If prayer can be what people need it to be...

by Luther Reads

After a deliciously satisfying Thanksgiving dinner, I sat mostly quiet as my Christian family discussed the role or prayer in their lives. Every single person had a different idea about how to pray and what those prayers actually do. To my understanding, the nature of prayer hasn't changed for thousands of years and it's one of the most talked about aspects of the Christian walk, so I was baffled by the disagreement.

I asked if this lack of consensus or clarity was problematic to anyone, but they all just respected each other's perspective. There was a genuine sense that each person has to view prayer in the way that works best for them, and I realized that perhaps the lack of widespread dogma about prayer is what makes it so powerful. Hmmm...

Christians also disagree about the Bible, prophecy, miracles, and all the other ingredients of Christianity. And by-and-large, this is all... okay. Even the very nature of God hasn't been nailed down (see what I did there?). Each Christian is entitled to believe about God what they need, and outside of the most intolerant corrodoors of Christendom, again, this is... okay.

So, I too have accepted a belief about the nature of God, based on who I am and what I need God to be in my life: nonexistent.

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About the Author:

Luther Reads marked himself safe from 2020

Extraordinary Claims

by Luther Reads

A priest, a minister, and a rabbi walk into a bar.

The priest claims to own one car, and the bartender believes him. The minister claims to own four cars, but the bartender is skeptical until the minister brandishes a photograph of himself standing in front of a house and four cars. The rabbi then pulls out a photograph of himself standing in front of 400 cars and claims to own them all, but the bartender says, "You're gonna need more than a picture of yourself with 400 cars to convince me that they're all yours."

If you're expecting a punch line, there isn't one. So in a way, the joke's on you :)

The story is instead a parable meant to illustrate that extraordinary claims warrant extraordinary proof. Believing that a person owns one car requires almost no proof because it's an ordinary claim. But owning 400 cars is an extraordinary claim that warrants a far different level of proof.

I was told two extraordinary claims in my youth.

1. The Earth rotates around the sun, a belief known as heliocentrism. This is such a ridiculous claim because I can literally see the sun moving through the sky every day. The sun appears to move, not us. But yet I was told otherwise.

2. Two thousand years ago, the creator of the universe was born to a virgin, with himself as the father, and the subsequent brutal murder of this offspring allowed him to invite those of us who believe this story to come live with him for eternity with no more death or sadness.

Now what if, in a shocking twist, the bartender then claims to own four million cars, and all the other customers in the bar attest to it. And so do all the people walking down the street in front of the bar, and all the people in all the other bars along that street.

This is what it's like to be raised as a heliocentric Christian. Everyone around me believed that the Earth rotates around the sun, and that Jesus was born of a virgin and died for our sins. So as a child, I accepted both ideas.

But I also did something even more harmful, and this is the role of indoctrination. After hearing these claims so many times from so many people that I loved and trusted, I accepted the claims as being... ordinary. And ordinary claims only warrant ordinary proof.

But heliocentrism and Christianity are both very, very, very extraordinary claims. And I've found extraordinary proof for one but not the other.

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About the Author:

Luther Reads is a poet who's never actually written a poem.

As a Father and a Scientist...

by Luther Reads

The comedian Chris Rock once memorably (although not hilariously, to me) suggested that his primary role as a father of daughters is to ensure that they don't end up on the pole... the stripper pole.

As a scientist, my primary role as a father is to keep my kids out of cults. That's my nightmare, as it would be the source of my eternal shame.

My parents and most of my family practice a very moderate and loving iteration of Christianity, but buried under layers of warm hugs and family worships are some very dangerous ideas:

• We will not always understand why we do certain things.
• We believe things even when faced with evidence to the contrary.
• We will receive our reward in the afterlife.

You know who else speaks this way? Cult leaders!!! So fast forward 15 years from now, and one of my daughters tells me that she's dropping out of school or selling all her stuff to join a fellowship of believers led by some clown in a toga. If all her life I've praised the virtues of relying on faith and ignoring evidence, what recourse do I have? If she doesn't understand the value of evidence in comparison to faith, I might as well kiss her goodbye.

Christianity isn't just a way of life, but it's also a way of thinking about evidence, facts, and our feelings. It would be awesome if we could trust our faith and our feelings to protect us from harmful cults and ridiculous beliefs, but we have enough, uhhh... evidence... to know that isn't true. People fall for dumb ass doctrines all the time, but not my daughters dammit! They will learn that evidence, logic and reason can help us to overcome our biases and narrow perspective of the world.

These tools force us to reconcile what feels true with what is known about the world as observed through more objective lenses. And if they understand that, they can work all the poles they want.


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About the Author:

Luther Reads is a scientist. Well, he's actually an engineer, but they're also scientists, right? *draws Venn diagram*

I Couldn't Have Been More Wrong About Atheists

by Luther Reads

I came into Atheism believing certain myths about this group of non believers. I rise today to dispel just a few of these misrepresentations.

• All Atheists do NOT embrace the idea that our beliefs should be guided by evidence. Hell no! Many atheists believe in a shit ton of ridiculous, fallacious, and poorly reasoned arguments.

• All Atheists do NOT reject the idea of arbitrarily dividing humanity by birthplace or birthright. Jesus no! Many atheists are racist, sexist, and xenophobic douche bags.

• All Atheists do NOT approach their own understanding of the world with humility. God no! Many atheists are arrogant assholes who have no sense of the historical progression of knowledge, which will ultimately disprove some of the things we now believe to be true.

• All Atheists do NOT think critically, being careful not to blindly follow a charismatic leader. Lord no! Many sheep-like Atheists worship at the church of one or more famous Atheists, no matter how short-sighted or mean-spirited their claims are.

• All Atheists do NOT reject supernatural explanations for unexplainable phenomenons. Heavens no! Many atheists believe in ghosts, spirits, and karma. This has by far been the most baffling to me. BY FAR!!!! What in the entire fuck?!?

• All Atheists do NOT reject the idea that humans have dominion over plants and animals. Mary Mother of Jesus no! Many Atheists believe that humans have an innate right to dominate and abuse the living organisms we share the Earth with, and even the Earth itself.

• All Atheists do NOT even reject the idea of God. Christ no! Many so-called Atheists are just mad at their god for something bad that happened in their lives, but yet never considered all the other far worse shit that has been going on in the world for tens of thousands of years.

Crazy right? That's what I say each and every time I realize a new truth about Atheists. And I'm sure there are more -- many many more.



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About the Author:

Luther Reads found audio books two years ago, and his life has been forever changed.