Christian Atheist Book - Exploring Faith and Doubt | Inspirational Read for Spiritual Seekers & Skeptics | Perfect for Book Clubs & Personal Reflection

At a time when so much of the public debate over religion and atheism is characterized by crusading zeal and mean-spirited polemic, Brian Mountford offers us a different path. Examining the views and experiences of a group of non-believers who nevertheless value many aspects of the Christian tradition, he shows how faith and skepticism can co-exist, both inside and outside the church, in creative tension. Highly readable, learned, and humane, this book is worthy of a wide audience.The Christian Atheists in this book are people who reject the traditional notion of God, but share much in common with traditional believers who they sometimes share pews with on Sunday morning. Like traditional believers, they find transcendence in the metaphorical language of religion, the beauty of sacred music, and the luminous qualities of Christian art. Like theists, they find important ethical values (including a belief in social justice) in the Christian tradition and see their lives as enriched by an engagement with the Christian narrative.There is a refreshing honesty about Mountford's subjects that rarely appears in the contemporary public debate. Clear as they are about their rejection of traditional theism, the Christian Atheists refuse to jettison everything about the Christian tradition simply for the sake of ideological consistency. The controversial novelist Phillip Pullman, one of Mountford's subjects, describes himself as a "Church of England Atheist; A Book of Common Prayer Atheist . . . All those things go deep for me; they formed me." Willing to live with the tension between their non-belief and their desire for belonging, the Christian Atheists challenge well-worn spiritual categories.Mountford makes a strong case that the church must find a place for these engaged non-believers. Doubt, he argues, has always played an important role in the development of Christian thought, forcing believers to clarify or modify their understanding of the tradition and of its application to contemporary life. This book is a starting point for those of us who want to see a more honest, intellectually honest discussion of faith, doubt, and the future of religion. I highly recommend it.