(Kind of behind and need to catch up –this may be Atheist Meme of the Half Day for a couple days.) If religious believers can’t say what evidence would change their minds — if nothing could possibly persuade them that their religion was mistaken — then it’s unfair for them to accuse atheists of being [...]
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If an idea is good, it should be able to withstand questions and criticism, and should even welcome them. And that’s just as true of religion as anything else. When believers passionately insist that religion should be above criticism, it doesn’t make the God hypothesis look stronger — it makes it look weaker. Pass it [...]
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Not believing in God doesn’t require 100% positive proof that God doesn’t exist… any more than not believing in unicorns requires 100% positive proof that unicorns don’t exist. Pass it on: if we say it enough times to enough people, it may get across.
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If you care whether the things you believe are true, you need to ask whether those beliefs can be confirmed or verified. And that includes religion. Religion is not a subjective experience that’s true for some people and not others — it’s a hypothesis about the external, non-subjective world. Pass it on: if we say [...]
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There is a big difference between criticizing an idea, and being disrespectful or intolerant of a person. And that’s just as true for religion as anything else. It’s not intolerant for atheists to say we think religion is mistaken… any more than it’s intolerant to say any idea is mistaken. Pass it on: if we [...]
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Are you a Christian? If so, do you believe in hell? Why or why not? Take a moment to think about why you do or not and how you came to that belief. Wait, I’m not sure you did take a minute to pause and think about it. Go ahead, I’ll wait for you. OK, [...]
READ MORE »Here’s a nice little video with Dr. Ben Goldacre on the power of the placebo effect…and a little on how it can be put to good use! (Beyond as a control for research)
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Over the couple frigid weeks I’ve seen more than a few comments on the Intertubes mocking “global warming” because of the unusually cold weather. A few on Facebook, some on Twitter, a few blogs, and even a Web comic I follow made a snarky global warming mock. If the mockery is meant as an ironic [...]
READ MORE »Brian of skeptoid.com recently posted a listener mail response episode. He makes good points, and you don’t have to have read/listened to his past episodes to get something out of this one: http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4169 The best part of the whole thing, though, is at the end when he summarizes thus: “That’s what I think is the [...]
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Huh, evidently this is my 1001st blog post. And to think when I first started this I thought I’d putter a few posts out and find no use for blogging. Guess my desire to “hear my own voice” is strong. So, a couple of online articles have colluded to make me comment on the subject [...]
READ MORE »Last week’s podcast/public TV show from Austin, The Atheist Experience, has a very interesting exchange with a caller to the program. (Interesting, for one reason, because he was very well-spoken and well-mannered and humble–unlike the show’s usual evangelical callers.) It’s show number 609 in the archives, and the call starts around 32 minutes in. About [...]
READ MORE »So my iPhone is in the process of updating to the latest software, 3.0. It failed the first time because I’m doing it through a Windows XP install within a Linux virtualbox, and I wasn’t paying attention to the USB status. So it had to restore and now I’m anticipating my application data will be [...]
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If you’re someone who believes in the holiness of Easter, you don’t want to read something that critiques the holiday this weekend–don’t; it’ll be a buzzkill. But, if you are interested in looking at the story of Easter with an open mind, interested in its reasons and rationale, and don’t mind looking at the story [...]
READ MORE »Last blog for the night. It’s a long one, but, of course, worth it. John W. Loftus (studied under William Lane Craig [renown Christian apologist] and earned a Th.M. degree at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Author of Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity), had a debate with famous apologist David Wood. [...]
READ MORE »(First, sorry for the deluge of blog posts all at once. I haven’t had the chance to blog much with the new job, and when I get home I’m either working on school work or have no interest to be on the computer [wish I could say it's because I otherwise have a life ].) [...]
READ MORE »…the year after nothing happens. Hooray for CNN.com! Usually I tear my metaphorical hair (it’s the only hair I have left) at CNN.com for their almost consistently credulous “reporting” of “unexplained” events. UFO sightings, ghosts caught on film, angels, psychics to the CEOs….all met with not just an open mind but heads with brains that [...]
READ MORE »I just listened to the latest episode of Point of Inquiry: Christopher Burns- Deadly Decisions At risk of being hyperbolic, it was by far one of the most interesting, important, vital interviews I have listened to. In this interview with D.J. Grothe, Christopher Burns talks about the biology of the brain, the behavior of groups, [...]
READ MORE »Title got your attention? I’ll explain in a moment. A recent Debunking Christianity blog got my attention this week: God Tolerates Slavery I’ll spoiler it for you by saying it’s a satirical piece. It portrays a fundamental preacher who turns away a child kidnapped and sold into sex slavery by telling her God has instructions [...]
READ MORE »(I need to think of more things to post about that don’t require copying links and quotes.) Debunking Christianity has a couple of good recent articles, one examining the atonement theory of Christianity (in light of the Chronicles of Narnia). C.S. Lewis’s Theory of Atonement in The Chronicles of Narnia … Most liberal and many [...]
READ MORE »For Xmas, my wife got me Paul Kurtz’s book _Forbidden Fruit: The Ethics of Secularism_ (I’m on my iPhone, can’t copy links–look it up *grin*) even though she’s more of a religious humanist, herself. What an incredibly thoughtful and giving gift. I love my wife.
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