Bump.

Since we're playin' with fire by talking politics in another thread, I figured I'd add religion to the mix. Mwah ha ha ha.

Seriously, this book looked interesting: "Patience with God: Faith for People Who Don't Like Religion (or Atheism)" by Frank Schaeffer.

From Publisher's Weekly: Author Schaeffer ("Keeping Faith") adopts a feisty tone in this essay about evangelical Christianity and aggressive atheism. In the first half of the book, he rebuts justifications from both sides, taking aim at the ideas of such celebrity atheists as Richard Dawkins as well as religious leaders like Rick Warren. Schaeffer asks each side to allow for an evolving religion in which allegory takes precedence over literalism. In the first half of the book, the author quotes lengthy passages from atheist writings, leaving little room for his own optimistic ideas. In the second half, he gives space for his own memories, recalling moments that led him to a middle path of hopeful uncertainty. Growing up in a well-known evangelical family, then leaving it behind for secular Hollywood, Schaeffer learned to see the world as aesthetic and contemplative rather than scientific. By embracing mystery and love, he suggests the two movements can exist side-by-side: It is possible to buck the trend of cynicism and to believe in each other more than in the rightness of our particular ideas.

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Sounds intriguing. Anybody read it or anything else by the author?

I like the idea of hopeful uncertainty. It's kind of where I am, and where a lot of people I know are. And mysteries are cool. At least when I watch Scooby Doo with my 5 year old.


Bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica.