This “From the Mailbox” is a little different than what I usually receive, as you’ll soon see. I won’t use any names, except my own, and the spelling and grammar comes directly from the messages received. There were three in total, staring with this rather innocent and short one: “Hi Martin Did anyone ever tell you that Jesus loves YOU!” At first I thought this was a joke from one of my atheist readers, as...

Paul Sturman asks: Though not proving or disproving the question of whether highly religious people are more likely to commit murder, and interesting comparison is the opposite question…are the least religious people more or less likely to murder? The answer to this would most certainly be “less likely”. It’s interesting, Paul, that you should bring this up. I happened to stumble upon this video by...

This was a question sent to me via my mailbox. If you have any suggestions, questions or comments, you can leave your own here. dougreardon asks: Do you think religion has decreased or increased homicide rates in their respective cultures? I did a little bit of research, and while all of the information seems to be biased toward one outcome or another (as statistics invariably are), the trend for the highest rates of reported violent crimes in...

This was a question sent to me via my mailbox. If you have any suggestions, questions or comments, you can leave your own here. Joshua McGee asks: I assume you’ve seen interesting strata up-close in your climbing. Have they ever generated an insight about evolution? Other more emotional reactions, such as enormous respect for, or humility in the face of, the age and history of the planet? Yes I have seen some different and interesting...

This was a question sent to me via my mailbox. If you have any suggestions, questions or comments, you can leave your own here. Monicks asks: Do you think that it could be possible that some sort of virus/bacteria could actually turn sane healthy people into contagious brain-eating zombies? This is something that I’ve often wondered myself. I think I would have to say “Yes it is possible, but not necessarily how we see it in the...

This was a question sent to me via my mailbox. If you have any suggestions, questions or comments, you can leave your own here. Blamer asks: What would be your message for Australians who self-identify as religious and are unaware or unconvinced of the desirability of secularism and church/state separation? Ooh that’s a tough one. How long have you got? It would be tough to convince a religious person that religion shouldn’t be part...