all well known as “former atheists” that saw the “light” – nor will he be the last. These types of conversions excite the evangelical community around me, they think that seeing a man like me return to faith for whatever reason will eventually break whatever barrier they believe prevents me from being a believer. I pay attention to why people believe though, and Rich’s stated reasons fall short of reasonable.

Rich has admitted that the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back was a fear of raising his children with the idea that life and existence were meaningless. Just like there are bad reasons for rejecting Christianity, I believe this to be a bad reason for embracing it and one rooted in fear and the faith his parents forced him into. Dr. Suplita, by my estimation, fears the harsh reality that his once scientific point of view maintained and he doesn’t want to raise his children without the warmth of a god and the promise of something more eternal. I’m not a parent so I’d be remiss to judge this man because of those fears but I’m not sure that any amount of fear and confusion can justify dropping one’s cognitive and logical defenses in favor of embracing faith. I know that not having a belief in any god or any afterlife seems like a cold and dark place when compared to the idea of eternity in the presence of a great and wonderful god – but these conveniences don’t make the Christian story any more true. The fact remains that belief in god cannot be substantiated outside of faith, when held to scientific scrutiny it will fail again and again.

William Hamby, the Examiner for Atlanta Atheism, recently had an interview with Dr. Suplita in which he explained that he had endured a childhood under a strict sect of Christianity where fears are often used to manipulate the minds of young people – I know how powerful childhood indoctrination can be and I know that the things that a child is forced to believe often resurface and have negative effects throughout life and I suspect that to some degree these same fears are driving Rich’s new sense of faith. Fear, I believe, is the root of this and that makes me incredibly sad.

It quite literally pains me to think about how it must feel when these things resurface, I think I’ve dealt with the brunt of what I’m going to face as far as emotionally ravaging leftovers from my faith go – but Rich is now having to face some of those same deep seated ideas. I know he claims that this faith is different from the faith of his parents, but the root theological questions involved are the same; purpose, destiny, eternity, and your place in the universe. This new faith merely answers the troubles he has on a surface level but it doesn’t offer truth as much as it does comfort. Rich has something that is easier for him to stomach and I suspect that his training in the Psychology field has made it evident to him that he’s allowed his emotion to trump his cognition.

I wish that Rich would use his undeniable experience in addition to the scientific method to examine what is happening in his life right now and I hope that he does it before he becomes even more emotionally invested in faith. I want  him to see his cognitive dissonance, his confirmation bias, and to recognize any psychosomatic effects his beliefs are now having on him.

I hope that Rich is well and happy and I hope that if he ends up losing his faith that it doesn’t hurt the way it did for me. I hope that he knows that it gets better and that he allows his children the freedom to think outside of his chosen faith.

I hope I’ve not taken too many assumptive liberties here or put any words in Dr. Suplita’s mouth – if I  have I hope that he’ll let me know. I’m simply making observations from the information I’ve been able to find.

If Rich reads this, I hope you will email me if you’d like to discuss anything I’ve written here or if you just need someone to talk to that has been in a similar situation.

Question. Everything.

Science is hard.

Science is really, really hard.  I know this because I’ve been spending a lot of my time in recent years trying to get a grasp on various areas of scientific inquiry. From astronomy to physics, evolution to chemistry my studies have taught me one thing above all others;  what humans know is infinitely minute, what I know is 1/10th of .0001% of that (I’m likely being far too generous).

Science has a way of humbling us. I think we have a lot to be proud of, especially considering the length of time that modern science has had to get to where it is after surviving the Dark Ages, but I feel a certain sense of awe and wonderment when I consider all of the things we don’t know – I feel insignificant and tiny when I look at the Hubble Deep Field or when I consider the vastness of the human genome.

I won’t go as far as to say that belief in the Christian god is not inherently humbling, what with the idea that man is entirely depraved – but that belief also comes with the idea that you have all of the answers to life’s most difficult questions in a single conveniently packaged volume or available to you when you seek god through prayer. Furthermore, there is a tendency to be easily satisfied and unscrupulous regarding the answers you find – faith makes inquisition and discovery less necessary or involved.

I’ve been fascinated by science since long before I lost my faith but that fascination was superficial at best.  When I believed I needed my understanding of science to synchronize with my faith and when they didn’t match up I had to drop the science in favor of the faith because I already had the answers and it was unwise to question a mighty god, prone to outbursts of rage.

There were occasional episodes where I was willing to challenge my beliefs and tip-toe into an acceptance of the old earth and evolution but accepting these things meant changing some fundamental beliefs I had. These few revelations probably planted the initial seeds of doubt that eventually took root in my mind to weaken the walls I had built around my god. As those roots grew the walls crumbled and I found myself capable of facing god in a different way – opening my options to the idea that perhaps he was not real.

Science humbled me enough to be able to find and appreciate doubt. It taught me that scrutiny was a beautiful thing and that I had failed to ask hard questions that made me uncomfortable, it then challenged me to hold my god to the same scrutiny that I had once held to  scientific fields like evolution and astronomy.

I’ve been called arrogant by Christians that are truly convinced that atheists think they know it all. I’m convinced that the opposite is true and that we are humbled by the miniscule knowledge we hold and by our place in the universe. I think I am, at least.

Source: Hubblesite.org

I like to discuss religion and ask difficult questions about faith. I like to ask people questions that I found myself asking not too long ago, not to make people uncomfortable, but to normalize the processes of doubt and skepticism and to challenge concepts too easily assumed to be true. Sad few understand this, most believe that my goal is to simply debate and argue but this has never been the case. I’d like to make the case that not only am I doing the Christian faith a great service, I’m holding the believer to the standards and expectations set forth in the New Testament.

“I don’t have to defend my faith to you,” or “this is what I believe because the Bible says so, take it or leave it” are common objections  I hear – occasionally someone with a high regard for his or her intellect will point out that by discussing religion with me they are “casting pearls before swine“, believe me when I say that I know what that feels like and discussing matters of faith with unbelievers isn’t what is being objected to here.

On the contrary, dear believer, it is indeed your duty and call to answer the objections that people like myself have to your faith – as Peter commanded:

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer  [apologia] to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope [or faith] that is in you with meekness and fear ~ 1 Peter 3:15 [mine]

Strong’s Concordance lists the word for “to give an answer” as the greek term “apologia” and it is defined as, “properly, a well-reasoned reply; a thought-out response to adequately address the issue(s) that is raised.” and the related term “apologéomai” as, “properly, to reason from solid proof (sound logic); to make a compelling defense with sound logic (argumentation)”

I think Peter is pretty clear here, that the believer should be well versed enough in his faith that he can give a defense for it when objections arise and that when asked for empirical evidence and sound logic it should be something the believer can provide. This charge was given to the believers in Galatia and East Asia by one of the apostles of the faith but very few today are willing to engage in such a way.

I’m intentionally giving people the opportunity to share their faith and their reasons for it. Furthermore I’m giving people reason to question some of it’s foundations so that they might better understand it and question it. This is a service that more should be willing to accept and enjoy but unfortunate few do.

I’m just telling the Christians what the Bible says though. No one has to like it.

I’m only about six chapters into it so far but the first few chapters have left me with a certain notion that perhaps many Christians don’t quite understand why it is that people find themselves capable of rejecting their particular brand of god. These first few chapters contain rebuttals by Mr. Keller to common objections to the faith that he hears at his church in NYC and so far all of these objections have been superficial at best.

Chapter 1 begins the book with a claim by a young New Yorker that “it’s arrogant to say your religion is superior and to try to convert everyone else to it. “

Yes, it is arrogant to claim that you’ve got a corner on Truth. I can’t disagree with that.

Chapter 2 begins with the claim from one  young man that , “I won’t believe in a God who allows suffering, even if he, she, or it exists. Maybe God exists. Maybe not. But if he does he can’t be trusted.”

Yes, suffering seems to point to a malevolent or uncaring god. I can’t disagree with that either.

Chapter 3 really blows the barn doors off of any semblance of intellectual argument with the following:  “I believe each individual must determine truth for him- or herself.”

I disagree with this one, something is either True or it isn’t. A persons’ determination of truth doesn’t change whether or not something actually is true.

Chapter 4 attempts to answer claims of injustice committed by the various iterations of the Christian church in the last 1700 years, to this injustice one woman exclaims, “If Christianity is the true religion, how could this be?”

Again, there is obviously space for criticism here – the Church has been responsible for many great and terrible atrocities. Those atrocities in no way make the claims of the Bible any more or less true. I don’t reject the Christian faith because of the people or institutions of the Christian faith.

Finally Chapter 5 asks how a loving god could send people to hell.

I agree here as well – I can no longer imagine a god who’s largest tool of getting you to follow him is by instilling fear of hell into you beginning at childhood.

I’m not going to claim that some of these objections aren’t reasonable on some level, but they fail to greet the problem of Christianity (or any other religion) in the realm that should be most important: The realm of Evidence.

I’m perfectly content for people to reject any faith at any time for any reason but if the only arguments you have against the faith are how you “feel” about the claims of Christianity you are arguing far below your potential.  I think it’s rather telling from the first five chapters of this book that Mr. Keller isn’t quite used to being brought into the realm of evidence, he isn’t used to being asked for proof of the claims of the Bible or the existence of Christ and perhaps that is why so many books are being published to answer these superficial arguments.

I don’t reject the claims of Christianity because I don’t understand them. I don’t reject the claims of Christianity because I can’t wrap my mind around some of it’s claims, I lived the Christian life for the better part of my short life. I don’t reject the Christian god because I’m angry at him for not answering some petty prayer or because I don’t like the idea of eternal hellfire. I don’t reject the Christian god because I’m possessed by the devil, or because I simply don’t want to believe in him. I’m not an atheist because I’m rebelling , because I just want to “sin”, or for any other reason that someone might come up with to make themselves feel better.

I reject the Christian god simply because there is no evidence for the Christian god, or any other.

If evidence does exist, I’m still waiting for it to be presented and to examine it.

People often assume that I’m not a Christian because I don’t understand the message and faith of Christianity, that assumption is incorrect. I’m not a Christian precisely because I DO understand the Christian faith and message and I see no evidence to it’s benefit.