AJ (the resident Papist) March 13th, 2010

Steve, I love you, but this fellow played you like a cheap violin. This is either shtick or he is actually more dangerous, but polite, than those atheists who spew forth all kinds of vitriol. So there are idiots in the Church. I know you knew that before you talked to this Casper fellow. The problem as I see it, and I know you will tell me I am wrong, is that he laughs at any theistic idea put forth, but really never says why he doesn't believe. His stock answer seems to be, "Go right ahead, makes no difference to me." I did visit the Church Rater site and noticed no one rated the Catholic churches. I feel good about that, but don't know why, but I suspect it has to do with the Mass. We Catholics don't have time to condemn anyone, heck (well that ain't the word I wanted to use) we are headed up stream in a canoe, with only one paddle. Anyway, quit tossin these types softballs, and slow ones at that. Hey, we still love you. AJ (Grand Inquisitor Exit 1 NJ Turnpike)

bigredjeff March 14th, 2010

@AJ
its not we atheists that need to explain our selves. we arnt the ones that believe in voyeurs in the sky. amiright?
Matt Casper is funny and charming but not very substantive. though i see his angle.

Marcel up north March 14th, 2010

NIce work you guys. Again you demonstrate grace towards your fellow man and I so respect that. A good many of my friends aren't church goers and this program, as all of the programs you do, was non-offensive and would be deemed 'pretty good' by them.

Now, as for AJ, I do not believe as you did about how Steve was played. That's something I remember and can clearly identify with is the fact that RC's, as many other people I guess, are cynical. Steve wasn't played at all. And if Matt wanted to, and I did not pick up on that at all, Steve would let it happen anyways, but it didin't.

Matt did say that he did not believe in the spiritual realm or Jesus, and quite frankly, a great many atheists have their difficulty there also. You should know that!

BTW, you probably wouldn't want to see the rating on the catholic churches. Been there! Done that! No thanks. By you saying you 'catholics don't have the time to condemn'…give me a break…you just did! Your sense of pride is overwhelming.

Start eating' meat brother! You don't know what you're missing.

Thanks for this oppsrtunity Steve and keep it up with these awesome shows. You're helping me with my faith in teaching me real grace.

Your Christian brother from Canada,
Marcel

davidjames March 14th, 2010

What struck me the most about Casper's insights were his statements about having read the words of Jesus and then not seeing anything like that in the day to day functions of some churches?? And then when questioned about it he was offered a very insubstantial response…THAT is the larger message here that I think is being overlooked…here is an unbeliever going the place, the one place that is supposed to deliver the message plain and simple and yet what he sees is a totally different message? How much more clearly and concisely can you spell out what the "Church" has spent the last couple of millennium doing? Marginalizing the Words of the Master, of the Savior.(Tony Campolo's Red Letter Christians, comes to mind) The actual wisdom of God's son has been repeated so often it has become a set of clichés that are said over and over an over but have no real impact on how the church portrays itself to the non-believer. Everything that concerns how we treat each other to how we treat money and material things to what the true priorities of life are as Christ explained them….became very inconvenient when the church got "Americanized" or "Westernized however you wish to look at it. The Church seen through eyes of the typical non-believer is something very different than what the original message was meant to be and we have been so caught up in our differences of doctrine and opinion and denominational (Denominations, I heard them so aptly coined on another SBE show as Abominations!!) superiority, that the massage of the true Kingdom has been back-burnered
I don't know that Casper had any angles or that he was trying to play anyone but if those wagging their finger at him would stop and listen for a minute to his words they might see why it is they are wagging that finger…maybe because he pointed out some rather unpleasant truths?
Well my wanderings were windy and vague I know but the show really did strike a chord with me and I thought it was totally enjoyable. I thought Steve and the gang dealt with an unbeliever with much aplomb and style and like usual provided good food for thought!
(Sorry for being o long winded, I gotta work on that!)

AJ Calabrese March 20th, 2010

Gentlemen, and ladies if you are listening, I find this kinder, gently face of atheism, one sees as of late with Mr. Casper, and Julia Sweeney and her Letting Go of God thing, as really of no substance. At least with guys like Christopher Hitchens there is a point of argument, not in the violent sense, and an exchange of ideas. Quite frankly I don't even know, if what Mr. Casper puts forth (one is reluctant here to use the word "professes here,") is even atheism. While there is plenty to laugh at when it comes to Christians it is another matter to dismiss all of creation and the creator to boot. I'll stick to my guns. Steve gave this guy a pass and you folks are seeing it as being gracious. There ain't nothing worse in this world to lead folks astray than wanting to be loved. Just look at any politician. As Chesterton said, and it seems to apply to you folks, "When people stop believing in God, it is not that they believe nothing, but that they believe anything." AJ

Atheism Is Easy… Explaining the Hulk Is Not | Unreasonable Faith March 22nd, 2010

[...] me and most atheists is that I talk to Christians. A lot. I write books with them, I go on their radio shows, and I even help run a site for rating churches. Why do I do all this? Just lucky, I guess (my [...]

TylerM March 22nd, 2010

Aj, I'd take some time to read Hitchens more carefully, I think he advocates a much more radical view then simply an exchange of ideas. Mostly in the fact that Hitchens isn't really willing to exchange anything. Even when he was confronted with the best Christianity has to offer, the work of Martin Luther King Jr or Gandhi (who gathered much of his ideas about non-violent resistance from Tolstoy) and Mother Theresa, Hitchens still rejects the fact that any good can come from religion. Heck Dawkins says we should all be medicated, read the end of the God Delusion.

Hitchens continues to mistake the fringe for the middle of the road within Christianity. He argues against the fringe to make a blanket proclamation about the evils of the entire concept of faith. And I think Casper is a person who can see the middle of the road within the Christian faith and doesn't see too many people living it out. I think Casper (and myself) are just tired of the back and forth nonsense where Christians and Atheists continue to compare our best to their worst. Yes, the Christians had the Inquisition and the Atheists had Stalin, its a tired and trifling argument. It doesn't get anything accomplished and I think Casper brings a lot more substance to the discussion for that reason.

I'd ask you to not "stick to your guns" Aj, I lived in Seattle (the atheist haven of America) for 4 years and no one came to Christ around me because I could argue well. And trust me when I say, I can argue well. However when I stopped trying to bludgeon people with the gospel and started to simply just be a good friend. Which of course included a light hearted argument about religion now and then, I found Christ really starting moving in the heart of the "lost."

To quote Johnny Cash, "don't take your guns to town"

Fran March 26th, 2010

"Can an atheist help Christians be more faithful followers of Jesus?"

Um, that would be a "no" for me. Sure, it doesn't hurt to hear an outsiders' view of what we say and do, but our message isn't a campaign to sell mouthwash or a brand new car. It's the Gospel. It's Jesus. It's God reconciling the world to Himself. No focus-group or survey of random shoppers is going to magically, or strategically, open that door.

I don't think we need to focus on becoming better pitch-men or women, and I hope the program-fanatics at church hear that, too.

It's really, really not all about us.

Brian March 29th, 2010

Hi Casper,

You sound like a friendly ghost. As it is, Holy happens to be the friendliest Ghost I know. And since I know that I know that Steve is in tight with Holy, you must have noticed the joint friendliness that they offered you together.

You're where I used to be. You don't know what, that is, Who, you are missing.

Liz the Jesus Freak in highschool came out of nowhere and just loved me. Pure spiritual love that is. Always somehow finding me and getting in my face and just simply and plainly loving me. She, along with her Christian friends that she wanted me to meet at this one house this one day, all wanted me to pray and get with Jesus.

I never remembered one verse or knew what any of it all meant, but eventually the Holy Spirit allowed me to put two and two together and I got it. Jesus equals love and love equals Jesus. If Liz is going to go out of her way to just love me when I was spaced out and had nothing to offer on such a regular basis, then I just knew that Jesus really loved me and was just waiting on me to respond to Him.

So one day when I realized that every category of my life was a big fat zero, I said "Well God it looks like its time You and I teamed up." And we did. He took me up on this prayer and teamed up with me indeed. I found out the terminology later, and it doesn't matter right now, but I had the Holy Spirit with my spirit and I became alive in a way that I had never known. And today is the same as the first day… if I allow my spirit to be satisfied from being in company with the Spirit of the Lord Who is now with me, then I am really living life. And from here, well, we just love people together pretty much the same as Steve and the Lord loved you together… the team that they are.

Dude, when you realize that the immature people that happened to have joined that Lord love each other in a way that you are willing to examine and acknowledge – and consider that there is nothing else going on on this planet like it – you might want to get with Who we are with and be satisfied from His presence like we are.

Can you see the love? The peace? The surety? How we truly want you to join us as Steve expressed?

The good news is that when the time comes that you realize – regardless of everything else – that every category in your life really amounts to an empty zero before you are willing to humbly acknowledge the One Who made us and loves us to the point of welcoming Him in… that He'll be ready to join you when you are ready to receive Him.

Am I crying over the condition of your soul? Honesty, no. It's beyond tears. Was Liz crying over me? I don't know. But regardless of how watery any eyes were at the time, Liz went after me unselfishly in love and pointed me to Jesus, not with any words I understood, but with the love she had to share from the Lord Who was already satisfying her soul… so that she could go beyond herself and communicate that she wanted me to be in heaven with her and Him.

Have I been typing in vain? I think not. Was Liz's time with me in vain? I know not.

Dude, friendliness is great. But Holy is The Friend. Please, don't break His heart and make him wait for you any longer. Stop, be quiet, acknowledge the presence of the Lord and throw any words you want His way… and if you really want to be friends with Him… His Spirit will join your spirit and you will be with "us." As Steve referred to us. And once you are here, you'll know the counterfeits and the real things and you can write another book.

What happened when I "got saved?"

I went to plenty of different churches. It didn't take me long to realize which groups were the ones where the Lord was going to that church also.

But, honetstly? I went into shock. Here I am now in the good company of the very God Who made us and loves us, and I couldn't believe the shallowness and immaturity. I thought, "Man, most all of these people need to be formerly introduced to the God Who they claim to know and love."

But don't let that get you down. Show up and BE the church from now on, and not in a prideful way, but out-love everybody and let everyone see what happens when the Friendliest Ghost I know teams up with a man willing to love Him back.

But if this gig aint for you and you just keep on with what you are doing otherwise, and you make two million dollars, how about giving that second ten percent away after Steve and help out that fasting dude who I am already crazy about and let him pass it along to some people who can really use it. What a crime on this ridiculous planet that people are starving to death when we have the means to get food to every mouth. But I know that through this happy wonderful fasting guys' prayer that those in need who he is seeking the Lord for are going to find not only food for their bodies, but they are going to stay alive physically long enough for the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to reach them so that they can be filled spiritually from empty to overflowing.

I really hope to be with you in heaven and my brother Steve; and the happy fasting guy who you watched love Steve while Steve was loving him. Jesus said, "They will know you are my disciples by the love that you have for one another."

For me? I'm just gonna wait in line if it takes me the first half of forever to get my turn on my Heavenly Fathers' lap. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Finally!

So join us already!

Your friend and mine,

Brian

Erin Wiedner January 18th, 2011

The book is actually pretty interesting and the website, ChurchRater, seems like it is a good resource for Christians looking for a "quality" church, or at least one that aligns with their specific set of beliefs.