It may seem that there’s no point criticizing other people’s theological beliefs because from the standpoint of atheists, all religious beliefs are equally unreasonable, but different theological beliefs are not equal, and they lead to different outcomes.
I define theology as beliefs about gods, spirits, and ethics: how we show up in the world as humans.
Continue readingThe best dating site, in my opinion, is OKCupid, because you can ask and answer questions about your dealbreaker issues. Then you don’t need to go on a date with some idiot who believes stuff like “women should submit to their husbands” or “pregnant rape victims should carry the foetus to term”.
Continue readingWhen I was 14 or 15 years old and still a Christian, a boy who was older than me (17, I think) told me that God wanted me to be his girlfriend. I didn’t reciprocate but I was worried enough about it that I asked an older female friend, Cathy, what she thought. Luckily for me, she said that if God wanted me to be in a relationship with him, I would feel the same way about it. Thank you, Cathy.
And thankfully the boy accepted that the answer was no.
The girl in this story (Sarah Carr) didn’t have a Cathy. She finally got justice after nearly 25 years.
The pastor who was betrothed to a child — Friendly Atheist
She has also started a group to help people in the same situation:
the Reclamation Collective, a non-profit group that creates space for those “harmed within religious and spiritual spaces.”
When I was a kid, there was this joke.
A man goes to heaven. As he’s walking along the entrance hall with St Peter, he sees a closed door. He asks who’s in there. St Peter says, “Sssshhh, that’s the Plymouth Brethren* in there — they think they’re the only ones here.”
(* Insert obnoxious denomination of your choice)
Continue readingChanging Paths challenge day 28. People I admire.
(This is by no means a complete list of people I admire. Some of the people I admire are not famous but have spent a lifetime doing a thing in an admirable way.)
Continue readingChanging Paths challenge day 17: my journey
Despite the adage that one supposedly becomes more conservative as one gets older, I have in fact become more left-wing. I’m generation X but apparently this is also true of millennials. Good job millennials, keep it up.
In terms of my Pagan path, my goals have shifted towards community building—perhaps in response to the trend towards social isolation.
Continue readingI think it’s important to challenge the hegemony of Christianity in our culture and promote tolerance of all religions that want to live in harmony with each other and with atheists. The way to get to that point is not by insisting that we should all read the Bible so we can use it to argue with bigots, nor is it by embracing “cultural Christianity”.
Continue readingEsoteric religions are ones that locate the primary source of religious or spiritual authority in the human heart, the conscience, or the higher self. Teachers are seen more as guides than as authority figures. They are only an authority on the topic of the particular path, as they are further along that path. Starhawk and the Quakers characterize this approach as “power from within” for the individual and “power-with” to describe the power-sharing approach of this type of group.
Exoteric religions are ones that locate the source of religious or spiritual authority outside the self, in religious texts which are often said to be divinely revealed. These texts are often interpreted by leaders within these religions, and those leaders tend to be given a lot of authority over their “flock”. Starhawk and the Quakers characterize this approach as “power-over”.
Continue readingOh dear: the evangelicals are spouting rubbish about Paganism again — ably debunked by John Beckett.
The idea of evangelicals claiming that Paganisms don’t have continuity with ancient paganisms is hilarious when you consider the lack of continuity between evangelical Christianity and early Christianity.
Changing Paths challenge day 26 — wobbling
Spiritual wobbles can happen when your spiritual path becomes out of synch with your religious community. They can be dry spells, when it feels as if the source of your spiritual life has dried up, or the wobble can propel you out of your old path and into a new one. It depends how severe the wobble is.
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Changing Paths 