"A bold and thought-provoking exploration that flips the script on centuries of debate about Christianity, challenging readers to reconsider not just what they believe, but how they come to believe it."
"A compelling and deeply insightful journey into how beliefs are formed, exposing the hidden flaws in faith-based thinking."
Many debates focus on what Christians believe, but it's time to question how Christians believe. A controlled, double-blind, randomized trial is a complex process developed over centuries to counter the influence of human bias. Christian practice, by contrast, hasn't changed in thousands of years. Today's believers still access God through tools like prayer, scripture, faith, miracles, prophecy, and spiritual discernment - just like their ancient counterparts.
The kindest, most compassionate Christian and the cruelest, most exclusionary one both trust these tools - the how of Christianity - yet each sees the other as proof of how vulnerable those tools are to bias, fear, tradition, and personal desire. Despite this, few discuss whether these tools actually produce reliable beliefs. This is that discussion.
Does Christianity have a problematic how?
Luther Palmer shares his journey out of Christianity-not due to trauma, but from a thoughtful examination of the tools used to form religious belief. Drawing from personal stories, philosophical reflection, and years of honest questioning, Palmer unpacks the role of faith, personal experience, and spiritual practices that often go unexamined. This book isn't just a critique of Christianity. It's a challenge to all of us to examine how we come to believe anything at all.
