Do Our Souls Require a Gender?

Do you regularly operate a motor vehicle of some kind? If so, is your motor vehicle male or female? This will seem like a nonsensical question to some. Machines don't have a gender! Others might think of their vehicle as male or female. We sometimes hear it in how they talk about their vehicle. But I'd argue that most recognize that this has more to do with them than their vehicles. If pushed, few would insist that their vehicles have a gender. They'd acknowledge that this is how they like to think about them even though they know it isn't accurate.

When it comes to humans, gender takes on far more meaning. Consider the case of Jim. He was born biologically male, and he always identified as a man. Being male felt right to him. He never wondered if he might be a woman or wished that he was one. He didn't question his gender identity because he never had any reason to do so. It might not surprise you to learn that Jim approached his Christian faith in much the same way. He regarded it as an important part of who he was. He didn't question it, at least not seriously, because he never needed to. It felt right, and it worked for him.

How Does One Become a Christian Today?

Suppose I woke up tomorrow morning and decided that I wanted to be a Christian. I realize that seems unlikely, but that's not the point here. And because it isn't the case that I want to be a Christian, we can set aside the "why" questions. What I'd like us to consider is the far more intriguing "how" questions. How would I become a Christian? Is there a series of steps I could go through that would get me there? If I got there, how would I know I was there? And if I thought I was there, would most Christians accept me as one of them?

What might be a good first step if I wanted to be a Christian? How about joining a church? That seems like an obvious one. But we now have to imagine a Christian in the audience protesting. "Going to church doesn't make somebody a Christian." And we'd have to concede that this is a valid point. I've gone to church as an atheist. The experience didn't transform me into a Christian. At the end of the service, I was still an atheist. I've known atheists who have done this for years, and they remained atheists.

Dying Without Withdrawing From Your Faith Savings Account

Imagine that your parents set up a savings account for you when you were a child. They did so to teach you about money, the importance of savings, and whatever else. Every month, they required you to make a small deposit into the account. It was never much. It might have only been 10% of your allowance for the month. They also prohibited you from withdrawing from the account. This seemed unfair in the beginning, but you decided to maintain this practice as you grew up. You found that there was something reassuring about it. Your money was growing, and it would be there when you most needed it. And so, you stuck with it.

Now we skip ahead. Way ahead. You are near death, and you have never withdrawn funds from this account. You had others that you used, of course, but this one was off-limits. And even now, though withdrawing might help you, you do not do so. You die without ever spending a dollar from this account. I hope this seems farfetched. I am still trying to wrap my head around how my mother did something like this. Only in her case, it wasn't a savings account or money; it was religion.

Why Isn’t the Resurrection a Bigger Deal?

"He died for your sins, bro!" It doesn't matter how many times I hear this. It still doesn't make any sense to me. I didn't know him, and I didn't ask him to die. Everybody dies, so that part seems inevitable. But I'll admit that few seem to die for something. I suppose that even fewer die for people who wouldn't be born for another 2,000 years or so.

But today is Easter. The "dying for your sins thing" seems trivial if he didn't stay dead. The suffering that went along with the death would still matter, but I'm not sure about the death itself. Shouldn't the message be that he returned from the dead? Isn't that the remarkable part of the story? Without that part, would we have ever heard of Christianity? 

Arguments for the Existence of Gods Aren’t Needed in a Post-Truth Era

I used to enjoy learning about the arguments Christians had put forward in support of their god. The philosophy of religion was a favorite topic while studying philosophy in college. We'd learn each argument and examine the various rebuttals against it. We would see how some of the arguments evolved to address the rebuttals. Others declined in popularity, limited to philosophy textbooks. I didn't find any of the arguments compelling enough to lead me back to god-belief.

Some of the arguments in support of god(s) were better than others. I remember observing how my Christian classmates would react. They latched on to some arguments, though few arrived at their belief through any of them. They believed first and found justification in some arguments much later. I saw little evidence that their religious belief originated in reason. It was more about faith, with post hoc appeals to reason for support.

Shouldn’t Easter Be a Much Bigger Deal?

It has long puzzled me that Easter seems to be so much less important to Christians than Christmas. Everyone who's ever lived was born. Celebrating someone else's birth has never made much sense. I haven't bothered to celebrate my own since I was a child. But a resurrection? That seems pretty special! Shouldn't Christmas pale in comparison to Easter?

I went to the grocery store this morning. It was open. The same store is never open on Christmas. But I'm not sure if I would have given this a second thought if I hadn't noticed something else on my way home.

You Don't Have to Remain a Member of a Hate Group

I wrote a post on Medium recently called "Taking Responsibility for Your Church" in which I considered a question I've had for some time. If your church is not accepting of people like you, why would you keep going back? It isn't like Christians don't have plenty of church options. Most of those living in the United States are surrounded by churches. If the bigotry at Church A is a problem, why not try Church B? Wouldn't that make more sense than sticking with Church A while complaining about it?

After writing it, I recognized a problem. We don't do this when it comes to our political parties or even how we vote. Consider the Republican primary for a moment. Voters in Iowa and New Hampshire could have done the right thing. They could have said "hell no" to nominating a criminal. They didn't. And I'd bet that few Republicans will stop being Republicans when he's nominated. They won't stop voting for Republicans or even donating their money. No matter how dissatisfied they may be, they'll stay the course.

Exorcism is Harmful and Doctors Should Not Legitimize It

In the United States, we have a controversy raging around gender-affirming health care. Some conservatives would like to charge physicians who provide it with crimes. Many of those who wouldn't go that far still hope to discourage this care.

In other parts of the world, we see a different controversy involving physicians and the care they provide. What role, if any, should doctors have in church-sanctioned exorcisms?

Are Christians Disliked Because They Are Christian?

I have seen some speculation about why Christians are disliked. I've noticed that many of those speculating do identify themselves as Christians. I wouldn't mind sharing my thoughts on the topic, but it seems like there's a question we'd want to address first. Are Christians disliked?

Most of the speculation I've seen has come from Christians living in the United States. Are Christians in the United States disliked? And if so, who dislikes them? Are we to imagine that most non-Christians dislike them? I haven't seen much evidence that leads me to think this is true.

Louisiana Baptists Spread Nonsense to Welsh Students

What do evangelical Christians in the United States do when they have a hard time finding support for their more extreme beliefs at home? They export them to some unlikely places. According to the National Secular Society, one of those places is Wales.

An American church partnered with over 20 schools in Wales and exposed students to homophobic beliefs and creationism, a new documentary by The News Movement has revealed.

Members of the evangelical, Louisiana based First West Baptist Church visited the schools as part of a "cultural exchange" between 2009 and 2018. First West Baptist claim the partnership was established when they offered to provide help after a spike in suicides among young people in Bridgend in south Wales.

Bibles in Hotel Rooms is Another Strange Example of Christian Privilege

We've all heard of Christian privilege. I'd assume that most people have at least a basic understanding of what the term means. But what does it look like? There are many illustrative examples from which one might select. Choosing one to focus on seems incomplete, but the right one might be enough.

If you have ever traveled in the United States, you might have stayed overnight at a hotel or motel. And if you've done so, you might have noticed one book in every room of every one of them. Of course, we're talking about a book often referred to as "the Bible."

Continued Support for Trump Among Evangelical Christians Is No Mystery

I'm not sure why some in the news media are still asking whether there is anything Donald Trump can do to lose the support of evangelical Christians. Continuing to pose this question seems even stranger when they already have an acceptable answer. Why do they seem so reluctant to accept the answer and move on?

This article by Jack Jenkins for Religion News Service quotes an email from Rev. Robert Jeffress:

It’s doubtful that the latest indictment of President Trump will have any meaningful impact on his overwhelming popularity with evangelical voters, given the fact that previous indictments have only increased his support among Republicans — and most evangelicals vote Republican...

Right. They've adopted him as one of their own, and they'll stick with him.

It Is Time to Reject Religious Bullying by Conservative Christians

If I had a valid driver's license and adequate funds, I could buy a red car if I wanted to. I could also choose not to buy a red car for all sorts of reasons. I could decide I don't like the color or that I was afraid the color would make me a target for police. I could think back to some bad experiences I had with red cars. There was the time my friend wrecked his red car after hitting an invisible patch of ice. And there was the time a stranger driving a red car fired at least two bullets into a car I was riding in.

Based on these reasons or many others, I could decide I wanted nothing to do with a red car. But what if that wasn't good enough? What if I decided to prohibit anyone else from owning a red car?

How We Became Christians Can Help Us Understand Why Some Still Are

Are you an atheist? If so, I'd say the odds are good that you have uttered something close to the following words on at least one occasion:

How can anyone believe what many Christians claim to believe in this modern world in which we are now living? Don't they hear how absurd much of it sounds? How can they not know better?

This is a tempting question, and I've asked it myself. I also seems like an easy question to answer. We can do so by drawing on our own experience and the experience of many other ex-Christians who are now atheists.

Important to Keep Christian Nationalists Away From School Boards

Most of us would agree that context matters. Even the context in which someone delivers a bible quote matters. The same quote delivered in one context could have a different intent and impact than in another.

Consider Matthew 18:6 for a moment:

But whoever causes one of these little ones — who believe in me — to stumble and sin by leading him away from my teaching, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

What does this mean? We need some context, so let's make some up.

We Can Show Them How to Accept the Imperfect Christians

When I was a Christian, it was hard not to notice that some Christians were good people. They were kind, considerate of others, and generous with what they had. They stood out to me, and I considered them role models. I often wished there were more of them because they weren't as common as I would have liked.

At the time, I wanted to believe that Christianity was a force for good in the world. I wanted to believe that it transformed ordinary people into good people. But no matter how many times I heard people make this claim, I couldn't accept it. It didn't seem to work this way.

Are the Southern Baptists Facing a Crisis as They Lose More Members?

Most of the evangelical Christians I've encountered in Mississippi have been Southern Baptists. They aren't the only Christian denomination in the area. There are also lots of Methodists and some Catholics, but they aren't the ones knocking on my door. They aren't the ones who cover the local gas stations with religious flyers, most of which end up as litter. And they aren't the ones who proselytize in local businesses.

Southern Baptists are the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. The good news is that there aren't as many of them as there used to be. According to Religion News Service, the Southern Baptist Convention has lost 3 million members since 2006. Most of this loss has taken place in the last five years, suggesting the trend is accelerating.

Faith Allows Them to Maintain Belief by Suspending Critical Thinking

"Faith," in a religious context, does not refer to an abstract sense of hope or confidence. It refers to a particular sort of belief, a belief in something not supported by evidence. That's not to say there can't be any evidence whatsoever, but there isn't enough to support the belief.

If there was adequate evidence to support a belief, faith would be unnecessary. When asked to explain their belief, those who had it would resort to evidence. Faith is what one does when one wants to maintain a belief without enough evidence.

How Surprised Should We Be When Christians Express Hate?

This is going to be a short one. Most of you reading these words will already be familiar with what I'm about to say. It may even remind you of thoughts you've had countless times. I'm writing it because some people still need to hear it.

A Christian expresses a hateful and bigoted message. Another Christian, or even a non-Christian, says something like, "How is this Christian?" Everyone's head should now explode in response to such a question.

Support Christians Who Speak Out Against Christian Nationalism

Many atheists have called on Christians to denounce Christian nationalism. I know I have. There are various ways atheists and other secular folks can help, but there aren't enough of us. Thus, much of this particular fight rests with Christians who value democracy.

Some Christians are speaking out against Christian nationalism. When they do so, it is important that we support and even applaud their efforts. When you come across an online post, reach out to the author to express appreciation. This won't balance out the garbage they hear from the other side, but it helps. Most people like to know that what they are doing is getting through to some.