DAY 11 REFLECTION: Bad religion produces bad morality
Religious leaders have taught that societies can’t be moral without religion. While many Christians believe this, the tide is turning. Pew Research has shown that most U.S. adults no longer…
DAY 12 REFLECTION: Christianity is a spiritual practice
Some religious leaders teach that Christians are born (or reborn) through their beliefs, not through their actions “lest any man should boast.” Yet, believing this way is like buying a…
DAY 13 REFLECTION: The expanding practice of prayer
As children, Christians learn to pray using words. To make it easier, some of the prayers even come in rhymes. In churches, ministers and priests also pray using words, often…
DAY 14 REFLECTION: Dogma can be misused
Dogma, by definition, is not provable by independent parties as literal truth. But it can often point to spiritual truth. Dogma is also not the foundation of the Christian faith,…
DAY 15 REFLECTION: The Bible is like a Christian Rorschach test
Rorschach tests are psychological instruments sometimes used to assess emotional functioning. People can see very different images when interpreting similar drawings. This is true with the Bible as well. Loving…
DAY 16 REFLECTION: How dogma can create Christian Pharisees
In a recent Gallop poll, only one in four Americans said they believed the Bible was the actual word of God and should be taken literally. About one-fourth viewed the…
DAY 17 REFLECTION: Is sin supernatural?
Dogma about original sin has been a key part of the Christian business model from the beginning. It’s based upon Adam eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of…
DAY 18 REFLECTION: Atheism, Christianity, dogma, and consciousness
Atheism is as complicated as theism. To be fair to atheists, it should not be the responsibility of an atheist to prove the non-existence of a God that Christians define…
DAY 19 REFLECTION: Jesus died from organized religion
Looked at objectively, Jesus did not die in service to the church. He died because of the church. This should serve as a constant reminder for religious Christians to be…
DAY 20 REFLECTION: The business of religion
Many Christian leaders seem to tread carefully around the biblical story of Jesus and the moneychangers in John 2. In this story, as they sell cattle, sheep, and doves, and…