I am grateful to CM reader Pacific231 for taking the time to write this:

“I am hardly the most appropriate person to stick up for Christianity. But the exceptional author and scholar Marcus Borg notes that when atheists set out to debunk ‘God,’ they are debunking the ‘supernatural theism’ view of God, the view that believes in a God ‘somewhere out there’ who occassionally intervenes in the world, however unpredictably. As another poster noted, ‘how can God let thousands of children starve to death daily?’…But Borg says there is a different way to view God, which is also biblically supported, that holds that God is not just ‘out there,’ detached from the world unless it suits his fancy to do otherwise, but rather a God that is within us and within everything.

“…I would urge atheists to read Borg’s works like ‘The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion To A More Authenthic Contemporary Faith’ for example. I think they would find themselves relating strongly with Borg in chapter 1…just promise you keep reading! It’s easy IMHO to debunk the extremist Christian religion too many people are practicing today. It makes me angry also. Borg is at least a breath of fresh air and his thesis is worthy of debate whereas it is a waste of time to debate a wide-eyed Christian extremist.”