Atheism Archives

Lutherans vs. COVID

March 29, 2020December 23, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

Last Saturday, I was planning to do a video chat with a friend, and she mentioned to me that she was busy on Sunday morning with virtual church. Until then, I hadn’t thought of what church-goers are doing in regards to church attendance, but it made me wonder. If I was still attending the church that I had gone to for twenty-one years, would I still have gone last Sunday? Would that church be partaking in the “sharing of the peace” and the excessive shaking of hands which has always struck me as unsanitary? Would they still be taking communion from a shared cup? I couldn’t help but cringe at the thought.

Book Review: Origins by Lewis Dartnell

March 22, 2020November 4, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

The gifts I want most are typically books. My husband knows me best, so last Christmas he gave me a copy of science professor Lewis Dartnell’s Origins: How Earth’s History Shaped Human History. I always like to give special priority in my TBR list to books that John gives me, but I was intrigued by this book for several reasons, most of those reasons being the author’s tweets teasing fun facts from the book.

The Purpose-Driven Life Part 4: How to Brainwash Yourself

March 15, 2020December 5, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

I’m glad I’m reading The Purpose-Driven Life. It is teaching me to humble myself and put God first. It’s allowing me to get rid of my worries and let Jesus take the wheel. Most importantly, it’s teaching me simple ways to better my life, like being in constant conversation with God, memorizing Bible verses, and defeating temptation.

The Purpose-Driven Life Part 3: Christians Only

March 1, 2020December 5, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

The Purpose-Driven Life consists of six parts: one for each “purpose” as well as an introduction. Today we are looking at Part 3, which is Purpose #2: “You Were Formed for God’s Family.” In the past, I’ve taken each of the seven sub-sections (one for each day of the week) one at a time, but the chapters I read this week all bleed together, so I believe they can be looked at as a whole. They are:

Book Review: The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins

February 23, 2020November 4, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

If you only know of Richard Dawkins as a militant anti-theist, then you don’t know Richard Dawkins. In his purest form, the man is an enthusiastic and impassioned science communicator, and one of the biggest fans of Charles Darwin that I have ever read. (And a bigot.) This was made crystal clear to me as I read The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution. I decided to read this book when everyone on the Internet collectively made it known to me that it was an amazing, must-read book.

What is Mercury Retrograde?

February 16, 2020January 18, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

I started this blog as a way to vent about the things in my life that bothered me. Usually it’s been different aspects of religion invading my life that made me so upset. Since those days, I’ve managed to separate myself from religion, and so I haven’t blogged many rants for a while. Well, today’s post is in a nostalgic spirit as another rant rears its ugly head just in time for Mercury to enter retrograde tomorrow, February 17th.

The Purpose-Driven Life Part 2: Pleasuring God

February 9, 2020December 5, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

This week, we’re returning to Rick Warren’s evangelical Christian bestseller The Purpose-Driven Life. In this post, we will specifically be looking at what harmful and even dangerous teachings are lurking in Part Two of the book: “You Were Planned for God’s Pleasure”.

Book Review: Almost Human by Lee Berger

February 2, 2020October 15, 2023Rebekah Kohlhepp

A few months ago, I reviewed my now-favorite nonfiction book, Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind by Donald Johanson and Maitland Edey. I had always been curious about human origins, but that book really ignited my interest in the topic of paleoanthropology: the study of ancient hominid fossils. At the end of my Lucy review, I wrote,

The Purpose-Driven Life Part 1: Life is God’s Game

January 26, 2020December 5, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren has been a bestseller in the Christian world for decades. It was on the New York Times Bestseller List for over 90 weeks and sold 18 million copies in its first six years. It has over 215,000 ratings on Goodreads averaging 3.93 stars and over 2,400 ratings on Amazon averaging 4.7 stars.

Book Review: The Founding Myth by Andrew Seidel

January 19, 2020October 23, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

This week I finished Andrew Seidel’s book The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American. As is my custom, that means it’s time for a book review! I’m particularly excited about this one, because The Founding Myth is one of the few books that I have rated as five stars on Goodreads—and it’s one the most highly rated books on my whole shelf!