They're almost becoming a Christmas tradition. The billboards erected by atheists challenging the Christmas story and Christian faith, I mean. The one in Times Square this year reads, "Keep the Merry" underneath a picture of Santa Claus, and "Dump the Myth" below a statue of a crucified Jesus....

The Bible is notoriously hard on women. From seemingly attributing humanity's fall into temptation to Eve in the beginning of the Old Testament to barring women from certain leadership positions late in the New, the Bible is shaped through and through by the patriarchal culture from which is sprang. While...

Pious readers encountering this question may be shocked or offended. (Perhaps the impious as well!) And to tell you the truth, I had a hard time framing it this way myself, as it seems to border on being disrespectful, even unseemly. Yet that's the question that kept coming to mind...

Believe it or not, this is a more complicated question than one might imagine.

On the one hand, those who argue against the proposition point to several key pieces of evidence. First, many if not most of the Founders of the country cannot be described accurately as Christians but as...

A quick, but important caveat: I teach at a denominational seminary, was ordained into and serve in a denomination -- and therefore have much of my retirement savings tied to a denominational pension plan -- and not only take seriously, but take pride in, my Lutheran identity and heritage. (Whether...

Is God angry at you? You'd think so, given the interpretation of the cross that dominates popular American Christianity these days. Called the "penal-substitution theory of atonement," this understanding of the cross pictures God as a cosmic king who demands and deserves perfect obedience from God's servants, i.e.,...

What does the good book have to say about everyone's favorite subject at this time of the year -- love?

Describing a biblical view of love turns out to be no simple matter. First off, the Bible was written in both Hebrew and Greek, and each of...

Last spring, I wrote a somewhat tongue-in-cheek article asking whether atheism had become a religion. Fifteen hundred (mostly) angry comments later, I realized few saw the humor. My primary goal in that post actually wasn't to convince anyone that atheism had, in fact, become an established religion, but...

Lots of us face the prospect of another new year resolved to break some bad habits and take up some good ones. The vast majority of us, however, have given up on our resolutions before the month's out. But if you truly want to change yourself for the better in...

I've been struck by the ads and billboards atheists have purchased again this year suggesting that Christmas is, to put it kindly, a myth. Struck. Not offended or angered. Just struck.

The gist of the advertisements is essentially that there is little to no proof that Christmas...

I know, I know: given that I teach, preach and write about the Bible for a living, I'm hardly the kind of person you think would ask this kind of question. But maybe it's precisely because I spend so much time with the Bible that this question occurs...

Actually, a whole lot less than you might imagine! That may be hard to believe given the fierce rhetoric Christians often employ when talking about homosexuality, but there are really only seven passages in the Bible that refer directly to homosexual behavior, and none of them are associated with Jesus....

Did Adam and Eve exist?

No.

Then again, George Washington didn't cut down a cherry tree, and Paul Revere never yelled, "The British are coming," either.

So what's the big deal? We regularly embellish actual events (in the case of Revere) or invent them (as with Washington) to point toward...

Cards on the table: 1) I read the Bible -- not as much as I should, I'm sure, but still pretty regularly. Moreover, I get paid to talk about the Bible with folks all across the country and have written a popular book to help people read the...

Since the early years of Christianity, various myths, legends, and even conspiracy theories about the origins of the Bible have enjoyed wide circulation. The discovery in recent decades of many books that were not accepted into the Christian canon has only added to this speculation, spawning numerous best-sellers and television...

Before you dismiss the question out of hand, consider these four inter-related bits of evidence:

1) As recently reported in the New York Times, military personnel who identify themselves as "Atheists" have requested chaplains to tend to their spiritual needs. As the Times article notes, "Defense Department statistics...

This Sunday millions of Christians will raise their voices to share in the ancient Easter acclamation, "Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!"

But what if you don't believe in resurrection, or at least aren't sure? Perhaps you've been attending church for years but feel a little left out, even...

Did you ever wonder why HuffPost articles on the Bible elicit such strong reactions? Almost any piece about the Bible typically receives a couple of hundred comments and some garner far more. Why? I have a hunch it's because our attitudes about the Bible reveal our attitudes about religion more...

Wait! Don't answer that question too quickly. If you do, you'll likely judge the Bible's veracity by categories established 1,500 years after it was written. Perhaps I should explain.

Disillusioned by the religious fervor that fed the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), the early architects of what would later...

She is not a prostitute. She doesn't have a shady past. Yet when millions of Christians listen to her story this coming Sunday in church, they are likely to hear their preachers describe her in just those terms.

Her story is told in the fourth chapter of the Gospel According...