Rev. Dr. Carter Lester

There is a question in the PCUSA study catechism which Kerry and I often used with our Confirmation classes.  It was a question that often made those confirmands chuckle.  I confess it has made me chuckle, too, to think that those writing the questions thought to include it. “Won’t heaven be a boring place?” Maybe […]

There are a lot of people in recent years who say they don’t need the church – or any religious community. The number of people who check the box for “none” to the question of their religion is growing on various national surveys. Then there are a lot of people who claim to be “spiritual […]

Writing not long after Hurricane Katrina in his book, Letter to a Christian Nation, Sam Harris explains why he cannot believe in God with these words: “An atheist is a person who believes that the murder of a single little girl – even once in a million years – casts doubt upon the idea of […]

Last week, I began a 4-week preaching series on “Conversations with a Skeptic.” Each week, we will look at a question posed by skeptics. The purpose is not to score points in a sharply-pointed counterattack. The point is to face the questions, and not dismiss them, because they are valid questions. And if we are […]

Edward O. Wilson was one of the most outstanding scientists in the United States until he died in 2021. In his book, On Human Nature, he confidently claimed that science can explain all that needs to be explained, including religion as a human created phenomenon. Theology’s days are numbered, he contended. Richard Dawkins has written […]

He is a college freshman far from home. In high school, he was President of his class with a great group of friends. Now he is at a big school and doesn’t know anyone. It is a Southern school, so fraternity rush has already begun. He is a sociable guy, so he goes to the […]