What Christians misunderstand about Freethinkers and what Freethinkers misunderstand about Christians

Over 50 people packed into the back room of Perkins for the evening's discussion. Armed only with pie an coffee, Christians, atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, and even one or two Wiccans, settled in for an evening of understanding one another. Probably the biggest surprise of the evening was that we actually did.

Fred, the ever brave moderator, kicked off the evening by inviting a couple of testimonies. The first woman shared the story of how she became an atheist. Raised in a Catholic home, she converted to Methodism in college and eventually teamed with her husband to lead a campus ministry. Great personal tragedy led to a struggle with God, which eventually led to questioning the existence of God. She said this was just the starting point, and it was through a long process of searching, questioning, and rationalizing that she finally concluded that she no longer believed in God.

The second testimony sounded like the carbon copy of the first. This young woman was not raised in a religious home, and she made many very unhealthy life choices that led her to a life situation that almost destroyed her. Through the influence of her grandmother and some powerful sermons, she came to understand God's love and said that her faith has kept her from going back down the road of a destructive lifestyle.

To then warm up the crowd for discussion, Fred showed the following 3 clips, allowing a few minutes reaction from the crowd after each:

What we all share in common was already suggesting itself as most people in both groups laughed at the first clip and were drawn to Campolo's passion for feeding the hungry and helping the poor. We were able to begin the discussion of the stereotypes we tend to assume about one another and how, though some may fit the description, the vocal minority often distorts the reality of most.

We were able to peacefully assemble three lists that evening. First:

What do Christians misunderstand about atheists and other non-believers?

1. They do not know that many atheists have a Christian background.

2. They equate atheism with Paganism or Satanism.

3. They say that atheists are amoral or have nothing on which to base morality.

4. They believe that atheists are deficient and need to be saved.

5. They view atheists as unhappy and/or angry.

6. They pity them.

7. Many Christians make these assumptions while admitting they don't even know any atheists.

What do atheists and other non-believers misunderstand about Christians?

1. They think all Christians are Bible thumpers.

2. They think Christians are ignorant and incapable of thinking critically.

3. They think that everyone who claims to be a Christian follows the teachings of Christ.

The longest list of the evening, though was:

What do we have in common?

1. Love

2. Dignity of the individual

3. Humor

4. Integrity

5. Morality

6. Desire for companionship

7. Compassion

8. Freedom

9. Curiosity

10. Diversity

11. Creativity

12. Misunderstood

13. Sex

14. Fear

15. Blood

We ended the evening with a brief presentation of 10 Things Christians and Atheists Can and Must Agree On, as delivered by thoughtful blogger David Wong.

So, all an all, an enlightening and civil evening. But then, it's only the first. Rumor has it that Fred and Cole, the leaders of this newly fused group, have at least 5 more discussion nights planned. It's not too late to join the fun. Go to the meetup site for the latest information and to sign up.

Brian Greene tells us everything may not be all there is

What's it like to stand on the edge, looking beyond known reality to where we might be going next?

It is a life full of uncertainty, anxiety, and discomfort, says Brian Greene, theoretical physicist and author of best-selling book, "The Elegant Universe," "The Fabric of the Cosmos," and newly released "The Hidden Reality."

Yes, that's right. I used "theorectical physicist," and "best-selling" in the same sentence, which is a little like a movie about social networking winning an Oscar for best musical score. It's an unexpected and yet intriguing combination.

Unity on the Plaza was filled to capacity and then some Thursday night for the first speaker of the year in the Linda Hall Library series based on the theme "innovation," and it wasn't just all the geeks of Kansas City congregating. Children, science teachers, musicians, college students, techies, and the intellectually curious sat in rapt attention as Greene managed to weave stories of his children, pictures of ants on a telephone cable, and theories of muliple universes with such mastery that the theories of complex physics were within the grasp of even those who had never passed Calculus.

Before launching into string theory (read the book because I'm not even going to attempt a summary of his summary here) and the seemingly contradictory concept of repulsive gravity, Greene tossed out the provocative idea that, "what we thought was everything may only be a small part of everything."

In fact, Greene opened our minds to so many far-reaching theories that by the time, toward the latter end of his presentation, that he informed us that there may be as many as 10 physical dimensions, we were all actually willing to accept it. "Well, of course there are, Brian," I could hear our collective brains conceding, "how else could you explain this wild, wacky universe, um, multiverse." (The very literary among you might recall that a really smart mathmetician/monk posed a similar idea over 100 years ago in "Flatland").

Really, at times it felt like I had jumped onto a roller coaster that took off before I had time to engage the protective shoulder harness. We raced up and down the concepts of space, energy, time and origins. Our imaginations spun furiously under us, and at times I was barely holding on with my fingertips. It was such fun that I didn't want the ride to end, but the pace was so frantic and the turns so sharp that I was constantly afraid of falling off.

And then it ended, just like that. After an hour and a half of cramming my mind with the infintely large and the inconceivably small, I walked out into the cool night, and my only thought was, "well, here I am. I guess it's time to go home now."

At home, I kissed my little girl good-night, snuggled into the warm embrace of my love, and dreamed of the everything beyond the everything, in which my spirit found great comfort. Why? This I can explain no more than I could explain why there are 10^500 possible shapes to the other 7 dimensions. It just is.