All this self-righteous "God-talk" from Governor Palin enervates The Corsair even as it energizes the Religious Right. Tim LaHaye's Evangelical interpretations of the end days have sold tens of millions of copies. A recent survey found that 62 percent of American believed in a literal Devil but only 42 percent of those surveyed said they believed in Darwin's Theory of Evolution.
For some perspective, we wanted to see what an unbeliever thinks. So we interviewed via email Jeffrey Mark, a good sport, of the new book "Christian No More."
The Corsair: Your book offers "an encouraging, positive, inspirational story of his own journey of leaving Christianity, while simultaneously and meticulously dismantling Christianity from all directions." Do you ever fear the fires of Hell?
Jeffrey Mark: That's probably the single biggest concern of people questioning their faith in Christianity. Indeed it was my fear. But as I researched this book, I concluded beyond doubt that the concept of Hell was a concept borrowed from other myths. Further, the mentions of Hell in the Bible are surprisingly rare; together they would barely fill a single page. And most of the time they were referring to a trash dump. As such, I've decided that Hell does not exist, and so we have no reason to be afraid.
The Corsair: Also from the press release you offer to help "Christians struggling to let go of their religion, agnostics wanting clarification, and atheists needing new and unique arguments to combat Christianity's assault on logic, reason, and science." That sounds very reasonable. Do you ever wonder that that sort of approach may be missed by the more emotionally-based Evangelical types?
Jeffrey Mark: Having witnessed and taken part in various dialogs online, I've seen people on both sides get incredibly emotional and angry, and at that point it's difficult to think clearly, regardless of your side to an issue. And the end result is no minds are changed. This is especially difficult for the doubting Christian who is told by an angry Christian that he or she will go to Hell for doubting. And too often people who are doubting are told to read more of the Bible or to read a friendly study guide for doubters that they can buy at a local Christian book store. I saw that there's a need for the other end: A book that helps doubters break free as I did.
The Corsair: You say your book isn't negative. Do you anticipate negative reactions from the church? Because I anticipate negative emails when I publish this interview.
Jeffrey Mark: Oh yes. (!!!) The book already has one angry review on its amazon page, and if this book does as well as I hope, I anticipate a very angry backlash from churches, especially the more conservative ones. However, it's my opinion that I'm pointing out real issues within the church, and it seems they would welcome this book so that they can look at themselves objectively and ask what they're doing wrong and how to fix the problems. But I doubt that will happen.
The Corsair: The book is called Christian No More (published by Cogspage Media LLC / Reasonable Press). Did you ever think that you might get more Evangelicals by calling the publishing house "Unreasonable Press"?
Jeffrey Mark: I chose "Reasonable" as a modified form of the word "Reason". However, I think that's a great suggestion! :-) (Although I guess critics would latch onto that right away and call me unreasonable!)
The Corsair: Are urban coastal elites too harsh in their criticism of Evangelicals? What advice would you give us?
Jeffrey Mark: Urban Coastal Elites... I've lived all over the country, including on the coasts, and what people in, say, the religious South don't realize is that the culture in the 'elite' areas is very different. Religion doesn't dominate the lives of the coastal urban areas. If people in New York hear people at the next table over talking about their atheism, it probably wouldn't even faze them. But in some of the more conservative areas of the South, they would probably get a lot of attention, not necessarily positive.
The Corsair: What do you think of Bill Maher, professional atheist. I hear he's coming out with a movie about atheism.
Jeffrey Mark: I can't wait to see the movie! I'm hoping he'll buy a copy of my book.
Buy a copy here.
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