An Amazing Year -- Best of 2010

When 2009 ended, didn't you just want a whole lot more of Textuality? Well you got a lot more, regardless. We have about double the number of posts in 2010 from what was published in 2009.

To those of you who read the silly things I write: thank you. I hope that these posts do something for you, whether that means making you smile, pursue a link, reference an article, reflect on a personal view, appreciate something in your life, or whatever.

To those of you who read the silly things I write and then comment on them: a big thank you. Your comments do something for me. I appreciate the insight, perspectives, and knowledge you bring here.

Proceeding month-by-month, here are what I think are the best of the best from 2010:

January: Lots of Atheism posts, the best of which is, in my opinion, Biblical Translation: Why It Matters. I also like the "wisdom" post I made for my birthday, Forty Lessons for Forty Years.

February: The post on the Beatles, Holy Crap, The Beatles SUCK!, brought a shit-storm of comments from one guy who takes it all too seriously. God's Love Versus Yours is an interesting piece on perspective.

March: This was another high-volume month. To me, the single best post is You Atheists, Always Talkin' 'Bout Gawd! because the concept and "person" of God is such a gaping hole in religious apologetics. The philosophically-minded theists tend to abstract God away to the ether, and the biblically-minded theists tend to recoil at how morally horrible the God of Israel really is. If Atheism Is False, Then... is cute but not meaty enough. It doesn't quite succeed as I had wanted.

April: Growing in Reason: Talking to Children About Unbelief may be the best post of the month. It's straight-talk and good advice.

May: I'm most proud of Evolution's Gaps versus Creationism's because it looks carefully and thoughtfully at what evolution as a science is and is not. The article also considers what evolution's opponents claim. The conclusion of the piece is, I think, both devastating and inescapable. I also like The Best Case for Atheism and The Best Case for Atheism, Christianity Edition. The arguments are high-level but easily investigated; we need "Cliff's Notes" versions of things, sometimes.

June: I think the most important article this month is Let the Dead Bury Jesus, which reflects on the current fact that "the sources we possess do not establish the conditions for a verdict on the historicity of Jesus." I also like the analysis and argument in Why Russell's Teapot Still Serves. My take-down of anti-materialist rhetoric, Materialism and All There Is, is pretty good.

July: In Goodbye Atheism, Hello Walt Whitman I thought--I really did!--that I'd focus much less on writing about Atheism vs. Religion and much more on Whitman's Leaves of Grass. I think that this has not quite turned out to be the case, but I'm generally happy with the pace for moving through Whitman.

August: The argument that DISPROVES ATHEISM gets more views than any other single post on Textuality.

September: Kuzari Principle: Index of Posts sums up all the work and all the conversation on the Kuzari Principle.The first Kuzari post had been in April. The best two posts in this series are Definitively Refuting the Kuzari Principle (July) and Going Nuclear on the Kuzari Principle (September). I think Studying Atheism is a good post.

October: Ultimate Meaning: Index of Posts captures material from my second series, dealing with the idea of ultimate meaning. My Christian Wife is a self-interview on my wife, our marriage, and our parenting. The post got picked up at Parenting Beyond Belief. The Autumn of Our Content is a personal post about my kids, the Fall season, and that damn time which keeps rolling on. Finally, I like The Last Prejudice? because it discusses the persecution complex that seems to be so in vogue among Catholics recently.

November: Two personal posts top my list for this month. No One Cares tells of my family's struggle to work with the health care system to assist my mother. My Goal's Beyond recounts the history of this blog from 2005 up to present day.

December: I am happy with the post on Information Theory and its (mis)use by intelligent design creationists. The post on Civil Discourse is decent but needs ongoing revision.

Above, I have not listed any of the posts in the series on James Kugel's How to Read the Bible because that series remains in progress. I have no doubt that the series would make the grade for a 2011 wrap-up.

I am pleased with the progress of Textuality this year. The blog has been home to a diverse mix of articles, images, arguments, videos, links, and conversations. I look forward to more of the same and to some of the new in 2011.