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Mark Roques

Mark taught Philosophy and Religious Education at Prior Park College, Bath, for many years. As Director of RealityBites he has developed a rich range of resources for youth workers and teachers. He has spoken at conferences in the UK, Holland, South Korea, Spain, Australia and New Zealand. Mark is a lively storyteller and the author of four books, including The Spy, the Rat and the Bed of Nails: Creative Ways of Talking about Christian Faith. His work is focused on storytelling and how this can help us to communicate the Christian faith. He has written many articles for the Baptist Times, RE Today, Youthscape, Direction magazine and the Christian Teachers Journal.
RealityBites

Anti-materialist spiel

So you don’t believe in God (Psalm 14:1)? Does that mean you are a materialist then? I used to believe that malarkey but it made me so miserable and grumpy. I thought about it and realised that if everything I do is programmed by hidden physical stuff then murdering my Read more…

By Mark Roques, 9 yearsOctober 4, 2016 ago
RealityBites

Is the Duke of Edinburgh a god?

There are people on the island of Tanna in the South Pacific Ocean who worship Prince Philip, the gaffe-prone husband of Queen Elizabeth as a god. The duke once shocked a student during a visit to China by saying: “If you stay here much longer, you will go home with Read more…

By Mark Roques, 9 yearsSeptember 8, 2016 ago
RealityBites

Yin and Yang in 60 Seconds

We’ve all heard it! We need a bit of yin and a bit of yang. We need harmony between polar opposites. You have to have balance. Good needs evil and evil needs good. Hitler has his place just like Mother Teresa. According to ancient Chinese philosophy, in the beginning was Read more…

By Mark Roques, 9 yearsAugust 31, 2016 ago
RealityBites

Sixty Seconds on Jesus and Mr Piggy

Giovanni Brusca is known as ‘the Pig’ or ‘il Porco’ for his slovenly appearance and huge craving for Italian posh nosh – Lasagne, Barolo and olive oil. He once admitted to killing at least a hundred people and to top it all, he tortured and murdered an 11-year-old boy. He also detonated Read more…

By Mark Roques, 9 yearsAugust 17, 2016 ago
RealityBites

Simeon Stylites in 60 seconds!

Simeon Stylites was a laugh a minute. He lived 37 years on a sixty foot pillar 1400 years ago! He wanted to be spiritual and get closer to God! Unfortunately the hermit had misunderstood the message of the Bible! He believed that the earth and the body were evil and Read more…

By Mark Roques, 9 yearsAugust 4, 2016 ago
RealityBites

Dr Nott and the Queen

Pete Gillions told me this delightful story about Dr Nott meeting the Queeen. For more than two decades, Dr Nott – a consultant surgeon at three major hospitals in London and a Christian – has given up several months every year to volunteer to serve in war zones amid major Read more…

By Mark Roques, 9 yearsJuly 21, 2016 ago
RealityBites

Mafia Hitmen at Emmanuel College

I was very pleased with how the RealityBites sixth form conference went down yesterday at Emmanuel College in Gateshead. There were about 150 students from two schools present and for the first time I presented two RealityBites talks. I spoke about Celebrity Culture, Human Trafficking and Responsible Citizenship before lunch Read more…

By Mark Roques, 9 yearsJuly 7, 2016 ago
RealityBites

Flies, bluebottles and Jesus

Have you ever thought about flies? They can ruin a picnic without trying very hard. Ponder how different religions and philosophies look at these irritating insects. The Egyptians worshipped them as gods. Plato said flies are just prisons for badly-behaved souls. Materialists contend that flies are just items for sale (£1 Read more…

By Mark Roques, 9 yearsJune 23, 2016 ago
RealityBites

Buried Alive for 147 days! His mum, Emma inspired him!

In 1998 Geoff Smith spent 147 days buried in a coffin six feet under a pub garden in Mansfield reclaiming a world record set by his mother, Emma, thirty years earlier. Food, water and human waste were transported through a plastic tube! There are three ways of looking at this Read more…

By Mark Roques, 9 yearsJune 6, 2016 ago
RealityBites

Glenn Hoddle Story – Karma or Grace?

The Story Glenn Hoddle was born in the suburbs of London in 1957. He became one of the most exciting and gifted footballers ever to play for England. In 1998 he was sacked from his job as the manager of the England team because of the following comments he made Read more…

By Mark Roques, 9 yearsMay 24, 2016 ago

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Recent posts
  • The Incredible Story of the Slave who became a Famous Scientist
    By Mark Roques
    In RealityBites
    April 26, 2025
  • A robot writing an essay, generated by deepai.orgArtificial thinking?
    By Richard Gunton
    In Faith-in-Scholarship
    April 2, 2025
  • Challenging Dualism: Serving God as an Engineer
    By Mark Roques
    In RealityBites
    March 18, 2025
  • Mysticism and Pagan Philosophy
    By Mark Roques
    In RealityBites
    February 24, 2025
  • The Poignant Story of Jack Clemo, the Deaf and Blind Cornish Poet
    By Mark Roques
    In RealityBites
    January 9, 2025
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Latest comments
  1. James Skillen on The Incredible Story of the Slave who became a Famous ScientistApril 30, 2025

    Thanks very much Mark and Steve for this touching story. Doreen and I now live in Alabama and have visited…

  2. Kevin Keefe on Challenging Dualism: Serving God as an EngineerApril 13, 2025

    Thanks Mark, for sharing another interesting and thought-provoking article.

  3. Dave Hopwood on Challenging Dualism: Serving God as an EngineerMarch 29, 2025

    Thanks for this piece and this reminder Mark, I'm grateful for the way the web has enabled me to daily…

  4. Dr Philip Thomas on Challenging Dualism: Serving God as an EngineerMarch 20, 2025

    Thanks for this piece, Mark. Yes, we should strive to conduct ourselves, however we use technology, with one central purpose…

  5. Dr Philip Thomas on Mysticism and Pagan PhilosophyFebruary 28, 2025

    Thanks, Mark for your research and analysis of mysticism, vis-à-vis Neoplatonism (be it "Christian" or otherwise). I particularly like your…

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    Ivan the Terrible and Jesus

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