Showing titles in Agnosticism

I thought about the church and its factual purposes. And, I shared my outside experiences with Linda. She reminded me that churches were about fellowship, sharing with like-minded people. That is why there are black churches and white churches. I concluded that God was really not important at all. God is, by all accounts, so very vague that there’s no real definition and, in fact, one is not really needed. It’s the fellowship that matters. The fellowship in the jungle with the Shaman is equally essential and sincere as the fellowship in the grandest of cathedrals. In fact, I am more ...

The God Concept investigates concepts of the divine, tracing the origins of religious belief, its development through cultural evolution from polytheism to the rise of monotheism, and the emergence of Judaism, from which Christianity and Islam developed. As ancient civilizations developed in the Middle East, Mesopotamia and Egypt emerged as centres of polytheism. The Mesopotamian roots of the Abrahamic religions are demonstrated by comparison of the Babylonian creation epic with the Genesis account of creation. Additionally, many of the laws in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi are compared ...

Shadows of the Occult: An In-Depth Exploration of Cults, Occult, and Their Rituals" Unlock the Hidden World of Cults and Occultic Practices – A Must-Read for Truth Seekers, Scholars, and the Curious Alike! Are you intrigued by the mysterious and secretive world of cults and occult practices? Do you want to understand the rituals, initiation processes, and the psychological power these groups hold over their followers? Discover the dark and enigmatic truths behind the shadows with "Shadows of the Occult: An In-Depth Exploration of Cults, Occult, and Their Rituals." Why This Book is a Must-...

Chris Highland presents selected poems from nearly fifty years of stepping into wild waters and cascades of thought and emotion. Like an open journal, stained by the spray of waterfalls, Highland takes the reader on his personal explorations of secret trails that often lead straight up to a treetop. Sectional themes include: Cascades; Falling Love; Treed; Sea Light; Rivering; Rain; Breath and Death; Seeds; Seasons and Stones. As a former chaplain and current secular freethinker, Highland unapologetically reveals his journey from evangelical faith to freethinking humanism with touches of ...

These miniatures are one person’s observations of daily life. They serve as invitations to stop, look, and listen to the world before us. In doing so, readers will find opportunities for spiritual reflection and meditation.

The slogan “Turn It Over” has a rich and powerful history in the annals of recovery. Loosely translated — if any translating is needed — it means: put your problem, addiction, disease, or life itself in the hands of Someone or Something Other Than Yourself. (Lowercase all of that if you prefer.) This someone or something doesn't require a name. It doesn't need a credo or a belief system. All it needs is practice. Your practice. Now take the concept of Turn It Over, and transfer it to the printed page. Turn It Over becomes Turn the Page. Select any page at random here and read the ...

Chris Highland, a former minister and chaplain who is now a freethinking humanist, brings together an assortment of essays from the last twenty years as he emerged from ministry and non-profit work and on into teaching, lecturing and writing. From the Preface: "To be simply secular may not actually be simple at all. As James Baldwin states, freethinkers aren’t often welcomed—some don’t want us around. Yet, we keep standing up, speaking out, raising our voices. Those of us who live with the questions need to keep asking them, pushing, pulling, nudging—we’re educators as well as ...

A fresh collection of scattered thoughts from the curious mind of a freethinking humanist who is not anti-religious. Chapters include: 1-Secrets of the Universe 2-What Have You Really Seen Today? 3-Ubuntu: A Secular Answer to Spiritual Questions 4-The Greatest Love of All 5-Is There a “Natural Spirituality”? 6-Ego de Lego (You Have Heard that it was Said) 7-What Ever Happened to the Golden Rule? 8-Frames of Faith & Points of Reference 9-Religious Morality & Secular Ethics 10-Disturbing Disruptions/Insightful Interruptions 11-Paul Laurence Dunbar & the Heart of Happy Hollow 12-The ...

Since 2016, Chris Highland has written weekly columns for the Asheville Citizen-Times in North Carolina. Drawing from his own experience in ministry and chaplaincy in the San Francisco Bay Area, he now writes as a freethinker from a humanist perspective. He engages many subjects and issues that concern people of faith--any faith--especially topics and ideas that also matter to non-religious people. Highland Views includes over 50 essays published as columns in the Citizen-Times. Writing with a tone of invitation, Highland welcomes readers across the spectrum from Evangelical to Atheist as ...

Another concise collection of selected short essays from Chris Highland, a freethinking humanist and former minister. With an inviting approach to the intersections of faith and freethought, the author presents a model for critical thinking beyond fearful faith and angry atheism. Companions along the way include: Sojourner Truth and John Muir, Margaret Fuller and Frederick Douglass, James Baldwin and Jesus of Nazareth, Charles Darwin and Booker T. Washington, Thomas Paine and Thich Nhat Hanh, Martin Buber and Aldo Leopold. Many of these reflections come from the author's weekly "Highland ...

Decem Mandata: ¿Y si los pecados que nos condenan no son los que nos contaron? En el principio no hubo palabra, sino miedo. Y de ese miedo, nació la Ley. Tallada en piedra, en sangre, en fuego, los Diez Mandamientos se erigieron no como una guía de virtud, sino como una advertencia sombría de nuestra propia fragilidad. Pero, ¿qué sucede cuando lo sagrado se convierte en el yugo del poder? ¿Cuando la fe ciega desata la violencia, y la obediencia es más letal que el pecado? "Decem Mandata" no es un evangelio. Es una profecía invertida. Toni Mederos te invita a un viaje perturbador a ...

This book is written to shed some light on our spiritual life. This critical part of life is getting pushed back in our minds due to surrounding cultures and religions. Mainly due to the speed of online information overload. Our life is more focused on the gains in this world. Our life is entirely focused on today and not on the impact of our actions in the future and afterlife, if you believe there is one. The goal is to put what is being preached and sold in the world in simple words. What is being practiced and offered for how to live our lives, and what should be the drivers? Multiple ...

I see Christianity, as we know it today, as an outgrowth of mostly one mind and one perspective and that is the mind and perspective of Paul the apostle who was the alter-ego for another man who lived and wrote in the AD 80s and AD 90s. What I have discovered is that Paul, in writing about himself, is not writing about philosophy and movements that were later molded into a world religion; he is writing firstly about the very real events in which he participated, and only secondarily about his own singular effort to concoct a new religious perspective.

No, it’s not that God is tired or wants to give up trying to save all the ungrateful and disobedient masses in the world. It’s just that God’s intention, from the beginning, was to occupy a much more intimate place in our personal lives than that of a “god” that we worship and fear. What God always wanted to be will blow your mind and fill your life with new excitement. And, what about Jesus? He is an important part of this story.

The primary objective of this book (Volume 1) is to provide a balanced and in-depth examination of Islam by presenting viewpoints from both believers, who consider it a complete divine religion, and nonbelievers, particularly atheists, who argue that it is a human construct designed with motives of persuasion and intimidation to serve personal and political interests.

My primary objective is to offer a thorough and balanced exploration of Islam, a religion often perceived as a divine and absolute truth applicable to all times and contexts. This work seeks to present both supporting and opposing viewpoints, grounded in evidence and logical reasoning from each perspective.

You have long believed that everything you have been taught and the text of the Holy Bible are in sync? Your pastor says so but it's time to take a closer look. Some of the things in this book will stun you, no matter how much you have studied the Bible. This book will illuminate 15 long-held areas of belief. In Church on Sand you will discover that... • Mother Mary's life was very different than you were told. • Jesus’ birth was a near-crisis. • Jesus’ future return will be far more recognizable than we thought. • An entirely new John the Baptist and baptism awaits you. • and much, much more.

هذا الكتاب، يحوي حوارات، ومقابلات صحافية، ومقالات للعالم البايولوجي التطوّري البريطاني د.ريتشارد دوكنز. أقوى أشكال الإحتجاج العلمي والمنطقي في مواجهة الخرافة،...

Robert Rich has made a lasting influence in the world of ambient and electronic music for four decades. Bird Servant represents his first published book of poetry. With detectable influences of David Budbill, Robinson Jeffers, Mary Oliver or Taoist poets like Tu Fu, Rich’s words carry themselves lightly with humor, and he delights in the musical possibilities inherent in language.