Dr Paul Allen

English: Richard Dawkins giving a lecture based on his book, The God Delusion, in Reykjavik (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) 20% of Americans who describe their religion as “none.” It isn’t that the “ Nones ” (not to be confused with “nuns”) don’t believe in God , necessarily. 64% of them do. They just don’t want to affiliate with any “organized religion.” The statistics about “Nones” probably don’t include the number of self-described Christians who feel the same way. I know of some who haven’t found a church they can agree with or that is up to their high standards. So they don’t go to church at all. After all, with their “me-and-Jesus” theology, why do they need a church? But they do. The good news is that 40% of those raised as “Nones” drop out of their non-religion to join an actual religious institution. Hey, isn’t that about the same drop out rate, according to one measure, for young people raised in churches ? From Michael Gerson: An America that is losing faith with r

Image via Wikipedia Author: Ligonier Ministries  Near the close of the 1976 U.S. Presidential campaign,  Newsweek  magazine famously declared 1976 the “Year of the Evangelical.” In subsequent years, Jerry Falwell ’s “ Moral Majority ,” Pat Robertson ’s “Christian Coalition,” and James Dobson’s “Focus on the Family” assumed leading roles on the stage of American political life. Each strongly identified with the Republican party and conservative public policy. In the last decade, however, a new set of actors has appeared on this stage. Leaders such as Rick Warren, Jim Wallis, and Ron Sider – all bearing evangelical credentials – have bristled against evangelicalism’s longstanding identification with the Republican party. Promoting left-of-center public policies, these spokesmen do not appear to be speaking only for themselves. Polls suggest that a growing  Image via Wikipedia number of younger self-identified evangelicals have wearied of the policies and party affiliation of thei

Image via Wikipedia Here's a riddle: A young man walks into a building. From the outside, it looks like a nondescript, run-down, abandoned warehouse. Inside he finds mood lighting, music with throbbing bass, and young people wearing skinny jeans and superfluous scarves.  A bar off to the side offers drinks of some sort, and a frenetically lit stage is shrouded in fog. Jumbo screens display what appear to be music videos. Everywhere people text on their iPhones. A young woman with a nose ring and a vaguely Middle Eastern tattoo comes up andintroduces herself. She makes awkward (but refreshingly earnest) small talk about her passion for community gardens and food co-ops.  She asks him if he has heard Arcade Fire's new album, and compliments him on his bushy beard and lumberjack look. Beards like that are cool, she says. Eventually she asks him for his contact information. Question: Is the man in a bar? Or is he in a church? It could go either way. Welcome to the wor