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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, 10 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, 10 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, 10 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, 10 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, 10 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, 10 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, 10 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, 10 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, 10 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, 10 yearsMay 24, 2016 ago

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  • Side view of the Garden Tomb in JerusalemThe great silence
    By Mark Hutchinson
    In Faith-in-Scholarship
    April 4, 2026
  • Serving God as a Soldier in Africa
    By Mark Roques
    In RealityBites
    March 30, 2026
  • John Constable - A View of Osmington Village (public domain)Religious and Scientific Landscapes
    By Richard Gunton
    In Faith-in-Scholarship
    March 30, 2026
  • A person writingCan Language Remain Human in the Age of Large Language Models?
    By Faith-in-Scholarship
    In Faith-in-Scholarship
    March 2, 2026
  • The Adventures of a Cornish Christian Slave
    By Mark Roques
    In RealityBites
    February 27, 2026
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Latest comments
  1. Dr P Thomas on Serving God as a Soldier in AfricaApril 18, 2026

    Thank you for taking the time to write this piece, Mark. You have nicely juxtaposed the lives of General Lothar…

  2. t_bowman on Serving God as a Soldier in AfricaApril 4, 2026

    Thanks for this sobering story, Mark. It's so important to hold Darwin to account for his appalling racism and the…

  3. t_bowman on The Adventures of a Cornish Christian SlaveApril 4, 2026

    The words 'we don't know we're born' spring to mind. Interesting to read about the bloodthirsty sultan on wikipedia, where…

  4. t_bowman on The Adventures of a Cornish Christian SlaveApril 4, 2026

    The words 'we don't know we're born' spring to mind. Interesting to read about the bloodthirsty sultan on wikipedia, where…

  5. Mark Roques on Review: Attensity! A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation MovementMarch 3, 2026

    Excellent blog Alicia. I really enjoyed reading this.

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Next
Ivan the Terrible and Jesus

Have you heard about Ivan the Terrible? He was a delightful Russian king. Did you know that he secretly worshipped…

Previous
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…

Random
Clarity as an intellectual virtue

Have you ever thought of clarity as a virtue? In the last post, Roy Clouser started our series on intellectual…