It’s been probably 11 or 12 years since I’ve released any new material commercially and I am happy to report that the long dry spell has now officially ended. I have a new song that appears on the record “Adrift on a Star” by Dan Barker and Friends. Continue reading
The interview I did with Bert Montgomery earlier in the year ended up appearing in The Huffington Post, the Burnside Writers Collective, Faithlab, and on Bert’s own blog. He’s resourceful! The version that appeared in all these publications was about half the length of the whole interview. The unedited full version, done initially in two parts, appears below and includes a whole bunch of other important stuff on religion and faith, CCM, Undercover and even a bit on The Fugs! Now what interview would be complete without that?
Last month the Freedom From Religion Foundation put a printed edition of my presentation at their annual convention in Hartford, CT in their newsletter. For those who are not members and who do not have access to the newsletter (which alone is worth the price of membership in the organization) the printed transcription is now available on their website here. Continue reading
We’ve heard them all. Science is a religion. It takes more faith to believe in science (or the big bang, or evolution, or an old earth, or climate change, or…) than it does to believe in God. Today brought another set of comparisons of science to religion and religion to science in a Facebook discussion but from a different angle. Continue reading
I see this guy from time to time, not everyday but often. Today again, there he was, all day long with his cross waving at people. All day long. Does he have a right to spend his time however he wants? Of course. Does he have a right to express himself? Undoubtedly. Does he have a right to do it here on public property? I am less certain about that. But none of these things are what went through my head today. Continue reading
People leave the faith for many reasons. Sometimes it’s a result of their own inquiries but sometimes they are helped along, their assent into skepticism and unbelief unwittingly mid-wifed by believers themselves. Psychologist Valerie Tarico, author of “Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light,” outlines how believers do just that in her article,”8 Ways Christian Fundamentalists Make People Convert — to Agnosticism or Atheism.” Continue reading
In the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a number of unrelated people from diverse and distant stations and geographies experience strange shared phenomena that none of them can explain or understand, and which suggests to those around them that they might actually be losing their marbles. These people are ultimately driven to seek out and travel to the remote location where they have been “summoned.” Continue reading
Improv Friday is an online musical event where composers of all stripes gather to write and improvise every Friday. These are not “songs” as many are used to hearing from me, but improvised works or as the website says, works “with strong improvisational elements,” for those who have ears to hear. It’s a way to stay busy, sketch, experiment, generate ideas, keep creativity flowing, hear others’ work, learn more about my software and hardware, explore. Continue reading
North Carolina is proposing an amendment to their state constitution, Amendment One, which would add this new section to Article 14 of the North Carolina Constitution: Continue reading
Theoretical physicist and cosmologist Lawrence M. Krauss has written a concise but poignant essay, “Why are Religious Beliefs Off Limits?,” about whether religion and the religious beliefs of the candidates should be addressed or not in the public discourse during the elections this year. It wasn’t that long ago when religious beliefs were considered private affairs. Continue reading
