{"id":176,"date":"2008-11-18T13:41:22","date_gmt":"2008-11-18T17:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/?p=176"},"modified":"2008-11-18T13:41:22","modified_gmt":"2008-11-18T17:41:22","slug":"faith-20-november-pulp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/?p=176","title":{"rendered":"Faith 2.0 &#8211; November PULP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Every month in PULP, the alt-monthly publication for which I serve as an editor, I run a Q &amp; A column called &#8220;Faith 2.0.&#8221; The idea is that people can submit questions about faith, religion and theology, and I&#8217;ll at least make an attempt to produce an answer.<\/p>\n<p>Following are the questions and my responses for the November issue:<\/p>\n<p><meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" \/><meta name=\"ProgId\" content=\"Word.Document\" \/><meta name=\"Generator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 11\" \/><meta name=\"Originator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 11\" \/>\n<link href=\"file:\/\/\/C:%5CUsers%5CCHRIST%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml\" rel=\"File-List\" \/><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:WordDocument>   <w:View>Normal<\/w:View>   <w:Zoom>0<\/w:Zoom>   <w:PunctuationKerning\/>   <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas\/>   <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false<\/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>   <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false<\/w:IgnoreMixedContent>   <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false<\/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>   <w:Compatibility>    <w:BreakWrappedTables\/>    <w:SnapToGridInCell\/>    <w:WrapTextWithPunct\/>    <w:UseAsianBreakRules\/>    <w:DontGrowAutofit\/>   <\/w:Compatibility>   <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4<\/w:BrowserLevel>  <\/w:WordDocument> <\/xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState=\"false\" LatentStyleCount=\"156\">  <\/w:LatentStyles> <\/xml><![endif]--><\/p>\n<style> <!--  \/* Style Definitions *\/  p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal \t{mso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmargin:0in; \tmargin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:12.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-fareast-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";} @page Section1 \t{size:8.5in 11.0in; \tmargin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; \tmso-header-margin:.5in; \tmso-footer-margin:.5in; \tmso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 \t{page:Section1;} --> <\/style>\n<p><!--[if gte mso 10]> \n\n<style>  \/* Style Definitions *\/  table.MsoNormalTable \t{mso-style-name:\"Table Normal\"; \tmso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; \tmso-tstyle-colband-size:0; \tmso-style-noshow:yes; \tmso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; \tmso-para-margin:0in; \tmso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:10.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-ansi-language:#0400; \tmso-fareast-language:#0400; \tmso-bidi-language:#0400;} <\/style>\n\n <![endif]--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><strong>Faith 2.0<o:p><\/o:p><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><strong><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><strong><em>What\u0092s the difference between an atheist and an agnostic?<o:p><\/o:p><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Though they\u0092re often grouped together, sometimes collectively called \u0093skeptics,\u0094 there is a distinct difference. The word \u0093agnostic\u0094 comes from the Greek, <em>a gnostos, <\/em>which means \u0093to not have knowledge of God.\u0094 In early Greek culture, believers were called Gnostics, and proclaimed to have knowledge of God\u0092s existence; so agnostics identified themselves as separate from this group. Today, the term \u0093agnostic\u0094 refers to people who are generally unclear about their beliefs, or are skeptical \u0096 but not entirely certain \u0096 about the existence of a divine being. The term \u0093atheist,\u0094 also from the Greek \u0093<em>a theos<\/em>\u0094 meaning \u0093no God\u0094, suggests one who is firm in their belief in the non-existence of God.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><strong><em>Why do some churches have crosses, while others have crucifixes?<o:p><\/o:p><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The Catholic Church traditionally has used the symbol of Jesus on the cross to remind people of the stories of the \u0093suffering Christ,\u0094 as this is central to Catholic teaching. The Protestant movement, begun by Martin Luther in 1517, sought to distinguish itself from the Catholic Church in many ways, including removing images of God from worship, which they considered a violation of the Mosaic Commandment against \u0093graven images.\u0094 Also, with their emphasis on the resurrected Christ, Protestants represented this difference with an empty cross.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every month in PULP, the alt-monthly publication for which I serve as an editor, I run a Q &amp; A column called &#8220;Faith 2.0.&#8221; The idea is that people can submit questions about faith, religion and theology, and I&#8217;ll at least make an attempt to produce an answer. Following are the questions and my responses [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}