Hi. My name is John, and I’m a spiritual atheist. Like “God,” the word “spirituality,” is a conveniently ambiguous term. That said, it’s not so vague as to be totally meaningless. I think it captures an area of concern better than any other term out there. I especially like Wikipedia’s definition: Spirituality can refer to [...]

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After a long hiatus, I’m starting the podcast back up. There are a few changes, however: I’m abandoning the “Atheist’s Prayer” title, and rebooting this as simply the “Mind on Fire podcast.” The content will range widely, but will include stories I’ve written, interviews and conversations, and fun audio projects like the First of May [...]

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It’s got it all: atheism, spirituality, god, scifi, and good music!! Hulu’s got the first four eps up right now (and it doesn’t keep them forever), so go catch up. It’s too smart and too well written to stay on the air for long. It’s the story of Kings David and Saul transposed into a [...]

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This is another lecture that was put on at my school, this time by the ACLU, in response to Prop 8. The California Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments about the Constitutionality of Prop 8 a week from tomorrow. In preparation for that, the local ACLU chapter invited to gay people who grew up in [...]

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said the friend sitting next to me at Christmas Eve dinner, with a vague look of disgust on her face, like I’d just admitted to enjoying self-flagellation. I was in the company of a number of people who had escaped Western religion (all some form of Christianity) and landed firmly in Eastern religion (all some [...]

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I have a playlist called “Holiday” that contains 379 songs, including a startling number of “O(h) Holy Night”s. One of the things I miss the most about Christmas with my family (probably the only thing, really), is singing. I remember harmonies and piano accompaniment and Spike Jones. Now, I play holiday songs in my car [...]

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WaPo’s On Faith asks its panelists Does religion empower women? This is one of the few On Faiths that I’ll probably read each response to. I’m looking forward to the Christian/Catholic answer, which I’ve found generally centers around “having kids is empowering!!1!” There is some wonderful evidence for non-child-based empowerment which I’ve yet to hear [...]

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While reading chandelle’s recent post and the comments that followed, I had occasion to think about my dualism, which I’ve discussed at length before. Many of the comments discuss the “spectrum of sexuality”, how there may be some people who are completely heterosexual or completely homosexual, but that most people likely fall somewhere in between [...]

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This comic by Kate Beaton perfectly captures the resignation I often feel towards work, simplicity/consumerism, and ascetic spirituality.  Following the link gets you to a long page of unlinked comics–find in page for “Hiked to Italy” for the complete comic.

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I’m sorry for all the sparks recently, but I couldn’t resist this one. Enjoy!

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