Raised in a Protestant Christian tradition that values the historic creeds of the Church, I learned from an early age to respect and repeat them every Sunday. The central creed—an “I believe” statement— memorized from Sunday School days, was the Apostles’ Creed. Not written by any of the ori…
Our middle grandson, 16, enrolled in soccer referee training and has been officiating this year.
The Bible skeptic Michael, whom we have been engaged with for many weeks, asks a very important question: “Isn’t all religion just a mind game?” After all, the German philosopher Karl Marx famously said of religion, “It is the sign of the opp…
Someone recommended a Facebook group for Southern Baptist pastors. The recommender forewarned it would give thoughtful opinion, good humor and genuine frustration! And he’s correct.
It’s a challenging time to be raising children. Education is under assault from several angles, kids are glued to their devices, parents are stressed. Could more religion help, or make the situation worse?
Evolution cannot explain biological complexity without bumping up against some fundamental laws of nature. If you recall, we mentioned the Second Law of Thermodynamics a few articles ago to help establish that the stars have a limited fuel su…
Our yard is an active parade ground. Almost every day we see wild things large and small meandering to and fro across the grass. From beetles and spiders, snakes and rabbits, bobcats and black bears, along with a winged flurry of birds includ…
It was on a trip to Washington for a Southern Baptist seminar that our group rode the capitol subway to an event. At our stop a U.S. senator was waiting to board. I immediately recognized him and walked over to say hello. He asked what our group was doing in D.C. He was also aware of some to…
Darwinian evolution holds that complex systems arise through successive, slight modifications that benefit a species' survival over many generations. However, we have shown that the bacterial flagellum is a highly complex system that could not have been the product of numerous slight modific…
I visited Salem, Massachusetts, in 2011 when the college sent me to a conference at Harvard. I had a more extended visit lately when attending a hobby convention in nearby Danvers, north of Boston.
On a bright summer Sunday morning, I was invited to speak in a synagogue on the rather dark subject of Christian Nationalism. Having lectured on the topic in classes and churches, I’m prepared to present a basic introduction to the dangers of this politicized form of faith. Several years ago…
William Paley, the 18th–century English clergyman, Christian apologist, and philosopher, is best known for his design argument for the existence of God. Paley suggested that if a person were walking through the forest and came upon a rock, it would attract no special attention because it is …
WASHINGTON (AP) — Civil rights advocates on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Texas law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments, teeing up a potential new test of state-sponsored religious expression in classrooms.
In classes I teach on Freethought and Religion, I often startle students with the factual claim that Christians are atheists. This isn’t some trick to upset participants or attack the faith of those who believe. I simply remind students that …
A colleague asked me to send a press release announcing a “Ducks Unlimited” meeting. I used my “local distribution” list ensuring adjacent communities would get the word. I began, “Ducks Unlimited will have their meeting” at such and such. An…
We have made the point in the last several articles that if we are to engage the Bible skeptics of the world in a discussion about the being and nature of God, then one place we can find common ground for that conversation is by looking at th…
The Temple Mishkan Israel in Selma has been awarded a $75,000 grant from the Alabama Historical Commission (AHC) to continue its preservation efforts.
Serving nearly ten years behind bars was just what I deserved. I needed to learn some things that my educational degrees didn’t offer. Questionable life choices led me to follow a path influenced by someone who “served time” too, long ago in …
I visit the National Institute for Standards and Technology website occasionally to reset my wristwatch. I’ve resisted the current trend to wear a watch that monitors my heart, calories and what my neighbors are watching on TV. My current Sei…
In my opinion the answer to this question is: No. The only “evidence” for the “truth” of one faith is how a believer lives their life. And that only “proves” a person’s character, not personal beliefs. We can observe believers of many religio…
Over the last few articles, we concluded that, based on scientific observation and evidence from the cosmos, there was a First Cause that caused the universe to begin to exist. From there, we were able to make some general conclusions about t…
It was some time ago that I accepted an invitation to spend several days in Washington, D.C. with the Southern Baptist Christian Life Commission as it was known at the time. We had meetings with several officials and a prayer breakfast with t…
We have been standing on the back porch with the Bible skeptic, Michael, for the last few articles, gazing at the stars. We have been working our way through the simple argument:
It appears we live in a time when the “commercial success” of the “Christian brand” has become fused or confused with a kind of “political religion.” A cross is wrapped in a flag; a Bible is treated like the Constitution; a political rally tu…
I sat with the doctor three years ago and he got straight to the point. He’d examined the scan and he said, “Mike, you have cancer.”
