Mark Tooley

I have given the book a very high rating because I think it is engaging and because I sympathize with the author as he tries to talk to authority figures in the church and gets in return obfuscation, slogans, and platitudes. And yet he keeps plugging away, apparently with some success. I would, of course, like to read an account of how the other side sees the issues, but I don't know of one. I am an ex-Methodist, now an atheist and view his message with very mixed feelings. On the one hand, I found liberal Methodism as barren as he does, although not always for exactly the same reasons. In the words of A. N. Wilson in God's Funeral: "The liberal Protestant way had its charms. It involved minimalism in doctrinal observance, vagueness in theological definition, and cloudiness of expression when anything so dangerous as a definition was required. Its difficulty was one of historical plausibility. " (p.338)

On the other hand, while conceding him some points on his theology, as a non-Christian, my politics are very different; I am in favor of same-sex civil unions, for example. I would not, on the other hand, seek to compel any church to offer religious sanction to arrangments that they disapprove of. I wish that Tooley and his ilk were willing to observe the same secular-religious divide, but apparently they are not. So I was torn between cheering at his jabs at the authorities, while saddened by the probable social effects.… (more)