Religion for Atheists

I have a good number of atheist and/or agnostic friends. This might seem weird for a devout Christian, but honestly, I don't think it should be. In fact, contrary to what you've been told by the media (or even from certain high profile atheists), a lot of atheists and agnostics are deeply spiritual people. This doesn't mean that they believe in God (or even spirits for that matter), and some of them will say straight out that their spiritual experiences are probably biological responses hardwired into them, but regardless, I find it pretty easy to have meaningful, deep conversations about life with my secular friends.

Last night on Krista Tippet's radio show "On Being" she did a really fascinating interview with an atheist philosopher named Alain de Botton. You can listen to the show here. He talks about how he was raised in an atheist home and taught that religion was stupid and silly, but in his 20s he had a "crisis of faithlessness" when he discovered a lot of things about faith that were, in his words, "Rather nice." He went on to explore some different things about faith that he thinks that secular society would be wise to adopt from religion. He also made an interesting point, that as we're working hard to create a secular society in which no religion is being allowed to publicly force its message on others, we're allowing corporations and marketing to fill the spaces we're clearing out which, in his view, is bankrupting us morally. Great insight.

Anyway, I haven't read the book yet, but here's his book, Relgion for Atheists, and here's his website.

What do you think?

Atheists: would you describe yourself as spiritual? What do you think of de Botton's thought that there are things secular society should rip off from religion?

Theists: What do you think? Anything of interest to you from the show? Would you be willing to hang out and talk about an atheist's views on spirituality and religion?

P.S. If you're an atheist/agnostic kid with Christian parents or the Christian parent of an atheist/agnostic kid, send me an email and I'll connect you with a facebook support group that a friend of mine and I have going. Both groups are encouraging, supportive, and focused on helping you process your emotions and live life well with your family. 

What's on the bookshelf

Hey, you know the rules... send me a book and I'll put it up on the blog.

As it happens, I just received a book by a former atheist, and those of you who know me well know that I have a special affection for both atheists and anarchists. They're cute!

The fine folk at Bethany House just sent me a copy of Finding an Unseen God: Reflections of a Former Atheist by Alicia Britt Chole. Here's a link to Alicia's blog, and here's a pdf where she answers some questions about the book.

In any case, the book looks interesting... it starts with chapter 52 and is followed by chapter 1 and then the chapters continue to move toward the middle. I usually enjoy books that mess around a bit like that. I'll let you know once I read the book, but wanted to let you know what's on the bookshelf.

Atheist/Agnostic Bible Study

My good friend Shasta invited me to Portland State's Atheist/Agnostic Bible study. It's run by the PSU Atheist-Agnostic student group.

I had a great time. The atheist students were a lot of fun... really interested in the text (they're looking at the book of John).

Before everyone arrived, those who were there pulled out their Bibles and read until we started. We briefly introduced ourselves and then Shawn (not sure which way he spells his name) reviewed the first three chapters. Then we would read a section out loud and discuss it together. The atheist students gave more attention and respect to the text than many Christian students I've seen in similar types of studies. They really want to know what precisely Jesus means when he says and does different things, and they're very interested in what precisely John is communicating in the way he writes the account.

In addition, I think they have a certain advantage in approaching the text without all the weight of years and years of someone telling them "This is what Jesus means when he says--". They ask questions with an honest desire to understand.

Honestly, it was probably one of the best Bible studies I've been to in the last few years. I'm planning to go back next week. I'm looking forward to getting to know the students better, and learning together from the book of John.