Our Religion lies not in what we believe, but in where we find wonder and goodness. We are, most of all, a community that gathers to reach toward that which can never quite be grasped. Though each of us may be slightly different from the other, still we are connected, by common DNA, common heritage, […]
Transcendence for Atheists
Let’s begin with a neurological reality: we humans are limited in what we can experience. The finite human nervous system can only absorb about 10% of the information around us. The other 90% goes unprocessed: unseen, unheard, untasted, untouched, unfelt–unimagined. Mind you, that’s only talking about what lies within earshot and vision. It’s not even […]
Reflections on Wind and Trees
“The world offers itself to your imagination,” wrote poet Mary Oliver. On good days, we can journey through the poem. It’s a big danged poem, but after awhile it kind of starts to make sense. Wandering the hills of southern Indiana, where I live, I marvel at the wind and trees. A microburst of wind heedlessly […]
Can an Atheist Have a Spiritual Conversation?
While I was away on my five-week “Great Western Pilgrimage,” my better half, Kate, entertained a longtime friend from the east coast. The friend appreciated that I was a minister, now retired. Upon hearing about my “Gentle Atheist” website, though, she was plainly taken aback. “How can a minister be an atheist?” She asked. “How can […]
What’s a God-Centered Atheist?
Many a year ago I interned at People’s Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. People’s Church had been a fierce bastion of Unitarian Universalist Humanism through much of the 20th century. A series of strictly Humanist Ministers eschewed pulpit robes or any kind of “God-talk.” They had not preached “sermons,” they had delivered “discourses.” Even while I was […]