TreesNightly

The following is an interview with Sabio Lantz of Triangulations . On your blog, you use the pseudonym Sabio Lantz to, in your words, protect your professional and personal relations. What do you expect would change if you went public with your real name? (I�m obviously not judging, I also use a pseudonym.) What is your advice for other atheists who are unsure if they should conceal this aspect of their identity or embrace it publicly? As you know, Religionists look upon Atheists with great disgust ( see here ). I have significant personal experience with Christian bigotry both as a victimizer and a victim.  I�ve written here and here of incidences where I lost (or almost lost) jobs because Christians were disgusted by this atheist. Also, my children have lost many new friends over the years when their parents found that our family were not believers. And as a former Christian, I unfortunately totally understand why believers do this. I work in medicine and most of my patients a...

The following is an interview with Tjaart Blignaut of Massive Activity . Over time, your blog has taken a much greater focus on atheism. Why this change of focus? Have you always been an atheist? I have been an atheist since about the age of twenty one or twenty two. I spent quite a lot of time being quiet about my atheism, because I thought that beliefs were something personal that shouldn't be disturbed. My mind was changed gradually when I became aware of Richard Dawkins' out campaign. When I came out I realised that atheism was very much misunderstood, and I became troubled by the fact that Christians would totally ignore the fact that I was an atheist. My position was readily dismissed as a phase, or I was told that I would eventually turn back to belief. This thoughtless dismissal frustrated me, and I turned to blogging and engaging with believers online to say all the things I felt needed to be said, and pave the way for more atheists to feel like they could come out and...

The following is an interview with Thom Burkett of A Hopeful Hero's View . Since a requirement for priesthood is celibacy, atheists often think those who would choose to enter the clergy are less into women than the average population. In your experience, did you find that your fellow priests struggled with their abstinence? Could the prohibition of healthy sexual relationships be a contributing factor into the Church�s history of sex crimes and scandal? Sexual orientation is certainly a controversial topic regarding a seminarian�s choice to be celibate or abstain. While I do believe based on my experience that many young men entering the seminary, at least whilst I attended were gay, I do not believe it was because of their sexual orientation they choose to be celibate.  Rather celibacy, based on theological teaching that homosexual behavior is a sin/immoral, is an option in the Christian life. In fact Bishops have called for homosexuals to engage in abstaining from sexual ac...

The following is an interview with Very Rarely Stable of Atheist Biblical Criticism . You are an ex-evangelical Christian who writes �a blog devoted to biblical studies without a confessional bias.� You may not have a confessional bias, but since no one can criticize completely objectively, what would you say your bias is now? How do you try to stay objective, if that is indeed your goal?  Firstly, many thanks for offering to interview me; as a new blogger, this makes me feel like something of a VIP, but on a fraudulent basis! I agree wholeheartedly that no one can write without bias, and in scholarly literature this is often pointed out. But when it is pointed out, frequently that seems to be the end of it, and there�s no attempt to examine, reduce or counteract one�s bias. It�s as if we now have a mantra, �bias is unavoidable� which then justifies a �so anything goes� approach. In the field that I�ve taken up, biblical criticism, most authors and scholars come from a Christian or...