VERSION|0.5.1|SUBJECT|An Atheist does the Alpha Course |CONTENT|[url=http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap130623.html][img=images/2013/06/pic130623.jpg popup=false float=right][/url]No, not me, I&#039;m nowhere near brave enough to sign up for six weeks of self imposed torture. However, Tabatha Leggett, from the [url=http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2013/06/inside-alpha-atheists-foray-christianity]New Statesman[/url] was willing to brave the lions&#039; den. You can feel her frustration as the weeks roll past.

The Alpha Course claims that 2.8 million people have attended in the UK. That sounds like a lot of people who are curious about Christianity, until, as Tabatha reports, you realise that nearly everyone on the course is already a Christian, and most do the course again and again.

One session begins with “So let’s assume Jesus does exist and came to Earth to save us…”. As the very first comment on the article points out, &quot;I believe they call that &#039;The Assumption&#039;. It&#039;s a very large one...&quot;. 

I thought that comment was quite witty, but the second comment thinks the first one is just ignorant about what &quot;The Assumption&quot; means in Christianity. They reply &quot;You believe incorrectly, if so. The coming of Jesus is called incarnation.&quot; 

Why is it that religionists almost invariably fail to get jokes about their religion? But that&#039;s just the beginning of the second comment. It continues:

&quot;The pagans of Rome and their puppet government in Jerusalem were apparently unable to disprove incarnation, or that Jesus was brought back from the dead.&quot;

At this point I gave up reading any further. Anyone who thinks that&#039;s a logical argument isn&#039;t worth spending any more time on. If anyone gets any further into the comments, let me know.

[url=http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2013/06/inside-alpha-atheists-foray-christianity]Read[/url]|CATEGORIES|11|IP-ADDRESS|94.168.119.214|CREATEDBY|admin|DATE|1371968276