by Karen Oftentimes, those of us who have left religion behind are asked to define what keeps us going, what motivates us, what rescues us from the pit of existentialist despair now that we no longer believe in god. Some of us don’t seem to have much of a positive belief system, others have adopted [...]
- Posted in General Conversation | 6 Comments »Keith asked me to post about the Christian Community Development Association, a group I belonged to and worked with during the 1990s. Here’s some background on the CCDA. Keith asked: Please share how your perspective on CCD has changed since you became an atheist and how it has remained the same. I liked a lot [...]
- Posted in General Conversation | 11 Comments »Rachel told us about her wonderful movie club, over on the hobbies post, so I thought I’d give you a taste of one of my favorite monthly activities, my book club. All right, come on in. Put your stuff down anywhere and grab a plate! We have a rather eclectic potluck dinner we’ve pulled together, [...]
- Posted in General Conversation | 11 Comments »Last week, we discussed evidence of miracles in this thread, entitled, “Atheist Responses to Supernatural Testimony.” I thought it would be germane to follow up that discussion with a post I wrote recently for the de-conversion blog, where I’m an occasional contributor. Here’s what I wrote over there: I just finished reading a terrific book [...]
- Posted in General Conversation | 18 Comments »Hullo, everyone! I’m Karen, and I’ll be your guest host here at CatE this week. Helen’s off enjoying sunny Italy with her extended family, and several other regulars are also on vacation. Meanwhile, I’ll be house sitting. Don’t worry, I’ve promised to vacuum, collect the empties and tidy up the joint before I go. Helen’s [...]
- Posted in General Conversation | 31 Comments »Religious historian and gnostic gospels expert Elaine Pagels did an interview this week over at Salon.com: As always, she’s thoughtful and controversial. A few excerpts that I found particularly interesting: Q: Can you put the Gospel of Judas in perspective, alongside some of the other Gnostic texts that have come to light in recent decades [...]
- Posted in General Conversation | 26 Comments »Last week, Benjamin posted this response to something I said about belief in the afterlife: (quick update added by Helen: in comment #2 Benjamin mentions that it was actually his wife Meg who posted this question, not him) it seems to me that, to believe or not believe anything takes similar risk, leap, assumption, faith! [...]
- Posted in General Conversation | 53 Comments »