I recently spent some time checking out various Xtian websites trying to get a grasp of how theists rationalize misfortune, tragedy, and suffering in their personal lives. According to most of these sites this is one of the biggest unanswered questions that believers in god(s) are faced with. Most say it is "not our place" to try and understand or question the motives of god. 

The Church of Christ (a Protestant American denomination) offers the following:

" 5. Some suffering…

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The Great King

 

A boy of nearly six lay weeping on the side of the road. His father, face down in the mud beside him, had just been slain. He was unable to pay the taxes required by the local governor. He pleaded with the collectors to spare his life, as he had no money with which to pay them. This was not their concern. The man was killed; the debt passed to his son.

 

A woman who witnessed the event came to comfort the boy. “I know this is hard…

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So this made for an interesting read. The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne decided to publish a brochure and devote a portion of their website to addressing the rise of atheism and providing their followers with some ammunition to fight off those crazy nonbelievers that have proven to be so bothersome.

To start, let me just say Hooray! that there is enough influence of the atheist community to make this organization take notice. Score.

 

The brochure is quite amusing in its…

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I wish I could remember where I found this lovely analogy;

This story is like setting your two little babies near the edge of a cliff, telling them “Don’t crawl off or you’ll die”, and then leaving them alone. After saying this you just watch, silent and out of sight, while one of your older and more knowledgeable children goads them into crawling off the edge of the cliff one at a time and falling to their deaths.



This…

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From Catholic News Service



Pope Benedict spent May 2 by visiting Turin, Italy, where he celebrated an outdoor mass and knelt in silent prayer before the Shroud of Turin, which many Catholics still believe to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.



After spending time… Continue