L.J. Writes

I am a Christian atheist.

Let me state up front what I don't mean by that; I don't mean I believe in the obscure branch of Christian theology which states that God is dead and we must love each other and save each other in that absence. While I admire the poignancy of it, it doesn't gel for me even as metaphor because I don't believe God is dead but rather that he never existed, at least in any physical sense outside the sensemaking that we do through story.

I also don't use "atheist" as a pejorative here, as a Christian pastor does in his book The Christian Atheist criticizing Christians for living as though God does not exist. I don't think it's morally or intellectually inferior or superior not to believe in God.(1) By atheism I mean, simply, the lack of belief in God as a supernatural being. I don't assign any moral or other value judgment to it.

Fortunately, Christian atheism seems a lot more visible than it was back when I was first searching for the term back in 2013. The above two senses were the only ones I could find at the time, but now I am able to find entire articles on cultural Christianity(2) and more expanded information on Christian atheism itself, not to mention modern Christian atheists openly expressing their convictions.

( What Christian atheism means to me )

It's no secret that Fanny Price, the heroine of Jane Austen's novel Mansfield Park, is far from the most beloved Austenian heroine. Fanny has been called a moralistic prude who gets everything by doing nothing. She is evidently deemed not to be liberated and feminist enough, seeing how she was replaced in two different movie adaptations by laughing, athletic, and outgoing heroines who bear little resemblance to her original character.

( How do I love Fanny? Let me count the ways )