This is nothing revolutionary and probably nothing new, but I’ve noticed that a lot of words and phrases we use “give homage to” evolution and our evolutionary heritage. We grasp ideas. Ideologies branch. Some things are the root of other things. We have family trees.

This is not meant as even subtle evidence for evolution. I just thinks it’s a neat thing. Think about it.

A good friend of mine wrote,

So I’ve been going out with this Catholic guy for about 11 months, and recently he flew to another state to visit some friends for about four days. Long story short, he ran into his ex-girlfriend there and, after a night of drinking, they kissed. It was one kiss and nothing more. She told him she was sorry, and so was he, and she told him not to tell me because it would hurt me needlessly.

Well, he did tell me. And I didn’t take it very well. He begged me not to leave. He was crying and nearly sick from fear of losing me and for feeling so guilty. He was very genuine about it and swearing he would never put himself in that kind of situation again. I spent a long time thinking about it and finally decided to forgive him.

But I called one of my closest Christian friends and she says I made the wrong choice in taking him back. She says I need a strong man of God, that this guy is just leading me astray. Please help. The tears won’t stop falling.

Read the rest of this entry

From the EthicalAtheist.com web page "Questions for God" [1]:

Why don’t you show yourself? You supposedly made us and want us to believe in you, right? Why the big mystery? You’re also omnipresent, right? Why don’t you show yourself to all of us at once and have a personal discussion with us? You can pick the date and time, we’ll all stop what we are doing, I’m sure.

Why doesn’t God dance when you want him to, and to the tune of your choosing? Why doesn’t God put on some righteous cosmic magic show to convince you that he exists? Allow me to submit what I think is a far more pertinent question: "What would be the point?"

Read the rest of this entry

The broken clock is a comfort. It helps me sleep tonight.
Maybe it can stop tomorrow from stealing all my time.
And I am here still waiting, though I still have my doubts.
I am damaged, at best—like You’ve already figured out.

I’m falling apart, I’m barely breathing,
With a broken heart that’s still beating.
In the pain there is healing,
In Your name I find meaning.

The broken locks were a warning: You got inside my head.
I tried my best to be guarded; I’m an open book instead.
And I still see Your reflection inside of my eyes,
That are looking for purpose; they’re still looking for life.

I’m falling apart, I’m barely breathing,
With a broken heart that’s still beating.
In the pain is the healing,
In Your name I find meaning.

So I’m holding on (I’m still holding)
I’m holding on (I’m still holding)
I’m holding on (I’m still holding)
I’m barely holding on to You

I’m hanging on another day
Just to see what You will throw my way.
I’m hanging on to the words You say.
You said that I will be okay.

The broken lights on the freeway left me here alone.
I may have lost my way now; haven’t forgotten my way home.

I’m falling apart, I’m barely breathing,
With a broken heart that’s still beating.
In the pain there is healing,
In Your name I find meaning.

So I’m holding on (I’m still holding)
I’m holding on (I’m still holding)
I’m holding on (I’m still holding)
I’m barely holding on to You

David Silverman is the Communications Director for the web site American Atheists [1], which describes itself as an organization laboring for the civil liberties of Atheists, a total wall of separation between church and state, and providing information about Atheism [2]. A philosopher could almost make a career out of critiquing the ideas and propaganda that are published at that site, but in this piece here I want to critique one specific article: the list that Silverman published about the “Top Ten Atheist Myths” [3]. (I am trying to ignore my pedantic itch to indicate that the title implies myths which atheists have; i.e., it ought to say “Top Ten Myths About Atheists.”) And I want to be clear that I am writing from the perspective of a Christian philosopher, not from that of a generic theist (which would include any religion that advocates a deity or deities, e.g., Islam, Hinduism, etc.).

Read the rest of this entry

People never cease to amaze me, how the overwhelming majority of them have a masochistic fetish for melodrama. It scarcely seems to matter how carefully and ruthlessly I trim the fat, as it were, from those who I am willing to consider friends: I am still left with people who inject unsolicited and unwanted drama into my life. It’s worse than masochism, really, because I would actually be fine if their commitment to drama was masochistic. But there is obviously a measure of sadism in there, too, because somehow their drama is not complete until they’ve dragged the feculent carcass into my life and dropped its rotted flesh onto my lap—where, until that moment, I was happily minding my own business. Since I suffer from a mood disorder that potently marries anxiety with depression, I am really not the most ideal person to torment with such egregious garbage. It would not be so bad if they simply wanted to talk about it, to get something off their chest or cry on my shoulder. I can compartmentalize that quite effectively. But no, they want to go beyond that. They want to include me, they want to involve me, they want to bring me into their self-inflicted pain in a way that I cannot distance myself from—short of necessarily amputating yet another friendship because I know it will otherwise continue to happen in the future.

Maybe I’m the anomaly. With so very many people exhibiting this destructive trait, maybe that is what ‘normal’ actually is, making me the odd one. But it is an oddity I embrace because, unlike them, I combine my desire for peace with behavior that strives to facilitate rather than frustrate that peace. Which, again, can lead to my terminating friendships, and sometimes relationships, when they become obstacles to that general tranquility I strive to enjoy in my own life. Most people pretend to have this abhorrence for drama but I think those who are most vocal about it are those who actually possess the most concentrated fetish for it, the strongest commitment to it. I suggest that is a ‘red flag’ worth keeping an eye out for.

I tell you, living as a hermit isolated from social detritus is sometimes an attractive prospect to consider.