Faith & God

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Good Answers for Hard Questions

You’ve heard it before:

  • All religions are the same.
  • Suffering is proof that God doesn’t exist.
  • Christians are so narrow minded!
  • Religion does more harm than good.
  • A loving God would never send anyone to hell.
  • Science has disproved Christianity.
  • The Bible isn’t a reliable document.

You’ve run into these ideas in books or articles. They’ve issued from the mouths of friends or family members. You might even agree with some, or all, of them. Skepticism and atheism are oh, so trendy. Entire networks of blogs are devoted to dissing God and religion, usually with plenty of snide comments and a great degree of sarcasm. (I’ve often wondered why people get so snarky when it comes to criticizing other people’s beliefs.)

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One Way to Alleviate Poverty

It’s that time of year again. The Salvation Army bell ringers are stationed in front of stores, markets, and malls, soliciting donations. My email inbox is full of requests for funds from organizations as diverse as World Vision and National Audubon. Our small group has “adopted” a single mom and her three kids—we’re helping with decorations, gifts, and special meals. We’re all familiar with the idea of donating food and clothing, or perhaps simply cash, especially during the holiday season.

But do these donations really help?

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Does Religion Create Bad Kids?

Have you heard the news? According to the Los Angeles Times, “Religion doesn’t make kids more generous or altruistic, study finds.” The Guardian chose a more negative headline: “Religious children are meaner than their secular counterparts, study finds.”

Could this possibly be true? What study is this? How was it designed? Who ran the experiment? When something this counter-intuitive makes headlines, my brain immediately starts flashing a “caution” sign. In this case, my brain was right. There are a number of issues that make me cry “foul!”

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Red Cups, Seasons Greetings, and Jesus

Starbucks-Red-Cup

(I was going to post something about microenterprise, but I wanted to get this up while it was still timely. You’ll have to wait a few weeks for the microenterprise post.)

Here we go again. Christmas is coming. And in the spirit of the season, Christians are getting angry.

  • We’re angry when someone says “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.”
  • We’re angry that our kids are on winter break instead of Christmas vacation.
  • We’re angry that Starbucks has plain red cups.

Seriously? Do we have nothing better on which to spend our time and energy?

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Helping the Poor, Part 3

(This is the third article in a series on poverty. If you missed the previous two, please back up a few weeks and read those posts.)

What does poverty look like around the world?

Before we get any further, let me clarify some terminology. It turns out that sociologists use the terms absolute poverty and relative poverty, and it’s important to know the difference. According to the UNESCO website,

Absolute poverty measures poverty in relation to the amount of money necessary to meet basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. The concept of absolute poverty is not concerned with broader quality of life issues or with the overall level of inequality in society. The concept therefore fails to recognise that individuals have important social and cultural needs. This, and similar criticisms, led to the development of the concept of relative poverty. Relative poverty defines poverty in relation to the economic status of other members of the society: people are poor if they fall below prevailing standards of living in a given societal context.

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Ghastly Gargoyles

gargoyle over Paris

Notre Dame gargoyle overlooking Paris.

Have you visited a medieval cathedral such as Notre Dame, Westminster Abbey, or the incredibly tall cathedral in Cologne, Germany? I love the soaring arches, ornate architecture, stained glass windows, and the quiet, contemplative spirit inside. In fact, I think they’re altogether lovely, except for one thing: the gargoyles. It just makes no sense. Why in the world would the Christians of the Middle Ages put such evil-looking monstrosities on the very buildings they were dedicating to the worship of God?

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Helping the Poor, Part 2

Last week we learned that, while a lot of people fall below the poverty line, that situation is often temporary. Also, while the poor don’t earn much by US standards, it’s still over $10,000 a year—plus government and other benefits. What does that buy you? Today I want to address what life under the poverty line is like.

Granted, it’s not fun being poor. Having fewer resources means you have fewer options—and the answer too often is “no.” Opportunities may be limited. Sometimes, things cost more for those who can least afford it—prices at stores in poor neighborhoods tend to be higher than in middle class areas, and you can’t afford to take advantage of items on sale or discounted in bulk. Add to that frustration—being poor typically correlates with reduced influence, both socially and politically. I’ve always imagined desperate families in cars, skinny, hungry children in ragged clothing, and crime-ridden neighborhoods.

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Helping the Poor, Part 1

“Sure, there are poor people overseas, but we have poor people right here in America. It’s more important that we help them first.”

“I want to live in the United States, where even the poor people are fat!” –Indian laborer

“The poor you will always have with you.” –Jesus

It’s common knowledge that we have poor people here in America. There are families without homes, elderly retirees having to choose between buy food or filling a prescription, and children going to bed hungry.

But just how many families are homeless? How common is it for senior citizens to be unable to afford their medications? What percentage of children lack enough food to eat? How big a problem do we have, and how does it compare with the rest of the world?

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Ahem?

I hate interruptions. I find them particularly annoying. Put me in front of a computer and give me an article to write or a pile of photos to edit, and I have no problem staying focused. When the house needs cleaning, I set aside a day and get the entire place sparkling. When digging in the garden, I might forget to come in for lunch. And when I read a book, I often read all 400 or so pages in one sitting, even to the point of staying up half the night.

While this predilection to concentrate can be an asset when it comes to getting tasks done, it isn’t so helpful when it comes to relationships. Almost by definition, doing anything with another person tends to involve interruptions. That’s the reason we do things together in the first place. Parenting takes this to an extreme. As anyone who’s ever raised a two-year-old knows, kids are nothing but interruptions!

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Will “Life As We Know It” End September 28?

We’ve now survived the (non-) economic collapse of September 13 and the lack of destruction on September 23. If we’re still here reading this, then the rapture has not yet occurred and Jesus has yet to return. Aliens didn’t arrive to conquer Earth, tsunamis didn’t destroy the east coast, and while we continue to complain about the weather, it still supports life. In fact, everything still looks pretty much the same.

But wait, the month isn’t over! Let’s not forget about those blood moons. (The term “blood moon” sounds dramatic, but it’s simply another name for a full lunar eclipse. The “blood” part comes from the reddish color of Earth’s shadow.) The last blood moon of the current series, which started in April, 2014, will fall on September 28, which is Sukkot—the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

As a result, some believers are predicting that the world will end on that day—September 28. Should we be concerned?

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