Archives for June 2017

Dan Barker’s open Bible test

[Originally this article and the followup article that "graded" this test were published in my column when I wrote as the Atlanta Creationism Examiner.] We all have our weaknesses. I'm a sucker for a good challenge. And I am especially susceptible to books with eye-grabbing, thought provoking titles such as The Book Your Church Doesn’t Want You To Read. Naturally, I grabbed a copy from the shelf of the Roswell Public Library and added to my stack of books to check out and read. The End of Faith by Sam Harris was my other nonfiction selection. My reading interests do not often match that of the typical Christian. The subtitle promised to be “An Enlightening Anthology by World-Renowned Theologians, Historians & Researchers that Exposes and Challenges Misrepresentations and Age-Old Beliefs!” My beliefs are not “age-old” so I didn't feel particularly threatened, and dead center in the book, on page 223, I discovered Dan Barker’s essay No Stone Unturned, which proposed an intriguing challenge. Mr. Barker is a former minister, now co-director of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. His biography claims Mr. Barker's IQ is above the 99th percentile, which sounds...smart. Perhaps I'll be biting off more than I can chew. And perhaps not. Ominously, his essay is followed by this warning: This article was copied and distributed around the country in many different forms. A lot of readers sent it to their area ministers and priests. Only two attempts at accepting the challenge were made and neither one of them kept to the terms, preferring to pick and choose … [Read more...]

Reincarnation, and the problem of an open mind

[AUTHOR'S NOTE: As a Christian, I will admit this is information that I have trouble reconciling with my religious beliefs, and it especially bothers me because it's something that wouldn't upset me if true -- it actually solves theological issues I have about sticky issues such as the premature death of a child. As a human being, curiosity got the better of me, and I've learned that I cannot simply reject the idea of reincarnation. Like Dr. Tucker, I'm merely more open to the possibility, in the light of evidence such as that I'm about to describe.] Little five-year-old Ryan from rural Muskogee County, Oklahoma began having nightmares involving a past life. Ryan claimed he had been a well-known actor who lived in Hollywood, had a sister who was a famous dancer, and once knew Rita Hayworth. He said that he had been really rich, married multiple times, loved Chinatown and Chinese food, lived in a house with a swimming pool on “rocks” drive, owned some sort of agency that changed names, and provided a host of other details about this mysterious "previous life." Ryan's father Kevin, a police officer with thirteen years experience, proposed that mother Cyndi should keep track of all Ryan’s past-life claims. To be precise, over a period of several months Cyndi documented 102 unique claims that her son made about a past life. Meanwhile, Ryan's nightmares continued to get worse. He would turn white and gasp for air, struggling for every breath. He talked about things that seemed gibberish, like a meeting in a New York graveyard with someone he called "Senator … [Read more...]