Leadingchurch.com

• Damon Linker
• Dish http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2015/01/20/francis-vs-the-theocons-round-iii/

NY Times

Virtue and Free Speech

Patheos

Jewish theology doesn’t depend on Augustine (or Paul), and so they read the story differently. Rather than being born in sin because of something Adam did, humanity has an “evil inclination,” meaning humans are, for whatever reason, prone to disobey God.

That’s why Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the first place (before there was a “fall”), Cain followed his father’s pattern, and on and on all the way to story of the Flood, which is where the problem is explained and the reason for the Flood is given: The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. (Gen 6:5)

• Atlantic
• Think Progress
• Metro Weekly
• TwoCare
• RNS: 69% end in divorce

The Atlantic

Education plus ideology exaggerates rejection of reality http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/01/education-plus-ideology-exaggerates-rejection-of-reality/

Ryan Bell

I had stopped believing that heaven was a place we were going or that God was really going to step into our world, stop the pain and bloodshed, and usher in a new age of peace. It seemed to me then, as it does now, that the belief in paradise after death is the very thing that disempowers people from doing the things that will save us from premature destruction. Everywhere I turned people were claiming that my efforts to make the world a more peaceful and equitable place were doomed to fail because that is what was prophesied just before Jesus returns to make it all better.

So I stepped away to consider whether I had spent my entire life pursuing something—or someone—that didn’t exist.

Now, at the end of this year, I have discovered no evidence that a God exists. For me, theism fails for a number of reasons.

http://www.psmag.com/navigation/books-and-culture/at-home-noonday-demon-religion-god-acedia-97462/