I’m closing out the year by recapping my year in blog posts. Why? Because it’s good to see where you’ve been and it’s a good introduction to the blog for those of you who’ve arrived recently. Here’s Part 1, which covers January – April.

May
May was the official release month for O Me of Little Faith, so I kicked it off with an excerpt (the book’s introduction) featuring commentary, just like a director might offer on a DVD. Except in writing. I admitted 18 true confessions about the book. I answered the question “Where do I go from here?” and then contemplated the problem with asking hard questions. Then I asked another hard question: how much of our “faith” is simply keeping up appearances for the people around us?

Midway through the month I moved my blog here to Beliefnet. Not all of my readers were happy with the move, and I lost a few regulars in the process. (One major gripe was the abundance of intrusive ads here, which I totally get. They are exceedingly annoying. Another complaint was Beliefnet’s refusal to deliver readers a complete blog post via RSS feed. Long-time subscribers suddenly were met with just a few introductory sentences in their feed, forcing them to click over to the website in order to read my blog. This is a Beliefnet policy that I absolutely disagree with and have complained publicly and privately about it, with no results. My hands are tied. On the other hand, moving to this blogging platform has gained me a bunch of new readers and I’m grateful to have gotten to know you. As I learned from watching “The Facts of Life” in the 1980s, you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both…)

Continuing from May, I asked “Is doubt an eraser?” I enjoyed the headline “Lord Jesus Christ hit by a car,” revealed 8 things I learned from watching “LOST” when that show ended, and in a well-read post, we discussed clergy who don’t believe. I interviewed Nick Fiedler, author of The Hopeful Skeptic, and, on Memorial Day, gave some background to the dedication page in O Me of Little Faith.

June
I asked two questions to begin June. One: Is Church the best place for doubters? Two: Have you had these religious experiences? Fascinating discussions resulted. Another question: Was I a “stumbling block“? This video with a puppet teaching about the Sinner’s Prayer was quite disturbing. We all listed one question we would like to ask God. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I posted about Ted Haggard’s travails and new church in Colorado, which led to Ted Haggard himself getting involved in the comments. I recapped the situation the next day. Was the oil spill a sign of the apocalypse? I got creeped out by guardian angels and then interviewed Rachel Held Evans, who did not creep me out. We closed out the month discussing the faith of Roger Ebert, a controversial piece by Ron Rosenbaum on agnosticism, and the work of Preemptive Love Coalition.

July
My sister, Micha Boyett Hohorst, who blogs at Mama:Monk, came in for a guest post about the culture of motherhood during a week in which the Christian blogosphere was buzzing about some stuff John Piper said. We asked “What do atheists think of Christians?” and discussed the interesting responses. Another controversial post erupted with this one: Slavery, Usury, and the Evolution of Beliefs. Midway through the month I had an idea — what if other bloggers/writers came in every Friday to discuss their experiences with doubt? Thus began the “Voices of Doubt” series, which started with Anna Broadway’s contribution. I listed some of my favorite quotes about doubt. Nicole Wick offered a guest post about breaking up with God. We discussed “proofs” for the existence of God, I gave a self-interview about my book Guy’s Guide to Life, and Adam Ellis guest-posted about hoping Christianity was true. When Anne Rice quit Christianity, lots of us wanted to
talk about that.

August
I learned of a ridiculous new service in which an atheist promised to care for your unsaved children should they get “left behind” following the rapture, then did a two–part interview with the guy behind this Rapture Orphan Rescue idea. (Update: the guy has since closed down the site because too many Christians were taking it seriously and attempting to purchase his services. “I couldn’t take money from suckers,” he tells me.) I ranted against “negotiated infidelity.” Rob Stennett guest-posted about the genesis of his doubt. End-Times date-setter Harold Camping predicted the end of the world was nigh. Again. Tyler Clark guest-posted about losing faith when he lost fear. We discussed a pastor fight involving evolution and biblical inerrancy, I introduced a discussion guide for O Me of Little Faith, and I eulogized theologian Clark Pinnock. Winn Collier encouraged us to doubt better. I went back to school in a Christian t-shirt and asked you to list the top 5 people who might convince you God exists. Rachel Held Evans wrote about her works-based salvation. And all of us tried to figure out how to be good parents despite our doubt.

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We’ll close out the year in blogging tomorrow. Until then, what about your highlights from 2010? If you have a blog, feel free to list its URL today in the comments and point us to your favorite post from 2010.