I decided to take a break from finals to answer some of the questions that have been inundating my email and comments lately. I’ve answered them in a separate FAQ page and made it a permanent fixture on the blog. It only includes the questions that I get asked painfully often, and/or have the most obvious answers, so I really hope I don’t have to add to it. At any rate, any comments asking questions that are answered in the FAQ will be deleted from now on.
As always, you’re welcome to email me with any questions/comments. If you email me, please specify if you want something answered on the site; otherwise I’ll just answer things privately, unless I get something often enough to add it to the FAQ.
Having found your blog via a close friend yesterday, we as a group have been taking a break from finals ourselves and exploring your site. As Wheaton freshmen, you have presented to us an invigorating viewpoint to life in this institution, and though I do not question my own faith, I respect you for representing one end of the spectrum that the Wheaton bubble never really allows us to touch. All too often, it takes a radically different viewpoint to inspire self-reflection, especially in areas of faith.
Thank you for keeping this blog.
Do you think I could direct people who email/question/harass me with the same questions to your FAQ for answers? Okay, I’m kidding about giving them your answers, but isn’t it funny the SAME questions we “born again atheists” are asked, over and over again?
Enjoy your holidays and break from Wheaton. Oh, and keep the non-faith!
Good on you Eden,
When you say you are an atheist from a former Christian background, have you given up the teachings of Christ, or just the divinity.
I ask this because I consider myself an atheist, though I love the teachings of Christ. Attacking the money lenders, helping the poor and curing the sick are all what I am about. I love Christ, but I am not a Christian.
I honestly think I understand the teachings of Christ better than most Christians because I pay attention to his teachings and not his divinity.
Matt, I think lots of atheists have those values but don’t particularly feel a need to think of them as ‘Christ’s teachings’. First because they are not exclusive to him anyway. Second because if you watch Christians you would not come up a simple list like that. You’d find a lot of variation and might well conclude there must be someplace in the New Testament where Jesus told people to oppose gay marriage and planned parenthood clinics, given the amount of emphasis some Christians place on these activities.
Thank you for posting these.
I agree with Helen’s point about not identifying values based on whether Christ endorsed them or not. Christ did endorse plenty of positive, humanist values, but so did loads of other philosophers and theologians. Choosing to lump “Christ’s teachings” into something one agrees with isn’t something I’d consider any more than saying I agreed with the “teachings” of Richard Dawkins, or even someone like Bertrand Russell.
For atheists and agnostics I’ve talked with, sorting out one’s beliefs is often a process that involves sifting through lots of different values and teachings and applying the particular thoughts that seem true to one’s life. Keeping an open mind and constantly questioning claims and beliefs is part of the process, so that while one day you might agree with claim A, there’s always the possibility that more proof or merit for claim B could come up and change your mind.
The site below does a great job of analyzing Biblical teachings (both OT and NT) and marking not only the problems but also the “good stuff” that appears in the Bible, from the author’s POV.
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/
Whether you’re a Christian or atheist or whatever, it’s worth checking out. The author has also added commentary on the Book or Mormon and the Koran to the site, and his FAQs are worth looking at.