There are many reasons to be skeptical of religion and faith. Some are better than others. I profess to be an Orthodox Christian.
The present difficulties and struggles of my life strongly challenge my resolve to remain faithful and participate in the life of The Church and live out my faith in any visible, meaningful manner. Almost every day I try to talk myself into quiting, leaving, and walking away from it. Orthodox Christianity is difficult and painful to pursue in any brave, honest and diligent fashion.
Over the years there have been many people who have questioned, ridiculed or insulted my faith. None of them have presented anything to cause me more than a few seconds of consideration or doubt. Most of the time they have a very shallow, cursory understanding of my or any form of Christianity, and seem very ignorant of the rich historical record of debates or discussions between the faithful and scoffers over the many centuries of Christian presence in the world.
The recent rage of juvenile references to "jebuz" or "the flying spaghetti monster" case in point. Then there is the inexhaustible online presence or blogs and comments where the new generation of Internet geniuses present the latest "gotcha" to disprove or critique all or some of what is embraced as Christianity, oblivious to any previous, much more substantial discussion by many people, on both sides of the arguments, much wiser and smarter than them. Its as if they really think they are some special prophet of doom who has discovered something new and powerful no one else has ever thought of that will finally put the final nail in the coffin. Good luck with that.
So, I've added Amarium Magnum to the list of dragons. The author, Tim O'Neill describes himself as "Wry, dry, rather sarcastic, eccentric, occasionally arrogant Irish-Australian atheist bastard." I find his interest in and treatment of these subjects much more substantial and mature than most. He is more than fair, very thoughtful and informative.
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