When I was in my twenties, I heard someone say, ‘I don’t believe in religion; I believe in science.’ I remember thinking the two were being treated as if they were opposites, when they are not. They are not even in the same category of things! But as the years went by, I would hear similar comments from time to time. By the mid-2000s, it seemed to be the norm, so much so that in 2006 Richard Dawkins wrote, “...one of the truly bad effects of religion is that it teaches us th

At the center of Christianity are the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Without the resurrection, Christianity would be just one of many religions. But did Jesus actually die as the Bible describes? Is Jesus a myth? Did the apostles lie to gain power or fame? Or was someone else crucified in His place? For instance, Muslims believe Jesus was not crucified and did not die on the cross; instead, God raised him to heaven and another person was crucified in His place.[1]

Jesus of Nazareth is the most written‑about and influential person in history. Secular New Testament scholar Dr. Bart Ehrman states, “There can be no doubt that Jesus of Nazareth has been the most influential person in the history of the world.” [1] Besides Ehrman’s endorsement, Jesus has been on the cover of Time magazine twenty‑one times.[2] Thích Nhất Hạnh, the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, has said, “I call Jesus a bodhisattva, an enlightened being with great compassion.”

I have spoken with many thoughtful people who often say, “People are generally good.” On its face, most people do treat others fairly well. But historical and global data tell a more complicated story. For instance, the Romans practiced brutal crucifixion from the 3rd century BCE to the 4th century CE; about six million Jewish men, women, and children were murdered in the Holocaust; Idi Amin’s rule in Uganda (1971–1979) saw mass killings, ethnic expulsions, and public executi

To investigate Christianity, the best place to start is the Bible. The Bible is a collection of texts. Protestant Bibles contain 66 books—39 in the Old Testament (OT) and 27 in the New Testament (NT). Catholic and Orthodox traditions include additional books in the OT, and the Jewish Tanakh arranges and counts the books differently. The OT was mainly written in Hebrew, with a a few sections in Aramaic, and the entire NT was written in Koine Greek. How do we know that we have

Pope Francis’ remark in Singapore on September 13, 2024—“All religions are paths to reach God”—and his follow-up that “There is only one God, and religions are like languages—paths to reach God. Some Sikh, some Muslim, some Hindu, some Christian,” sparked discussion about whether that view aligns more with New Age spirituality than with traditional Catholic doctrine. Many New Age perspectives hold that religions are diverse cultural expressions of one underlying spiritual rea