How not to reconvert an atheist

[essentialsaltes]

As I mentioned a couple years back, the LA Times' religion editor lost his faith and wrote a few articles about the experience. He's recently expanded these to a whole book, and he's gotten a lot of fan-mail from Christian readers helping to pull him back into the fold. Here's his response.

He remains a "reluctant" atheist and (as I said at the time) I never found his reason for giving up Christianity very compelling, but his essay still has an interesting perspective (and a few funny bits).

Comments

[dogofthefuture.livejournal.com]

Curiously, I went and read the old post as well, and had somewhat of the same thought you did. In this case, I don't think that Lobdell's use of the phrase "gift of faith" was anything more than a rhetorical misstep, as it implies an ability some don't have.

Hell, we all have the *ability*, I mean every April I have faith that come October, my Padres are going to win the World Series. (So far I've been disappointed, but in terms of actual evidence that it might come true, my Padres have come a lot closer than any evidence for a God.)

Er, so anyway, I do agree with you, but I think it's worth pointing out that his choice of that phrase might say more about his sadness to have lost a certainty than anything about faith itself. It was a false certainty, as he's come to understand, but one that he still feels the absence of.