Boy Dreams, Parents Make Millions: Heaven Is For Real is Megahit

It's really sad to see a child's naive faith being exploited to make millions for his religious parents. But that's what has happened to young Colton Burpo.

Colton's appendix got infected and ruptured. He was rushed to emergency surgery and happily his life was saved (by modern medical science, I might add). But when he came out of the anesthetic, he had a rather startling tale to tell: he'd been to Heaven! And Jesus Himself was there (probably a white guy with a beard even though Jesus was probably dark-skinned), along with John the Baptist and even Colton's own great-grandfather!

Now Colton has a mega-seller book, Heaven Is For Real. Not just a sort-of-popular book, but the number one paperback on the New York Times bestseller list (login required).

Now you might think that this is just another of those Jesus-on-your-toast stories, that someone was just out to make a buck on this kid's delusions. But you'd be wrong! These are just humble Midwesterners who

Best of Religion Virus: Mardi Gras Riot!

Dear Faithful Readers ... you may have noticed that my posts have been more sparse than normal. A couple weeks ago I was alarmed to discover that I'm approaching my 500th blog. I was actually amazed by this. I just sit down a few times a week and offer my thoughts, and it never occurred to me that I'd written so much!

Just for fun, I started looking back through my old blogs, and was sort of surprised to find that I really enjoyed reading some of them. I'm not bragging or anything, but I do believe that you can't be a really good writer unless you get pleasure from your own work. Self-congratulations aside, I realized that there are some real gems in my old blogs, but they're buried in a huge pile of less-than-stellar blogs that will fade into well-deserved obscurity in the dustbins of the internet. It would be a shame to lose the good ones along with the rest.

So I decided to put together a new Kindle e-book, a "Best of Religion Virus." It's nothing you couldn't get if you had the patience

God Tells Wisconsin Gov. Walker to Fight Unions

Did you know that God hates unions? Wow, I sure didn't. But thanks to Wisconsin's Governor Walker, I've been enlightened. God hates unions, and He wants Gov. Walker to chase them out of the state!

OK, that's a bit of an extrapolation from what Walker actually said in public. But it's probably not an exaggeration. Walker claims that God talks to him and tells him what to do. And we're not talking about some vague "I feel his guidance" thing. We're talking about real voices in his head.

If it weren't for the God Exemption for sanity, Gov. Scott Walker would be classified as mentally ill. He actually believes that God talks to him on a daily basis. He hears God's voice. Walker actually believes that God told him whom to marry, what jobs to take, and even dictated his political career. Walker prays to God about every decision, and God answers by telling him what to do.

Which is why it's clear that God hates unions, and God wants Scott Walker to chase them out of Wisconsin!

This is scary stuff. How can the rest of us argue with a guy who actually believes that he is doing God's bidding? How can a person like that

Christian Memes on the Battlefield: Is Gandhi Going to Hell?

Pastor Rob Bell, a leading liberal Christian, dropped a bomb on the Evangelical right-wing faction of Christianity. Bell is calling the right-wing evalgelical ideas of Heaven, Hell, redemption and torture misguided and toxic. He is calling out the Evangelical right for their preposterous and indefensible concept of the afterlife.

Bell is saying that there are (*gasp*) other ways to Heaven than Evangelical Christianity! The blasphemy!

The Evangelical right's vision of Hell is one of the best tools in their toolbox, and it's no wonder they're upset about Bell's challenge. Of all the tricks that keep people going to church, the idea of eternal damnation and torture is

Bible Prohibits Homosexuality? WHO CARES?

Once again the Bible is proving how it wastes careers, holds back our culture and should be abandoned as a source of morality.

Professor Jennifer Wright Knust's new book, Unprotected Texts: The Bible’s Surprising Contradictions about Sex and Desire, and her recent blog on CNN both purport to show that the Bible does not actually prohibit homosexuality. She claims that the message is ambiguous at best, and that there are many passages that actually condone same-sex relationships.

I'm sure it's no surprise to anyone that her book and blog have provoked many responses from conservative Christians. Perhaps the most scholarly reply is this one by Professor Robert A. J. Gagnon. The good professor has written not one, but two books that prove that the Bible condemns homosexuality.

And you know what? We don't care!

This debate is just another illustration of why the Bible shouldn't be anyone's

Faith is better than Reason? You Bet!

I love it when some religious nut attacks, makes strong and unambiguous claims, and I can show them to be plainly and obviously wrong. It would be even more satisfying if these people would feel humbled by their mistakes, but they rarely are. It seems that their religious convictions preclude the possibility of error.

Today's topic is the one thing I object to the most about religion. No, it's not terrorist martyrs, creationism or even young men wearing black ties who knock on my door and are so nice I can't bear to argue with them. The thing that gets me the most is the idea that when faith and reason collide, faith should be trusted over reason.

Recently several readers have argued with me that Christians don't believe this. They flat-out deny that faith-over-reason meme is at the core of their beliefs. (I call this the Anti-Rationalism Meme in my book.)

So here is a collection of quotes that

Beauty Pagents: A Spoof

For all my faithful readers, life has intervened and I don't have a blog for you today. But I'll leave you with something that's both fun and makes a really good point. Until tomorrow, here's Tom Hank at his best...